Old Man

Beautiful work, Alex! James

Thanks, Toryu! It does seem an unending source of fresh bits to hash out. It's taking over modelling time: I've four other projects on, ranging from 'just about finished' through 'nearly done' to 'well underway'.... James

Damn, Skippy! That's real 'time machine and a shrink-ray' stuff. Beautiful work. James

I see, Alexey. I'd been wondering how I missed this one starting up... It's an inspiring build, glad to see it back on the bench. James

Plugging along here, Gentlemen. Here's the built up sides of the nose.... I notched into the side at the pencil line, stuck in some thick scrap, slathered things with CA gel, and sanded a lot. Here's the cockpit roof/glazing resting in place.... I put some more thick scrap onto the nose. And sanded down.... With that done I closed the fuselage. This was a step by step process. The halves are not quite the same height. I did the front upper first, pressed tight and level. I then did the rear under and tail area, taking care to force the join to the base of the fin tight as I could manage (if it just 'goes in natural' the horizontal tailplane slots will be at much different heights, this gets them into ready trimming distance). Upper rear was next, then lower front, with the latter getting a 30thou shim. The lower wing still notches in nicely.... The bottom needs shimming, but matches the profile, and the most important mating, of the upper surface roots to the fuselage, is nice and tight. It seems I must sort out the motors before I can set the center sections. The measure on the kit between nacelle centers is, by the plan, actually at 1/81 scale, which, since every other wing component is under-scale, complicates things. The lower front of the fuselage, too, will need its chin built up a bit. Though exaggerated by foreshortening, the nacelles a bit oversize, at least relative to the fuselage. I've sanded them down some, and will do more. I expect I'll need to reduce cowling diameter, too. Which presents a problem. The motor is to press into the rear of a cowling ring it is much too large for. Since the moulded face-plate representation is far too wide, sanding down the cyliners threatened to leave mere nubs. At this point, with the motor not quite fitting I forced the reng down over it. Each cracked clean, and I patched with 2mm scrap. Of course, this only increases the cowling diameter. With the odd scale there's no hope of swapping something in, and I'm going to try and fettle what's here. The 'plug' at the motor's rear that mates to the nacelle face is smaller then the faceplate, so I think I can trim away with an Exacto and extend the cylinders towards the center in frontal view.... I expect I can also thin the cowlings from the inside. Motors and cowlings, nacelles, and chin are the next order of business. James

Great subject, Redstaff! Don't know how this might translate to spray work (I brush on acrylics), but building up a solid color by repeating glaze coats can give things a nice lived-in look, that's not quite the same everywhere without being obviously so. Best of luck at something new! James

That's coming together nicely, Jeroen! Looking forward to more. James

Fascinating project, Pieter. Not something you see every day. James

That's a serious;y snazzy bit of modeling, Steve! Great work on a favorite subject. I've often wondered how a scrap between these and the Japanese 'Claude' would have sorted out. James

Thanks, Uncle. The nose is, again, something sure to draw the eye, and so it ought at least to look right. I'd decided against this course in favor of slotting in the clear panels, and that might have sufficed if I'd paid enough attention setting the front rake. I figured if I'd best do it again I might as well do it fancy. This took the best part of a weekend. James

I was struck with ambition when seriously contemplating closing the fuselage. The nose seam was not so rough as it looks well above. Pressing the nose got things close enough, and while this spread the rest of the fuselage, that's not a problem. Glue nose first, then the rest. The real problem was that the front facets of the glazing weren't raked at the same angle. I figured it could be made tight, but trying risked damage to the clear panels that couldn't readily be repaired if the fuselage was closed. I did not like the triangular glazings in the cockpit roof; one was blemished by CA excess on the inside, and they really didn't reflect the drawings. So I did something I'd contemplated before starting this up, but decided not to. I sawed off the cockpit roof. Doing that now meant removing the glazings, but I could do better. I found there was enough 'flex' in the old plastic that I could raise the fuselage height, just aft of the cut, by wedging beams of heavy styrene rod, which sufficed for about 2mm of lift, which greatly benefited the profile. Then I set about making a new cockpit roof. This is a 'wish me luck' picture in the middle of it, when the tricky bit started. Everything is keyed to the notch behind the side glazings. The solid 'glazings' are to establish a level for the roof's assembly. The rear portion is a sort of barrel vault of 3.2mm x 2.5mm rod, assembled to end-pieces and liberally reinforced with CA gel on the interior. The front piece is based on a 'plan view' matching the front glazings and a rear end-piece matched to the front of the rear piece. I cut a triangular piece of 0.5mm sheet, bent it by a bit of rolling on a tweezer nose, fastened it in front, trimmed it at the back. It's nice when something new works, and easily, too. It's all rough, but right enough for the stage. Here's the front piece complete. You can see the beams jacking up the fuselage height. Here's the rear piece in behind, after some fettling. There's still some blending to do, but not so much as it might seem; the black isn't gape but paint, from slopping black all over the interior of the front piece. With the new roof comes new glazing, sides first: It's 1mm clear, and a pain to work with. I took to taping one surface so measures could be marked, and a piece has a chance of being found if dropped. Here the front pieces are in as well: The clear panels are glued to the roof only at this point. There's still some fettling of the mating surfaces between the clear and the fuselage sides before a final fit. One is widening the nose a bit; right or wrong the protruding corner of the front glazings must be accommodated. Once all is ready, the roof/glazing assembly should press down into place once the fuselage is closed with little fuss or filler. For compare, here's the profile photo of the aeroplane in question, and one of the original kit piece. James

That's a wonderful little thing! James

This is a Martin YB-10 on its earliest use by the Army Air Corps, flying air mail from Oakland, California to Newark, New Jersey in the spring of 1934, when the Army had taken over after Post Office contracts with private aviation firms were cancelled. It's a Williams Bros. 1/72 kit, with some small alterations (air scoops and exhausts) to represent the initial trials batch. Here's link to full thread, which includes an account of the whole Air Mail fiasco. https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235019372-martin-yb-10-flying-the-mail-on-route-18-april-1934/ James

Now that, Ray, is some by God transport! Great subject. Williams Bros kits are an adventure, but one worth taking. James

Looking forward to the final, John. Metallic paint over corrugate is a hard row to hoe. "Tally-Ho! Fox in view!" James