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Post by popeye on Aug 29, 2009 11:58:02 GMT
But I have let myself get sidetracked - before the engine gondolas can be glued to the wings another conspicuous problem should be addressed. The incidence of the wing roots is wrong and the roots are too high up on the fuselage sides – on the left even more than on the right. The Italeri Ju 188 has the same problem and may have been used as a reference by Special Hobby. Compare with the realistic Hasegawa fuselage and root in the middle. I just glued strips of plasticard in steps on the underside of the roots to lower the trailing edge and adapted the profile according to the wing root profile with the trailing edge 3 mm lower on the fuselage. 15 mm behind the nose of the wing an Evergreen tube of 4,8mm / 3/16” can be inserted and a corresponding hole be drilled in the wing root. This can be repeated with a 3,2mm – 1/8” tube at 27mm from the nose – adjusting the wing incidence for the desired 3 mm lower trailing edge. The “stubs” are glued and secured from the inside of the fuselage according to the dihedral of the wings. This will allow temporary fitting of the wings until everything is lined up, sanded and painted.
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Post by popeye on Aug 29, 2009 12:05:52 GMT
another pic to illustrate the securing of the stubs in the fuselage...
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Post by popeye on Sept 7, 2009 13:07:03 GMT
Before joining the fuselage halves a glob of plastic behind the tail wheel well has to be removed – otherwise the Resin part for the well will not fit. Also the opening for the PeilG 6 has to be corrected to an opening of 8 mm diameter and the base plate provided has to be adapted to blend off the opening from the inside. The plate will still sit to low - the recess can be partly filled with a plastic disc and used as a base for an aftermarket PE-antenna or a decal from another kit. There is no clear cover provided - a disc of clear plasticard was prepared from a CD case to be glued in and filed and polished to the profile of the fuselage later.
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Post by popeye on Sept 7, 2009 13:15:52 GMT
Tail wheel well and the Resin cockpit sidewalls were glued in. The “nose” for the seat of the Navigator was left “as is” but I would recommend to cut this down until only a floor of some 2 mm is left. Pictures of this side of the cockpit are unavailable but most probably the Navigator had a folding seat comparable to the fit in a Ju 188 cockpit. SH provides 3 nice resin seats with details - they will not fit in the narrow cockpit at all. I modified a radio operator seat from a Ju 88 for the the pilots post – adding a backplate from card. The resin seats for Navigator and radio operator had to be reduced in width by almost 2 mm each before they fitted in place.
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Post by popeye on Sept 8, 2009 8:10:50 GMT
But before continuing with the cockpit innards I wanted to prepare fitting of the clear parts. After much adapting and filing the upper canopy conformed acceptably to the fuselage sill line. You have heard that before - no positive location again. I therefore added a strip of plasticard to the sides and the rear from the inside in order to have at least some “ledge” and location on the sides and in the rear. To help grafting on the front /lower clear part without too much of a ledge between upper and lower clear part I glued a thin strip of card to the upper canopy on the inside. This was then cut back as much as possible to leave just a small “step” – hopefully to help in securing a “flush” junction of both clear parts. The lower clear part has the belly windows moulded integrally. I marked the lower fuselage and cut the opening according to the part. Believe me, you better separate the lower windows from the cupola and prepare the cut out to fit those windows in the end after canopy and cupola have been juggled and glued in place. Because I tried to get away with one joint less my cupola now sits slightly askew ! Contrary to usual practice I painted the cockpit RLM 66 only after joining of the fuselage halves and sealing the back with white glue but of course before fitting the seats. After some dry brushing with gray I only added some colour highlights with soft pencil. Some more detailing effort is mandatory in the front. The central instrument panel is mounted on a horizontal bar and benefits from adding some more panels and boxes from the spares box. The bar has to be fitted at the highest possible position taking the slant of the instrument panel and the remaining space between top and canopy into account. Even so there would be no leg room for the pilot in reality.
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Post by popeye on Sept 8, 2009 8:14:27 GMT
This is one reason why I would advocate lowering the floor of the LH Resin section at least 1 mm in the beginning.
Rudder pedals were added from the PE-sheet of the kit but I did not add additional detail. Looking back I would at least add some wiring and piping on the rear of the instrument panels to improve the look trough the clear nose.
