Dornier Do 18-D *Finished*

[hendie]

4 hours ago, TheBaron said:

This is the phone from the first flat that Mrs. B and I ever had together in Belfast back in 1990: we've moved six times since then and it continues to work impeccably:

 

reminds me of the phone I had back in Edinburgh.  It was an old Bakelite phone, but with no dial on it.  The dialing unit was a separate box which looked a bit like a small typewriter with 10 numbered levers.  It was pretty cool - there was a small window in the top of the dialler so when you pushed the levers, you could see cogs spinning and little levers clicking all over the place.  It stopped working when they switched over to digital, and of course, it was left back in the UK when I moved over.  I wish I still had it.

 

 

4 hours ago, TheBaron said:

For your delectation hendie:

 

my delectators have been satiated for the time being.

[The Spadgent]

Nice filling . Oh and yes mines an Iwata and very good it is too.  

Edited October 15, 2017 by The Spadgent

[amblypygid]

This sounds a bit weird, but the telecoms museum in Milton Keynes is excellent if you happen to be there. Lots of examples on working switchboards, and they encourage hands on investigation. Kids love it.

[TheBaron]

20 hours ago, CedB said:

Thanks Tony - still grinning!

I'll bet! 

 

Watched your video of the flight last evening Ced: quel ravissement!

20 hours ago, CedB said:

St. Nicholas' church has been added to my Google Maps saved places - also not far from the tank museum so I'll certainly visit and check out those windows, they look stunning.

Great work with the filler and sanding - what an improvement!

New light - great, I've ordered one and look forward to the enlightenment it will give my desk after the man cave reorganisation

That's right - Bov's just up the road, and there's actually a path from the river by the church that will take you to Lawrence's crib at Clouds Hill nearby as well. 

 

The light is working out fine btw; having it about 12" above whatever I'm working on means it give a good clear light but without the mechanism itself getting in the way.

 

17 hours ago, hendie said:

you could see cogs spinning and little levers clicking all over the place. 

Sound more like you had a converted Enigma machine! 

17 hours ago, The Spadgent said:

Nice filling . Oh and yes mines an Iwata and. Dry good it is too. 

Cheers Johnny. 

5 hours ago, amblypygid said:

This sounds a bit weird, but the telecoms museum in Milton Keynes is excellent if you happen to be there. Lots of examples on working switchboards, and they encourage hands on investigation. Kids love it.

 I know what you means Chris! Sometimes the unlikeliest thing can be unexpectedly engaging. I never had much interest in mobile phone technology until I read the gripping chapter about it in Francis Spufford's:

The Museum of Lard however pulls me not in it's general direction:

....

 

Jerzy had mentioned a while back about the kit inacccuracies regarding the number of vents on the very top 'ridge' of the motor gondola for a 'D' variant. I've whipped these off now and sanded that region back smooth in order to scratch up the correct number of these features later on:

This next session was really just a major tidying up session of the wings to make sure that all was smooth and ready for scribing:

You can see above for example how sometimes it takes a really oblique light to show up problem areas like those remaining traces of the kit 'trough' just inboard of the leading edge. Getting all these remaining imperfections identified and sorting out is I must admit one of my least favourite parts of a build - critical to do it well of course, but rather boring nonetheless so I didn't bother photographing most of it.

You can see the 'ghost' trough still needing attention down the centre of the starboard wing as well. Notice also that shadowed region from the lower third down to the wing root - there's a pronounced 'shoulder' in the wing structure there that isn't always evident in photographs, but which Matchbox did well to include despite the subtle appearrance of the feature. I mention that because it would be easy to go happily sanding down any filler on the wing and inadvertantly erase that contour in the process.

 

I'm also here in the process of cutting the radiators and vents off the wings as these are too crude in their raw form:

As others have warned in the past, there will be some fettling and filling needed when joining both the bootsstummel and wings to the main body of the aircraft. You can begin to see the issue here:

But egad and forsooth, have a look at the blighter looking along the major axis of the aircraft:

I'd better start dissolving some sprue to whack into that crevasse later on...

 

There's a significant seam where the wings meet the gondola also to be taken care of:

At this point I'm wondering whether to glue the wings onto the motor gondola first before fixing the gondola base to the fuselage, as it would make it easier to sort out problems with all those regarding filling and sanding. The instructions say to stick the gondola onto the fuselage first but I'm not so convinced that's a good idea, given that the gondola only really sits into the top of the fuselage with little in the way of bracing and support. I'd be more concerned that all the handling required during fixing those wing joints would end up pulling it off again.

