hendie

Bringing this thread back on track... I left you lot hanging on the rudder during my last post, and declaring it was oversize by around 0.75mm. It was a two minute job to sort that out and I reprinted it. Much better I think I need to do something about that tapered bulge on the bottom of the fuselage - there should be a similar taper on the rudder (I think) but that's a job for another day. Hobbycraft provide a whopping great nothing for inside the cabin area so while I was printing the rudder I knocked up some seats. This is the first print and after checking against the interior, I need to add some height to those - another easy job, and another job for another day. In order to proceed with the fuselage I really need to be getting the fuselage ready, and that means adding windows and sorting out my mistakes. My biggest blunder so far was the starboard side rear door. I had marked it out wrong and scribed it wrong - twice! This time I was going to at least try and get it right. The incorrect scribes were filled and sanded back (again), and after hunting around for something with a suitable radius for over half an hour and being completely unsuccessful, I opted to do things manually. Some 5 thou' brass sheet was brought into play and I filed an appropriate radius on one corner. That gave me a good solid edge to scribe against, and by reversing the template I was guaranteed that both sides would be symmetrical. Then completely forgot to take a phot of the result. The next major hurdle were the windows. This looks a lot more frightening than it actually is/was. My test prints had confirmed the dimensions of the part so they were printed out again in my go-to resin. Then all I had to do was glue them in position. Easy huh? Well, sort of. The fuselage has a slight curve along the longitudinal axis, which was easy to deal with, but there was also a slight curve in the vertical axis - that was harder to deal with. In fact these parts were so narrow that I couldn't force a curve in the vertical at all. The easy solution to that was to glue the windows in position slightly proud of the fuselage skin. Starting with one corner - glue, next corner - glue, flex in the middle - glue, then flood the seams inside and out with superglue. I had purposely designed a chamfer on the inside edge so I had plenty of real estate for the superglue to get in everywhere. It looks a bit messy at this point. But after sanding back through various grades of sanding stick, the result is quite impressive. I tried this shot to show how everything was flush, but the shot doesn't really work, does it? Wash, rinse, and repeat for the starboard side. I think the sanding took about 10 minutes per side so all in all, not a difficult job at all. You can see my rear door scribing attempt number three. I think I got it right this time, but my scribing is rough and I know that's going to be a real pain to get looking neat. I also need to hit those sides with primer to see how good the window inserts are, and if they'll need any more attention. I'm running short on white primer so I'm going to hold off until I can get more inbound. Now for the exciting stuff - at least for me. In a previous episode I had scanned the profiles and brought them into SolidWorks. You've all seen the process before so I won't bore you with it again. For stage one I decided to concentrate on just the rear section of the nose. That was printed out and while mostly successful, I caught a few "areas for improvement". Okay then, errors. Look closely here and you can see that I misjudged the angle - while the cowl fits snugly at the front, there's a slight gap at the rear. Back to the drawing board. Iteration number two and things are getting better. I got the angle right but I also need to add about 0.25mm to the length of the bottom section to get a really snug fit. But we have bigger problems. What's going on here then? Iteration number three. Going back to SolidWorks, and looking closely at things I discovered I had made a scaling error with one of the scans when I imported it into SolidWorks. Okay, error corrected and lets have another go. For this run, I knew I already had the rearmost part sorted out so no need to print all of that section. (makes for a quicker print) This is looking much better. In the shot above, it looks like the print is slightly taller than the kit parts. Remember the kit parts aren't glued yet and are still quite flexible. They will easily flex up just a tad when it comes time to commit to glue. I think I'm done with this section now. I could spend hours tweaking for no noticeable difference and I know there's some filling and sanding required later anyway. I'm going to take that as a win. One of the biggest issues I am facing with this modification is the usual lack of drawings. I have searched every corner of the internet and been unable to find any decent vector drawings of the Turbo conversion. None. Whatsoever. That means I've had to resort to cobbling together a drawing of the standard DHC3 (no T) and a bunch of photos. Certainly not the greatest method to achieve any sort of accuracy but you have to work with what you have. I spent a few hours today working on the full nose section and ended up with this. It's a decent starting place. There's a few features I'm not completely happy with - I was rushing things as I had limited time today due to family commitments - but I wanted to get the nose done for a test print. It looks deceptively simple but there's some complex stuff going on at the front end where the intake merges with the rest of the nose. I need to redo that transition and have a better idea of how t approach it now that I've had time to think. There's no point in adding any detail yet as there will no doubt be a bunch of small tweaks and changes so I'll wait until I'm happy with the shape before adding the greeblification. The test print is now running and I'll have a much better idea of what needs done tomorrow when I can touchy feely the nose along with the kit fuselage.

