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Scratchbuilding a 1/72 Aermacchi Al-60 (Trojan in Rhodesian AF)


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Hi All, don't expect any miracles here, this is my first scratchbuilt aircraft and it won't be anything fancy, my guess is it will almost look right. Anyway pic below shows progess to date, which has now stalled as I have no idea where to buy some fine foam sheet to cut up and put inbetween the ribs of the body (yes this will be a solid body model). Small piece below fuselage is the start of the cowl.

If anyone has any parts of 1/72 cessna 172 (wings) or the fin of a 1/72 BN Islander I would be interested in hearing from them please. Also any suggestions as to a source of undercarriage please, esp the nose wheel leg

Thanks

Wayne

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Here are the drawings I am using to build from - Sourced off the web, (here ; http://richard.ferriere.free.fr/3vues/aermacchi_al60_3v.jpg)

aermacchi_al60_3v.jpg

Plus the plane itself, photo courtesy of Robin Norton

trojan.jpg

Edited by wkennerley
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a good start. RC model shops will sell foam. You can also use oasis (used for flower arranging)

I will be using this in places covered with some car body filler

Thanks Richellis, I think I have some oasis in the garage, will check tomorrow

Wayne

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Added some foam, now waiting for the woodglue to dry then a bit more minor shaping before adding filler, I hope this will work!! - Should I have cut the foam smaller than the area it is fitting into and then built it up with putty??

DSCF9042.jpg

Edited by wkennerley
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My plan is to do that, leave it large and sand down.

What are you using to seal it?

Hi Richelis, at present no ideas on what to seal it with, have you any suggestions? Till now my thinking was that i should have cut the foam smaller and built the shape up in filler that can be shaped rather than the foam?

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Im not sure. May try PVA, or even some car filler thinned down a bit.

I used PVA to glue in the foam on this, but it has dried rubery rather than hard and easily sandable. I wonder whether some coats of gloss varnish would help, if not I will cut back the foam a few mills below the ribs and then build it back up with filler - I will give thinned filler a go too.

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tried thinned filler, only set a thin top coat which sanded away in places and ripped off. I covered the whole plane so i am now seeing if I can fill it in with normal filler and make that work. - Fiberglass resin may have worked!

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Right so the oasis foam covered in a layer of filler did not work, so I cut it out and filled in the gaps between the ribs with a two part putty, then a layer of green putty filler to square it off (still sorting out some minor problem areas). I also found the tailplanes off a german wwii bomber that I cut to suit the model (see pics), still need to fill in the old panel lines and scribe new ones - plenty of work still to do. I could do with the fin off a 1/72 BN Islander if anyone has a scrapped kit please.

Wayne

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Edited by wkennerley
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  • 1 month later...

So having not really been successful with my solid model scratchbuild, I have decided to try kit bash this, still gotta figure some parts out but I purchased a Revell Skyservant whihch has supplied the base for the wings, rudder and rear end of the fuselage, see pic below. I already have the tail planes as per my previous post. A Cessna 172 is on its way to me sometime c/o a kind britmodeller so I hope to be able to use bits off that for the front end and hopefully the wing struts, will probably make the centre bit of the fuselage out of plastic sheet.

DSCF9593.jpg

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Hi

I'm always interested in scratch building, but I have to say that I think you are giving yourself an awful lot of extra work by chopping up dissimilar kits and reshaping them when the straight plasticard approach would take a lot less time and be more accurate. Please take this as constructive critism.

Your subject is a simple slabsided aeroplane, so perfect for sheet material. I would cut out the sides profile from say 30thou. Sandwich the two together and drill the widow corners then scribe the shapes on both sides joining the holes. Score a cross diagonally across and drill another hole in the centre. push you knife point into the centre hole on each diagonal, then use a small screw driver to push in the triangular "petals". See picture for technique.

Add a couple of formers. Make the fuselage top and bottom of rectangles and triangles out of thicker plastic so that you can file a corner radius on them. Make the nose side profiles of thicker plastic and infill the top and bottom. Make your wings by scraping an aerofoil on a longer section of plastic than you need with a Stanley blade. Mark the centre and draw your profile each side of this . Use the extra long bits to hold your wing on the bench whilst scraping and filing. When the aerofoil is done, now taper the tips and modifiy the section to suit. Now cut and file the tips to shape and separate your wings. Make the tail planes and fin the same way from suitable thickness plastic. Use wire for your main u/c and say a Hunter nose leg. Shape the windscreen from milliput and use this to push mould some clear PVC. When shaping any small parts such as the fin , leave a long plastic "handle" so you can hold it whilst you file and scrape the section. Remember that a sharp Stanley blade used as a scraper will remove plastic far faster than sanding or filing.

I hope this will help.

John

27-1.jpg

Edited by John Aero
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I would use plasticard on the wings and tail and build it up in stages then use milliput and then sand to the contours of the wings. Have you any A4 printable sticky back paper that can be stuck to the plastic as a template rather than normal paper when you print the scale plan out.

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I would use plasticard on the wings and tail and build it up in stages then use milliput and then sand to the contours of the wings. Have you any A4 printable sticky back paper that can be stuck to the plastic as a template rather than normal paper when you print the scale plan out.

No I haven't any sticky back paper, I use spray glue to attach normal paper to plastic, what is the advantage of using sticky back paper?

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No I haven't any sticky back paper, I use spray glue to attach normal paper to plastic, what is the advantage of using sticky back paper?

Its really down to what you prefer in the end but spray glue can be quite dangerous if breathed in

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It clogs up the lungs if you breathe it in and does not break down.

John

I am glad someone agrees with my statement, we use this alot at work but only in a controlled environment such as a spray booth and the use of a respirator, this stuff is more lethal than spray paint

Edited by kev67
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so put simply then, it does kill quicker so it's not worth trying to get a buzz out of it

- just thought I'd mention this in case anybody was considering it.....

oh yeah - how's the model coming? Any progress?

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  • 4 weeks later...

Would some cast metal parts for the Trog be of interest? As a Rhodesian it is a kit I have often considered producing - I was working in the drawing office of Air Rhodesia when a friend phoned from RRAF New Sarum and said 'if you look at the runway now you might see something interesting!' I looked, and there was the first aircraft flying.

Neil Gaunt

Aircraft In Miniature Limited

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