 

Definitely need to scribe those wings and gondola before sticking together though:

That's all well and good but Baron Acres is on a red warning for the arrival of Hurrricane Ophelia tomorrow and unfortunately it seems to be tracking right by us come early afternoon:

I need to get into the display cabinet with the EZline and tie-down the aircraft so....

Tony

[Brandy]

Well that little lot should keep even you out of mischief for quite a while!

Would it be possible to reduce that gap on the sponsons by sanding the mating edges back so they are a little more matched to each other? Might save half a ton of filler/goop at least! I don't envy you the rescribing though....

 

Ian

[bbudde]

1 hour ago, TheBaron said:

but Baron Acres is on a red warning for the arrival of Hurrricane Ophelia tomorrow and unfortunately it seems to be tracking right by us come early afternoon:

Sorry to hear that, but it's influence presented us great weather here. And what a day that was/is today. Late summer with now 22°C and no clouds. Just went out for a little walk, err which increased to 2 hours and my washing machine has to do a marathon today.

Great work so far. Things are getting together (but sometimes a bit more slowly). Cheers

[bbudde]

P.S: Maybe this keep up a bit more relaxed by now:

 

[jrlx]

Great progress, Tony. You're carrying your attention to detail and care to the exterior surfaces of the aircraft. The results are impressive. The gaps and seams between parts are really a shame. Taking care of those is something I really don't like, as they seem to take for ever to look acceptable (in my case, at least...). I've tried Squadron's White Putty, CA glue and Perfect Plastic Putty but I'm still undecided about which is the best method to deal with them.

 

On 10/14/2017 at 13:15, TheBaron said:

I have to say that both myself and Mrs. B liked it a lot Jaime - not more than the original, but differently, if you know what I mean? Clearly the improved technology of making images gave Denis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins the ability to create an even greater sense of scale and multitude than the original has been able to craft, though seeing the near future as such an ecologically-wrecked and enduringly-sexist dystopia is a deeply bleak and uncomfortable experience. It also felt like a very 'European' film in its sensitivities and shifts of meaning -I don't know did you sense anything similar?

I'm glad you liked the film. It's well integrated with the original and, in my opinion, deepens the questions of what's real? what's human? already raised in the original. I agree it's very "European" in the sense of being quite reflective, slow paced and providing plenty of time for the story to unfold. It's what I call a "minimum information" film, where the viewer must actively engage and think about what's being shown (even after the film). The director Denis Villeneuve also directed "Arrivals" which I think is one of the best Sci-Fi films ever.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

[CedB]

Thanks for the tip on the lamp Tony - mine arrived today and is a prefect solution for the 'top of the photo booth'

Those joins - ugh! I'm with you though; fix the wings and sort out the joins before attaching to the fuselage.

I hope the Hurricane calms down before it gets to you and that you survive nature's furies with little or no damage. Fingers crossed here.

Lard museum? Weird. Nice PR lady though. (Thoughts on who modelled for some of the exhibits censored)

[bbudde]

27 minutes ago, CedB said:

Fingers crossed here

I guess you will have to beware of the wind peaks and not of the rain as the weather forecast foretold here!

 

[Tomoshenko]

Nice update Tony. Good work on the windows, useful tips and techniques as usual. Plenty of filling and sanding afoot I see, but we know you likes it really. Thanks for the tourism guide to Moreton. I will certainly pay it a visit as I pop down there quite often. Atmospheric B/W photo, too love that sky. You could always try painting (spraying with your new airbrush) the finished aircraft in a B/W finish given your penchant for monochrome...just saying. It would then save you having to photograph it in black and white...

[Fritag]

Manful work on the matchbox trenches tony.  A good job to have (largely?) behind you......

 

I find filling panel lines (even regular size ones that you couldn't shelter the British Army in) one of those jobs that never seems to end.

 

I've yet to find the perfect filler that doesn't leave ghost lines after sanding (but I have an OCD tendency to over-polish; which technique might well be largely to blame ) so I tend to use cyano and sand it back within an hour or so - before it's fully hardened.

 

I'm another one looking forward to seeing how the dust and paint technique works 

 

13 hours ago, CedB said:

Thanks for the tip on the lamp Tony - mine arrived today and is a prefect solution for the 'top of the photo booth'

 

Ooo.  Looks very interesting and not too expensive an addition...........(my Mac autocorrected that to addiction, which was probably quite appropriate............) 

