airscale

superb job Nige it really flicks my switch when I see thorough research and fuss free tips on how to improve a kit - no kit is perfect and I think HK have done an astonishing job in getting this out to market - for that they should be thanked & congratulated and I know Neil would love to see how people go the extra mile to take his canvas and make it their own... nice job Peter

well hello folks can't believe a month has passed since I last posted an update... I have not been idle though - I have done a lot of 3D modelling for the tailwheel, main wheels (for which I am getting help!) and the spinner (of which more later..), in between I have also released an airscale instrument panel set for the Hobbyboss 1/32 B24 Liberator and also worked with Airfix to master this airscale cockpit set for the new and mind blowing Airfix 1/24 F6F Hellcat - the decals for all the instruments & placards are in production, but the PE is done.. ..as for the P51, when I had the Hellcat PE test shot done, I also added a load of extra P51 stuff to the fret so I make the most of one-shot production, Part of that was the stainless steel side panels that surround the exhaust ports, and I also made a fold up box structure that is the structure that surrrounds and supports the exhausts themselves.. ..Also seen here are the 3D printed exhausts from Model Monkey - huge shout out for these as they are exceptional quality and amazingly are hollow so are ultra realistic.. ..these were folded and the details added before the boxes were added to the outer panels - the exhausts are not yet fitted so they can be painted & added at the end.. ..and so onto the spinner - this is one of those things that has sat in the back of my mind as a niggle since I started this build - it is unfortunately unpainted on the real aircraft so had to be made in metal - a bit like skinning a tennis ball in sheet aluminium - very tricky.. ..I actually bought the HpH 1/18 Merlin engine model hoping to cheat and get a good basis for the prop & spinner from that, but it is very crude - the spinner is a solid with four peg holes in it to take the blades - there is no reference to the cutouts on the real thing, so that was a 70 euro write off (though I think I can use the blades so may not be dead money...) I restarted my Rhino 3D programme trial and got to work modelling the Spinner... ..when I went to get it printed at Shapeways, I noticed you could choose polished Aluminium so I thought well that would be brilliant as it would save lots of messing around with skinning as I could just polish the part - so at great expense (150 euros) I ordered it with the hub done in plastic.. ..two disappointments... one - it's not polished at all, it is more like a carbide burr in texture, and two, somehow I got the hole cutouts wrong as two were in the right pitch for the blades and two were in the opposite pitch.. ..that said - it is aluminium, and after filing & polishing is just like a cast part - don't know how they do it, but it's bloody clever.. ..as the cutouts were wrong, I knew I had to skin it, so I made a tape mask and started with the lower section... ..with this skin added, I taped it to the top part to mark another tape template with where the cut-out holes were on the next bit of skinning (there are 3 - bottom, lower of the top cone, and the tip) ..this skin needed rows of 3 rivets adding so I made up a jig I could do this accurately with.. ..I was hoping after adding this I could get away with the spinner tip being the base aluminium part, but there is a lip that can just be seen.. ..in doing the tip, I nearly gave up as turning one sheet into a fully compound curve sheath without a visible seam proved very difficult - I don't have any in progress pics, but at this point the bulk of the shaping has been done and the skin runs up over the lower part - I was hoping I could just sand & file this away for a nice close fit (I should have started with the tip & made the lower panel fit it, not the other way around..) ..once it was all sanded away, I was really happy with the result.. ..the prop hub was painted and added to the base.. ..and it is a perfect fit.. ..it feels great having got that done - everything else is easy by comparison I also have the right sheet aluminium that Brian (Out2gtcha) kindly shipped from the US on my behalf so can now start skinning the airframe.. ..a milestone I think, and hopefully the start of more regular updates.. TTFN Peter

Love it I am not a huge jet guy, but I know this is one of the Holy Grail's of modelling and I can recognise & enjoy seeing real modelling skill on display.. Excellent job Cees Peter

crikey thanks guys - I am very grateful for your kind compliments and it is you guys I consider my primary judges who I must do my best to please not much of an update, but it is still a fair few hours work.. I added the main pipes that go in the front of the weel bay roof - these are aluminium tube with insulating tape for the black bits and foil tape for the clamps.. I also made up the uplocks which are tiny parts made from scaled plans and also the gear door sequencing assemblies that are another set of tiny parts with connecting rods.. they are the bits in and around the square holes in the bay roof.. ..and the other side.. ..it may be difficult to grasp the size of these parts so here it is with a 5 amp fuse.. ..starting to look busy.. electrical wiring next, then I think most of what I wanted to do here is done and I can close it all up and protect it and start work on the fuselage structure around the back of the canopy which is entirely absent at the moment... TTFN Peter

