Bandsaw Steve

Looking for someone with a 'sanding fetish' ? Have you seen my Mig 15 build? I sometimes think it's nothing but sanding, and for some wierd reason l like it. I don't want to imagine what a psychologist would say!

Hello VanRoonatic! Yes, definitely there this weekend! Will discuss metal foil and the various options it presents Saturday. Was planning on using foil for selected surface details, mostly because it is thin and conforms to curves well. Was going to use a variety of metallic enamels for the rest of the surface but happy to consider any alternative suggestions.

Just had a look at your previous nacelles thread and am becoming very inspired to have a go at resin moulding myself, so thanks for posting.

Yes - good point Adrian. The pilot went in far too early and has nearly had his head knocked off a couple of times! Stll, I have no sympathy for him as I am not a communist sympathiser!

Thanks Hendie, have just had another look at your fantastic Lysander build. You might be interested to hear that You have convinced me to have a go with 'brass rod and a little solder'. This build has its gear up, but I'm thinking my next project will be sitting firmly on soldered brass undercarriage. There's always something new to try

Excellent! Reminds me of my own current project! Beware getting your kids involved though - This kind of thing can be highly addictive and therefore may not be suitable for children

So...following on from the last posting - I now have an airframe shape that I am happy with and a nice smooth surface. It's time to give this model some panel lines. I have seen wooden models without panel lines and accept that some models are more accurate without them, (or at least with very few) but in 1/48 scale I think that models without them tend to look a bit 'sparse' so I will be putting them on. The first task is to mark them up and that is what this posting will cover. Here are the tools I use; yet another set of plans, a good-quality mechanical pencil and eraser, a good set of dividers, scissors, steel rule and dymo tape. Also used, but not shown here, are some pins and a small amount of blue-tack. The trickiest part is getting an accurate start. One needs to be able to identify an accurately placed reference point that can be identified both on the plans and on the model. in this case, after lining up the plans as accurately as I could against the wing plan-form I used a pin to mark the exact location of the outboard end of the flap's leading edge. With the pin (and a bit of blue-tack) holding the plans still, we can identify and mark where various panel lines cross the leading edge. Using the dividers, the pin-mark reference point and the marks on the leading edge we can start scaling off and marking in some of the more prominent panel lines. These lines were positioned using the dividers but drawn using the steel-rule as a straight-edge. As the job progresses it becomes easier to scale off subsequent lines - in this case I am measuring off the width of the aileron. Here you can see how aligning the plans accurately against the wing plan-form can allow the first panel lines to be plotted onto the fuselage. You will be pleased to know that I rubbed out that rather messy line next to the pilot and did it again. Dymo tape provides a great straight-edge when working on curved surfaces. (Here it is white-on-white, but I think it still visible enough to post). The process continues across the whole airframe. The process gets through a lot of dymo tape! When working around tight curves, such as the air intake, I use scissors to cut 'feathers' in the tape. This helps it to work around the contour. And this is the result. A Mig 15 with all of the major panel lines drafted up and ready for scribing. Just a quick note to Sovereign Hobbies. I have looked into fibreglass skinning and discussed with the local hobby shop at some length. Have bought some Deluxe Materials, 'Eze-Kote' laminating and finishing resin that the guy reckoned would give a 'glass-like' finish to the model. It looks good in the bottle but I am not going to use it on this particular model for two reasons: 1 - I decided when I started this that I would try to reproduce the kind of work I did when I was a kid. 2 - I have not had a chance to play with the stuff and find out exactly how to use it and what it does. I am determined however to be a bit more adventurous in my next build and intend to use it next time around - it is supposed to be very good on balsa so I might even be able to use some on the next build. Next time - the scribing of the panel lines begins! it's a fraught process, and there's no room for error thanks to this NMF madness that I am about to attempt. TTFN - Reconcilor

Remember, my good impressions of this kit were relative to everything I had built before and the molds are old so not up to modern standards. I've just had a look at my old one and can confirm that filler was used in the same spots you have it so I think you are doing fine.

Ahhh. Yes. The Whirlwind project! That's where the plans came from. I recall that you mentioned it earlier in the thread. Thanks for that. Weather is also chilly here in Perth - will only get to 34C today. Will have to wrap up warm

Hello Sprueloose. You appear to have an excellent set of 1/48 scale drawings there. Might I enquire where you got these from? I am starting to think seriously about my next post-Mig15 scratchbuild and this could be a contender.