 

[keefr22]

Hope the wind wasn't too bad today Tony, & that you have power tonight.....

 

Keith

[TheBaron]

Well, I got as far as typing in that first 'well' this morning before the power went out about 11am and Ophelia swept in. We're pretty lucky having no damage to speak of and the power back on after only an 8 hr blackout - there'll be plenty of poor buggers huddled round a candle tonight.

 

This was the sun disappearing for the last time as the fringes of the storm swept in at lunchtime, an odd sickly-gold pallor:

By mid-afternoon the river of winds was gushing full-bore round the house and I took a few long-exposure (2-second) shots of the trees and bushes in turmoil:

 

 

With both work and the lad's school shut down for the day there was little else to do except hunker down and pay a few visits to the bench in between watching the storm.

On 10/15/2017 at 3:28 PM, jrlx said:

The gaps and seams between parts are really a shame. Taking care of those is something I really don't like, as they seem to take for ever to look acceptable (in my case, at least...). I've tried Squadron's White Putty, CA glue and Perfect Plastic Putty but I'm still undecided about which is the best method to deal with them.

They do look pretty ghastly in the photos Jaime, but I'm pretty sure it'll be straightforward to get those issues sorted with a bit of planning and observation.

On 10/15/2017 at 3:28 PM, jrlx said:

The director Denis Villeneuve also directed "Arrivals" which I think is one of the best Sci-Fi films ever.

Villeneuve can do no wrong at present as far as I'm concerned Jaime. Sicario was brutal but that scene at the US border had me hyperventilating like no other film has done.

On 10/15/2017 at 2:42 PM, limeypilot said:

Well that little lot should keep even you out of mischief for quite a while!

Would it be possible to reduce that gap on the sponsons by sanding the mating edges back so they are a little more matched to each other? Might save half a ton of filler/goop at least! I don't envy you the rescribing though....

Exactly right Ian!  That and some thin plastic shim at the top of roots should see those evened-up later.

On 10/15/2017 at 2:45 PM, bbudde said:

Great work so far. Things are getting together (but sometimes a bit more slowly).

Thanks Benedikt.  Waiting for the airbrush to arrive is really starting to grate on the nerve-endings but at least the wings have kept me busily occupied...

On 10/15/2017 at 2:51 PM, bbudde said:

a bit more relaxed

Those guys are bonkers! 

On 10/15/2017 at 8:04 PM, CedB said:

Thanks for the tip on the lamp Tony - mine arrived today and is a prefect solution for the 'top of the photo booth'

Great stuff Ced. 

On 10/15/2017 at 8:04 PM, CedB said:

I hope the Hurricane calms down before it gets to you and that you survive nature's furies with little or no damage.

We've been most fortunate, though the drive to work in the morning may be 'challenging' due to at least three trees down across it tonight.

22 hours ago, Tomoshenko said:

Plenty of filling and sanding afoot I see, but we know you likes it really.

 Despite its larger size it's a darn sight easier than the Matchbox Meteor I can tell you - that thing just ate filler and sanding sticks!

22 hours ago, Tomoshenko said:

You could always try painting (spraying with your new airbrush) the finished aircraft in a B/W finish given your penchant for monochrome...just saying.

Don't think I haven't pondered that exact plan in the past  - the idea of working with tone rather than colour is I have to say a compelling one that I may well have a run at on a future beano. 

10 hours ago, Fritag said:

Ooo.  Looks very interesting and not too expensive an addition

I don't think you'd regret such a minor investment Tomo - as Ced mentions, it's handy for photographic purposes as well.

As to 'ghost' lines - I was still finding traces each time the lighting angle was changed:

At least the wing shape is accurate so that took some of the pressure off at this stage though.

11 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

Hope the wind wasn't too bad today Tony, & that you have power tonight.....

My thanks to you for that comrade.

 

 

Whenever I've gotten to the scribing stage on a build in the past, due to not exactly feeling comfortable with the process I've often tried to hurry through the process - clearly not a recipe for quality by a long chalk.This has been due to not really feeling comfortable with the scribing tool I have - a UMM-USA SCR-01 - largely as a result of hurrying to get past this stage each time. Q.E.D, Catch-22 &etc....

 

As a result I'd actually bothered to do some practising on scrap plastic with both the SCR-01 and a sewing-machine needle this time around before having a slash at the kit, as a consequence felt much less ragged.

Also of course, carefully marking everything out in pencil first helps...another improvement....