hi folks so, I am really glad this week is over - just look at all this piping... I got some 0/6 and 0.8 solder from Amazon which was all I could think would be silver, but flexible enough to be able to bend.. the inherent problem in this is that is also easy to bend by accident, so I would roll it flat using a sheet of balsa and a book (so as not to scar it), slide a brass tube along it to where I wanted to bend it and then bend as needed. This works but for stringing it through holes, through or behind fittings it was an extremely tiring, demanding and frustrating job.. one I could really only do for 30 mins (or a pipe) at a time.. I made loads of fittings and parts the pipes connect to and while I don't have in progress pics, now I have done the bulk of it, and added the door retraction jacks, I took a bunch of photos of where it is at... ..and in detail.. ..so thats it - my eyes hurt onto the uplocks & all the big pipes in the big hole at the front next... TTFN Peter

haha you guys make me laugh - I want to learn how to knit! had a bit of time this weekend, so lets press on... ..first up some landing gear torque assembly fittings - seen here, it's the green bracket & bellcranks and a torque tube.. these seem to sit the deepest under the fuel selector so had to be done next.. ..first I made the housings from plastic card... ..then made up all the belcranks and any bits that go in either bay - primed white as I have run out of mr surfacer... .. ..then all these were painted.. ..and assembled, including tiny banjo fittings where small rods come off the cranks to various bits... ..and added to the airframe - the lower roof height in the model is making placing & spacing some of this stuff challenging... ..next this bit - the fuel shut-off valve - it's quite a distinctive and complicated little assembly... ..no build pics for this bit, but here it is completed... ..also added the hydraulic accumulator.... and then spent many hours plumbing the fuel selector valve - there is still one pipe to go between it and the fuel shut off valve, but there are some gubbins I need to add before doing that... ..still lots of bits to do, but feel like its a bit of progress to get that done.. TTFN Peter

Crikey - that is superb stunning job, there are so many things I like about it, I don't know where to start.. Peter

hello again my friends sometimes you get to a bit of a model and get a bit overwhelmed - that is me now in this wheel bay. The Spitfire I did was simplicity itself, a few ribs, a few pipes & done - the P51 is a complex aeroplane with many things going on and crucially differences between the C and D model (for which there are more reference pics about...) ..when this happens, I just try and pick a part as at some point it's got to be made, so why not now... I might not fit it to the airframe yet while I work out all the layers of stuff so things don't clash with each other, but to maintain momentum just pick something & crack on... ..this looked fun, so I started with it - its a condenser of some sort and in a 'C' is the opposite bay to a 'D'.. ..I got my lathe out & dusted it off and started turning the end caps - I only took one pic and it's rubbish so sorry about that.. ..I also made some of the pipe unions on the lathe from hex stock and soon had a kit of parts to make it.. the decal for the word 'CAUTION' was letter by letter stolen from a 1/24 Mosquito decal for something or other - the little one says Fuel when it shouldn't but thats our little secret ... ..next was the inner gear door retraction jacks - again these are in a different place on a 'C' - right up front in the big hole in the roof of the bay, whereas on a 'D' they are on the rear spar face.. ..you can see one of the pair at top left with a label hanging off it.. ..lathed the piston parts and got the size / angles from drawings.. ..the three little lugs on the fronts of the jacks had to be made and added one by one as I had no idea how to do it otherwise.. ..and painted & decalled - this time stolen from what may have been a Sea Fury.. ..one of the most intimidating parts is a fuel selector valve assembly - the multi-pipe thing seen here on the right with all the pipe stubs.. ..had it been a hexagon it may have been simpler as I have some 6mm Hex brass stock, but it's not, it's a pentagon... ..I started by turning the centre boss on the lathe, then measured & marked out where to file flats on some ali rod and filed faces to start the core part, I also ground 'V's' into some brass tube so I could bend it at 90 degrees and solder it as you can see the unions the real one has are not curved like just bending a pipe would be so this was the only option.. ..I made the pipe unions one by one... ..cut the core off and drilled it toaccept the unions, I also added some airscale bezels to get the fittings on the faces... ..and dry fitted - all these unions are at specific angles so I will work that out & fit them properly tomorrow.. ..I will add heat shrink tubing for the rubber pipework later on.. ..the last little bit was adding the fuel gauge to the centre rib.. ..and the back of the instrument with it's wiring... ..if every day I make a part, one day it will be complete... TTFN Peter

