Fidd88 Posted October 13, 2019 Share Posted October 13, 2019 The thing about watching Peter's work on the model, I feel, is that you start to look at both the model, and the full-size aircraft in a very different way to normal. Instead of the just the form of it, you start to see all the tiny features that Peter noticed and replicated, and then check for their presence on the aircraft and then vice versa. Ordinarily I'd never have noticed what I take to be stiffeners or some early form of countering wake-vortices (?) in the trailing edge of the outer-wing, just forward of the aileron, on the P51. Looking at the model has made me realise what a clever design the P51 is from an production engineering design too. Essentially it's a "Spitfire", redesigned for speed and endurance, but it also largely does away with the plethora of hard-to-fabricate compound curvatures, or greatly reduces the degree thereof. I'd be willing to bet that the wing was similarly much easier to build on the P51 (on the full-size aircraft) relative to the Spit? Peter, using your "boiling water" method, how large a piece of acrylic do you think can be formed over a plug? Can you tell us a bit more about that process? A real joy to watch, I was utterly captivated seeing the metal framed windows coming together! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted October 14, 2019 Share Posted October 14, 2019 On 10/13/2019 at 7:59 AM, HubertB said: PhotoEtched Hubert LOL. I ought to have "twigged" that, I fitted brass bracing parts to the cupola of my turrets to help them resist aerodynamic loads - made via photo-etching. 'Scuse me lads, having another "senior moment"! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted October 20, 2019 Author Share Posted October 20, 2019 hello again On 10/12/2019 at 9:54 PM, Fidd88 said: Crikey Peter, this is a masterclass. Have you ever considered making some tutorial films on youtube? Cheers, Why thank you Umm I have thought about it, but I thought it would just suck up a lot of time in getting that sort of thing done - and that is not something I have the luxury of having a lot of... anyways - my bench is an absolute disgrace and not for public consumption... On 10/13/2019 at 11:55 AM, Fidd88 said: Ordinarily I'd never have noticed what I take to be stiffeners or some early form of countering wake-vortices (?) in the trailing edge of the outer-wing, just forward of the aileron, on the P51. Peter, using your "boiling water" method, how large a piece of acrylic do you think can be formed over a plug? Can you tell us a bit more about that process? I need to check on those aileron fittings, as I haven't done them yet and I mustn't forget! As to the moulding - the PETG I use is about 1mm thick and I put it in boiling water until soft, once pliable I put the PETG on 1.5" foam and push the plug hard down - as long as you can apply constant & equal pressure all over the shape (and it is not too compound) then the foam resists enough to act as the female of the mould - for a turret the side walls (assuming they rae flat curves would probably be simple and could be quite large - any three dimensional curved panels forna top panel may be able to be done in parts if it is a number of glazing parts, but it would probably not work for a one-piece dome for example.. so, while I can't fit them yet, I wanted to get the flaps built up.. I used the same principle as the ailerons in that an inner core with raised rivets was made and then skinned with panels with normal rivets - you can see the raised rivets on the trailing edge in this shot... ..the first thing was to get the drawings into the overall 'folded out' shape along with the rivet markings - the raised ones are in threes along the trailing edge. there are also cutouts & shapes along the leading edge which curves under the wing trailing edge.. ..I always work in pairs if twothings need doing, so I don't do one and get bored doing the other, so bothe were made and folded.. ..the drawings actually had me confused as they show the lines of lateral rivets in paired rows, but all the pics I have show just one row so that was what I went with - here are an upper & lower pair for the panels with recessed rivets - the bottom one has just been done, the top one already burnished out to get rid of the 'pillowing' effect of the rivetting process.. ..the structures were strengthened with thick card and an inner core made up to define the profile and stop sagging.. ..details added and taped up ready to paint YZC where needed.. ..then the rivetted panels were added - here tape acts as a hinge at the top, and is masking where the impact cement goes at the bottom.. ..after painting the details showed quite well - I also noticed the curved edge that goes under the wing is normally seen quite glossy, I guess it doesn't get as much exposure as the rest of the structure, so I polished this area.. ..I also worked up and fettled the wing & fuselage so they fit and painted the recess YZC ..the aileron detail can still be seen.. ..not at the right angle or fixed yet, but you get the