Catching Pictures in the Air

[perdu]

I need a nodding head smileysmiler

 

 

So, I believe, ladies and gennulmens, do you!

 

 

 

[perdu]

Ref: bubbles through the etheric substance which is/isnt resin many of us find it advisory to wobble about in the resin during the pour process with a cocktail or other thin little pointy stick

 

This gets resin into holes otherwise occupied by airy bubbles as alluded to by your fine self

 

Prodding down aids the resin to slip sliding awa... into the little crevices, as does a gentle squishing by squeezing the mould a time or three

 

That method is oft advocated by our missing friend, he of the Jaguaring persuasion Mr Steve Fritag

 

Latterly of this parish

 

One wonders where he rests now 

 

 

Not I hope in fresh pastures

 

 

[The Spadgent]

Nice bit o’ moulding El Barony. I wonder what the percentage ratio of kit to scratch there is now? We should to a sweep stake. 

[perdu]

Much of the wing surface ought to survive unrestored, but...

 

 

 

[giemme]

10 hours ago, perdu said:

Prodding down aids the resin to slip sliding awa... into the little crevices, as does a gentle squishing by squeezing the mould a time or three

 

That method is oft advocated by our missing friend, he of the Jaguaring persuasion Mr Steve Fritag

 

Latterly of this parish

 

One wonders where he rests now 

Yeah, I remember that advice ... and the guy too  

 

10 hours ago, perdu said:

Not I hope in fresh pastures

More likely at the bar (no, not that bar, I mean the thing related to being a barrister  ) or on a ski slope  

 

Ciao

[perdu]

Yes Giorgio I rather suspect that is the case, indeed hope it is

 

But I did PM.......

 

 

😕

[TheBaron]

17 hours ago, perdu said:

That method is oft advocated by our missing friend, he of the Jaguaring persuasion Mr Steve Fritag

Mare sea bouquet pour passing that on Bill. Makes perfect sense. 

Not the bit about absent friends however. I hope that the Jaginator is ok. 

17 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

We should to a sweep stake.

All bets are off -  in the case of this one quantum indeterminacy rules the roost! 

16 hours ago, perdu said:

Much of the wing surface ought to survive unrestored, but...

Wings? There's bound to be something wrong with 'em. A stray or missing rivet and the whole thing will be an utter fiasco...

Having resinated in the last installment, t'was time to shave the patient:

About 1mm off that central pedestal, and the replacement raft of gubbins sanded down to a matching thickness:

Two parts beat as one:

Epoxy left to cure overnight and so work could commence on final details for that part.

 

How to make one of those curved VU meter type things you see on radios:

A 1.3mm disc with a 0.6mm hole punched in it, slightly offset. Thence trim to the required angle:

CA'd onto the resin, along with a couple of larger reaised part up the front of the pedestal:

 I also inserted a panel that angles up slightly to meet the drum of the throttle controls, as well as trimming the IP hood - which as you can see it is a somewhat complex series of irregular curves:

I guess the variation is to afford varying angles of shading from the sun coming in to the cockpit and falling across the instrumentation from different windows:

Did I tell you I was sweating blood over this cockpit?

Like many of you I'm quick to scorn when a manufacturer makes a hames of some detail or other but I believe in being equally quick to praise when something is done well and Italeri knocked out an excellent set of yokes for this baby:

With the hood of the IP in the way, I had to drill a news set of mounting points for these 4.5mm forward of the original kit location from underneath. I had a bit of spare time on my hands so stabbed myself again with the drill bit and bled over the cockpit underside as well:

Looking proper vigilant and business-like now:

The collumns are only dry-fitted in these shots in order to check positioning in relation to the pilot's hands and feet - I'm going to leave them off during the painting stage as you can see how much they block of the IP:

I haven't been clumsy here:

There really is a crescent excised from the navigator's table, in order to accommodate the dift-sight.

A scrap of 0.6mm tube inside some 1mm off does duty for the collumn for this:

The control section part was then made up from plastic discs and a piece pulled from a circuit board:

Bbarely visible in this shot is the eyepiece on top, made from 1mm disc punched from a drinks can and pressed to make a concave 'cup' for the eye of the observer:

Mine own eyes are throbbing after that micro-session so I'll leave you with the next sequence of works sketched out on the cockpit walls:

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[giemme]

Amazing! Just that  

 

Ciao

[Spookytooth]

Top banana Tony.