evening folks still plugging away on the wheel bay... wanted to make the big spar attatchement seen here (the long black thing on the left with loads of bolts in it) scaled the drawing and started drilling lots of holes in a square tube of brass of the same size...(always drill any hole in anything first, before doing anything else...) ..put a template each side and ground away the waste... ..and added small lengths of wire & micro nuts... ..andf fitted to the spar... ..also made the gear retraction unit from a bit of perspex acrylic - filed & sanded to the shape with a disc added to the front face but allowing for the slide on gear legs to come later... ..finished all the ribs... ..and sprayed everything with Xtracolour zinc chromate - nothing is assembled yet, just placed for the photos ..thats it for now - back soon TTFN Peter

thanks chaps ribs coming along in the wheel well - each one hand made to fit the space given they are shallower than scale as the roof is lower.... ..just the last pair to go... TTFN Peter

I like rockets - no canopies Superb job as usual Jeroen, looking forwardto following this one Peter

evening folks ..I had a full day at the bench today so got lots of the groundwork done in the wheelbay... ..started with the face of the main spars - I took details from the drawings for where there was rivet detail.. ..and added flanges where there are ribs to help with placement and vertical orientation (and they are there on the real one...) ..there is a central bulkhead at the front of the bay below the engine, so again I took the drawings and made a template I can use.. ..this isthen transferred to litho - in thiscase what actually fits in the model and a best fit made so I can use the detail but don't always have to rebuild everything.. I start by drilling pilot holes and then either use a burr in a dremel or a broach (best tools ever you must get some) to widen the hole to the plan diameter - a quick sand or rub with wire wool and the holes are done... for apertures I drill holes and then scribe to join the holes & break out the bit in the middle.. ...added the spar walls and all the 'T' stringers in the roof...and also cut out two small square holes for the U/C uplocks.. ..both sides.. ..and in a day spent on metalworking added all the forward panels to close the bay off ready for ribs.. found a top tip by accident - using my UMM punch set and I used a 5mm punch in a 5.5mm hole and it flared the edge which is something I have been trying to do for ages & spent hours & lots of fails getting wrong... ..ribs next... TTFN Peter

Howdy folks & thanks for stopping by just a little update today.. I needed to sort out the landing light - just like this one... ..started by cutting the section from the wing.. ..the lamp itself has a rounded rim so I made up a vacform tool and vacformed it from black plastic so I don't need to paint near the glass.. ..made a chrome dome reflector from ali and glazed it, also made up the mounting bracket from plans... ..mounted it all and spent some time trying to heat form the leading edge from PETG in boiling water - it's the blue thing at the bottom, still in it's protective wrap ..hard to photograph it mounted, but it's all in place - the whole unit had to be virtually airtight so as not to let any dust in while it was faired in - a coat of matt black means the metal won't show when I skin it.. ..also installed the gun ports by adding ali tube and lining it all up allowing for the vertical offset of the barrel tubes.. ..not finished, but the grunt work is done.. ..having done most of the big bits on the airframe, I thought I would move into the wheel bays - I decided to cut the skin back to the mainspar to give some working room and realised the hard foam had crept in and needed cleaning out... ..made up some 'T' stringers from PE and strips of plastic card - I actually made another version to be folded up but it didn't work as I forgot to etch a scoreline into the top fold - these will work just fine though.. ..the best place to start was with the central rib, so I made up a laminate from plastic & ali and scaled the real one's layout - mine is shallower as I have brass sheet in the wheelbay roof to support the leg mounts... ..the main details & openings were transposed from the plans and added... ..and then the rib itself was detailed - I will only add what is painted Yellow Zinc Chromate (I think - anyone know the right colour?) - so I can spray the complete bay before adding all the gubbins.. ..and the rib in place with the rear spar faces which are next.. ..you can also see I had to cut a hole in the well roof as I found a big opening with loads of bobbins & pipes coming through from the engine bay.. ..rear spar wall is next and then the stringers - after that it's all the ribs with cut-outs for the gear legs etc.. ..I could be in here for some time... TTFN Peter