Good choice of kit. This was my second ever 1/48 model. Built it in 1992 and it was a revelation. Previously I had mostly built 1/72 matchbox kits and I couldn't believe what was in this box- how well it fitted and how clean and detailed the moulds. It's old now, but I bet it's still good. Enjoy

I like to see models in flight like this. Aeroplanes are supposed to fly! Good job

In my experience academy decals just come off by themselves - after about five years. Get rid of them! Somehow... Agree with the others though, the project looks great otherwise

Looking spectacular. Well done. I might have to scratchbuild one of these...in 1/48! - just kidding.

Any progress on this great looking project?

WowReally very good.

I might build this one OOB one day just to put it beside yours and see all the differences. I believe that this particular kit may be trumpeter's worst ever research effort so it would be interesting to see the net effect of the corrections.

Sweet!

It's lOOking good one-two. Keep going!

Really good limey! Love the fabric and plywood effects. Am thinking about trying some casting myself so your effort s in that regard are of great interest.

Just fix the nose mate. 'Working' parts are usually just a pain (imho) and increase the chance of damage once the model is complete. Simple is good! Everyone knows this kit is difficult so you won't lose any kudos over that decision

Off again for some more wooden Mig15 action. This time I'm going to fix something that has bothered me for some time about this model and finally got so irksome that I had to do something. I am not a rivet counter - I do not generally worry about minor points of inaccuracy that would require specialist knowledge to detect. That's just not my thing. But what I can't accept is an issue that any observer - could readily detect. Hence - I try to make my models as symmetrical as possible (most aeroplanes are almost perfectly symmetrical in plan and front view) and I try to get all the 90 degree angles as 'true' as I can. In the case of this build I failed horribly in the latter regard. I was in a hurry one day and just 'stuck' the airflow splitter into the air intake any old how. And it was crooked - Leaning about 4 degrees to port. At first I thought - 'It'll do' - 'She'll be right'. But it wasn't right and it annoyed me every time I looked at it. Now I'm going to fix it. This was my first idea - but this was stupid at a number of levels - so I had a re-think. Ah-ha! This is more like it - a little cutting / grinding tool in a miniature electric drill. I decided to do some dentistry. My mother always wanted me to be a dentist. Here I'm grinding out the offending airflow splitter. It was made of Jarrah - so it was fairly hard going. Voila! One ragged hole in the front of the aeroplane. Which gave me a chance to re-visit the rather inadequate sanding inside the air-intake. It's much smoother now and I am feeling much happier about the thing already! Now take that pair of dividers that my father gave me for my birthday (very thoughtful) and measure the inner diameter of the air intake. Transfer the measurement onto that beautiful piece of NZ White Pine. Draft up the new splitter. Cut it out using a coping saw. Cut, carve and sand to shape. And now it's all ready to go. Look at the job I did on sharpening that pencil! Ha! So much for woodworking skill! Mark up the centrelines, top and bottom of the intake. (You can see the top pencil mark in this photo.) Put a dash of PVA on the splitter and put it in place. Do it carefully this time and check that it's vertical! It's a bit out of focus - but I think that you can now see that the splitter is now pretty square. There is some filler work required to fair it into the rest of the fuselage - but my much esteemed Vallejo filler will deal with that very easily. I'm happy now - this will not bug me any more. So - what have I learned? 1. Work carefully and try to get things right first time. 2. Use softer woods for details - it's a great idea to use a hard-wood for the main structure of the fuselage but details such as this are much easier to form with a moderately soft 'whittling' wood such as this - I believe that birch, basswood and Jelutong are also all excellent. 3. One advantage with scratch-building is you can generally 'have another go'. if you ruin one bit, just build it again. With a kitset you might have to buy the whole box and dice a second time to get the replacement bit. I've had to do that on a few occasions and it gets expensive. That's it for this round. Next update might be a few weeks away as 'life' threatens to get in the way of modelling. No 'preview' this time but I will leave you with a cryptic photograph of a piece of wood that might give you a clue of what the next post will be about. Until next time - Happy modelling and stay safe. Reconcilor

So true! It's surprising to me also that they have done so many Spitfire including quite a few griffin Spitfires and Seafires but continue to miss this standout mark!

Really very very good. Congratulations on a great outcome with this build.

It's no surprise of course but I am happy to see the sea hurricane and will be getting one for sure. Months after the announcement I'm still impressed that airfix has the guts and conviction to put out a new tool Walrus in 1/48. They are to be congratulated if you ask me. Good on ya Airfix. Still no Spitfire XIV though!