Better progress then what I do Jim ! Looking great so far


Happy Canada Day my friend !!! Nice and sunny here !!

Thanks Mark...Iv seen your LVG C.VI and I must say, if youre giving my work a compliment I thake that as a compliment indeed!

Tanks Terri!.same goes for you about your work ...c'est tres bien!..after an INTENSE rainstorm its beutiful now here also...air is fresh..kids running around playing..people chillaxing....no cars ......beutiful day. think ill have a beer and sit on the deck...I just put in 2 hours of cockpit detail painting on my OTHER OTHER project...1:32 Wingnuts Se5A...

Hi Guys ,just a quick update as life is getting a bit busy right now ...primed the fuselage and using Mr. Surfacer around the cockpit and other windows.....working on the wing. The wingtip dihedrals are wrong so its a bit of a bear to put that straight ..sand and fill...sand and fill...prime...prime..sand...I took Terris advice and made a template from a popcan and it was pretty simple to do ..Ill post pics of how i did that too as getting exact duplicate of the curve was a bit of a puzzle.Iv been fondling those engines and I must say that anyone who is interested in replacing a questionable kit engine should check and see what ENGINES N THINGS has to offer.ROLL MODELS sells them and theyre very good to deal with When you see the pics of these engines beside the kit engines I think youll see what I mean..........will post pics later..

Cool Jim , how did the popcan method work for you ?

I havent actually used the template yet Terri. Yesterday was my "nerdherd"day where I travel the 280KM roundtrip to hang with my homeys at the LHS while my lovely wife is working..but it looks very functional. The panel lines are raised so I used tracing paper and rubbed a pencil across to get the embossed lines ....I cut out the paper template and laid it upon the sheet tin. Airbrush sprayed paint over the "mask " ....... allow paint to dry and use scissors to cut it out and VIOLA!....not much modelling this weekend as its our villages 125th anniversary so theres tractor pulls,outhouse racing and the smash up derby along with live gospel music and food!... re-enactors firing muskets ,etc.....

Here we see that 3 different masking products should be used on the cockpit. I like the way Bare Metal Foil works for most mask jobs. Burnishing it down with a sharp pencil facilitates the use of a brand new #3 blade to cut out the shape of the wildow easily. Tamiya tape was used for the circular windows,and for the little "greenhouse" I needed to use maskol fluid as the bits of foil wouldnt stay in place when cutting.

Here we see the primercaot added. Mr Surfacer 1000 is used for the seams around the canopy. repeeated coats smoothed out with a fine brush loaded with laquer thinner layered over one another results in a virtually seamless canopy.

The same procedure was used for the waist glazings.

I decided to tackle that impressive wing in sub- assemblies. I glued the 3 sections, then lightly sanded to mostly remove the raised rivets. The center section had its spanwise panel lines taped off with Dymo tape and a P-cutter was used to score in new lines. I ran liquid Tamiya glue along the panel line to clean it up afterward. All of the sinkholes were spotted using primer and filled using Tamiya putty.

The wingtip dihedrals in the kit are inaccurate, and need to be deleted. This means filling,sanding,filling,etc.
Theres still alot of work ahead of me on this wing. Its repetitous, and I wont bore you with pics of that ..once Im done the wing we move on to the engines and nacelles..

I have finished the scribing on the wing, including access panels. Its not perfect I know,but not bad I think for a first attempt. Terri, your idea worked like a charm! Its labour intensive, re-scribing.....but a sewing machine needle in a pin vise and a popcan is cheap cheap cheap!
Im going to re-charge and try rivetting tomorrow...Ill include pics of that ..later..JM

Almost finished the riveting on the wing...46 lines to go ...whew......
After that .....engines and cowlings...

Glad that worked out for you Jim

Looking forward to the progress pic's . This is going to be one good size of a plane when done !

Thanks Terri...yes ..its about 24" wingspan on her...or 60 cm..Ill have to find a home for it once its done cause I havent the room!
I have finished all the scribing and riveting on the fuselage and main wing ,all thats left is the tailplanes to do ...but Im taking a break from riveting ...

There were alot of straight panel lines to cut ,which were easy ......once you practice a bit ..
the curved ones required some brainpower....luckily I know someone with a brain...Terri suggested using a popcan for template material, so here we go..
I used paper backing from an old decal sheet and embossed the panel lines onto it with the side of a pencil, and trimmed it with scissors to make a paper template. This I checked against the nacelle.

I then stuck the paper mask/template onto a sheet of tincan which I cut from a popcan. Ill keep this stuff in my kit from now on THANKS Terri!
Out came the airbrush and I oversprayed it to create a profile of the mask...

out came scissors again and I cut out my new template.....custom and everything ..
I taped all my templates in place using masking tape, and used a pinvise with a pin in it to scribe..... for long straight cuts on the wing I used a P-cutter...
there were some acess panels on the wing also. I scribed the square onto tinsheet,then drilled in the corners to get a rounded edge ,and cut it out with my hobby knife. These home made templates work great I think.
I sanded lightly over everything and cleaned off all my work with rubbing alcohol to remove tapeglue and other unmentionables..

I had some old DYMO tape left over from the days of Yore, so I cut some and Masking taped it in place to double secure it ..then used my ponce wheel to SLOWLY run along the edge,making rivet lines. LOTSA rivets ...
I still have the aelerons to do ,and some clean up on the landing flaps, but I think I need a break from this wing so Im going to tackle the engines today...cheers..

