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Max Holste Broussard 1/72 Scratch Built Masters & Models


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The wings were next. I marked the main spar and a rear panel/rivet line as references for the sanding. I then added a line on the leading edge, at 1/3 of the chord height. This would be the leading edge centre line.

 

broussard048.jpg

 

The underside of the wing was first. The section is pretty much flat aft of the main spar, so I began with the curve up towards the leading edge. A chamfer was sanded first, using graphite from a pencil to see what was sanded and what wasn't. Once the chamfer was sanded on all three wing sections, I turned them over to start on the top. The leading edges weren't rounded at this stage.

 

broussard049.jpg

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Forwards of the main spar was sanded down towards the leading edge centre line. The rear 1/3 of the chord, from the pencil line backwards, was sanded in a chamfer towards the trailing edge. Once that angle was sanded, further pencil lines were added where the red dotted lines are shown, and this area was then sanded.

 

broussard050.jpg

 

This created a multifaceted aerofoil which was then fairly easy to round off into a smooth curved aerofoil. That was done on some wet and dry paper on a flat worktop.

 

broussard051.jpg

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Here's the wing section heading towards completion of the curved upper surface.

 

broussard052.jpg

 

When I was happy with the wing section, I started shaping the wing tips. These have a slight undercamber in the rear 1/3 of the chord. It's subtle at this scale, but still noticable.

 

broussard053.jpg

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I also did some work on the fuselage. The two parts of the cabin were glued together, and then they were bolted to the rear and lower fuselage with a plastic bag trapped between the upper and lower parts. This allowed a little thin cyano to be wicked into the rear and lower fuselage joint. The upper and lower parts then had their joints sanded and then separated.

 

broussard054.jpg

 

Three small blocks were then glued together to form the rear fuselage under the tailplane area. The joints between these blocks formed centre lines which were aligned with those on the main fuselage. They were carefully clamped and thin cyano run into the joint to attach the tail piece.

 

broussard055.jpg

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Once the tail block was secure, I began cutting it down, first with the bandsaw to get the excess off, then with 80 grit sand paper. At present, the block has been cut to the correct length, but it hasn't been fully sanded to blend in with the rest of the fuselage. Once that is done, the next stage will be cutting the wing and tail seats.

 

broussard056.jpg

 

broussard057.jpg

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This is extremely instructive watching all of this coming together, thank you!

 

As for the finished product, I'm another one waiting for this to hang the Model Art decals onto.

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After the tail was sanded to shape, I began to sand out the tailplane seat. It would be impossible to sand by eye and get a good fit, but I had a plan. Instead a trying for a good fit, I sanded the seat a bit deeper than needed.

 

broussard058.jpg

 

I also needed to create a little fuselage just ahead of the tail. The fairing on top of the tail will be added later.

 

broussard059.jpg

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Out came the bandsaw and the scrap wood, and I made a jig to hold the fuselage and tailplane square.

 

broussard060.jpg

 

The tailplane was wrapped in one layer of sellotape to give it a smooth, non-stick surface.

 

broussard061.jpg

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Out came the P38 car body filler next, and a small amount was mixed up and pasted onto the tailplane seat. The tailplane was then pressed down onto the fuselage, squeezing out the excess filler, being careful to make sure it was aligned side to side. The jig took care of the other alignments.

 

broussard062.jpg

 

A short coffee break gave the filler enough time to cure to the 'green' stage and I was then able to lift the fuselage from the jig. I left the tailplane attached for a while longer for the filler to fully harden. The excess filler would be trimmed off later. The fuselage tailcone also needed a bit of filler to blend it with the rest of the fuselage.

 

broussard063.jpg

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While the tail filler was curing, I began to sand out the main wing seat, starting with a thin slice through the bandsaw, followed by hand sanding.

 

broussard064.jpg

 

The tailplane was finally popped off, leaving a nice smooth, perfectly aligned seat on the fuselage master.

