Administrators JeroenPeters Posted April 26, 2015 Administrators Share Posted April 26, 2015 Wow.... I must admit i was a bit sceptic at the alu plating at first, but your perseverance pays off! Love the 3D goodies as well 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 evening folks ..it's been a while and it has taken me this long to actually sit down and do something - I lost my way for a few weeks after going to LA and catching up afterwards... ..to get me back in the groove I thought I would start nice and simple - a panel on the tailfin. I have learned a lot since I started skinning in litho so having done the opposite panel on the other side of the tail with no detail, I felt confident enough to try pre-detailing this one before laying it down.. ..it's the leading edge panel here.. ..usual process to burnish down a bit of masking tape, run a sharp pencil around the edges to get a template that should be a perfect fit... ..after marking out for rivet detail, I scored all the straight edges and used a PE tool to bend and snap off the waste - I use scissors for anything not totally straight, like where this panel meets it's opposite number on the fin leading edge.. ..after riveting, I laid the panel flat and used a sanding stick on the rear face to get rid of bumps & burrs and also burnished it before the next step - taking the masking tape off and annealing it over a cooker gas ring for a few seconds to make it more flexible.. ..I taped the panel in place and worked the leading edge shape with a wooden paintbrush handle so it doesn't mark the part, I also prepared where the two panels meet at the leading edge so there are no gaps... ..as it was made to fit in exactly this position I just folded it back on the tape and masked up to apply the adhesive.. ..a quick brush or two of adhesive and removed the masking ready to fit.. ..used some masking tape to hold tension across the leading edge and burnished again to get good shape and adhesion... ..it came out ok, and more importantly has got me back in the chair to keep going ..I also started to think about starting on the wings and used some brass stock to get some idea of the overall size - I have no idea how I am going to work this on my bench when the time comes.. ..so that's it for now - building a Tigercat, one panel at a time... TTFN Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towerpower Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 awesome, just awesome...... I did the Combat 1/32 Tigercat, and had a hard time at it, missed some shape issues here and there, so looking at your project makes me humble, i dof my hat (if i had any) to you. Beautiful.... Jack 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 Hi folks ..just a little update with some more skinning done....I have been doing the rear fuselage slightly differently to the other side - I have been adding a few raised rivets and have been alternating the metal grain to get a contrasting panel effect. I also added in some new panels that I only found when I got up close to the F7F in Chino, so each side is different but I can live with that....I added a bottom panel where the tail hook once was - this has pretty chunky rivets on the real thing.....its the bottom panel here....the made up panel....and in place....also wanted to add the chine that runs along the top of the rear fuselage so bent up a test part and learnt enough to make the real part....masked the top fuselage to add the adhesive....and the part in place.. there is a fairing at the front I still need to make....you can see the panel contrast and the chine better in natural light.....and this is where I am at - should have the final panels done soon.....back soonTTFNPeter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfiend Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Peter, I always enjoy your updates and creativity. Simply put, seeing all these skills come together is something special. Wonderful work. Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 evening folks ..back with a little more Tigercat mayhem.. so, last time I had to finish up the plating at the rear of the fuselage - this is done now except for the final tailpiece which I will leave as I keep whacking it on the bench... ..next was the rudder - I had made a spar and end profiles from card and rod and although it is fabric covered, I made the body from litho plate too.. ..I built some internal structure to mount the trim tab and did the usual tape template to make up the tab itself... ..this part is riveted rather than fabric, so did that before folding along it's spine and adding the supporting structure.. ..now I have been thinking about how to replicate linen and tried paper, tissue and tape but eventually settled on some stuff used for R/C models called Solartex. It is a sort of synthetic fabric that is used to cover a balsa framework. It has an adhesive backing that is activated by heat from an iron, and a bit more heat will cause it to shrink and give a strong (and fuelproof) skin for R/C aircraft.. ..I closed my eyes and tried it... ..after trimming with a brand new blade and working the edges with the iron I was quite happy with the result - it is a bit overscale but I can live with that.. ..I still need to fettle the assembly to get the trim tab to fit properly and then try experimenting with rib tapes... ..thats it for now, but it was quite a fun crossover experiment and hopefully with paint it will look ok.. TTFN Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Peter, You don't represent the rudder ribs that usually show very subtle beneath the fabric covering? Every update is a masterclass in new tecniques. Cees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted June 4, 2015 Author Share Posted June 4, 2015 Peter, You don't represent the rudder ribs that usually show very subtle beneath the fabric covering? Every update is a masterclass in new tecniques. Cees Hi Cees - thanks for stopping by ..from what I can tell, the fabric is uber tight on the frame on the real airframe - so much so originally I thought it was metal skinned.. ..I couldn't detect a sag so went with flat, but I do have a job to do to replicate the screws under the rib tape and the rib tape itself.. ..I will have to see how it compares when I finish it.. TTFN Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 That's it, the stitching and rib tapes give the right impression. Cees 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted June 28, 2015 Author Share Posted June 28, 2015 thanks for stopping by Cees ..still finessing the rudder, but I wanted to test a theory for building the wings by doing it in smaller scale on the horizontal tail so have been playing about at that today.. ..first I traced the tailplane outline from the plan onto greaseproof paper and stuck that to some 3mm plastic card - then I cut out two profiles of the tailplane without the elevators... ..I put a square tube spar through the one in the fuselage and started to understand the geometry - the spar wasn't straight in either dimension which made things tricky. I used a square to get the profiles in the right position in planform and tacked the tips to the spar with CA so I could mark out the spar position underneath.. ..once marked out you can see how off the spar would be if I used the stub I embedded in the fuselage.. ..I cut out a slot for a mini spar and slotted the end of it to slide onto the tailplane part.. ..and checked again the geometry was right.. ..then on a trip into the unknown I prepared some balsa sheet with a scored groove to accept the spar and made up a sandwich to give the tailplane some bulk I can shape later.. ..I ended up with two tailplanes to work with.. ..I will soak the leading edges and tips in thin CA and shape them to the aerofoil profile in the next few days - the plan then is to soak the whole thing in sanding sealer or something to harden up the balsa and skin in litho... ..in theory it will work, but we will see - if it does then the same process hopefully will be used for the wings... TTFN Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted June 29, 2015 Share Posted June 29, 2015 Very nice Peter, and so unexpected. I thought you were using plastic versions of the card kit, but this an excellent solution. Cees 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators JeroenPeters Posted June 30, 2015 Administrators Share Posted June 30, 2015 Superb, and ballsy! But to be honest I would use plastic card layered. I think balsa may be to porous.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted July 1, 2015 Share Posted July 1, 2015 If covered it should be fine, but it will be vulnerable. Laminated plastic is perhaps too heavy. Cees 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted July 2, 2015 Author Share Posted July 2, 2015 evening folks thanks guys for stopping by and your advice - I know having watched me make multiple balls ups in the past you have my best interests at heart ..this is new to me so thought I would give it a go.. ..first I shaped the tailplanes by rough sanding - the finish doesn't really matter as it will be skinned. I primed a couple of times so I could get a sense of the shape and to try and impart some rigidity I coated them with future... ..this seemed to work - they certainly didn't deform when I squashed them between my finger and thumb, but would scar if I dug a nail into them.. ..I thought the easiest way to skin would be bending the litho around the leading edge, so I tried it with some scrap.. ..marked out the panel lines to trace onto the tape template I was going to add.. ..covered in tape and drew out the panels.. ..tried to get a clean fit where it will meet the fuselage.. ..peeled it off and marked out where to rivet and score panel lines - I should have scored last as adding rivets makes the litho bend slightly along each row so it starts to curl up - in straightening it out I nearly broke the scored lines and ended up with lots of small panels instead of one big one... ..put the adhesive on both sides and after fitting to one face quickly covered the panel in tape so I could burnish down on the leading edge and fold it over without kinking... the tape helpfully held it all down until the glue started to go off.. ..and the finished panel.. ..so, it seems to work and is pretty resilient which bodes well for the wings - my worry now is the stub spars for the wings won't be man enough as everything is getting pretty heavy now - will have to think on that one ..one last photo of the airframe so far to remind me I am building an aeroplane not lots of little bits of one.. TTFN Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Another fine installment in this saga. You prove that the battle between weight and strenght is an ongoing proces. If you need to beef up the tailspar you cannot make it too heavy, otherwise you have a tailsitter. More weight At the front for balance will strain the landinggear etc etc, fascinating. Cees 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted July 9, 2015 Author Share Posted July 9, 2015 Another fine installment in this saga. You prove that the battle between weight and strenght is an ongoing proces. If you need to beef up the tailspar you cannot make it too heavy, otherwise you have a tailsitter. More weight At the front for balance will strain the landinggear etc etc, fascinating. Cees Thanks Cees pretty sure it won't be a tailsitter - I made the nose from solid resin and cast it around a massive lead fishing weight - if anything it will be a belly-sitter as the gear collapses worryingly I have been crazy busy with real life lately - got a lot going on in the day job and have been away a bit so time at the bench has been limited.. ..I did carry on with the tailplane and added the rear skin - this was not annealed as it was flat which means the trailing edge is stiff to shroud the elevator. I also started