airscale Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 evening folks ..just a few quick snaps now the U/C is pretty much finished.. ..added the gubbins to the retraction arm which must be part of the actuator - there is also a little junction box like thing that has a pipe coming out of it that runs along the arm and back up into the bay via the noseleg.. ..added the actuator arm and taped up a spacer to protect it.. ..calling this done.. TTFN Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 And so ends another epic instalment of this magnum opus, next staaage! Cees 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BevanBrooks Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 You are one crazy dude!..........in a good way that is! Amazing!! Cheers Bevan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 evening folks ..thanks for stopping by.. so, it's engineering time - some serious structural work to sort out wing spars and mountings for the main undercarriage.. first I thought about how to mount the U/C in the wings - the answer was a chunky brass plate that also could be used to tie in the wing spars as one unit and allow me to slide them in and out of the stub spars while I build the wings.. ..I clamped it all up and fearful of burning the whole thing to the ground soldered together with a torch - I put some metal clamps on the spars before they go inside the airframe as I hoped they would act as a heat sink and not cause any disturbance to the fuselage... ..cleaned up the joints and it is rock solid.. ..made up the other side.. ..the main gear leg is perpendicular to the spar, but is canted at an angle to the wing chord...it is also a solid leg until it gets in the nacelle then it is a mass of rods & arms. I can't model it like that, I need a rigid mounting so will have a mounting tube to slide the leg into... ..the geometry is complicated so I mocked up a nacelle and the gear door openings (the cut-out at the front) with an old spray can lid so I could work out where to put the mount.. ..I also don't trust my eye as the whole airframe has been built away from jigs or any kind of traditional keel so I hung the plan over my kitchen table and worked out where on the mounting plates the fittings should be by working from the wing leading edge so they are correctly positioned... ..and with some careful setting up was able to solder on the mounting lugs... ..the structure seems to look ok and equal, and importantly if I balance it where the gear will be it is not a tail sitter (by quite some way) so the resin nose & lead weight worked... ..the 3mm card wing cores sit above these and have cutouts for the air intakes - I also made a wing root rib which along with a few more half ribs along the wing will be the points to sand the balsa down to to get the core right... ..lots more to go, but it's a start... TTFNPeter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted September 19, 2015 Author Share Posted September 19, 2015 evening folks it's been a while and things have moved on a bit, so here is the latest on the big cat.. ..I set myself goals to move through the stages needed to get a bird like this done - "make the nacelles, so you can skin the wing", "sort the landing gear geometry out so you can detail the nacelles", "skin the lower wings so you can build the nacelle internals" - I have to discipline myself to do these steps so there is some order to the approach and things don't clash with each other.. ..the current goal is to get the lower wings skinned so I can get the nacelle structure built, so I thought as it is the lower wing just go for it in one big sheet.. ..I marked out rivets, panels and use colours to tell myself whether to rivet from the back (so domed rivets) or stop points so I don't rivet through a panel etc.. restoration photos are great for this as you can see panel & rivet details - unfortunately it is much more difficult with a Dark Blue GSB F7F sitting in a hangar which is what most of my reference is - but I think this is near enough... ..then after at least an hour's work the panel is fully detailed - here is the template being peeled off.. ..I also masked and wire woolled the roof of the U/C bay as the litho plate has a sort of coating I am not sure will take paint, so I stripped it down & will metal prime it.. ..I will be cheating as this will need to pretend to be the wing top skin, as I don't want to go chopping the wing about ..and fixed it in place.. ..another little challenge on some of the top wing skinning are some vents in what is the U/C bay roof - they literally are just holes I think to maybe let hot air created by the engine out of the U/C bay.. I cut some thin slits in the panel and tried making a shaped punch to indent them, after experimenting I had to make a female part to stop the vent mishaping or becoming too big - better to find that out on a test part than a panel you just spent time on.. ..they turned out ok though.. ..and thats it - stage complete - the undersides are done and I can start on the U/C bays... ..and to give a sense of scale, here it is with a 1/32 Sea Fury - the only other model I have completed since I re-started in 2010... ahem... TTFN Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 Peter, Another epic update, you make it look so simple but then again so is math ( if you have a feeling for it). Really looking forward to see it ( and you) at Telford. Perhaps your skills may lead me towards Trying that scratchbuilt Hampden one day, as I don't see Tiggers's Models repairing the moulds. Cees Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepper-Mint Posted September 20, 2015 Share Posted September 20, 2015 Impressive Peter... Cheers, Laurent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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