 

broussard065.jpg

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The fuselage was returned to the jig, along with the tailplane, this time with the cockpit fitted. More P38 filler was mixed and applied to the main wing seat. The main wing panel was pressed into place on the filler. It was checked from above that it was square to the centre line, and checked from the front that is was parallel to a steel rule resting on the top of the tailplane.

 

broussard066.jpg

 

broussard067.jpg

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A little while later, the wing was popped off the cabin. The main wing had been used to make the seat as it's longer span was more accurate to align squarely. When the centre wing panel was fitted to the cabin top, it was a perfect fit on the filler. I guess my wing section sanding was pretty accurate!

 

broussard068.jpg

 

The excess filler at the top of the screen and around the sides was wet sanded a little while later, and the aircraft components placed together for a photo. Now it's really starting to looking like a Broussard.

 

broussard069.jpg

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Here's the windscreen sanded.

 

broussard070.jpg

 

The tailplane seat filler was sanded and some acrylic putty added to the joint on the tail fairing joint. This was sanded as seen here, and a further layer of filler added and again sanded. 

 

broussard071.jpg

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The last job of the day was the fin/rudder assembly. I decided I only needed to make one pattern which would be used for both sides. Two pieces of thin modelboard were glued together into a thin sheet. The glue joint gave the piece a centre line to work to.

 

This was wet sanded on both sides until the desired thickness was reached. The outline on the drawing was extended and the modelboard placed over the drawing to mark out its size. The taper was marked and cut first, then the height cut before sanding the radii on the top and bottom of the fin. 

 

broussard072.jpg

 

Once the basic shape was sanded, the rudder taper was sanded along with the leading edge curve. The top and bottom of the fin and rudder were the last to be rounded off as seen from the front.

 

broussard073.jpg

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How did I miss the last few updates? I've been checking in almost every day.

 

Looking absolutely fantastic and looking every bit a Broussard now. I love threads like this.

 

Didn't think I'd see a Broussard. The one airframe (apart from a Fiat G.46) that I need to finish my collection. I'm in that queue still!

 

 

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No idea. It wasn't marked or labelled when I got it.

 

It could be this, judging by the colour. Different densities seem to be different colours - http://www.easycomposites.co.uk/#!/patterns-moulds-and-tooling/tooling-and-modelling-board/EP700-High-Temperature-Epoxy-Tooling-Board.html

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5 hours ago, fightersweep said:

How did I miss the last few updates? I've been checking in almost every day.

 

Looking absolutely fantastic and looking every bit a Broussard now. I love threads like this.

 

Didn't think I'd see a Broussard. The one airframe (apart from a Fiat G.46) that I need to finish my collection. I'm in that queue still!

 

 

 

Yep - I’m still in too! ;)

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A high pressure over Europe has brought Mediterranean weather to the UK for a few days. With a Summer like day in mid April, I decided I'd go out and catch some Sun this morning - not sun bathing, but photon catching in Hydrogen Alpha wavelengths of light!!! While the Sun is deep into the low period of its 11 year activity cycle, there was still some interesting prominence activity, with the lower right one being about three times taller than the Earth's diameter!

 

sun2018_10.jpg

 

By the time I finished and packed up, it was time for a quick lunch, before heading to the building bench. I decided to tackle the odd shaped cowl next. It starts out round at the front, and transitions to a rectangular section with rounded corners like the front of the fuselage. I began by turning a rough blank out of model board.

 

broussard074.jpg

 

The centre was drilled out and the outside, turned down with a combination of the lathe tool and freehand work with a scalpel and sanding block. A styrene template was periodically offered up to the resin cowl to check on the profile. It took a while, reducing the shape by fractions of a millimetre at a time.

 

broussard075.jpg

Edited by Army_Air_Force
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The front section of cowl was cut away, and sanded to the desired depth. The rear part of the resin, that was in the lathe jaws, was also trimmed, and the brass template from the front fuselage attached with cyano to the back face.

 

broussard076.jpg

 

The front piece was then carefully lined up and glued back on.

 

broussard077.jpg

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