Excellent work in the office.

But how are you going to replicate the "Fluffy Dice" in the front windows? LOL

 

Great thread sir, full of what we come to like, modeling and humour.

 

Simon.

[The Spadgent]

Well I think he’s bonkers in the nut. 

bit in a good way. 

 

Beautiful scratchyness yet again. 

 

jont.

[CedB]

Bleedin' 'ell Tony (see what I did there?) - that detail is amazing... and as Johnny says a bit bonkers.

If you're enjoying yourself then by all means carry on - it's a great thing to watch. Not the blood obviously

[71chally]

I literally don't know what to say anymore, the work is that incredible.  Not just the modelling work, but the time and attention that you put into your posts, it truly is a guilty feast, like watching my Roger Moore Bond boxset on a wet sunday.

 

Great detail in that flight deck.

[keefr22]

Just this...

[perdu]

Savlon

 

Ought to be in any scratch build merchant's tool kit

Fabric plasters are better than the plasticky waterproof stuff too

 

I do love the drift sight, definitely something worth learning for when the Zombie acropolis occurs and I might need to fly to safety

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Martian]

This is looking so good that I think the interior needs the patent Martian digital photo frame idea.

 

Martian

[TheBaron]

On 2/9/2018 at 2:47 PM, giemme said:

Stop that immediately Giorgio. I'm not a doctor but I'm pretty sure it will give you whiplash if you keep it up...

On 2/9/2018 at 2:51 PM, Spookytooth said:

But how are you going to replicate the "Fluffy Dice" in the front windows? 

The fur off of a 1/72 Cossack's hat, the hard way.

On 2/9/2018 at 5:19 PM, The Spadgent said:

Well I think he’s bonkers in the nut.

I prefer the term differently realitified.

It's the time's we live in....

On 2/9/2018 at 5:32 PM, CedB said:

If you're enjoying yourself then by all means carry on

Said no police officer ever.

23 hours ago, 71chally said:

it truly is a guilty feast, like watching my Roger Moore Bond boxset on a wet sunday.

Why thank-you Challypenny...

..for such saintly sentiments.

21 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Just this...

I thank you for that this Keith. 

19 hours ago, perdu said:

I do love the drift sight,

Ta Bill. 

I was interested to read recently that said item was originally developed by a Mr. Wimperis for the RNAS, no less.

12 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

This is looking so good that I think the interior needs the patent Martian digital photo frame idea.

'No-one would have believed in the first years of the nineteenth twenty-first century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space Poole, and yet across the Irish Sea minds immeasurably superior to ours regarded this model with critical eyes, and said quite nice things about it.'

 

Dear Martian - great to hear from you sir and I hope that this finds you in better health. 

 

I went for a spin earlier with some scrap sprue:

Having taken that down to 2.5 ø I scored that down to the required lengths in order to makes some blanks for oxygen bottles:

Despite the various bits of kit that now surround the bench I still find that for certain shaping jobs, nothing beats the tactility of holding a piece in your hand to feel the shape changing whilst reducing it with a nail file:

Smaller two on the left are for the port side of the cockpit, larger one for starboard side. You can see some of them in the foreground here:

I don't always trust colour shots of more recent variants or restored aircraft regarding the correct colour for such items, which in a toned shot like this is not at all reliable to guesstimate. From the lettering on the bottle though it seems to match this USAF one:

So I reckon a slightly pale yellow may be a reasonable choice. I'm not going to stick them in place until painting of the cockpit interior has been completed, but did want to add the regulators, so into the vice with them and some holes drilled out for 0.4mm brass tube inserts:

To build the regulators themselves, I drilled out some Slater's microrod:

Then sliced off a series of circular sections before CA'ing into place:

From bitter experience, with the accumulation of parts I've found it necessary to start a 'cockpit pot' (cockpot? no, that just sounds like the punchline to a Fanny Craddock joke....) into which all the components for this part of the aircraft are currently being stored in a (probably folorn) attempt to avoid losing anything vital:

Here's what the port side looks like now, lined out with some wall detail:

Same deal to starboard, with the floor in just to check it's not being impeded by anything on the walls:

One the ceiling above the navigator's table is a box-like cupboard for holding charts, which will be fun trying to glue into that curve if I decide to add it...

