A pair of Airfix Hawks in 1/72. Finished.

[(ex)Sgtrafman]

Brilliant!

[Engineer66]

Model making, casting, vacforming, now tool making, is there any end to the mans talents?

Nice sharp work on the first duct Steve.

That was a very brave move indeed, but hey 100% successful

That's one I'll have to file away in the 'when I'm older and bolder drawer!

[Tomoshenko]

Impressive and brave. Branding one's models does take some bottle. I would have some gloop on the ready in case of a mishap. Gloop up the repair, sand smooth and start over. Hopefulyl it won't come to that. Bit like watching a tightrope walker without a safety net though, only add in the tightrope is up hill and it's 11:30+ on a Saturday night.

[Fritag]

Two more done. Six to go

So far so good.....

Actually - it's not so scary if you just slowly heat up the brass master and try it against the model periodically - there comes a point when it's hot enough to leave an initial mark/slight indentation but only with firmish pressure - so it's quite controllable.

Then once the initial indentation is made the fear of misalignment the master recedes a bit and so you can get it hotter and make the duct deeper. Gettit?

Edited July 18, 2016 by Fritag

[giemme]

Bloody marvellous! ! A total success, if you ask me!

Now please, you made it look fairly easy, but how did you shape those brass stripes in such an effective way?

Inquiring minds want to know....

TIA

Ciao

[Jessica]

Tomoshenko, on 18 Jul 2016 - 12:10 PM, said:

Bit like watching a tightrope walker without a safety net though, only add in the tightrope is up hill and it's 11:30+ on a Saturday night.

Or between two hot air balloons...

[Fritag]

but how did you shape those brass stripes in such an effective way?

Inquiring minds want to know....

TIA

Ciao

Ah well. Easy enough actually Giorgio

I bought two thicknesses of 6.35mm wide brass strip some time ago when the idea first occurred to me. One strip 0.81mm thick and the other 1.63mm. These thickness approximated to the width of the NACA ducts on the top and underneath the fuselage.

I then just cut the end of a piece of strip down from 6.35mm to the length (about 2mm or so) of the NACA duct using my Dremel with the a diamond cutting disk.

I then filed the ends to a triangle profile. And then filed in the slight curves on the edges of the triangle using the rounded back of my Tamiya diamond PE file.

About 20 mins to half an hours work on each one - so now so bad. I'll keep em in the tool box now - who knows I might get to use them again some time

[Steve Coombs]

How scrotum-shrivellingly mad do you have to be even to think of doing something like that?

Walking a tightrope between balloons, not building Hawks, that is...

[Cheshiretaurus]

I knew you'd take it to the next level. Them NACA ducts went on very well.

Any missed approaches are best repaired with Airfix Hawk sprue goo then sanded flush. I did mess up a few when I did mine.

Spirit burner indeed.....yup a candle was too convensional for F

Very nicely done.

[CedB]

Very, very nice work there Steve. Your bravery (and skill) have been amply rewarded (although I winced when I saw the first one before sanding...)

Great job.

[Fritag]

I would have some gloop on the ready in case of a mishap. Gloop up the repair, sand smooth and start over...

Any missed approaches are best repaired with Airfix Hawk sprue goo then sanded flush.....

Spirit burner indeed.....yup a candle was too convensional for F

Ah - sprue goo/ gloop - good to know there's a safety net after all

As to the spirit burner - burns nice and cleanly with no soot - so no blackening of the brass strip - had it years and never used it so finally had an excuse

Edited July 18, 2016 by Fritag

[Fritag]

Pleased with the results on the back of hawk no. 2 as well:

And managed to get them adequately symmetrical

(BTW I know the exhaust hole in the top is off centre - I did it that way deliberately. Remember?)

It's the one on the nose of each hawk that I'm not looking forward to doing....

Edited July 18, 2016 by Fritag

[perdu]

well that was a really good idea, didn't that go well huh.

Since I knew it'ld work I'll concentrate on the seam filling

Brilliant stuff that and I'm glad you've given me the confidence to try it out

I've had the damned stuff in the cupboard long enough.

[Jessica]

Steve Coombs, on 18 Jul 2016 - 12:34 PM, said:

How scrotum-shrivellingly mad do you have to be even to think of doing something like that?

Walking a tightrope between balloons, not building Hawks, that is...

I wouldn't know about that. It's a phenomenon which I've avoided for some reason.

[The Spadgent]

I don't know where to start. Just mind bogglingly brilliant.

John.

[keefr22]

Ah well. Easy enough actually Giorgio

I bought two thicknesses of 6.35mm wide brass strip some time ago when the idea first occurred to me. One strip 0.81mm thick and the other 1.63mm. These thickness approximated to the width of the NACA ducts on the top and underneath the fuselage.

I then just cut the end of a piece of strip down from 6.35mm to the length (about 2mm or so) of the NACA duct using my Dremel with the a diamond cutting disk.

I then filed the ends to a triangle profile. And then filed in the slight curves on the edges of the triangle using the rounded back of my Tamiya diamond PE file.

About 20 mins to half an hours work on each one - so now so bad. I'll keep em in the tool box now - who knows I might get to use them again some time

Yes, that sounds easy....!! .

Really neat work - again - Steve!

Keith

[hendie]

Very nice work Steve - with excellent results.

[giemme]

Yes, that sounds easy....!! .

Exactly my thought Thanks for the detailed explanation, Steve. I'm glad those ducts are already molded in on my Harrier, though

Ciao

[Brandy]

Beautiful job... is there no end to the man's inventiveness?

Fortunately I don't think I'll ever need to try that - I've not yet seen one on a WWI aircraft!

Ian

[keefr22]

How scrotum-shrivellingly mad do you have to be even to think of doing something like that?

Walking a tightrope between balloons,

I'd be more impressed if they tried it without parachutes....

[phantom61]

great work Steve...

[Hamden]

Nice work with a brilliant outcome!

Roger

[Leonl]

They say that fortune favours the brave.... bravo great work...

[Fritag]

I've been continuing to work slowly on the surface detail.

I find that sharp corners - such as the corners of the ailerons - then to get rounded off as I work; and I find that a drop of cyano applied to the corner and then smoothed back - works well to reinstate the sharpness. You can just about see what I mean here:

I also took a deep breath and worked own the NACA ducts on the underneath of the fuselage.

Tricky these ones because (1) they're larger than the ones either side of the fin and (2) there are two of them one each underbelly - side by side and parallel - so that any malalignment will be bl**dy obvious....

Marked the positions in pencil:

Carefully applied the heated brass master.

This is the result of working slowly and applying it a few times - beginning by heating the master just hot enough to make a slight mark - and then checking the alignment - and then gradually increasing the heat to make a deeper moulding:

And here's the result on the two Hawks.

Hawk 1:

Hawk 2:

I dropped some thinned Mr Surfacer 1000 into each duct to give a smooth finish to the insides.

Phew. Only two more NACA ducts to go. They're little ones - which is good. But on the nose and highly visible - which is bad......

[Cheshiretaurus]

NACA vents looking very good Steve. The one on the nose isnt too bad to do, I marked out the centre line with masking tape to help. I too have rounded tips starting to appear on mine so I might just have to copy the CA trick. Next thing for me is still the dreaded vortex gens and that hot air out let on the rear right. Not sure what it's for on the real thing but I'm thinking 0.7mm brass tube.

Coming on nicely

CT