Bill_S Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 I started these a while back. Some of you may have seen them on LSP. Three kits; two Revell N1K1-J and the Hasegawa N1K2-J. I have the Scratchbuilders Rex conversion for one of the Revell mid-wing Georges. While the molding on the Revell kits is very nice (and subtle), it's raised. Complete rescribing is in order. Also, the Revell cockpits are very basic and there is no gear bay detail. I've used the Hasegawa pit as a starting point for the earlier birds. All three variants and different instrument panels. I bought three copies of the Brengun PE interior set for the Hasegawa kit. I've used some, but there was quite a bit of scratchbuilding along the way. Resin inserts installed prior to cutting off the underwing cannon gondolas. I had to epoxy a piece of brass square stock to address a major warpage issue. Landing gear bay filled. Lots of filling and sanding! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted September 20, 2018 Administrators Share Posted September 20, 2018 This should be epic! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share Posted September 20, 2018 Sidewall detail on the Revell kit - typical of 70s vintage kits. It's all gone. The Hasegawa pit is actually a decent fit into the Revell fuselage. My first experience with casting resin. Quite a learning curve. Quite a few flat parts easily made from sheet stock. I cast copies of the Hasegawa gear well inserts. too. Just a little tweaking, and I got an excellent fit into the Revell wing. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share Posted September 20, 2018 Initial cockpit work on the Revell. Brengun PE with styrene added. Scratch built seat from sheet copper. I CA'd solder along the sharp edges. Finished product. Some consoles for the starboard side of the cockpit. Beginnings of the throttle quadrant. On the mid-wing Georges, it was mounted to the console. On the later low-wing George, the throttle was mounted to the sidewall. Complete... Rudder pedals were scratched also. The top is the Hasegawa stock part. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share Posted September 20, 2018 Cockpits coming along... Hasegawa control column on the left, Revell on the right. Many of the smaller parts on the Revell kits had soft detail. I scratch built replacements. No pictures of the finished product, but here is one in process. Rex cockpit nearly complete; it's awaiting an instrument panel at this point... Instrument panels for the N1K2 (left) and Rex (right). And the N1K1-J... It looks much better to the naked eye... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Wow this looks good. As you said your first experience with casting resin. Can you show how you did that? Cees 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunhertz Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Oh my god!! This is modelling! This will be good 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share Posted September 20, 2018 39 minutes ago, Wingco57 said: Wow this looks good. As you said your first experience with casting resin. Can you show how you did that? Cees A lot depends on the geometry of the part you want to cast. For the rear bulkhead, there was really only one side with detail, and the part itself didn't have much thickness to it. I used an open mold for that one. The mold itself is pretty ratty these days, but you can see where I "floated" the original part in the rubber before it set. Once the rubber set, I removed the part. I then poured the resin into the mold. This leaves excess material on the back side which can be removed by sanding. I did the seat supports as well as the teardrop for the cannon and the radio. Here is the rubber I used. The resin was Smooth-Cast 300 white by Smooth-On. Parts like the gear bay inserts were a little more involved; it required a two piece mold (and a left and right). First, I glued lengths of sprue to unobjectionable areas of the part; at least two are required. They need to be long enough that they protrude from the rubber when the second half of the mold is poured. The openings left by the sprue are used to pour resin in; the other is for air to escape. Rubber is poured into a suitable container and the part is floated on the rubber. As I recall, I used forceps to hold the sprue and prevent the part from tipping or sinking into the liquid rubber. In addition, you need some kind of locating mechanism to ensure that the two mold halves align properly. I used some fishing sinkers for this. Once the bottom half has set, the sinkers were removed. A little petroleum jelly was brushed on the top surface of the bottom mold to prevent the two mold halves from sticking together. The part master was left in the mold, and more rubber poured on top. Once cured, the mold can be separated and the master removed. I did much the same for cockpit sidewalls, but the parts didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I ended up going a different route for them. If I was to cast this part again, I would attach sprue to the back side of the part instead of using the "pour stub" approach. I hope I've answered your question adequately! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Hi Bill, Yes, very much. It looks so simple. What a great way to reproduce multiple parts. Thanks Cees 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Hi Bill, since you started this a while back, nobody can accuse you of following a recent trend here at LSM of multiple kit building . That's a very interesting project with the involvement of a heavy dose of scratching and casting. I will follow closely and by the way, welcome to LSM Cheers Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 20, 2018 Author Share Posted September 20, 2018 1 hour ago, DocRob said: Hi Bill, since you started this a while back, nobody can accuse you of following a recent trend here at LSM of multiple kit building . That's a very interesting project with the involvement of a heavy dose of scratching and casting. I will follow closely and by the way, welcome to LSM Cheers Rob Thanks for the warm welcome, Rob! This project was started about three years ago. I pulled the Hasegawa kit forward; it will go to my local club's contest this weekend. Once that's over I can dive back in on the other two. I'll post most WIP photos soon, too! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted September 20, 2018 Share Posted September 20, 2018 Great work with the resin casting Bill and that scratch seat looks great. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikester Posted September 21, 2018 Members Share Posted September 21, 2018 Impressive work, Bill! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 21, 2018 Author Share Posted September 21, 2018 The surface detail on the Revell kit is very subtle, but raised. It had to go. Everything sanded, here is the wing for the Rex rescribed. I used Tamiya white primer so I could see where I had scribed. The main float from the Scratchbuilders conversion is a two piece affair. I epoxied some lead shot inside to prevent a tail sitter. The float on the Rex is big. Compare to the size of the float for the Rufe. The fit between the float halves wasn't the greatest. I used JB Weld to join them. Prior to doing so, I attached the float to the wing. The brass rod goes all the way through the wing. Holding the forward struts in place while the epoxy cured was a challenge. The design on the kits is such that the fuselage halves are glued together first; the cockpit assembly is then inserted through the bottom prior to attaching the wing. The tail on the Rex has a wider chord than its land based counterpart. I cut the extension from sheet styrene and glued it in place. Lots of putty and sanding later, I had this: The opening for the tail wheel had to be filled. The conversion also included a plug the fit on the tail of the fuselage. The Rex had no turnover pylon behind the pilot. This was removed and filled with sheet stock and putty. Prior to joining the fuselage halves on the Revell George, I had to build up the tail wheel. Here I've cemented the two halve together, then sawed and drilled for a brass rod. The tail wheel: I drilled for the rod, then removed the wheel. Then slapped it all together. I turned a new wheel in the drill press... The fusleage halves on the Hasegawa kit got cemented too. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted September 21, 2018 Share Posted September 21, 2018 x2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators JeroenPeters Posted September 21, 2018 Administrators Share Posted September 21, 2018 Only just chimed in. Great scratch building skills going on here! Lovely. Please continue. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 21, 2018 Author Share Posted September 21, 2018 Engine time. I sprayed all the cylinder banks with Model Master Aluminum Metalizer. The Hasegawa engine is in the middle. Crossover tubes are from the Brengun sets. Large scale engines don't look complete to me without wiring. Tedious, but worth it to me. The Hasegawa ignition ring. And the Revell version... Wiring in process on the Rex engine. None of it will be visible unless the prop/cowling is removed. The Revell George... And the Hasegawa. I removed material at the back of the intakes and replaced it with a fine mesh screen. The Rex cowling has no intakes. The resin part supplied has a very rounded lip at the intake. All my reference photos show a nearly knife edge at the intake. Some careful sanding later, and I had this. No prop was supplied with the Rex conversion; I put together a simple fixture to set the blades at the recommended 15 degree angle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 Bill all I can say is this is pure modelling. Absolutely amazing hitting the follow button so I can see these birds through..... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 22, 2018 Author Share Posted September 22, 2018 Thanks for the kind comments, guys! A lot of new ground for me here. Scratchbuilders supplied a drawing for a beaching dolly for the Rex; once the lower wing is attached to the fuselage, the thing won't sit anywhere. I cut up a bunch of Evergreen C-Channel, I-beam and strips... On to the wheels. The webs were made from 0.060" (1.5mm) sheet. A hole pattern put in, then roughly cut out. These were then put into my drill press and turned to the proper diameter. I used a similar process for the wheels. They were turned from PVC pipe. I was pretty pleased with the result. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 Bill Unreal - simply tremendous sratchbuilding and the tutorial on casting is priceless. Inhaling every step of yhe builds and a bit ashamed of procrastinating on making progress on my little Boeing as I wait for resin parts to arrive: I should have grabbed the bull by the horns, followed your example and get going. Bill, on the seats, did you solder or use CCA? My favorite area of any build after painting is the front office and the three you created are brilliant. Keep ‘em comin Peter 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_S Posted September 22, 2018 Author Share Posted September 22, 2018 Peter, that is solder. What is CCA? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 Wow, I raise my hat, this is a scratch building clinic at it's best. Cheers Rob 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grunhertz Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 That is pure modelling at it's best nice one 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted September 22, 2018 Share Posted September 22, 2018 Bill CCA is Super Glue ( ISO cyanoacrytate) Sure hope I spelled it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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