Landlubber Mike Posted September 7, 2022 Share Posted September 7, 2022 Wow looks great Peter - that cockpit looks sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 7, 2022 Author Share Posted September 7, 2022 Thanks Mike, much appreciated. I'm getting there and making progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted September 7, 2022 Share Posted September 7, 2022 You are on a run now Peter, the kit needs a bit of extra work and your solutions seem to work out perfectly. For drilling out cannons, I use the tip of a triangular scalpel blade and turn it, after hitting the middle to have a mark for the drill bit. Cheers Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 8, 2022 Author Share Posted September 8, 2022 Thanks Rob I do the same but with a sharp needle in a pin vise but I still struggle finding the center. The more I think about it, I was always had issues with drilling out gun barrels - never understood why. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 9, 2022 Author Share Posted September 9, 2022 WELL, I DID IT AGAIN Don’t know how but I did it again. Now I know why I had so much trouble with the fit and shape of the nose … I had it on upside down. Kai sent a PM the other day pointing out my mistake and at first, I couldn’t believe it but he was a 100% correct. I went back and looked at the same photographs I’ve used all along and the instructions and sure enough, I blew it. Bad enough I had it wrong but this was already the second time I removed the nose; first time was to correct the cannon angle and try and remedy the nose profile. Thank goodness Kai saw my mistake as any later in the build and it would have been impossible to correct it without stripping the entire model back to bare plastic and there was no way I would have had the energy or desire to do it. At that point, the Whirlwind would have become a permanent resident of the SOD. Looking for an excuse, there is none, the blunder was mine. The Repair: First step was to remove all the Tamiya Putty from the first repair so I could see the actual nose seam line in at least a few spots and tape the cut line. With a CMK Fine Razer Saw Blade, I ever so gingerly cut the nose off. The first time I removed the nose and cleaned up the mess, there was not much of the fuselage wall left and I needed to build up the glue faces with Evergreen styrene. It worked well and now doing it all over again, I had to cut through and then remove all the styrene bracing and start over. I prepared the nose and fuselage as best I could, added new internal styrene bracing for some much needed strength and carefully glued the nose back on, which didn’t fit at all. What I was able to accomplish at this point was to get the cannons square to the Whirlwind center line and play with the nose cone until I had the right profile. There were large, ugly gaps nearly completely around the nose but I just let the Extra Thin do its job and dry thoroughly overnight. The mega gaps were filled with sheet styrene and when dry, I went to work sanding and shaping. CCA was used to fill any remaining gaps, holes and ultra thin seam cracks. From here, a lot more sanding with the worst of the repair over. It’s done and I’m ready to rejuvenate my mojo, get the juices flowing and get back on course. With this build, I’m never going to say; the worst is behind and it looks like smooth sailing. The only time it will be smooth sailing is when I cross the finish line. Please excuse the photos as I wanted to document the work as I progressed and there was no time to do my normal setup One ugly repair up to this point, with adjusting the alignment and profile as best as I could. Starting to fill in the gaps with Evergreen Styrene Done and moving on. 15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 Well spotted and fixed in time, one for us all to take note of. Cheers Dennis 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 9, 2022 Author Share Posted September 9, 2022 Thanks Dennis, much appreciated. To be honest, if it wasn't for Kai, most likely I would have noticed something was wrong way after the Whirlwind crossed the line. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 Phew, better now than never Peter, that was a close shave. Your surgery seems to have been successful. Doing a WIP can avoid a lot of trouble with the ever observant members here. Cheers Rob 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 9, 2022 Author Share Posted September 9, 2022 Rob Well said and absolutely correct 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 Peter, glad you were able to fix it. I've done similar things in the past. I was clearing off my bench once and found the cockpit sidewall to my Revell Spitfire. I found that odd as I hadn't used an AM cockpit when I built it. I took a look at the finished model and sure enough, no cockpit sidewall! At least yours was fixable. Carl 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 9, 2022 Author Share Posted September 9, 2022 Carl, thanks Buddy, that makes me feel a lot better. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnB Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 Good catch Peter. ALWAYS better to catch something like that BEFORE completing the model! I'll refer to your build whenever I get around to building mine. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark31 Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 nice work on the nose Peter. Mark 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 9, 2022 Author Share Posted September 9, 2022 John Just glad kai spotted it when it wasn't too late. Of course, my build will be a great resource of pitfalls and mistakes to avoid.  1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 9, 2022 Author Share Posted September 9, 2022 Thanks Mark Glad it's repaired and I'm now working on the main gear and it's 'oh so delicate' 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted September 9, 2022 Share Posted September 9, 2022 Good save Peter. My heart sank when I first read the beginning of your post that there was an error! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 9, 2022 Author Share Posted September 9, 2022 Thanks Mike, When Kias first pointed out my error, I didn't think the repair would work but luckily it did. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 Better to catch that now than later Peter that would been enough to put the plane in the back of the cabinet. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 10, 2022 Author Share Posted September 10, 2022 Kev Absolutely. It was surely a close one, disaster averted at the last second. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted September 10, 2022 Share Posted September 10, 2022 Good fix, Peter. Does anyone make metal barrels for this thing? So prominent... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 6 hours ago, GazzaS said: Good fix, Peter. Does anyone make metal barrels for this thing? So prominent... The closet is resin ones from CMK. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 11, 2022 Author Share Posted September 11, 2022 Thanks Gaz. I'm just glad the repair is done and I'm almost ready not for priming after the past few days of work. No metal barrels at all, just a resin set that would have the same type of molding seams. The macro pics do make the mold lines jump out and I'll work on them as best as I can before priming. Yup, they sure are ugly 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 11, 2022 Author Share Posted September 11, 2022 Thanks Carl I did look at them before starting but resin has its own issues and I'm sure a mold line as well. The other big disadvantage of small resin parts, they would be a much more brittle and prone to breaking, as I keep banging the nose and wing tips - the Whirlwind is a big model for me. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlrwestSiR Posted September 11, 2022 Share Posted September 11, 2022 Peter, I've got the resin ones but haven't really taken a close look at them. They're an exact replacement for the kit parts. It too bad Master or someone else hasn't done a set for the kit. I looked at the 20mm cannon they do for the Hurricane but they're not close enough to work. Carl 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 11, 2022 Author Share Posted September 11, 2022 Thanks Carl but at this stage of the game, I'll stick with the kit ones. I spent a good amount of time this morning sanding, scraping and removing the mold seams. They aren't perfect but look a lot better. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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