I don't know about this brain thing ....................I do get some things still a little mixed up every now then

every now and then you get a "now why didn't i think of that" moment.
I can never get dymo to stick and struggled with it. whereas I should have
been securing it with tape. Thanks Jim. That little wheel looks perfect for
hard to reach spots. All the hard work will sure to pay off. Keep her lit.

This is the final product of my scribing. I have polished away all the dirt,leftover tape adhesive, and even the multi colours of primer laid down in buffing out this wing. A note on priming: Iv had guys kinda smirk when they see my multi coloured patchwork of primer as I work. My philosophy is, that if I layer my primer colours ,I can easily identify rises and sinkmarks when sanding. the colours are evident. It also uses up old and seldom used paint colours.


Engines&Things 72126 Mitsubishi engines were used to replace the kit engines. in the above comparison shot, you can see that there is a huge improvement.

Here you can see the necissary surgury performed on the parts. The E&T engines come complete with the machinery behind the pistons, which I had to regrettably remove(they really are beutiful castings). I also drilled and excavated the air intake on the cowling....

Here you see them painted. I washed the parts using detergent and water(dishwater) and allowed them to dry in a sunny window. I primed them using Tamiya Nato Black(LOVE Nato black) after a curing period I drybrushed the cylinders and pushrods using artist oils. White was DB'ed over everything to get a lay of the land, then I mixed some Paynes Grey(LOVE Paynes Grey)with the remaining white to pick out the cranckcase and pushrods. This was feathered in gently using a fine brush. Feathering oils is hard on brushtips I find,but the end result is worth it.
Some Lamp black was mixed into the grey colour and used to shadow the crankcase..this was aalso feathered in appropriately. BTW : feathering your colours is better done after about 5 minutes or so ...dont ask me why ...dunno..I might just be mad..
The colours on the engines could be interpreted as being overstated. That how they are supposed to be. They will show up this way in the dim recesses of the cowling once the model is complete.
The next job will be attaching the engines and the nacelles. There are (once again)issues with the nacelles that must be addressed...so the update may take a few days while I hack my way through the jungle....cheers guys(and Terri)

Jim , I really like the job you did on the riveting and panel lines on the wing . Fantastic !

I've seen that tool before and it also has different attachments for it as well . Just can't recall where !

Nice painting detail on the engines as well , they look sharp !

Thanks Terri,I picked up my riveter at Currys art supplies. The engines are little gems..and affordable upgrades. The instruction leaflet that comes with the engine shows a strut diagram for retaining the engine to the airframe. I think these engines scream out for a "cowling off" model. I think thats a bit too big a piece for me to chew on this project though, as my goal is to have it done by October ..lol.I have ordered my engines for the Stranny I'm doing for Bruces campaign from these maunfacturers...gotta love em.

Thanks Jim , I will have to see if Michaels craft store have this tool . You can order from Engine Things , they do have there own web site . What I really like about them is that they are right here in Alberta ! St. Albert and Edmonton share the same city border .

Looking forward to more up-dates !

Glad to see such high quality stuff coming out of Canada.....makes me thirsty for a beer ..lol

Top notch work there Jim. Excellent tip on doing your own rivets (will definitely keep in mind for the future). Never thought of using dymo tape. I wish I had read this not to long ago before I attempted to remove the exhaust covers of my Fw-190 build ..couldn't get a straight line even if my life depended on it (it's a good thing that I had a spare fuselage otherwise the build would have been toast)!
Cheers,
Hermann

No Problem Hermann....Im just glad to be able to share tips. I dont remember where I heard about the Dymo tape, but I doubt its my own Idea. As for the popcan templates thats all Terri......the masking tape backup stickyness is vital to success, popcan OR Dymotape. I tried my first time without tape and really had a bad time of it ...it almost put me off the idea altogether of riveting...
Im trying to complete 4 projects together here, as I seem to have run behind on a couple of them. I had time to attach the engines and cowlings this morning,but have been hands off poor Mavis all last week...will post pics in the next few days ...thanks for patience everyone..

Im working on the engine cowlings here. The engines themselves were CA glued to the nacelle butts,then the nacelles were quickly placed overtop to properly locate the engines. Nacelles then had masks applied in the form of Tamiya tape cut in a circle and pushed into place inside the nacelle. paper towel was wedged into the air intakes. Glue was applied to the nacelles and I was careful to ensure alignment on the TOP air intake. This minimized the filling and sanding required.
Im still working on the fuselage glazings. Multiple coats of Mr. Surfacer are being built up and smoothed out using Laquer thinner to try to get a seamless look.

Jim , I can't wait until the mask is removed to see how the engines look resting inside the cowlings !

Thanks Terri ...the engines Im sure will look awesome in their cowlings. my next step is to finish fairing in the glazings, complete the tail and then I can paint. After the airframe is painted I'll do the struts. Theres a completed model of this kit at my LHS ( a ceiling hanger)...and the struts are pretty wavy on it!

I have completed the tail assemblies,replacing struts and riveting ..

I also added the pulls and hooks to the nose

Exhaust pipes were replaced using CONTRAIL strut/rod stock
almost ready for paint...

Landing light bay was filled with putty and MV lenses put in ..
NOW were ready for paint!!
never thought wed get here ..;-)