Cheshiretaurus Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 I love the vacforming dies, it's something I wish I'd tried when I did my Sherpa sponsons, even though it worked that time for me All along the work you are doing I'm finding immense pleasure and value from seeing how you tackle these tasks I really do have to sieze the moulding nettle and have a go at resin and etch thanks for showing me how Its all been a good education. The bigest hurdle is just collecting all the bits together to make these things. Well worth having a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 1, 2013 Author Share Posted September 1, 2013 (edited) Ive given up on casting resin side windows, couldn't get the resin to cure hard enough to polish & the windows had lots of optical distortions so the interior was too obscured to be worthwhile. The easy answer would be just cut them from clear sheet however they are curved, the B window has a complex in it curve too. An Idea came while working on a new mould for the windscreen, Vacuum them! but first I need to make a master, this was created in a similar way that the resin windows would have been done. A piece of acetate was taped over the windows but instead of resin I pushed RTV putty into the apertures. Once set the left & right were stuck to a flat surface and the space between the two filled in with more RTV putty to create a smooth mound with the windows at the top suitable for vacforming. A wooden casting frame was put around and dammed, and a negative cast made from resin. Now I can make as many RTV moulds of the windows as I want in case I trash them while making the vacuum mould. The vac mould was made in the same way as the previous ones this time I used acupuncture needles as suggested by Carlos, one in each corner of the each window, 16 needles. I found grouping the all together with a bit of blutac helped to keep them neat and upright while working and not falling in the way. Pulled several copies this morning from it some better than others but I think I've got a set of usable ones from it going to give them a test fit soon then, I think the plan is going to be to fit them near the end of the build to prevent damage. I can fit them from the inside before the floor goes in, thank you airfix for designing it this way. I can now close up the fuselage and get on with the build! Speaking of which I vacuumed some more spats, this time from 0.75mm card this worked much better. These were cut out, sanded and assembled in the same way for any other vacform part. spent yesterday afternoon carefully cutting out the slots for the wheels For the nose wheel an extra slot was cut for the leg and slither of 0.25mm card inserted for the fin on this spat. The main gear spats have the cut out extending round to the inboard for the leg, still need to do some more research on this to get the right size an shape of the cut out before I do them. Edited September 1, 2013 by Cheshiretaurus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Things are moving along now fuselage was closed up last night and filled, This morning I dry assembled the rest with test nose, wings and tail to find the centre of gravity by balancing it at the point where the main wheels will go, found I needed 2.5g of weight in the nose. I've cast a nose with 3g of lead submerged in the resin, hope this is enough as there isn't room to add more later. Nose is now CAd into place and filler added. I'm away with work again for the whole week so this gives plenty of time for it to set ready for me to start sanding when I get back. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 8, 2013 Author Share Posted September 8, 2013 (edited) Found an unwelcome air bubble under a very thin surface while blending the nose in. Filled it with milliput & green filler to top off and smoothed out, I found a flexi-file fitted with a strip of 600 grade wet n dry good for this with detailed areas protected by insulation tape. The rest has been blended with the nose. and is ready for assembly. I have made an error in the planning with the nose, I'm having trouble sanding near to the detailed areas and some areas are a bit rough as I cant get in close enough without damaging the detail. I should have left the 'Cherokee 140' logo PE panel until the end and fitted it to the nose after assembly. Its not to late to do this, I can sand the nose smooth again and make a new pair of PE panels, but I'll see how it looks once I get some gloss on it before deciding what to do With the amount of sanding I have done on the fuselage the wings are no longer a snug fit and the wingspan is about 1mm too short this has lead to all sorts of alignment issues and gaps at the wing root. I've built a jig from fibre board to get everything in place and lined the wing roots with 0.5mm card to make up the wingspan. Its now only 0.01mm short, think I can live with that. While working on the wings I have fitted two fairings for the main gear legs with 0.5mm hole drilled in to take a brass rod oleo. Jig was taped to a perspex sheet to keep it flat. Once set I will cut the plasticard to the wing profile Dry fit - dihedral correct, wingspan correct. Just some gaps between the fuselage and the wings at the trailing edge to address. Still need to decide how best to fill those gaps with more card, not sure whether to fill gap before fitting the wing or afterwards. Hopefully have the wings on properly by the end of the week. Mark Edited September 8, 2013 by Cheshiretaurus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 10, 2013 Author Share Posted September 10, 