I hope the transfers work out Ced. That is a very nice looking coat of yellow.

Nice recovery Johnny. It's never a good day when yer knicker elastic breaks. Even worse when your undercarriage drops off!

Just a quick drive by today folks. I've been extremely busy with the Wessex parts over the last few days but I did manage to find a few moments today to create some more destruction. More razor saw action. Luckily I had saved the windows I removed from up front. Actually, I just hadn't got around to clearing up the workbench yet Choppity chop Then keep squeezing until it fits. I'm going to reduce the size of the insert just a tad as I want to make sure I get glue all around the edges and be able to fill any gaps with superglue or filler of choice. Note that I've also filled in the fuel filler points as they are in the wrong location. This photo was supposed to show that I managed to get the new window in line with the front windows but since most of it is in shadow you'll just have to take my word for it. I also found time to model the new rudder. Here we have the printed rudder sat behind the kit rudder and you can see where the shape was amiss. I completely forgot to take a shot of the rudder on the airframe so that can wait until the next update For some inexplicable reason Hobbycraft had modeled the ribs (can't remember the correct term in my old age) as depressions in the skin whereas they should actually be protruding from the skin so I took the opportunity to correct that. Either way, it's going to be a real pig to get painted with the HA logo. I need to reduce the overall height of the rudder by about 0.5 - 0.75mm and the fit will be perfect. I should really get started on that front cowl before I go any further, so I'd best start studying all my reference photos so I have half a chance of getting it right.

It's a Map light,seen here at top left from the BM walk round section

They look more like make-up brushes but I was too polite to mention anything.

Not yet Johnny. "Officially Old" is when you fill the grandchild's travel mug with Canola Oil instead of Apple juice, cos the liquid is the same color, containers are very, very similar and they both have green caps. (Thankfully he didn't actually drink any of it and I eventually realized what I had done). You're liking these Roden kits methinks. I do like the quality of their molding though I've only done (read stuffed up!) one of their kits, but I was very impressed with the sharpness and level of detail.

