Special Hobby Whirlwind

[JohnB]

45 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

Thanks John

Making progress for sure and since the update, I have been working on the wings and nacelles - plenty of filler and sanding lay ahead. 

 

Oh yeah!! All that fun stuff......

[monnthebiff]

Peter, your Whirlwind is shaping up very quickly and looking very clean indeed.

 

Regards. Andy 

[Peterpools]

John

Looking forward to all that fun 🙃

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Andy

The Whirlwind is getting there and with some luck, I might be looking at priming sometime next week

 

[monnthebiff]

All looking very nice Peter, I have one in the stash but have other projects planned before breaking her out.

Regards. Andy 

[Peterpools]

Andy

Looking forward down the road to seeing your take on the Whirlwind. 

[GazzaS]

Glad to see it coming together, Peter.

[DocRob]

Your cruising now Peter, You mastered some obstacles and what shows is a Whirlwind. It will be a stunner for sure with your tamiyaesque talents .

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Gaz, Very much appreciated.

Making nice steady progress and working on finishing up the wing and engine nacelles. Next step is the big one; gluing the wings and horizontal stabilizers to the fuselage and of course, more tweaking and filling.

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Rob

Working towards the paint shop and applying my 'tamiyaesque' finish - hoping there aren't any more blips in the road to take care of.

 

[mark31]

Looks good to me 

Mark

[Peterpools]

Thanks Mark. making some progress every day now and it's fast approaching seam filling around the nacelles which are a bit nasty.

 

[Bomber_County]

Looking mighty fine Peter, after building SH Tempest I vowed never again, with instructions and the fit of the cockpit cage to the wing / fuselage it was relegated to SOD but I did finish it in the end…….

[Peterpools]

Thanks Phil

And glad to read you pulled your SH Tempest off the SOD and finished it. I'm suffering the same while part fit is an issue and takes work to correct the issues, so much could have been avoided, turning the models into an enjoyable build rather then nights of frustrations if SH had spent the much needed time in correcting and ensuring the instructions were builder friendly and left no questions on how parts are to be assembled and exactly where and how they are to be located. They surely put too much time and effort into the instructions looks but missed the mark. 

I commented on Ernie's Helldiver build that every manufacture should do more then one test build using the instructions by builders who have not been associated with the project and correct the instructions as to what issues and problems they find. This will surely remove a lot of the frustrations and promote sales down the road. 

 

[Peterpools]

SUB ASSEMBLIES

At this stage of the build, I broke down the Whirlwind into three major assemblies (the fourth: gear to be done later):

Fuselage, Wings and Props.

The plan being to have each assembly’s seams primed, checked for flaws and corrected. When all is A-OK, the fuselage and wings will finally be glued together, the seams taken care of and then it’s painting time.

The Fuselage: The split rudders were added and both required an Evergreen Styrene shim to improve the fit. Horizontal stabilizers and elevators were next and the fit was only so-so at best. What aggravated the situation was there was so little actual gluing surface to get the job done, as the mating surfaces are concave and not flat. I’m not a fan of movable control surfaces and gluing them into position was hit or miss.  I much prefer a single piece to do the job with the exception being if the hinges are well done and up to the job and in the Whirlwinds case, they weren’t even close.    

The nose and 20 mm Hispano Cannons were a fun time and it turned into a slight test of wills to square it away, including drilling out the cannons (at almost 75, finding the centers of the cannons to drill out is a tough act). I needed to remove the nose section when I discovered the cannons didn’t sit correctly (my fault), resulting in a slight amount of damage and then considerable time was needed to square things away.  

The Wings: Had their own idiosyncrasies and not a good job on my part when I glued on the nacelles in place at 3 AM in the morning - I should have stayed in bed. Lots of filling and sanding and now a done deal.

Last items to be added: the office floor, Joy stick and all the glass on the wing tips.  

The Prop: had been treated separately as there is a lot to do. To insure the three bladed props, sit at the correct angle and height, I built a simple jig. I decided not to use the spinner back plate as the jig, as I though my jig would be a bit more accurate and easier to use. The prop assembly on the left shows the completed assembly, while the assembly on the right shows all the individual parts for the of the hub assembly. Once done, they both will be primed, painted and put safely away until needed.  