 

Not present on the kit moulding was a frame/lip running across the top of the canopy just in front of the back of switches in the roof, added here from some scrap card:

Gator's Grip (thin) used here for gluing so that any excess can be wiped away. That was all that I had really intended to do up there at this stage, but then, well, I thought I might just add a strip of too of internal framing to the canopy:

You can see just how raised some of the internal framing is around the inside of the canopy:

So I err...went for it:

The curved portions in the rooft think I'll do (at least not without getting glue all over the place trying to press the runs into the curvature whilst they're drying - I'll build up a raised lip of primer for than when it's masked instead).

I will however add some more vertical framing to the side windows but I'm going to let those bits set now for tonight.

I reckon with that on the inside and using rivetted foil on the outside, that stands a chance of giving a better sense of dimensionality and presence to this part of the aircraft in the final finish.

 

Good night me dearios.

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[keefr22]

13 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

From bitter experience, with the accumulation of parts I've found it necessary to start a 'cockpit pot' (cockpot? no, that just sounds like the punchline to a Fanny Craddock joke....) into which all the components for this part of the aircraft are currently being stored in a (probably folorn) attempt to avoid losing anything vital:

 

Now see, if that were me, they'd be safe until all the vital pieces were safely ensconced within - when I would promptly hit the pot off the edge of the desk...!! I have little 'tupperware' type boxes with clip on lids to keep stuff like that in. Of course, that doesn't mean I still don't lose stuff though! 

 

More cracking work today, those oxygen bottles are cracking!

 

Keith

[perdu]

Brill but I reckon you should take note of the Welshman Tony, a lidded container would be best

 

I hate that little lathe

 

 

👅

 

Or maybe not...

 

Nice innit

 

Great cylinders

[giemme]

5 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

 

Now see, if that were me, they'd be safe until all the vital pieces were safely ensconced within - when I would promptly hit the pot off the edge of the desk...!! I have little 'tupperware' type boxes with clip on lids to keep stuff like that in. Of course, that doesn't mean I still don't lose stuff though! 

 

More cracking work today, those oxygen bottles are cracking!

 

Keith

I can concur with Keith's post 100%, including the tupperware-like bit

 

Tony, every new post of yours is simply  astonishing in terms of technique and detail - who cares about whiplash

 

Ciao 

[CJP]

Normally I don't take too much interest in USAF aircraft but your work on this one is fabulous - some great scratch building going on in BM at the moment

CJP

PS - brought back memories of your Maureens Barracuda

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235018232-the-edsg-2-maureens-barracuda/&tab=comments#comment-2662125

 

Edited February 10, 2018 by CJP
link

[Hamden]

 

Brilliant absolutely stunning workmanship and attention to detail!

 

    Roger

[Brandy]

Putting stuff in a pot with no lid is just asking for it be launched...and since It's not finished yet, you won't be able to recover it all.

Ask how I know..

 

Lovely work on the interior though.

 

Ian

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Thirded on the need for a lidded Johnson. 

 

Your pause on this build has clearly reinvigorated the creative juices (back to Mrs Craddock again?).  This is amazing work

[TheBaron]

17 hours ago, keefr22 said:

I have little 'tupperware' type boxes with clip on lids to keep stuff like that in

 

16 hours ago, perdu said:

Brill but I reckon you should take note of the Welshman Tony, a lidded container would be best

 

16 hours ago, giemme said:

I can concur with Keith's post 100%, including the tupperware-like bit

 

11 hours ago, limeypilot said:

Putting stuff in a pot with no lid is just asking for it be launched...and since It's not finished yet, you won't be able to recover it all.

 

10 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Thirded on the need for a lidded Johnson. 

Strength of feeling duly noted fellows:

15 hours ago, CJP said:

Normally I don't take too much interest in USAF aircraft but your work on this one is fabulous - some great scratch building going on in BM at the moment

CJP

PS - brought back memories of your Maureens Barracuda

Thanks for that CJP, nice to hear from you again!