Well this seems to have captured the imagination of a Lodge of BM'ers dunnit? I don't know what's goin on in the outside world but I've been swamped with orders for Wessi bits over the last few weeks, which is great in one sense, but it does mean that I spend a lot of time printing/cleaning/packing bits of Wessex for folks, and that takes away some of the available time I have for modeling. I did however still manage to make a stuff up or two in this latest episode. Easy stuff first - I glued the wings together. 🦦 (<= that's supposed to be an Otter btw). I did the bendy set first and it turned out fine'ish. I did notice the additional weight due to the brass, so to even things up a bit, I also glued some square brass tube on the opposite wing as well. The warp isn't completely gone but you really have to hold the wing up perpendicular to your line of sight to notice anything, even then it's just a very slight bend towards the outer tip. I think we should be okay. There was something interesting, well, more annoying than interesting - for whatever reason Hobbycraft decided to mold a raised portion inside the wing (highlighted in pencil color below) which prevented the two halves of the wing playing nicely with each other. Some swearing and scraping soon sorted that out though. Ta Da ! Aside from that amazing leap of progress today was mostly the Waltz of the BM'ers, that is, two steps forward and one step back. Or is it the other way around? I wasn't particularly enamored of the Hobbycraft version of the rear door. Going by reference photos it does angle downwards slightly as it heads aft, but not as much as this. Note I'd also changed the bottom of the door opening to be in line with the panel line, and that exaggerates the taper somewhat. To make it a bit more palatable, I lessened the taper, and even managed to keep a smooth curve on the radius. While studying shots of the rear door it became apparent that Hobbycraft got that wrong too. They had split the door evenly while in reality the forward door is noticeable wider than the rear portion. More razor saw action in action. I also need to add some plastic to the bottom edge of the door since I've now increased the height of the opening. Since I plan to pose this with one of the rear doors open, that means you can see inside (maybe), which also means that there's a fair chance you should be able to see the door on the starboard side too. Obviously, HC didn't bother to add any detail whatsoever to the insides, so I somehow have to transfer the panel lines of the starboard rear door to the inside of the fuselage. After some cogitation I had what I thought was a brainwave! Slapping some tape over the rear door, I was able to cut around the panel line to get the shape of the door. Now the bright folks among you will notice that there is also a rearwards taper on this door - that means if I just slap that template on the inside, the door will be in reverse. My brainwave had that covered - all I needed to do was stick the tape on some scrap styrene, trim that back to the tape, and also cut out the window. Then I could place that template to the inside with the tape facing outward and line up the window aperture. Simples huh? Then all I had to do was scribe around that template to transpose the door outline to the inside. (Well, it made sense to me!) That was all going so well something had to give, and it didn't take long. Glancing again at my reference photos - why do I always do this after the fact? Notice anything here? It's the wrong flippin shape innit! Arghhhhhh. Okay, two steps back then. I fortuitously found a washer the same diameter as the width of the door so that allowed me to scribe the upper section of the door. Then I used a scribing template to get the curve on the bottom edge. With me so far? Then I realized that this is STILL WRONG! The bottom edge of the door should meet with that horizontal panel line below the current door opening. Not only that but that radius is present on both sides of the door. The 1:1 photo above is a bit misleading as it looks like there's only a radius on one side of the door... then I found another shot. Clearly a radius on both sides and what looked like a "corner" was in fact the shadow of a rain channel. Out with the filler then. It 'll get dealt with in due course. Honest. Moving on (sheepishly) I guess a hendie build would not be complete these days without some portion of 3D printing so I might as well get started. Windows. I had cut out the panels with the incorrect window configuration last time around. These are about as basic as it gets, so it was a quick job to knock something up in SolidWorks. - After finding out that the window apertures are different on both sides, and NONE of the kit glass fits any of them. Top left we have the new "panel", and top right we have what I hope to be the buck for forming the panoramic bubble windows. Below that is my quick test to verify that this should work...in theory. One quick test print later. Not bad. (ignore the door on the starboard side which is still wrong at this stage). I say that because it's only when they are fitted that I noticed that the radius on the panoramic windows needs to be larger. Compare the radius of the panoramic windows to that of the square windows in the 1:1 shot above and you'll see what I mean. That's an easy fix and will take all of 30 seconds to change. What about the buck? Did it fit? Well... It will need a little bit of refinement but size-wise I think it's good, or will be once I alter that corner radius. The bubble protrusion is just about right I think. The real test will be can I actually vacuform the darned windows. I'm fine with standard vacuforming but clear parts are my nemesis, and EVERY window on this damned otter is a bubble window with the exception of the cockpit windows. Aren't otters fun little things? Thought for the day: If a Twin Otter is referred to as a Twotter, is a Single Otter referred to as a Snotter ?

A fine looking pair of woppity birds Bill.

