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1/48 Lysander Mk II - 1960's Hawk version: End of year... end of build.... it's FINISHED !!!


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Looking again at the resin aftermarket stuff I managed to acquire, I'm still not 100% ready to bite the bullet and chop the kit up any more.

However, in one of my more common 'doh! moments I finally figured out how the resin part had to be aligned (the instructions really are not great!)

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Trust me to go and glue the wings together only last Thursday! Of course I should have RTFM before I did anything but where's the fun in that?

By the looks of it, I need to cut way more off the top half of the wing than I do from the bottom half. That's a job for a rainy day... and some liquid bravado.

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I must warn you at this point that the remainder of this post is taken up with only one subject, so it might get a bit boring for all you thrill seekers out there. However if all you're looking to do is kill some time on a Sunday afternoon then you might just survive the graphic tale that follows.

Now that the engine was fitted inside the cowling and it is all reasonably sturdy. There remained one job (well, two actually, the second job is to fit the last of the cowling latches/hinges/strengthening brackets - well three jobs if you count painting..... damnit!... Four if you count fitting it to the fuselage) - Well, the ONE job that was giving me a bit of a nightmare and more than a bit of a headache was fitting, or more accurately, making, and fitting the cooling gills. The Eduard etch set comes with a set of cooling gills but they were for the Mk III - which has the shorter gills in front of the driver. When I checked them, they were also a little short for what I needed. So, my option was to use some of the Eduard set and make up the remainder, or make my own from scratch, and hope for the best.

I had spent many hours over the last week figuring out how each one of those stupidly little panels was going to be held in place... my most promising idea being to line each of the panels up side by side, then solder a very thin diameter brass rod along the bottom edge. Then it should just be a simple process of folding the wire at each panel edge.... however there was also a few downsides and I wasn't fully on board with that idea.

After considering many options, I decided to go the simple route. I took a thin slice of what was left of the original cowling, then filed around the outer edge trying to reduce the outer diameter - I wanted it to be a nice loose fit inside the brass cowling (into which I had cut a small, millimeter or so, recess a few weeks back) - why ???

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Well, so I could jam these home made cooling gills into place between the inner plastic ring, and the outer, brass cowling - or anyways... that was my idea.

Checking the reference drawings I determined that the gills needed to be 5mm in length, so, using 0.005" brass sheet I marked off a line at 5mm width, scored a couple of times with the knife, then, another line at 7mm width, and again scored a few times with the knife. At this point I didn't want to separate the marked out strip from the main sheet.

Now, I can't remember how I arrived at the final width of the gills... I did do a few basic calcs - I think the circumference in the ID of the brass cowling was around 87mm in length, then divided that by 18 (total number of gills) which ended up that each gill needed to be around 4.83mm in width.

I set my calipers to 4.83mm and started (praying, and) scoring lines - actually, I scored one line with the caliper, followed it with the knife a few times - then a simple fold back and forth and the "gill" broke off. So now I had a bunch of small panels, each 7mm x 4.83mm with a line scored at 2mm in from one edge.

I could then slot each gill into the gap between the plastic ring and the brass cowling. You can just see the scored line at the base of the gill on the extreme right in this photo. (more on that later)

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Later that evening, I had a full compliment of cooling gills! The one gill missing in the shot below is where the exhaust will sit. - I just hadn't got around to fitting that oen yet when I took the photo.

Of more concern was the fact that I now had a total of 18 little brass gills..... AND THEY ALL FITTED !!!!!! :hobbyhorse: How on earth did that happen ????

I fully expected to have to make this lot at least twice before getting anywhere near a good fit. Getting them all in place with a good fit all round on the first attempt is just totally unbelievable! :yahoo:

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Now, why did I score each panel at 2mm ? Well, it was so I could bend each of the gills to open up the cowling - A lot of the photo's I have show the gills in the open position when the Lysander is parked up. So I removed all the gills (above), placed them in my photo etch bender, then added the bend - adjusted by eye more than anything, until it looked about right. They were then placed back in the cowling.... You can see here where each gills meets it's neighbor down at the plastic ring - I just can't believe how lucky I got this time around. (The 2 grubby looking things are bits of what used to be blue-tac in a former life, helping hold the plastic ring in place)

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Once I was happy with the fit. spread, location, etc. etc. etc. I dribbled some epoxy glue around the inside to hold the plastic ring in place, left it overnight, then this morning, I adjusted all the gills to try and get a uniform opening angle

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Viewed from t'other side (- still have the strengthening brackets to fit each side of the exhaust. )

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After all that, and a fleeting and rare feeling of euphoria - I came back down to earth with a bump - I still had all the spacers, or whatever they are called to fit between the cooling gills. Again I looked at the Eduard stuff, but I didn't like them - I felt they were too thin.

