airscale Posted April 14, 2019 Author Share Posted April 14, 2019 afternoon ladies just a quick update on the panel skinning on the P51 - not much to show panel by panel, as the process is pretty much the same but the lower wing is almost complete so time for a few pics.. ..the C model has quite a large outlet for spent cartridges and a chute assembly that can be seen through the hole, so first up is the panel and the chute.. ..I don't really know what the little slots are for - venting maybe.. ..the two were assembled and a hole routed into the wing to make room for it.. ..the panels that define the shape of the gear door opening were done next, with some structure along the edges the doors sit on when closed.. ..and this is where it's at... ..the panel behind the gear opening will be left until all the filling of the leading edge is done as it has domed screws and is left natural metal as seen below and if I add it now these will likely get damaged by the sanding / prepping process.. ..lower wing done otherwise.. ..will do the upper wing next and I am on leave all this week so hope to get lots of it done.. TTFN Peter 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 As always, I had to interrupt my knitting session and check out this work of art. Peter, your talent and skills are way on the limits of ordinary modeller. I am beginning to plot a alien conspiracy theory. You know shrink rays and such Thanks for sharing sir Cheers Martin 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 46 minutes ago, Martinnfb said: As always, I had to interrupt my knitting session And I thought I was the only who did cross stitch. I have worked in design consultancies for over 40 years, in each we had a modelmaking department. Those guys are brilliant but man Peter you take it to another level. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harv Posted April 14, 2019 Share Posted April 14, 2019 knit one, pearl two......harv 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis7423 Posted April 15, 2019 Share Posted April 15, 2019 (edited) Those smaller vents in the lower wing were to eject the cartridge links that held the individual rounds together in the ammo belts. One vent for spent cartridges (joined together in one large vent), one for cartridge links (one small vent for each gun). You nailed it! - Dennis S. Thornton, CO USA Edited April 15, 2019 by Dennis7423 Spelling 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted April 19, 2019 Author Share Posted April 19, 2019 evening folks ..still plugging away on the wing skinning - the goal is to replicate what you see below on everything behind the mainspar as all forward of it is filled and smooth on the real airframe.. ..some useful shots from aircorps restoration of Lopes Hope.. ..there is litle point showing panel by panel, so here is one panel's story.... I start by making a tape template from household masking tape and burnishing it down to the edges of any adjacent panels with a cocktail stick followed by a pencil mark capturing the face edge of them.. ..this is the forward gun access hatch.. ..then the tape is stuck on a sheet of litho and all the edges scored with one swipe with a scalpel.. the original drawing is scaled to fit this panel and cut out.. ..with the scaled printout stuck to the panel, any rivet detail, or openings are added - rivets one, by one with an awl of different sizes.. any swarf is cleaned up, both surfaces made scrupulously clean and the panel is burnished face side down on hard acrylic sheet with a large metal rod - this gets all the 'pillowing' out where the metal deforms under pressure - afterall all we want is a nice round flat indent representing a flush rivet.. ..the waste is simply broken away by using a hold & fold tool - where I can holding the part, not the waste - a couple of wobbles & it breaks away with a surgical edge.. ..the panel is then positioned and one edge taped down so it folds back on itself but returns to exactly the right position once the contact cement is added to both the panel and the wing.. ..I mask around it to avoid having to clean up every time - the masking must be removed immediately or the glue starts to go off and if the tape is pulled, it pulls big rubbery sheets of adhesive with it.. ..same process repeated on every panel.. ..and now both wings are complete behind the spar - there are some slots added to the wing in front of the gun panels where I will let in a piano hinge.. ..I have been thinking about how to skin the forward part and have decided not to do panel by panel with all the rivets like I did under the wing. I am just going to skin it in two big sheets rolling around the leading edge with zero detail... the idea being that the original was filled smooth and the detailed panels will be almost impossible to do that to so why bother - there are two detailed panels on the leading edge - a panel to get to the gear leg mounts and the landing light so I will leave openings to add those (I stripped the old landing light panel off as I wasn't happy with it).. ..thats all for next time though.. TTFN Peter 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 ...maybe I should take up tiddlywinks! Beautiful work, man! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted April 22, 2019 Author Share Posted April 22, 2019 morning folks ..I set myself a target of getting the wings skinned before I go back to work tomorrow, and it is pretty much done.. ..I went by this factory photo of where the filler was used on the leading edge (posted under fair use) and as can be seen, it does not extend to the wingtip so that panel was left detailed.. ..a tape template for the main panel.. ..and after annealing the leading edge and some fine fettling to fit all the rear panels the skin is added... ..a piano hinge was added to the forward gun door by scoring lines on a sheet of litho and bending it double so the edge is upright - this was let into a slot in the wing.. ..the gear leg mount access panel & gun ports.. ..and the basis of the wings is done.. ..getting there... TTFN Peter 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 So much better than plastic! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HubertB Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 (Insert whichever superlative you can think of above. Personnally went out of them a long time ago) Hubert 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bomber_County Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 2 hours ago, HubertB said: (Insert whichever superlative you can think of above. Personnally went out of them a long time ago) Hubert Couldn’t agree more Hubert..... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 1 hour ago, Bomber_County said: Couldn’t agree more Hubert..... I'll second that............................. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted April 22, 2019 Share Posted April 22, 2019 Yep, I'll go with whatever superlative Hubert came up with as well! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 This is simply phenomenal. Very entertaining and motivational at the same time. Surprising due your inventive approach every time. Thank you for sharing Peter. Cheers Martin 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted April 24, 2019 Share Posted April 24, 2019 Yup, I’m right in line with Hubert and the guys, as I’ve long run out superlatives and just stare in amazement at every photograph, coupled with your narration on how the work was done. Surely I’m in the Modeling Twilight Zone as I enter each update Keep ‘em comin Peter 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 evening ladies & thanks for stopping by seems the last few weeks has been a bit slow, but to be honest I have been hard at things, learning from a few mistakes on the way and redoing stuff I wasn't happy with.. ..the first thing was to finish skinning the leading edge of the wings at the underside wing root - I needed a smooth surface to skin onto as this had all been chopped about to add in the frames & ribs in the landing gear well.. here, at the top you can see the curved sub-skin added... ..there is a lip / ledge the gear door sits on so a jig was made and some annealed 'L' shaped litho bent to shape and painted.. ..these were then added and filled flush with the new skin so I can put soft annealed litho on top of both without it picking up the uneven surfaces below - here before filling.. ..then the panel itself was made by getting a tape template of the shape and cutting it short at the curved edge to get the lip.. .. I then forgot to take a picture of the finished panel, so onto the wingtip ..I started by cutting the straight edges where the wingtip panel meets the other panels, then this join was taped down and the shape burnished to follow the curves. Once this was done a straight edge was added at the very tip where it will meet the underside tip skin.. once I had the main shape, the fastening rivets were added and here it is seen hinged upwards before adding the impact cement to fix it.. ..before sanding smooth, the shape is pretty good anyway.. ..and the final wingtip - as it is going to be being painted, any tiny blemishes can be dealt with using primer or filler.. ..the bulk of the last couple of weeks was spent prepping for priming as I know alclad is so unforgiving.. I also replaced the landing light panel three times as I just couldn't get it to blend properly with the surrounding panels and actually found when I fitted the main skin as I rolled the leading edge skin over the edge, it was not all stuck right onto the surface so I had this hollow area that kept crushing and denting - it was all pretty frustrating.. ..to add to that, after finally etch priming both wings, I found the primer easily coming off - so after a bit of research it turns out etch primer has a best before date - if it is not fresh, the acid in it goes off and it is basically like paint rather than etching and grabbing onto the surface that all needed stripping, the rivet depressions cleaning out and the whole prep process done again... anyways, I got some proper single pack etch primer from Phoenix Precision and have just painted the first coat - I am impressed when thinned 50/50 it goes on well and preserves much more detail than my old primer.. ..you be the judge ..that stuff needs 36hrs to etch the surface so after that I can get a look at further prep for an alclad finish - though that stuff is pretty fragile so not sure what stage to paint it as I don't want to damage it and even taping up the wings is a risk as I have had it come off with masking tape.. more next time TTFN Peter 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted May 5, 2019 Administrators Share Posted May 5, 2019 Stunning work, Mr. Castle, as usual. Funny factoid here, Peter; I’m actually using your build as reference for my still ongoing Rutman P-51B build. Your cockpit detail is phenomenal. I hope to learn enough from your tutorials to give me a fighting chance of a partial NMF finish with my B-36 a real possibility when it comes about. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GazzaS Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 SWeet! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted May 12, 2019 Author Share Posted May 12, 2019 evening folks - regular Sunday installment I want to get the tailfeathers skinned next, so I used the usual process and scaled a factory drawing to get the rivet pattern - this is the first step after sticking the drawing on litho and scoring & adding rivets.. ..after it has been burnished flat, there is an access hatch in each surface, upper and lower so I had already had these made in PE and I use a brand new scalpel blade to go around it, then drill the corners, make a hole in the middle & score into this so I can break away the waste.. ..then the rest of the waste around the panel is broken away and it's taped in position.. ..stuck down with the hatch added.. ..upper & lower.. ..the leading edge is done is softer, thick foil like ali that is taped down to a butting straight edge and worked over the leading edge - where it meets the panel on the other side it is pushed hard so there is a step where it laps over it and then stuck down & the step sanded away resulting in a perfect join.. ..guide tape is used to follow the rivet lines from the main tailplane panels to allow LE rivets to be added... ..same process for the fin - here you can see the leading edge folded back on itself ready for fixing and some rubber pipe protecting the trailing edges of the tailplanes.. ..and where the LE panel meets the main panel you can see the step that gets sanded away.. ..I actually later taped scaled drawings to the LE panel to get the rivet pattern right ..one of the two lower fuselage panels - this has a number of hatch cutouts in it and will set the datum for all panels to follow so needs to be right... ..with the hatches added - the bigger one with holes in needs domed rivets adding one by one when I can be bothered to drill all the holes.. and the rear is starting to take shape - unfortunately, again all this will be painted - in this case the whole empennage will be matt black... ..away for the week on business but hopefully have something done next weekend TTFN Peter 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 Stunning once again but some interesting insights into just how you manage this. Thanks 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 Only one two words Knitting and Aliens As always Peter, painstakingly meticulous work. Cheers Martin 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HubertB Posted May 12, 2019 Share Posted May 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Martinnfb said: Only one two words Knitting and Aliens As always Peter, painstakingly meticulous work. Cheers Martin Hey, I have seen this movie ... So, who is the Alien, and who is knitting around here ? Hubert 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GusMac Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 Ah but what do Aliens knit with? If robots dream of android sheep....... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airscale Posted May 20, 2019 Author Share Posted May 20, 2019 howdy folks ..just a little update as not had much time this week.. you can see here that where the skin panels on the fin & stabilisers end, it drops down to the bare fuselage shape - this is a problem for adding all the fillets around this area as when you burnish soft metal to get the complex shapes of the fillets, if it stayed like this, the fillets would distort where the existing skin ends and would form ridges... ..that means all that area needs to be filled so the surface onto which the fillets are added is perfectly flat - even a seam line can show through.. ..the first step is to get a tape template of the missing area and cut a sheet of plain annealed litho to go there.. here this bit covers that area and the side of the tail fillet... ..then it is stuck & burnished and all the seams filled so it is one contiguous surface.. ...I also skinned underneath by the tailwheel well.. ..the fillets will come next and be quite involved - I only have drawings for the early P51B version without a tail fillet.. ..you can see how they sit on top of the aircraft skin.. ..and I have some good photo's of the fin fillet to work from.. - just need to unpick the order they go down - this fillet will be added later as it goes over panels I won't add until the cockpit is in place and the rear canopy are is built up.. ..back soon with more.. TTFN Peter 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 there is rational explanation for this level of detail 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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