I wonder if I can still find my way around in here. It's been so long since I was last in here building something that when I search to see what I last built, nothing shows up. I could've sworn I'd built an aircraft before. Never mind. Here we go again... I started this one by accident. Honest. I was swithering between a Merlin and this, and before I knew it, I was cutting bits off here there and everywhere and plans were forming in my head. First though, a bit of background wouldn't go amiss - I find it hard to commit to building anything unless there is some sort of personal connection. I don't know why - it just is. Anyways, last year SWMBO and I had to travel up to BC in Canada for a few weeks to visit some relatives and take care of some personal business. While we were there we took the opportunity to go for a nice little tour of Victoria and the surrounding area in one of these. A Harbour Air DHC-3T Vazar Otter. There! Connection established so I can go ahead and build one now. (I need to check but I think it was 306 C-FIUZ that we flew in). There is one slight teensy problem though - there's no kit of a Vazar Turbo. There is a conversion in 1/72 but that is not my chosen scale. I'm a 1/48 man through and through. So, no kit, or conversion. However, a trawl of t'interweb informed me that there was a 1/48 Single Otter by Hobbycraft available, and by "available", I mean long out of production and being hawked on the bay for ridiculous prices. Several months of watching eventually led me to purchase an Otter at a reasonable price. Then the kit arrived and I had a good look at it. Oh dear. I guess I had been prewarned by reading through a bunch of threads online and knew that it came with several numerous built in flaws, but hey! that's what modeling is all about isn't it? For a 1/48 kit, to say it's basic is a bit of an understatement. Here's the full, incredible complex instructions. There might be some more on the other side relating to the floats, but you get the gist. Decals? Well of course I'm doing the Harbour Air Version so that will undoubtedly land me in hot water (no pun intended) later. There are some Harbour Air decals available but they are only in 1/72 and they're for the old scheme. I believe someone is considering doing the new scheme in 1/48, but how long is a piece of string? I'll cross that bridge and crumble the cookies when I come to it. As well as being a bit basic, the kit also has a few other issues to contend with. Not least of which is this little warp. and when clamped together does a fine impression of a grey banana. Hey ho. After considering a number of options, including printing new wings, the brain finally kicked into gear and arrived at a simple solution. I had some brass square tube in the stash and between that, some epoxy glue and a bunch of decrepit clamps, I managed to get it back on the straight and narrow. That's one problem dealt with - or will be when the epoxy cures. Next issue - the Rudder. Apparently the rudder has some shape issues. So, off with it's head, tail, ehhrrr... rudder Next issue. The floor. I have no idea what's going on with the kit here. There are three (count 'em) location thingies on the fuselage wall, but that kit floor does not line up with them. I can get it to line up with two, but depending upon whether I have the floor above or below the thingies, the cockpit floor sits halfway up the door opening, or alternatively, I can't get the fuselage closed. Plus, I don't remember having to climb up a humungous step when entering the aircraft to get to the seating area. I shall ponder this while I destruct something. Destruction Part n+1 I'm building a Vazar Turbo Otter, not a standard DHC-3 Otter. Therefore, something has got to give. Like these bits... to the left of the pencil lines. There! That was easy. So easy in fact, I did it twice. The vertical cut at the bottom isn't (yet) the same on both halves. I just wanted to get the engine cowling panel lines at this point - I can even up the bottom (calling @CedB!) later. Then before I knew it, the saw went crazy and lopped off a few more bits. Aside from panel lines being incorrect, the Vazar has different windows, panoramic ones no less. Then the rear door is wrong, there's more windows to add, and I'm opening up a real can of worms here. Back to the floor though - remember the floor? Well, I opted to make my own. Then when it all goes wrong, I've only myself to blame. The top one was just a rough cut to get me close and figure out the finer points of the inside shape (i.e. wonky). Then the lower one is the final (for now) attempt at a new floor. Which fits if I press and squeeze hard enough Yes, there is actually a step up into the cockpit from the seating area - just a small one though. But now to the elephant in the room. The Vazar nose. Now, I could go old school here and scratch one from whatever I have lying around, however, there's a fair bit of detail on the Vazar nose and I think this is prime time for 3D printing - but how to get the shapes that I need to start with? Well, I superglued some scrap styrene to the front end, and hit it with @perdu's favorite - the SIHRSC or thereabouts. I used that to get rid of the gross excess white styrene. Then I switched to the standard modelers files and eventually got this. The process was repeated for the lower fuselage section, then when done, the styrene was snapped off, cleaned up, and the edges hit with a black sharpie. I can now scan those parts and trace them in SolidWorks, which will give me a good starting point for a Vazar nose (he says hopefully!) There will be more printing and more scratching - the kit has zero interior apart from a VERY basic cockpit. Absolutely nothing in the seating area. Then, there's also a small issue of a missing 3mm between the wing leading edge and the rear of the cockpit door. More destruction to follow, provided the mojo hangs around for a while

Instructions for that set can be downloaded from this link on Scalemates FYI I've also been adding instruction sheets for my other sets on Scalemates (as time allows). Pleased to hear you like the parts Martian.

those vac formed parts are a bit stunning Tony. What material are you using? The window seals are impressive too. The added benefit there is that you can paint them separately and omit a tedious and nasty masking job.

Those "horrible close ups" as you put it are showing off some really nice work.

Impressive!

The master at work. You make that process look so damned simple, and yet I struggle immensely every time I have to form clear sheet into anything other than flat parts.