The front windshield was masked and is just being test fitted, while the canopy was masked but won’t be fitted to the Whirlwind until close to the end of the build.

The front windscreen being test fitted and the filler work is now competed. The taillight has also been added and blended in. I was very impressed with the ASK mask set - fit was excellent and each mask is number making life a lot easier.

Final cockpit details were added: gunsight and the last of the turtle deck bracing

All the cockpit floor details are added to the upper wing including the joystick and rudder pedals 

Prop assemblies and simple jig

Canopy masked and the gear and coolant doors had the weathering cleaned up and lightened a bit more.

 

 

[Martinnfb]

Lovely detail Peter, all those ugly seam lines are filled perfectly, top notch work 

[JohnB]

1 hour ago, Peterpools said:

SUB ASSEMBLIES

At this stage of the build, I broke down the Whirlwind into three major assemblies (the fourth: gear to be done later):

Fuselage, Wings and Props.

The plan being to have each assembly’s seams primed, checked for flaws and corrected. When all is A-OK, the fuselage and wings will finally be glued together, the seams taken care of and then it’s painting time.

The Fuselage: The split rudders were added and both required an Evergreen Styrene shim to improve the fit. Horizontal stabilizers and elevators were next and the fit was only so-so at best. What aggravated the situation was there was so little actual gluing surface to get the job done, as the mating surfaces are concave and not flat. I’m not a fan of movable control surfaces and gluing them into position was hit or miss.  I much prefer a single piece to do the job with the exception being if the hinges are well done and up to the job and in the Whirlwinds case, they weren’t even close.    

The nose and 20 mm Hispano Cannons were a fun time and it turned into a slight test of wills to square it away, including drilling out the cannons (at almost 75, finding the centers of the cannons to drill out is a tough act). I needed to remove the nose section when I discovered the cannons didn’t sit correctly (my fault), resulting in a slight amount of damage and then considerable time was needed to square things away.  

The Wings: Had their own idiosyncrasies and not a good job on my part when I glued on the nacelles in place at 3 AM in the morning - I should have stayed in bed. Lots of filling and sanding and now a done deal.

Last items to be added: the office floor, Joy stick and all the glass on the wing tips.  

The Prop: had been treated separately as there is a lot to do. To insure the three bladed props, sit at the correct angle and height, I built a simple jig. I decided not to use the spinner back plate as the jig, as I though my jig would be a bit more accurate and easier to use. The prop assembly on the left shows the completed assembly, while the assembly on the right shows all the individual parts for the of the hub assembly. Once done, they both will be primed, painted and put safely away until needed.  

The front windshield was masked and is just being test fitted, while the canopy was masked but won’t be fitted to the Whirlwind until close to the end of the build.

The front windscreen being test fitted and the filler work is now competed. The taillight has also been added and blended in. I was very impressed with the ASK mask set - fit was excellent and each mask is number making life a lot easier.

Final cockpit details were added: gunsight and the last of the turtle deck bracing

All the cockpit floor details are added to the upper wing including the joystick and rudder pedals 

Prop assemblies and simple jig

Canopy masked and the gear and coolant doors had the weathering cleaned up and lightened a bit more.

 

 

Looking good!

[Peterpools]

Thanks martin, much appreciated. Those ugly seam lines are actually seam I filled with CCA and then checked with a Sharpie and then followed up with more CCA. They are sealed and hopefully gone for good.

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks John

Making progress and with some luck, I should be priming and painting by next week.

 

[JohnB]

58 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

Thanks John

Making progress and with some luck, I should be priming and painting by next week.

 

Home stretch in sight Peter!

[BlrwestSiR]

Nice work on the seams Peter. I'm at a similar stage with the Starfighter. But only on the fuselage. 

Carl

[Peterpools]

Thanks John

Getting close but I'm still a bit away as there is a lot to still do before I reach the turn for the home stretch. Hoping to be there after priming is done and all the redos are finished and I'm sure the Whirlwind will have more than its share.

 

[Peterpools]

Thanks Carl

Got ya but once it's done, the worst is behind. For me the least liked stage of any build: filling, sanding and scribing, of which scribing is number one on that list. One super plus for the Starfighter, with its thin and small wings, a huge plus in my book.

 

  

[Bomber_County]

It’s going to be a work of art…..

[Peterpools]

Thanks Phil, very much appreciated