The original trenches on the kit wings bear no relation to the actual aircraft, especially on the underside where there are a slew of access panels to be added:

A closer squint:

You can see in the above where I've removed the underwing radiator near the root as well.

 

One flaw in my past technique I realised was scribing with the part on a hard surface - it feels so much more secure to have the part in question supported on some foam, so that in pushing down, there is some 'give' against the pressure you're applying and the lines can be made more sensitively. You no doubt realize this already but I'm saying this out loud so that I don't forget it in future!

 

Here's the two main wing spar lines scribed in along the upper surfaces to begin with:

Followed by the wing rib lines:

Swithcing to a sewing machine needle for the underwing access panels.There were done using the Verlinden 1/72 templates:

One wing done:

That big panel near the root is for access to the fuel tanks in the wing.

 

Both finished:

Scribing motor gondola will be the next task and I'm expecting all kinds of fun with skating around that set of curves...

 

Hope you guys are doing ok tonight.

Tony

 

 

[keefr22]

Nice 'stormchaser' pics Tony! We had a fantastic metallic coppery looking sky here this morning, something to do with North African dust apparently. We've had that before, makes a heck of a mess on the car when the rain washes it out of the atmosphere!

 

Some very neat scribing there too! Must admit the thought of scribing on foam had never occured to me!

 

Glad you escaped the worst of Ophelia's wrath....

 

Keith

 

[CedB]

Pleased to hear the storm didn't do the Manor too much damage Tony.

It certainly was a strange day, very windy here and also with an Ochre sky... is there a portent about that?

Fantastic job on the scribing, excellent job

[keefr22]

2 minutes ago, CedB said:

is there a portent about that?

 

Yes. Your car will turn orange next time it rains....!! 

 

K

[Pete in Lincs]

Bung a canopy on the gondola and call it Luft '46. Job done.

 

5 minutes ago, keefr22 said:

Your car will turn orange next time it rains.

Weathering?

[amblypygid]

Glad to hear you're safe and sound, Tony. Even this far east there was a distinctly sepia tone to the sky.

[bbudde]

As the others above, good to hear that nothing worse did happen to you there and you got your power back. Strange looking sky indeed and you will have to be careful for the next two days with slightly broken trees, etc. I would avoid them, if I could.

The weather is also a bit weird here (although I like it more than freezing). Now a mild summer night with  18°C at the moment  after tropical 25°C in the afternoon. Can't remember one past year here sweating in short clothes in the middle of October . Hoorray and christmas comes in eight weeks.

Great work on the wings. Looks much better now. Keen on them, when they are  painted. Hope your power stays tuned/on , so you can have a stormy modelling night tonight without to much bothering of what happens outside until tommorow. Hope you have a relaxing and quiet evening. Cheers

[Tomoshenko]

Looking the business Tony, lovely scribing. Echo what the other folk has said too and you've no damage to your gaff..urm when can we have another party?

[hendie]

2 hours ago, TheBaron said:

This has been due to not really feeling comfortable with the scribing tool I have - a UMM-USA SCR-01

 

I have one of those as well.  It does a good job of hacking through plastic. However my issue is that I never think I've gone deep enough until I realize that I have gone too deep.  I ended up using the razor saw as a scribing tool in my last build and found that worked quite well.

 

Great job on the scribing though - looks like you nailed it... not too deep, but nicely defined.

[jrlx]

Great to know Ophelia passed through without too much inconvenience. Ophelia has also been stirring the winds that reached Portugal in the weekend, which turned the forest fires out of control (half of the country being burnt...).

 

Thanks for the tips on scribing. Really interesting and useful. I also have the same scribing tool and I always feel uncomfortable using it as well. Did you scribe free hand along the pencil-drawn lines or have you use some kind of guide like Demo tape?

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

[TheBaron]

19 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Nice 'stormchaser' pics Tony! We had a fantastic metallic coppery looking sky here this morning, something to do with North African dust apparently. We've had that before, makes a heck of a mess on the car when the rain washes it out of the atmosphere!

I was reading about that 'Krakatoa' sky you had over there Keith - apparently both Sahara and the fires in Portugal & Spain have chucked a load of particulates into the atmosphere and they got shunted Northwards by the storm system.

19 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Some very neat scribing there too! Must admit the thought of scribing on foam had never occured to me!

I don't know why I didn't think of that sooner tbh Keith - one of the things that always made me chary of scribing in the past was the feeling that the part might slip and skitter off along the desk; this way there's a nice resistance to push against and stop that happening...