So do I - I think that is next on my bench in a year or two, just like that one Stunning build as usual John Peter

evening ladies & thank you have been sorting out more of the basic structural elements so ultimately I have the airframe ready to skin in one (long) go, rather then the Spitfire where I did it bits at a time and had trouble protecting finished work as I did some pretty violent things like those I am doing now... starting with the tailwheel well - I started byu cutting just the doors out, but soon realised I could not detail the inside through the small aperture - I won't go mad in here, but I will replicate most of what I can see - here is the real (current) Lopes Hope.. ..I started by cutting out the section between two fuselage stations in between the whole structure and getting rid of all the solid foam inside - painted it black so none of this is seen... ..then from many scaled plan parts I assembled the main structure from litho, with brass strengthening where the wheel leg will mount... ..added some details and skinned the sides of it so it can drop in as a complete pod... ..this was then added and CA'd into position ready for the fuselage section to be added back & filling.. ..and after cleaning up, the basics are in there I can come back to later.. ..I also added the airscoop and got the shapes in this area where I was happy with them.. ..the next bit of surgery was around the wing fillets - they seem quite complex on a P51 with the top edge sitting over the flaps and a lower fairing cut away right back to the fuselage wall.. ..the moulded fillet is a bit ugly and will need quite a bit of work.. ..I made a slit in the fuselage and added a brass template from a scaled plan - I also faked a flap from bent litho so I could get the dimensions right... ..then lots of filling & shaping and trying hard to work around and not damage the skinned part of the airscoop... ..and finally after a shot of primer to see whats what, the basics seem to be coming together... ..the skin panels that have to go over that lot are quite distinctive so looking forward to that when the time comes TTFN Peter

evening & thanks chaps Thanks Gaz - I did a couple of tutorials which covers all you need to know Skinning in metal Skinning compound curves in metal Been working on the air intake and the exit duct - after wondering if the interior was painted I found this shot of another aircorps P51 and can see where there is closed airframe it's painted and where there is airflow it's natural metal so thats what I went with... inside the underwing airscoop is an oil cooler (I think) that is oval and sits in the formed fairing seen above - behind that is a big square radiator (I think) - I made the radiator from scored black card and litho framing (from a plan, and oddly the dividing bars are offset like in the pic) and I made a balsa form to vacform the fairing the oil cooler sits in... ..this was the skinned while still in the form - I left it in and just cut away what I didnt need later on - vacforming over balsa causes the plastic to virtually bond with it as there are so many airholes in it... ..I have started to tap in the indentation with the ball end of my ball pein hammer.. ..I forgot to have the oil cooler made in my etch run so I had to make it - I just used pipe screens but had to join two down the middle.. ..and the finished assembly - this sits nicely in the airframe... ..the exit duct on the model was out and it was hard to make sense of where the internal skinning is so I just made a pack of parts from the plan so I knew it was right.. ..some ultra violence was then committed... ..to make the two interface together... ..this was then rough filled with P40.. ..another exit duct was needed so this was laid out... ..and a bit of primer to see what's what... ..lots more work to do as the exit duct especially is quite a complex collection of shapes & fillets... TTFN Peter

evening ladies, and thanks for your kind words so I have skinned the front fairing of the intake.. first the inner liner was added and rough cut to the edge, this was later sanded & filed flush with the intake lip.. ..then the outer skin, I thought the best way was to try and wrap it as near as possible and try to get the join out of sight at the bottom... ..the skin had one good straight edge along the panel line of the first part so this was the reference point from where everything else must follow - this was taped down so as not to move in the beating process.. ..at this point the ali is coaxed to follow the compound curves with a mini ball pein hammer - this is a long process of tapping all the creases into flats... ..ultimately the metal gives way and the shape is good enough to stick down. I use contact adhesive and in this case was lucky I could unfurl the metal so as to hinge via the adhesive tape along that top panel line - that way it just folds back perfectly into position. Then more tapping and cutting and the result is a rough leading edge, but good enough to work with... ..this is then rough sanded & filed to get near to a finished surface... the photos show where I still need a few tweaks, and will try and add a sliver at the join line, but overall a tricky part is done.. ..until next time.. TTFN Peter

hubba hubba that is some ambition and cahones you have out on display there Tom What a lovely thing to discover on a Tuesday night... can't wait to see more Peter