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Post by johnsheehan on Sept 10, 2009 12:17:00 GMT
Hi Rolf
Starting to look good! Can't wait to see the finished article. John
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Post by popeye on Sept 11, 2009 8:52:17 GMT
For me this “green house” canopy was the most critical step of the build and I wanted to negotiate it before continuing with more work on fuselage and engines. To make a long story short – I glued the clear parts with Pacer Poly Zap non fogging superglue and filled the gaps with diluted putty. Now I could turn to aligning the engine / wing joint with reference to the fuselage datum. Due to the increased wing incidence the engines would otherwise have had an upward slant. The minimal contact surfaces between engine and wing was reinforced from the inside with some plastic goo. After drying the definitive shape of the landing gear gondolas could be finalised. The cut out for the front landing gear doors was corrected as much as possible although completely parallel lower edges cannot be attained. Lost panel lines of the rear landing gear doors and the gap for the flaps were drawn and engraved with the help of some Dymo Tape. All series 388’s had a conspicuous deflector/heat shield behind and below the single exhaust pipe called “Schiffchen” (as in “little boat”). This detail is not realised in the kit and has to be built up with strips of plasticard and putty or “plastic goo”
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Post by popeye on Sept 11, 2009 13:27:59 GMT
Returning to the fuselage, intake and exhaust for the heater unit were added from thin plastic tubing – replacing the kit items. The butt-joining horizontal tail surfaces were replaced with items from an AMT G-6 after cutting slots for the tabs and fitting the roots taken from the AMT kit and the vertical tail also received a stud from tubing to reinforce the joint and to help in aligning.
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Post by COLIN SHIPTON-KNIGHT on Sept 11, 2009 18:22:02 GMT
Rolf,
It is nice work, keep going, I am following the tale, and judging by the number of 'hits' on this thread, a lot of others are as well..............
Colin
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Post by brianthemodeller on Sept 12, 2009 6:47:26 GMT
Rolf, I am following the tale, and judging by the number of 'hits' on this thread, a lot of others are as well... Colin You're right Colin. I am a truck modeller with only a limited interest in wingy-things but Popeye's threads are compulsive reading. They are even encouraging me to have a go at a little super detailing on my latest effort.
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Post by popeye on Sept 12, 2009 13:37:27 GMT
Thanks Brian - always nice to have some feedback or recognition ;D After temporary masking of the clear parts, fuselage and wings (still separate) received a primer coat of MrSurfacer 1000 to check for blemishes and necessary re-scribing followed by a primer coat of RLM 76 on the front fuselage and lower wings. The masking was removed and the framing on the cockpit started. I had prepared a sheet of clear transfer by airbrushing several coats of RLM 66 several days before. Following my usual practice I cut strips from this decal and applied the frames step by step, using Microset and Microsol to have the strips conform to the canopy frames. (On the 388 the canopy frames were RLM 66 inside and outside.) All clear parts received another coat of “Future” after a drying time of two days to seal the frames on the surface. In 72nd scale gloss frames will not be very conspicuous on the finished model. If so, they can always be painted with clear mat and a fine brush. There are still a couple of details left to do while the Future on the clear parts is allowed to cure for at least a week or so…..
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Post by popeye on Sept 13, 2009 16:09:24 GMT
The external bomb bay was adapted to the fuselage and glued on. Despite much dry fitting I had to clamp the sides as it still was slightly too broad. Do not forget to open up the intakes in the front. The Resin propeller spinners are much to long and were shortened 1mm in the rear and 2mm from the tip, rounded off again after pictures and had a central hole drilled in the tip. The picture below is unfortunately not sharp but included to show “before and after”
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Post by popeye on Sept 14, 2009 11:58:37 GMT
The individual injected propeller blades are very thin and have no twist but I was not able to find suitable replacements in my spares. To improve the look somewhat I added “clamps” for the roots from small tubing. After some redrilling of the location holes in the spinner I glued the blades in with Superglue gel and the help of a homemade rig and prepared “engine”, fan and prop assy for inserting at the final stage.
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ptcruiser
Moderator
Car & Motorcycle SIG Leader
Posts: 1,223
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Post by ptcruiser on Sept 15, 2009 9:08:35 GMT
Compulsive reading indeed Rolf! One question, how did you apply the Mr Surfacer? Thanks Rich
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