Each build does tend to bring with it a whole new slew of problems needing solutions, doesn't it? I look back at the Barra now and see so many things that could be done better....

15 hours ago, Hamden said:

Brilliant absolutely stunning workmanship and attention to detail!

Thanks Roger - I'm glad you're enjoying it. 

TBH I've been getting blinding headaches and feeling a tad nauseous after a couple of hours or so of bending over the bench squinting at this level of detail, so I've raised up part of the work-surface by several inches and feel much better by comparison this morning. Amazing how the obvious answer is staring you in the face sometimes....

11 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Your pause on this build has clearly reinvigorated the creative juices

One of the biggest differences this time around Crisp is having accurate technical manuals to consult for the C-119.

In the first iteration of this build I was still working from the ambiguities of photographs, which always left a kernel of doubt regarding the level of detail I needed to refer to. By contrast the Dornier back in the GB was the first build I've done for which I possessed such detailed contemporaneous references - the results this let me accomplish were a leap from what I'd been capable of previously...

 

I wanted to get the canopy and forward glazing sorted this morning. Being the kind of job I tend to prevaricate over I've learned to just wade in, so managed to get the interior framing of the canopy completed using strip and Gator's Grip again:

That moulded central bank of switches in the ceiling gave me pause for thought - it's not as deep as on the actual aircraft but due to the thickness of the roof moulding, if I deepen the console it will actually be too low inside the cockpit so I'm going to leave it as is.With curtains partly obscuring it I don't see it being a glaringly obvious feature in the end result:

I'm leaving that to dry before trimming any excess of the framing - the GG is a great adhesive for this task (being water soluble my clumsy smears and slips can be washed off later) but the smnoothness and thinness of the plastic to transparency bond needs delicate handling. The top curve of angles framing wiull likewise get sanding down to a curve when the glue has had a chance to set. I won't get round to masking this until just before we're ready to paint as I don't want to leave masking in place any longer than I have to after the previous fog incident.

 

That done I had a look at the two smaller sets of cockpit windows on either side that allow downward visibility for the pilots:

I'd been wiseacring before about how I though the forward of those two sets of windows was too narrow but I'd been fooled by only referring to 3/4 views. Seen from face on it is clear that Italeri got the relative dimensions correct, so I transferred the outlines to masking tape. These were then in turn stuck onto some scrap transparency that already had masking tape applied to the reverse side, so that when cut out, both sides would be masked:

Sanding the angularity from the corners and ready for a test fit:

As this is essentially the same method I used for applying replacement portholes to the Do 18 previously, the trick here seems to be to make the transparencies ever so slightly undersize; which of course sounds counter-intuitive bit the idea is to allow just enough of a miniscule gap for the epoxy to spread into around the perimeter, to form gasket-like seal necessary for holding the thin sheet of transparent material in place. To avoid the problem of transparency being knocked all the way through when gluing, it's essential to have a robust layer of tape on the opposing side to act as a 'stop':

Then it's just a case of applying a layer of epoxy around the sides of the opening, inserting the transparency as far as it will go, and then adding a final bead of epoxy around the inner edge like so:

It doesn't look pretty in the fresh state but of course priority goes to getting a firm bond formed 'twixt transparency and fuselage - any excess can be trimmed away afterwards. If you're nervous about the epoxy sticking the masking tape too-permanently in place you can remove it after a few hours when the glue has semi-hardened: tbh though I found with the Do 18 portholes that this wasn't really necessary.

 

This isn't really a lot to show for about 3 hours work:

...but it does at least take care of a batch of tasks that can prove both fiddly and irksome in a fell swoop.

 

That can all sit now curing whilst I go look at the snow:

It's not settling but we've been getting quite heavy hourly snowfalls since 8am this morning - a whole series of squall lines seem to be roiling in from the Atlantic over the course of today, each one followed by a temperature rise that erases it in preparation for the following snowfall.

 

I hope you're nice and warm, wherever you are.

Tony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[keefr22]

Do you know Tony, I don't recall ever seeing internal canopy framing modelled like that in 1/72 before - trailblazing stuff!!

 

Keith