fabulous job - really interesting to follow and I love the corrections / additions being so gracefully made Peter

thanks chaps so, more mustang mayhem... ..after shaping the basic filler construction of the airscoop, next was cutting out the air intake on the roof - I made a template from the drawing.. ..then with filler & dremal work I got the rounded sections done.. ..after this I had toreskin the inside as the skins I put in earlier had a join line down the middle and the real one doesn't. To dothis I lined the interior with tape and drew out the boundaries to when I remove the tape I can unravel it and get a template for one piece of rivetted litho to dress the inside in one go.. ..next I wanted to get the positioning right so I can partly skin the scoop in aluminium and fit it so I can add all the fuselage skinning later on.. This took the entire morning to get right as it is such a critical feature of the airframe (not helped by the plans I was using having it in the wrong position too far back...) I put tape on the mating faces and added tiny drops of CA to hold it in position so I could add the filler - this process was then reversed to I make the part match the fuselage - the net result is the parts fit together seamlessly... ..it was also braced inside before I started so the filler didn't collapse under load... ..then the fist bit of ali skinning on this model - coincidentally the first on my Spitfire was also an air intake.. ..hard to see whats going on here, but on the right hand side is a sheet of soft ali under some masking tape - it is being held, rubbed,, stroked and tapped with a tiny hammer to start to conform to the shape of the roof. the black tape borders can also be seen at the nose - these leave an imprint in the ali so I know where the borders are. Its a tricky shape as not only the shape of the scoop, but also the flaring at the top where it fairs into the fuselage... ..I end up with a useable part that has adopted the shaping well.. this was added with contact adhesive... ..then the other side - this time with the added complication of the intake aperture.. ..it proved impossible to do the little intake in one piece so I added another in the inlet,,, then after cementing all the tape is removed and we have the base layer of ali down... you can see it's quite rough and creased in places, but this all sands out... after sanding aout all the defects the first sking is done & just needs finessing & rivet details but I will leave that until later ..the intentionj is to get all i can done while I have access (so a bit of the wing surface where this sits needs to be done too) and then fix the scoop in place,, the nose intake is next and that is going to be a real challenge TTFN Peter

so, Happy New Year folks & onto this P51.. having corrected the fin and added a dorsal fin, the stabilisers were next. I checked the parts and again unfortunately they were not up to my accuracy standards so I set about making new ones. I learned from my Spit not to make and skin the stabilisers before adding them (easy to damage the skins..) so I thought I would just get them built & added now.. ..started with the mounts & fillets - first I copied the aerofoil section in brass and used drawings to locate them, after that I added a brass tube to mount them to and started to set out the slight incidence they have... ..once all was set up they were cemented into position and filler added to start to blend them in - this is P40 car filler and is super useful for modelling - I taped up the brass face so as not to have to clean it up later.. ..after shaping & priming they were done.. ..the stabilisers themselves were taken from drawings and set out on 3mm plastic card (with marked rib positions) - as were the spars.. ..test fitting.. ..bulked out with more P40 and sanded until I can see the blach sharpie lines along the tops of the ribs.. ..and fixed with JB Weld - I drilled small holes on the mating faces to let the adhesive really get a good hold of the parts.. ..will clean them up later.. ..while they were drying, I started to think about the airscoop.. pretty challenging set of curves nad the resin part that came was not quite right, passable, but not perfect.. you can see the features here include a straight, sharp top, curved bottom and 'V' shaped fairing between it and the fuselage... going to be a laugh skinning this in litho thats for sure.. ..again, all the drawings are in aircorps library so I scaled a set of formers and a keel - the keel has had a bit of the hollow inside removed... ..this is the assembled according to the former positions and a big, hard card lip so get that top edge right.. ..I want to skin the inside in litho so made up paper & tape templates to get the shapes.. ..cut out the shapes, added rows of rivets and fitted them to the central tunnel.. you can see it is slathered in CA to give the whole thing rigidity as much will be removed from the structure.. also added a dam from card at the top to roughly shape the triangle fillet where it joins the fuselage... ..then the whole thing is covered in more P40... ..lost of sanding to do, so thats a job for the garden tomorrow before I go back to work on Wednesday TTFN Peter

