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Showing results for tags 'Purcara'.
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The kit decals aren't the best so I will using a set from Hannants and the pilots will be from a Revell set if they fit. Anyway here we go.The kit has recessed panel lines and no locating pins. Also after dry fitting a few of the parts the fit isn't the best but thats the price you pay for doing an old Airfix kit. The first job I did was to workout where I was going to attach the bolt in the fuselage for the stand which wasn't a problem as it is going to go near or enough in the middle of the wing roots. Before that I added a small of squared plastic rod to give the cockpit floor support a bit more strength and to act as a guide the keep the support vertical.I did the same for the support in the nose wheel well.While it was easier to get to I closed up the nose wheel well using scrap bit of plastic to support the nose wheel doors. Next I used a pair of calipers to find the centre of the fuselage.Then using a 4mm drill I made the hole for my M4 bolt.Then I did a bit of test fitting.As the kit plastic is a bit soft I added another bit of scrap plastic to give the plastic around the bolt a bit more strength and to make the level area where the head of the bolt will sit to give a better joint.I then stuck it all together with quick drying epoxy.The epoxy gives a strong and tidy joint.The support or marker for the cockpit rear bulkhead required a bit of help.So I added a touch more plastic to both sides of the fuselage halves to help as a guide for the bulkhead.While I was waiting for all the glue to cure I moved my attention to the wings which were a good fit.Now for the fuselage which wasn't a good fit. The fuselage halves were warped but when pushed together they weren't any large gaps. To attach the halves I decided to glue them in stages. I started at the tail. As I have said before there are no locating pins so I used the panel lines of the fuselage halves as a guide. So I lined up the panel lines on the tail section and I clamped the tail fin. Then I applied the Tamiya Extra Thin. I waited until the glue had a good bond on the tail then I moved down the fuselage ensuring that the join was rock solid before pulling the halves of the next section together, clamping them and gluing them together. As I came nearer to the wing root I taped in the cockpit floor\nose wheel well section in place and again pulling in the fuselage halved I clamped them together. Luckily they dropped in quite well and again I glued in position. The problem I had was no matter how I tried there was a big step on both sides of the cockpit\fuselage wall where it joins the cockpit floor\nose wheel section. (if you know what I mean). To get around this I decided to try and balance the amount of step on each side then when I came to fill and sand them down they would look the same. So using my homemade Tamiya Extra Thin filler I applied a thin layer to start to build the lower step in the fuselage up. I waited over night for it to harden then I sanded it and I applied another layer. I kept this up until the fuselage sides were level. The downside of doing it this way apart from the time was that you lose a bit of detail but this can be added later. I would of took some photo's but I couldn't find my camera. Anyway while I was waiting for the filler to cure I ran so filler down the main fuselage seam lines to fill any gaps and I sanded them smooth.Once all this was done I added the rear cockpit bulkhead using the guides I installed earlier then I attached the wings. Luckily I found my camera so I can show you the result.As you can see there is a bit of a gap at both wing joints. So as "Blackadder" would say "bugger". At first I though that one wing would be bigger than the other because one gap is wider than the other and it would put the balance of the aircraft out but when I measured the actual wing parts one was smaller and it balanced out the wings, if that makes sense. So that was that problem solved. To sort out the gaps in the wings I just used plastic shims glued in the gaps then once the glue has cured, I cut the waste away and sanded them down.Now for the tail plane.To attach the elevators wasn't a hard job. All I did was to make my own locating pins out of copper wire. The good thing about the copper wire is as well as supporting the elevators you can bend it helping with alignment. So armed with my copper wire and drill I made a hole in one of the elevators and using CA glue I attached the wire.Then I cut down the wire.I then aligned the elevator with the tail and I used the copper pin to mark the tail so I had something to follow when drilled a hole in the tail. I didn't drill the hole all the way through in case I made a mistake. Happy with the location I drilled another hole in the elevator and glued in another copper pin.I marked the tail again but this time I drilled the hole all the way through.