19 hours ago, CedB said:

Pleased to hear the storm didn't do the Manor too much damage Tony.

It certainly was a strange day, very windy here and also with an Ochre sky... is there a portent about that?

Thanks for the concerns Ced. We got off very lucky here - there's still  200,000 homes without power here as I write.

 

As to sky colours, I think it means we are all sinners and must repent, or is it that we've been repenting too much and must sin more? It's so confusing...

19 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Your car will turn orange next time it rains....!!

Your president too in some countries....

19 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Bung a canopy on the gondola and call it Luft '46. Job done.

 Another instance of predictive technology...

18 hours ago, amblypygid said:

Glad to hear you're safe and sound, Tony. Even this far east there was a distinctly sepia tone to the sky.

Thanks Chris. 

Anyone having their wedding photographed yesterday afternoon would be looking decidedly Edwardian-retro...

18 hours ago, bbudde said:

As the others above, good to hear that nothing worse did happen to you there and you got your power back. Strange looking sky indeed and you will have to be careful for the next two days with slightly broken trees, etc. I would avoid them, if I could.

The drive to and from work was...'exciting' shall we say. A fairly challenging slalom course of rally-driving for about half of the way in with various trees half blocking the road from the sides of the hedges. The schools were all still out here so traffic itself was quite light compared to the usual battle of the Orcs...

18 hours ago, bbudde said:

The weather is also a bit weird here (although I like it more than freezing). Now a mild summer night with  18°C at the moment  after tropical 25°C in the afternoon. Can't remember one past year here sweating in short clothes in the middle of October . Hoorray and christmas comes in eight weeks.

Mad isn't it? There's so much more heat energy in the atmosphere now that turbulence and unpredictability have almost become the new norms...

18 hours ago, bbudde said:

Hope you have a relaxing and quiet evening. Cheers

We did Benedikt - my thanks for that.  

17 hours ago, Tomoshenko said:

Looking the business Tony, lovely scribing. Echo what the other folk has said too and you've no damage to your gaff..urm when can we have another party?

Ta for that Tomo.  

 

Paryty? Are you mad? I'm still finding slices of lemon and puffin feathers after the last one. And who's was the pangolin that's still here? For so small a creature it consumes it's own weight in bacon every 24hrs....my neighbours are now openly suspicious about the growing cluster of pig abductions in the area...

 

16 hours ago, hendie said:

I have one of those as well.  It does a good job of hacking through plastic. However my issue is that I never think I've gone deep enough until I realize that I have gone too deep.

Agreed. I found my technique improved here this time simply because of resting the scribed part on a thick layer of foam - this gave me so much more confidence that it wasn't going anywhere and seemed also to give a greater sense of control over the gradual scribing-in of the lines, due to the slight 'give' of the part against the foam. I'm certainly feeling much more positive and friendly towards the SCR-01 as a result now.

16 hours ago, hendie said:

the razor saw as a scribing tool in my last build and found that worked quite well.

Interesting. I must have a look at that approach also. 

14 hours ago, jrlx said:

Thanks for the tips on scribing. Really interesting and useful. I also have the same scribing tool and I always feel uncomfortable using it as well. Did you scribe free hand along the pencil-drawn lines or have you use some kind of guide like Demo tape?

Big steel ruler for the long axes Jaime:

Small steel ruler flexed down for the cross-axis:

I'll no doubt be resorting to thin strips of Dymo for the contours of the gondola and later-on the fuselage.

 

Pardon my manners for not asking about your own situation in Portugal Jaime - I do so hope that you and yours are safely away from any conflagrations.

 

I won't get any building in tonight for two reasons. Bad news is I've a lot of work-work that needs catching up on after yesterday.

 

Good news?

 

The Iwata was waiting when I got home earlier and I'm just playing some ink through it onto paper to get a feel.

I am in raptures with the quality of it.

Glad that I served my time on cheapie clones, but the action and results of this are worth every florin.

Tony

 

[keefr22]

7 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

Your president too in some countries....

 

 

8 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

And who's was the pangolin that's still here? For so small a creature it consumes it's own weight in bacon every 24hrs....my neighbours are now openly suspicious about the growing cluster of pig abductions in the area..

 

 

 

Brilliant...!! 

 

Enjoy the Iwata Tony! I had to give the HP-CH a complete strip down and clean last week, and the design and precision of the engineering is lovely! (I really like the cheapo Neo to use, but it is completely agricultural in comparison!) 

 

Keith