After trying a couple of scraps, I ended up going with 1.25mm for the width of each strip. I also chose to go from 0.002" (shim stock) for the strips. I cut one long 1.25mm wide strip then cut each segment off at 5mm length. The act of cutting a strip only 0.002" thick deformed the ends, so I had to burnish them all flat again.

Here I managed to get 2 of them in place using the dreaded notso-super glue. It was the only option I really had here.

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I may try and reinforce the joint with some epoxy glue later but I don't think it will have much effect as there's just not enough area for the glue to work on. I already knocked two or three off and had to redo them. I am now leaving it for the day to give the glue a decent chance to try and hold things together - but I did get it all finished! (exhaust held in place temporarily by some grubby blue-tac again)

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and a quick test to see how it looks... difficult with the green plastic against a green mat, but at least it gives an idea....

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Now the thought of painting it absolutely terrifies me - I generally like to give brass a good rub with some wire wool before I prime and paint, however, if I as much as put some wire wool on the bench in the general vicinity of this thing, then I know bits of brass are going to start falling off everywhere.

... and with that I am done for the day

Edited by hendie
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Hey everybody, Hendie used stuporgoo and the world still seems to be going round

I think

In other news those gills look really ace

Brave man... Stuporgoo user

Wow

Could solder in tiny drips have helped?

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Hey everybody, Hendie used stuporgoo and the world still seems to be going round

......

Could solder in tiny drips have helped?

I seriously considered trying to solder them in place, but was afraid that even using the smallest amount of solder, that some would bleed out and I'd never be able to clean up the front face of the gills

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Looking again at the resin aftermarket stuff I managed to acquire, I'm still not 100% ready to bite the bullet and chop the kit up any more.

However, in one of my more common 'doh! moments I finally figured out who the resin part had to be aligned (the instructions really are not great!)

P7150001.JPG

Trust me to go and glue the wings together only last Thursday! Of course I should have RTFM before I did anything but where's the fun in that?

By the looks of it, I need to cut way more off the top half of the wing than I do from the bottom half. That's a job for a rainy day... and some liquid bravado.

P7150002.JPG

I build this kit about 20 years ago, i think it was an italeri boxing, a 50 year ww2 anniversery edition if i recall correct.., armed with very little references, but i did notide those slats would look better deployed so i bravely cut them and posed them in open position...rater crudely. At the time i had little more tools than a olfa cutter, but i remember it all going rather easy...memories are vague but i think the wing halves might have been glued at this point as the halves clamped onto the roof of the transparent portion wich had perforated tabs so it had to be done at that point, i could be wrong...The fact the wing is aleady glued could work to your advantage... just score the lenghtwise cuts at the top and the bottom, than saw from the leading edge to the end of the underside trailing edge of the slat and than carefully cut the remaing top section...

Seeing the borderline magic modelling going on here it should not something you could pull of in a few minutes...

one thing that always bugs me with many model kits is that for all the parts they manage to split solid shapes into, they all mold stuff in place that did move in the real thing..

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Well my gob is well and truly smacked !!!!

I don't know how you do it, what do you do for light relief..............nanorobotics?

At the risk of trying to teach you to suck eggs, are you aware of etch primers?

http://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/about-us/hints-tips/etch-primers.html

Thanks for the wonderful Sunday entertainment

Kev

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That certainly killed some time, but since I'm in t'pub with a beer that's not a problem. Fantastic work too...couldn't you have made them work though?

Ian

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Well my gob is well and truly smacked !!!!

I don't know how you do it, what do you do for light relief..............nanorobotics?