hello again Rudder is now complete... ..first step is to cover it in solartex which is what RC folks use for their flying models - it has a nice scale fabric effect - this is my seventh try to get a nice clean straight bond - it is heat activated with an iron which causes the adhesive to bond and the material to shrink - pretty tricky on a part this small (by comparison..)... ..there is also a metal fairing at the bottom of the rudder which I assume protects it from crap thrown up from the tailwheel - I pressed the part into plasticine to make a female mould and then cast a buck in resin to vacform the piece over.. here I am marking it for cutting, with the part taped to the buck.. ..and the covered rudder - started marking out all the rib positions for the rib tape... ..you can see on a real P51 the rib tapes go over what look like small circular depressions (rather than a Spit which has raised bumps where the knots are) - look along the line of the top rib tape and you can see the effect we need to get.. ..to get the effect, I used a rivet awl to punch small holes in tamiya tape and laid these down first along the rib lines.. ..then for the rib tape itself, I use plumbers aluminium tape - this was made to scale width from the plans and the 'pinked' edges (fine zigzag cutting to avoid fraying) I ran a rivet wheel along the line and tried to cut through the punched holes to make the pinking.. these were then laid out according to the NA covering diagram.. ..all done - hopefully you can see the dimples along the rib tapes - this was the effect I was after.. also made up a trim tab from the part broken out of the main rudder & skinned it in litho... the rivets on it are perpendicular to the leading edge, not in line with the ribs as you would expect.. ..also added the trim tab hinges to match the cut-outs in the tab... ..to finish off I added the trim tab control horn & arm, and at the top leading edge the balance weight - this was actually quite complex as it it shaped in many directions to match both the aerofoil and the tapering tip of the rudder post.. ..coat of primer to settle the details & textures.. ..the rib tapes look good to me so job done.. back with something else soon TTFN Peter

that is bloody lovely - first time I have seen the cockpit of the kit.. got me thinking a bit.... will be tuning in as I love the B24 Peter

afternoon folks I am loving this free time as I have had a chance to get stuck in on areas of the airframe that need some heavy lifting... ..as I move around it, one area that is immediately obvious as a problem is the fin - check this out... ..reminds me of a MR1 Nimrod with some sort of radar pod as it is so thick and fat - but rather than witter on about how this is not what I expect for my money in this day and age from a kit manufacturer (this base moulding from HpH from their museum range is not cheap..) it just needs fixing.. I actually made two tails - the first did not have a dorsal fin as in the only pic of Lopes Hope I have, you can't see the tail, and the other shots I have of A/C from the same unit don't have them - but then Kagemusha put me onto this image where there is most definately a dorsal fin (as there is on the restored -10NT).. ..so I started tail number 2 by using a nice side on shot to derive the dorsal shape (I can't find any drawings of it) and made up a scale template... I also included a tiny bit of the fuselage top so I can see exactly where the kink from dorsal to fuselage is.. ..this was then printed and transferred to a brass sheet to act as a keel - 0.15 brass is ideal as it can be taken down to a very fine trailing edge without deforming... ..rib positions were marked and plans used to derive the rib profiles - there is a big keel at the bottom to let into the fuselage... ..I used cotton to set out the fuselage datum line on the model and arranged it so it was completely level, then after cutting off the old tail and making a slit the length of the new one it was carefully let into the fuselage and the angles checked for accuracy... ..first fill of P40 filler starts to bulk out the shape... ..while that was drying I started on the rudder..again, the first step was to interpret nad scale plans to derive templates to work from - here the outline and all the internal features are mapped.. ..same process.. transfer to brass to be cut out with a slitting disc in my dremel.. ..all the internal structure was also marked out so after cutting out I can just follow the lines.. ..features were then built out with plastic stock and coffee stirrer sticks - I find the solartex covering bonds well to these.. ..the trim tab has been cut so as to be able to be broken out after finishing the structure so it is in keeping with the profile of it's surroundings.. ..you probably can't see them, but at four positions card templates with black outlines were added to show the profile all this needed to be sanded down to to get the correct shape.. ..then a coarse sanding thing in my dremel allows me to virtually carve away the waste - it is very effective and not really dusty as with the heat it sort of acts like a scraper rather then a sander.. ..the basic rudder is complete, a bit more finessing and it will be ready to cover.. ..and here is where I am at.. ..got more than a week off to go, so expect to have the empennage done by then.. TTFN Peter

You made me a very proud man this morning Mr Hatch.. Absolutely stunning modelling and the first time I have seen this set used in anger Perfect job - can't wait to see more Peter