to work some pewter into the radiused tips of the tailplane.. ..same process - a tape template, I thought I could do this rear part in one piece and left the rear edge a bit longer to shape the curved shroud.. ..more burnishing to get the compound curves - the front parts had to be two part as I couldn't get it to form as one.. ..not much to say about the rest, but it seems to be going ok and the tip is now complete.. ..and in place on the airframe - there is a gap where it meets the fuselage as it is a loose push fit, when fixed later on it should be fine.. ..gotta do the other side next.. TTFN Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted July 11, 2015 Author Share Posted July 11, 2015 woohoo - tailplanes are done.... ...just dry-fitted and need to finesse the little flared tips a bit and fill them with thick CA to keep their shape, but other wise happy with how they turned out... ..more importantly, the experiment worked - I now know I can do the wings this way TTFN Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators JeroenPeters Posted July 11, 2015 Administrators Share Posted July 11, 2015 I can't wait to see this up close at Telford! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Did you beef up the spar Peter? Cees 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ophthoidoug Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Just stumbled across this thread! You should know that you've ruined my day I literally had to concentrate to separate the reference photos from the photos of your build If I have some free time tomorrow I'll get back to trying to assemble Tamiya's perfectly engineered corsair ... or maybe just take up stamp collecting instead ... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 evening folks thanks for stopping by ...back with a bit more F7F madness... ..so todays challenge is not mission impossible, but it is mission difficult... - I need to make this... ..it's the nosegear leg I took some photo's of at Chino - note the crazy geometry and different shapes in the casting.. ..I traced out the structure from the plan I have and checked it - I started with one part in appropriate diameter tube I had which turns out is copper (I think..) ..I have no lathe, or milling machine or any of the tools needed to do this properly so I just used a big household drill chuck as the 'vice' and various drills and tools in a dremel to work holes and shapes - first up was the angled central casting... ..for the yoke i put some steel rod into brass tube and bent it - I left some sticking out so I could bend it to get an axle for the wheel.. ..seemed to work.. ..now to fix the yoke to the casting I needed a pin or rod and this needed to be strong - I had no alternative but to try and learn a new skill - soldering... ..I watched Paul Budziks really helpful video and got myself some kit.. £30 GBP all in.. ..this was my first go and no you should not learn on the parts you are making, you should learn on practice parts ..the top image is it after soldering - a bit of a mess, the bottom image is after clean up and actually it worked out pretty well.. ..after a fair few hours I had made a fair few interlocking parts to make the basic leg structure.. ..they dry fit together and I need a LOT more practice soldering before I try and assemble it together (I also can't seem to solder to the copper I used when practicing?) .then I got some shiny new kit - this is a combined soldering iron & blowtorch as I was struggling to get the gun to heat the parts enough to do a good job.. ..I tried the first part and soldered the rings to the copper core - seemed to work... ..and then to the leg itself - this is when what Tim said would happen, happened - some of the other parts went out of alignment as the whole thing heated up... ..I tried to correct it but it started to make it worse so left it... ..then made up a bracket for the retraction arm and held the parts in tweezers... ..cut some thin slivers of solder and rested them where the joints were - a few seconds blast with the blowtorch and capillary action ran it into the joints... ...I use a fibre brush type thing in a dremel to clean off the flux and oxidation - quite pleased with how it came out... ...still many more parts to make, but the basics are coming together.. ..I know it is more like engineering than modelling so not too dull I hope - but I need to do a fair bit of this so the big old bird doesn't collapse on her belly the first time I set her down TTFN Peter 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 Did you beef up the spar Peter? Cees Hi Cees - not for the tailplane, no but I think I will need to for the wings... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted July 22, 2015 Author Share Posted July 22, 2015 evening folks been beavering away and now on torque links.. the rusted to hell bits on the right in this pic from Chino - note they seem handed so not just two simple triangles, plus they have a flat centre with sides so are likely a casting, and have lightening holes... ..so where to start... measured off my plans and marked out some sheet - always drill any holes etc first it is much easier when you have something to hold on to rather than do it afterwards when it is a fiddly little bit... ..worked up the parts and scored and bent off a very thin strip for the sides... ..added some tube to each end and started to add the walls from strip.. all this is CA'd together - I was too scared to try soldering it.. ..used tiny bolts to assemble them and the main parts are nearly complete - just the retraction arm to go... ..thats it for now.. TTFNPeter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted July 23, 2015 Share Posted July 23, 2015 Amazing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators JeroenPeters Posted July 23, 2015 Administrators Share Posted July 23, 2015 AAaaahhhhhhh!!! Too cool... Great nose-wheel-job! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now