At the risk of trying to teach you to suck eggs, are you aware of etch primers?

http://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/about-us/hints-tips/etch-primers.html

Thanks for the wonderful Sunday entertainment

Kev

Thanks Kev. I am aware of etch primer - and try to use it whenever I am bashing metal. However the stuff I have at the moment is a Walmart rattle can and it's a bit heavy handed - and would obliterate any detail. I need to get some that I can shoot through the airbrush

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Now the thought of painting it absolutely terrifies me - I generally like to give brass a good rub with some wire wool before I prime and paint, however, if I as much as put some wire wool on the bench in the general vicinity of this thing, then I know bits of brass are going to start falling off everywhere.

Fibreglass scratch brush? A gentle rub over with one should clean up the brass nicely and is more controllable than a clump of wire wool.

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Yet again, Hendie pulls it off! Is there no justice! 18 gills and first time. And that after his near prefect fuselage join! ;)

Sitting in awe and wonderment at the real modelling tour de force unfolding before me.

Christian, exiled to africa

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Amazing work on the cooling gills Hendie, really impressive.

With regard to prepping before painting have you thought about giving them a (very) gentle rub over with a cotton bud dipped in IPA

(Isopropyl Alchohol, not India Pale Ale That would be a waste of ale! )

Al

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...The fact the wing is aleady glued could work to your advantage... just score the lenghtwise cuts at the top and the bottom, than saw from the leading edge to the end of the underside trailing edge of the slat and than carefully cut the remaing top section...

Seeing the borderline magic modelling going on here it should not something you could pull of in a few minutes...

one thing that always bugs me with many model kits is that for all the parts they manage to split solid shapes into, they all mold stuff in place that did move in the real thing..

... sounds like a path forward.

Yes, it is rather confusing at times as to why companies develop their kits the way they do. - certainly not how I would break the component parts down.

Fibreglass scratch brush? A gentle rub over with one should clean up the brass nicely and is more controllable than a clump of wire wool.

I just purchased one of those last week. I might try it out on some scrap though I fear the bristles may be too stiff and ping the parts off into the darkest corners of the basement

Yet again, Hendie pulls it off! Is there no justice! 18 gills and first time. And that after his near prefect fuselage join! ;)

Sitting in awe and wonderment at the real modelling tour de force unfolding before me.

Christian, exiled to africa

Christian, it's probably only lulling me into a false sense of security so my defenses are at their lowest when the kit is ready to pounce and make my darkest nightmares come true

Amazing work on the cooling gills Hendie, really impressive.

With regard to prepping before painting have you thought about giving them a (very) gentle rub over with a cotton bud dipped in IPA

(Isopropyl Alchohol, not India Pale Ale That would be a waste of ale! )

Al

thanks - might be worth a try. I shall refrain form using acetone as I learned the hard way that acetone will dissolve the superglue

wow and double wow. The brassmeister works his metal magic again......

and right back at ya there Steve - I've just been reading about your blacksmithing exploits over on your thread. I think in future when I have to deal with things minuscule and ridiculously small, I can in all honesty say that - hmnnnnn that's as small as a gnat's NACA !

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Those gills look wonderful Hendie and with all that detail on the back of the engine, I think you now have to go down the road of a proper engine mount and a removed panel or two to show off the detail. Not that I am trying to get you into more trouble or anything.

Martin

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Those gills look wonderful Hendie and with all that detail on the back of the engine, I think you now have to go down the road of a proper engine mount and a removed panel or two to show off the detail. Not that I am trying to get you into more trouble or anything.

Martin

Martin, sadly, I think that particular bus has sailed.

By the time I fit a bulkhead to the front of the fuselage, the engine is going to be hard up against said bulkhead, and there's just no room to fit anything else in there. Additionally, if I was going to leave any panels open, it would have to be panels on the cowling itself - which is now pretty much impossible, lest I start the entire project over again ( ... before you say anything.... NO !!!)

Modeling time is going to be scarce over the next few weeks - I have three business trips in as many weeks, and since I'll be out of the house for so long, the expectation is that I'll be "sociable" when I'm back - which of course means not disappearing into the basement for prolonged periods. (we'll see how that works out)

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