2013 (edited) No building today, An experimenting day with a cunning plan m'lord! Still finding uses for the home brew PE beyond that of just parts and templates......stencils this time. Planning how to do the white registration on a red background, think I have a plan of how to make a white decal in the absence of an ALPS printer. The Artwork for the PE was made from a scaled photo and a PE stencil made from it, I taped this to a piece of clear inkjet decal sheet sprayed a coat of gloss white. In the meantime I gave a bit of plasticard a coat of gloss red. Think this is going to work fine just need to give it 2 coats of white next time. As its a stencil I've had to put links in the P & A I intend to paint these out with a fine brush once the decal is on the model. Next problem I havnt yet solved is how to mask the very fine stripes on the spats, they are 0.25mm the smallest Jammydog tape I can find is 0.5mm Any Ideas how to cut something so thin? Edited September 10, 2013 by Cheshiretaurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 10, 2013 Author Share Posted September 10, 2013 (edited) Actually I've mis-measured it, its smaller, its 0.01mm eek! Edit - having trouble with decimals tonight, 0.1mm Edited September 10, 2013 by Cheshiretaurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarLos Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 I would try a fine Rotring pen with red ink on white decal paper. I never tried it myself, but friends have done it with good results. Or you can use one of these: http://files.tiralinhas.webnode.pt/200000005-7461a76555/tiralinhas%20de%20compasso.jpg (sorry, I don't know how to call it in English) The white registration looks good, but having the artwork it would be easier to have the decals printed in white or (probably cheaper) to have masks done. Or are you trying do do everything by yourself? Carlos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 10, 2013 Author Share Posted September 10, 2013 I'd rather try to do everything in house so to speak, but depending on what quality of results I can achieve I may get some printed or masks cut. do you know how much they might cost roughly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarLos Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 No I don't but it is probably cheap having the artwork done. I asked sometime (years!) ago and it wasn't expensive, the problem was to make tiny cuts (made with blades, these days). Today laser cutters are everywhere, so... Probably others can help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 10, 2013 Author Share Posted September 10, 2013 Thanks for the info, maybe a sign making company could do it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fritag Posted September 10, 2013 Share Posted September 10, 2013 Inspirational stuff Mark - love the problem solving approach. Many of your techniques are beyond stuff I've tried (yet?) - but it just makes it a more interesting read. Cracking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted September 11, 2013 Share Posted September 11, 2013 how about printing the red stripes on white decal paper It is very easy to draw stripes in a program like Paintshop Pro or even in Microsoft Paint then import your stripes into MS Word and reduce them to suit Might be worth a try, I knocked up a set of representative ones in about five minutes that I'd even use if this was my model You just need to be selective about stripe sizes bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 12, 2013 Author Share Posted September 12, 2013 Inspirational stuff Mark - love the problem solving approach. Many of your techniques are beyond stuff I've tried (yet?) - but it just makes it a more interesting read. Cracking. All still experimental to me to but enjoying coming up with new Idea's, glad your enjoying it. how about printing the red stripes on white decal paper It is very easy to draw stripes in a program like Paintshop Pro or even in Microsoft Paint then import your stripes into MS Word and reduce them to suit Might be worth a try, I knocked up a set of representative ones in about five minutes that I'd even use if this was my model You just need to be selective about stripe sizes bill Good idea, thanks I'll give it a go, got a few hours to kill in the crew room today, I'll have a go at getting an artwork drawn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarLos Posted September 12, 2013 Share Posted September 12, 2013 Thanks for the info, maybe a sign making company could do it Mark, related with masks please see the video on this topic and the explanation a few posts later. http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234946487-airfix-172-b-25-mitchell/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 12, 2013 Author Share Posted September 12, 2013 Thanks Carlos. I'll have a look at that tonight. Stuck at work at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 13, 2013 Author Share Posted September 13, 2013 Carlos, have been looking at vinyl cutters to have one is on the the wish list, just need a way of justifying the cost to the other half, bit too big to hide away like other stuff so I will get caught with it. cheapest new ones are around £170 for a Craft Robo Silhouette have seen 2nd hand ones go on ebay for £60-160. One day I will have one, would be fantastic for making all sorts of intricate, accurate masks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted September 13, 2013 Share Posted September 13, 2013 If i ever have to make very small linear decals i just use a razor blade and cut as fine as possible. That could help, although i dont think itll meet the accuracy youre after Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 13, 2013 Author Share Posted September 13, 2013 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SILHOUETTE-PORTRAIT-ELECTRONIC-DIGITAL-CRAFT-CUTTING-TOOL-/121175397281?pt=US_Die_Cutting_Machines_Dies&hash=item1c369dd3a1 This is getting very tempting, I'm going to get myself in a lot of trouble! Other than that, I've been trying an inkjet decal on white decal paper for the spats, seems to look ok just not tried applying it to the compound curves of the front of the spats yet, might need the assistance of a fine paint brush for that bit. more experimenting to come. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huntermountain Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 About cutting the fine line. It's something I haven't tried yet, but have been thinking about. I wonder what the result would be if you insert two xacto blades in a holder at the same time. I guess the distance between the blades would be equal all the way, and the distance might just be what you need. Just a thought. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 14, 2013 Author Share Posted September 14, 2013 (edited) About cutting the fine line. It's something I haven't tried yet, but have been thinking about. I wonder what the result would be if you insert two xacto blades in a holder at the same time. I guess the distance between the blades would be equal all the way, and the distance might just be what you need. Just a thought. Is a very good idea The width of a swann morton blade is 0.4mm so 2 together creates a cutting track of the same 0.4mm, its the method I used to cut the white lines from white decal stock for the floats of my S6B http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234943103-supermarine-s6b-172/ The method normally works really well but have been trying it with 2 razor blades of 0.12mm width with not very good results, might just be a case of more practice though! Edited September 14, 2013 by Cheshiretaurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Cornes Posted September 14, 2013 Share Posted September 14, 2013 This is a very interesting build. Perhaps you could tell me what RTV rubber you are using and what clear resin? I ask because I use Sylmasta RTV and their 2 part (opaque) Bi-resin. I am particularly interested in the clear resin though as I have a couple of projects in mind! Thanks Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 14, 2013 Author Share Posted September 14, 2013 (edited) Hello Simon, The RTV I use is this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RTV-Silicone-Mould-Making-Rubber-275g-Kit-Shore-A22-/250753625646?pt=UK_Crafts_Ceramic_PotteryMaking_SM&hash=item3a6214ae2e comes in several other sizes too. It is white in the tub and pours like syrup, the catalyst is red and once mixed gives the pink colour, I've noticed they now do another slightly harder rubber with a much shorter curing time http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RTV-NEW-Silicone-Rubber-262-5g-Kit-Hardness-A26-/230918286092?pt=UK_Crafts_Ceramic_PotteryMaking_SM&hash=item35c3cd6b0c not tried that one yet! Clear resin is this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WATER-CLEAR-CASTING-RESIN-250gm-KIT-FOR-USE-WITH-JEWELLERY-PLANTS-LEAVES-ETC-/251004698547?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&hash=item3a710bbfb3 Edit:- nearly forgot this one, I also use Silli Putty Gum for mould making http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=silli+putty+mould&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xsilli+putty+gum&_nkw=silli+putty+gum&_sacat=0 Edited September 14, 2013 by Cheshiretaurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 29, 2013 Author Share Posted September 29, 2013 After a few beers in Corfu, I went for it, I've bought a vinyl cutter should arrive in a week or two, need to find some ware to hide it. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SILHOUETTE-PORTRAIT-ELECTRONIC-DIGITAL-CRAFT-CUTTING-TOOL/400579890319?_trksid=p2050601.m2451&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D266%26meid%3D1629050997724583647%26pid%3D100103%26prg%3D1141%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D400579890319%26clkid%3D1629053668723882759&_qi=RTM1489537 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miggers Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 After a few beers in Corfu, I went for it, I've bought a vinyl cutter should arrive in a week or two, need to find some ware to hide it. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SILHOUETTE-PORTRAIT-ELECTRONIC-DIGITAL-CRAFT-CUTTING-TOOL/400579890319?_trksid=p2050601.m2451&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D266%26meid%3D1629050997724583647%26pid%3D100103%26prg%3D1141%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D400579890319%26clkid%3D1629053668723882759&_qi=RTM1489537 Have you now you blighter . I can see you becoming an extremely popular member of these pages with a bit of kit like that 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheshiretaurus Posted September 30, 2013 Author Share Posted September 30, 2013 Have you now you blighter . I can see you becoming an extremely popular member of these pages with a bit of kit like that At £14 per blade there may be a small charge towards the blade fund but not very much, not sure how long a blade will last Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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