idea.. ..and that is the flaps nearly done - I will finish the fittings when I fit them .. ..I have the 3D printed wheels & hubs I designed from Tim Perry now, so they are next to take a look at TTFN Peter 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted October 20, 2019 Share Posted October 20, 2019 Just beautiful. Thanks for the advice on PETG. My turrets really require two or three different moulds, one for the front panels, which go to 60 degrees either side of straight ahead, and one for the "glazing" that goes from those points aftwards as far as opaque 'quarter-panels' (as I call 'em) which lie either side of the doors. These are simply mirror-images of each other, so can be done on 1 mould and cut else 2 moulds. The current plan is to cut MDF layers in the manner of contour lines, fill the gaps with resin and micro-balloons, sand back and glass with very light fibre-glass, re-sand and seal. Then female moulds can be made and those then casted with alloy-resin (incompressible when hard), and then that forms the mould over which the panels are vacuum-formed. As I intend using either 1mm or 0.5mm acrylic, your method is looking an attractive alternative! I'm really looking forward to seeing your model finished! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators JeroenPeters Posted October 20, 2019 Administrators Share Posted October 20, 2019 my lord.... respect! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 I think I just had a modelling orgasm..... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 Stunning, it looks like the real thing. Cheers Rob 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted October 21, 2019 Share Posted October 21, 2019 On 10/20/2019 at 4:36 PM, airscale said: (snip) Why thank you Umm I have thought about it, but I thought it would just suck up a lot of time in getting that sort of thing done - and that is not something I have the luxury of having a lot of... anyways - my bench is an absolute disgrace and not for public consumption... (more snippage of stunning pics) Peter Not that I'm at all what you might call a 'David Lean', when making videos, nor indeed am I much of a fan of modern social media (I neither "face-book" nor "twit", "text" nor "selfie") but making and uploading video's is a complete doddle, and takes no time at all once you've figured out the first one. I don't think the state of your bench is a bad thing - for people to see the tools you have to hand, and the way you clamp the work, or polish parts or offer parts for fit is all absolute gold-dust to those who wish to attempt to emulate you. All I do really is to natter about this or that on my models and draw attention to things that worked well, things that didn't, (always useful to some), and what's left to take care of. I use my wife's digital stills camera in video mode, in macro zoom mode, and then take the file off the cameras SD card and into a folder on my pc from where it's uploaded to youtube. Easy as pie. If you'd like to take and upload a test video, pm me and I'll walk you through it on the telephone, if you like. Your techniques and ability are really extraordinary, and tutorials will I think, be very popular and useful to modellers. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted October 26, 2019 Author Share Posted October 26, 2019 evening ladies On 10/21/2019 at 6:22 PM, Fidd88 said: Not that I'm at all what you might call a 'David Lean', when making videos, nor indeed am I much of a fan of modern social media (I neither "face-book" nor "twit", "text" nor "selfie") but making and uploading video's is a complete doddle, and takes no time at all once you've figured out the first one. I don't think the state of your bench is a bad thing - for people to see the tools you have to hand, and the way you clamp the work, or polish parts or offer parts for fit is all absolute gold-dust to those who wish to attempt to emulate you. All I do really is to natter about this or that on my models and draw attention to things that worked well, things that didn't, (always useful to some), and what's left to take care of. I use my wife's digital stills camera in video mode, in macro zoom mode, and then take the file off the cameras SD card and into a folder on my pc from where it's uploaded to youtube. Easy as pie. If you'd like to take and upload a test video, pm me and I'll walk you through it on the telephone, if you like. Your techniques and ability are really extraordinary, and tutorials will I think, be very popular and useful to modellers. well that is a very kind offer, thank you - I can't say I will take you up on it, but if I do start vlogging, you will be the first to know! so, it's been raining all day here, so what better excuse that to spend the day at the bench here is the task - something else I have been quietly dreading as it's so distinctive... ..the B/C doors are very different to the D, so this pic of Lopes Hope is super valuable reference.. I started by getting the PE templates I had made a while back along with lots of other bits & bobs after scaling the drawings - once I had these I made up laminates of sheet stock until I had the thickness right and dremmeled out the wheel disc and started to prepare the indentations... ..further refining the shapes and a quick test to see how the skin responds to the plastic core shapes.. seems ok so we press on... ..once the core is finished and has cutouts for the retraction arm etc added, it was lightly CA'd to a perspex sheet to start the skinning process... ..after one try where I split the sheet, I CA'd the core to the PE door template and then CA'd that to the perspex - after working it some details start to be added.. ..the sheet was then removed from the core so the raised rivets can be added.. ..the outer skins were made up.. ,,and after making the covering strip & painting it, the doors were assembled & detailed with brackets etc.. ..this side has a strut mount in a semi-circualr indent.. ,,and this side has the retraction strut mount.. ,and in place will look something like this.. ..thats it for now, lets hope it rains again tomorrow TTFN Peter 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted October 27, 2019 Share Posted October 27, 2019 Peter.........that’s just beautiful. Are you going to bring it to Telford? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted November 2, 2019 Author Share Posted November 2, 2019 evening folks On 10/27/2019 at 5:18 PM, Bomber_County said: Peter.........that’s just beautiful. Are you going to bring it to Telford? Ah - no, not this time, it will be there next year when it is finished though I am taking my Spitfire - that will be on the LSP / 32SIG stand landing gear then... ..I started with the lower castings as these are probably the hardest part - made a spigot for the wheel, the bent fork and the collar that is at the bottom of the strut from brass on my lathe.. ,,these were soldered as they carry all the weight and the main legs turned from brass... the compression strut was a polished steel rod I got on ebay.. ..then all the mountings for the torsion links and other bits and bobs were added - the strut assembly was glued with epoxy adhesive, the rest of the bits with CA.. ..the torsion links were made upfrom brass tube, an inner litho shape (I wish I had photo-etched earlier) and plastic card for the casting sides.. ..the ends were glued while on a quick jig from rod so there are no surprises later... ..using pins to align the torsion links so I can add the mounts to the upper strut - I don't want them fitted until after painting.. ..then both struts were prepared for a shot of a silver/white enamel mix... I didn't have the right alclad to hand so I must get some at Telford next weekend ..once painted & assembled I added the brake line, but there are two much finer rigid lines that run up the leg and down the fork that I will have to add once the gear is in place as one goes in the wheel hub (I think) and the other up into the U/C bay.. ..the 3D printed wheels were cleaned up, painted & dirtied a bit.. (thanks Tim) ..and a dry fit.. ..and for the first time it is on it's wheels.. ...outer doors next... TTFN Peter 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shark64 Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 so good it hurts 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted November 23, 2019 Author Share Posted November 23, 2019 howdy folks ..at the moment, it's all about getting ready for paint and getting details that need the model to be handled done, before I can flip it over and start mounting the gear, doors and finally start the tailwheel (been putting that off, don't know why...) Radu Brinzan is kindly doing some masks, and Torben did the nose art font for me many moons ago so I am grateful to him too so I should get paint on next time I post.. ...for now, I had to finish all the tailfeathers - mainly adding the tips to the stabilisers and fin and rivetting all the fillets. I did get some PE fasteners done for this, but there are about 60 to do and they are freakin tiny so I chose the lazy way out.. ..I cheated a bit as these are under paint and didn't do them in one piece, I used annealed metal for the fronts, but hte back of the tips where it is profiled to the stabiliser I just bent plain litho to keep the stiffness and maintain the shape.. ..I also painted the prop blades & exhausts - Steve at Model Monkey scaled up his amazing hollow 1/24 set for me and all I did was add weld beads from PVA.. ..the blades are not fixed yet, so excuse pitch or whatever please ..the last bit of airframe work was adding the MN20 loop fitting (I got some great help from the forums on identifying & getting drawings for this ) ..I started by laying down bare metal foil so I can work and things don't stick to the fuselage.. ..then I CA'd a disc of litho and the profile of the bottom mounting plate.. ..some P38 filler built up the shape and the whole thing was popped off and cleaned up.. you can also see here a sheet of annealed litho 'hinged' off the fuselage so I can start covering the shape to make the mounting plinth.. ..done, rivetted and drilled to accept the loop mounting plate.. ..the loop fitting itself was made from profiles & filler and a 1mm brass rod bent around a 10mm punch.. ..I think it's bronze green, so I went with that - it's not fixed yet, and nor are the bolts that hold it in place added.. ..thats all for now TTFN Peter 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 Speechless.....hmmmmmmmmmm...... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted November 29, 2019 Author Share Posted November 29, 2019 evening boys & girls the time finally arrived to add paint... I am not a fan of the process and find it difficult (which is why I like NMF birds..), but I can't get away with it anymore so after getting the custom masks from Radu I thought I would try the MRP paint range (I used enamels on the Spit). I did some test runs to see how the paint adapts to going on unprimed aluminium and the results with the black for the tail was positive - it goes on really smooth and taked wire wooling without a problem so a start was made.. ..not too many in progress pics, but here is one of the insignia on the wings... ..I put a different black on the lower tail as there are painted over serials here that can still be made out, the idea being I put one black down, then mask the numbers and then the main black for the tail so there is a subtle difference in colour - also set out the rear stripe by setting down equal bits of tape to follow the line with more flexible tamiya white tape.. ..the MRP 'super matt black' is a wonderful colour and I am really happy with how it turned out - bit of a problem where some paintv lifted when lifting the serial masks, but I think I might leave it.. ..wire wooling the surface gives a really realistic sheen and naturally fills panel lines & rivets with lighter dust which makes for a nice weathered effect.. ..the rest are just glamour shots - the fuselage insignia had to be stripped off as the white lifted when I removed the masks, so Radu is doing me another set and I will do these with enamels - I also scaled the nose art name incorrectly so that is being done again too stuff like the prop, the gear and the 'sit' are not right as it's just jerry rigged for the photo's, but the finish line is edging closer... TTFN Peter 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted November 29, 2019 Share Posted November 29, 2019 Looks wonderful with the paint on Peter. Another stunning project. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 I find myself running out of new superlatives to apply, it's just beautiful, and sets a standard, the sun if you will, for we "Icari" to aim for... A question if I may, the lower longitudinal line of olive-drab on the nose looks odd to me. I'm certain it was like that on the real aircraft, but is it not more usually a more horizontal line? IE wider laterally at the nose end? I've never seen one tapered thus, but then I'm not really knowledgeable on P51's... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HubertB Posted November 30, 2019 Share Posted November 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Fidd88 said: A question if I may, the lower longitudinal line of olive-drab on the nose looks odd to me. I'm certain it was like that on the real aircraft, but is it not more usually a more horizontal line? IE wider laterally at the nose end? I've never seen one tapered thus, but then I'm not really knowledgeable on P51's... You are generally right, but in the case of Lope’s Hope, which is the restored Mustang Peter is reproducing, the anti-glare panel has this unique triangular shape. Hubert 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted December 3, 2019 Share Posted December 3, 2019 (edited) On 11/30/2019 at 3:59 PM, HubertB said: You are generally right, but in the case of Lope’s Hope, which is the restored Mustang Peter is reproducing, the anti-glare panel has this unique triangular shape. Hubert Cheers, what I know about US aircraft would fit on the back of a cigarette-packet. I wonder why they changed it (presumably during the war?) from the standard factory finish. I wonder if it was to facilitate larger nose-art? Or was a squadron-wide peculiarity? Or merely that theatre/period in the war? Incidentally, looking back over this topic, I thought it might be fun to each identify the specific aspect of this model that is your favourite. It need not be the most technically advanced, or even difficult-to-make. For me, it's the heat/oil discolouration of the metal plate around the exhaust-ports, which not only exactly resembles the effect on full-size aircraft, but makes the model "come alive" as if it'd been flying. Edited December 3, 2019 by Fidd88 lack of grovelling 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted February 2, 2020 Author Share Posted February 2, 2020 well good evening everyone it's been a while, but having got Xmas, a vacation in Thailand and a shoulder injury out of the way, I finally got back to the bench... so where were we... Tailwheel... for some reason I have been putting this off, but it is finally time to make myself do it. I expect it's because it's a complex bunch of assemblies - predominately this one - this is the main bracket the tailwheel fork goes into - here nicely rendered by someone in 3D (I did try that, but it would have taken less time to make it ).. ..there are no drawings of the fork actually holding the wheel, but there are these for this assembly so I scaled them and coloured the main features to help me start a replica.. ..I started with the two spigot parts from bits of tube and the 'Y' shaped bit in plastic card.. ..this was then assembled and P40 filler added to block it out a bit.. ..some shaping .. ..and a coat of primer - it's a long way from being right, but it's a start... ..also Tim Perry kindly prined the 3D wheel design I did.. ..in other news, the model has a name now - I painted the nose art using a mask Radu Brinzan prepped for me.. .and Don Lopez's name & kill markings added under the windshield.. ..and the fuselage stars n bars - this is the second attempt after the first peeled while unmasking.. ..it is getting harder to work with on my increasingly messy bench... ..hope everyone is well TTFN Peter 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 GOOD GOD MAN, is there no limit to your awesomeness??.....harv 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wingco57 Posted February 3, 2020 Share Posted February 3, 2020 By the looks of it? Err.........no. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 afternoon folks I have been finishing the tailwheel - this shot is useful as it shows most of the assembly and it's orientation and notice too the doors have inner pressings with some odd shapes... ..I refined the main casting shape by adding more definition to some of the raised shapes and prepared a kit of parts for the gubbins that goes around the upper strut.. ..the leg fork was a brass rod bent to shape and then ground away so it's a half-round - this was then soldered to the shaft making sure the angle was right... ..these were then painted as per the pics I have of Lopes Hope... ..then the bobbins were all assembled and some weathering done - especially as there is no protective canvas boot (as I don't know how to make one...).. ..the tailwheel was also completed with some additional bolts and a valve... ..and the completed assembly.. ..the fork turned out ok... ..also made the doors - used a shaped bit of plastic the same as the main gear doors to shape the inner pressings, also the piano hinge bit is actually from some PE I prepared for the 1/18 Fairey Firefly I once started.. ..the black stripe on the rear of the aircraft carries on across the doors.... I later found out I have oriented these wrongly and so the doors would be back to front... will need to redo them.. .. a long shaft was fitted into the wheel well so the assembly slides onto it and is strong enough to cope with the weight... ..this was when I realised the doors would be back to front, as the mountings for the struts that close them should be at the rear.. ..next up I need to figure out how to deal with all the stencils all over the airframe - I have the decals made, but need to do some experiments on the best application that still allows handling / weathering (I can't varnish the natural metal - well I don't think I can...) TTFN Peter 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidd88 Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 Breath-taking. Do you know, that if the only thing you'd made was that tail-wheel assembly, I'd still be massively impressed. Seeing all this, I can't help thinking that the next stage for your incredible model-making skills, would be to go the whole hog and build the entirety of the internal-economy of the aircraft ribs, stringers longerons, the lot, and affix the amazing metal-panels to it. Regarding varnishes/lacquers: As I see it there are two main issues. It needs to be removeable with a solvent if for any reason you later wish to get rid of it. Such solvent needs to be safe with other materials used. And it needs to be robust but essentially invisible, even after a considerable period (it doesn't want to age-yellow for example). I can't suggest which precise varnish or lacquer would do, but one has to think that the previously stated requirements would greatly narrow the field. Maybe take some parts you've replaced and try out a number of lacquers/varnishes on different parts, making notes of what is used where, leave it on a sunny window-sill for 2 years and review? If you're using Alclad paints, they have both matt and gloss varnishes for airbrush use, which go well over painted surfaces. The gloss one is more semi-gloss in my experience. Decals would require pre-treatment, as they tend to go cloudy in my experience, under these varnishes. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted February 13, 2020 Share Posted February 13, 2020 I was recently talking to Wolf about going to Telford to have a closer look at this beauty . Work of art Peter. Cheers Martin 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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