Enter the Dragon...er...Lady

[DMC]

Although the is kit two piece canopy is pretty good, thin and the correct shape, I thought I'd give plunge moulding one a go just for the practice.  The white styrene is .030 and the clear about the same.  By using opaque styrene, I get a better idea of how good the clay sculpt is.  The clear is not the right sort for moulding canopies, PET-G is recommended for that. This stuff had tiny bubbles in it after forming.  I should have also used a tack rag on the styrene and the clay mould to remove all the dust as it showed up on the clear canopy. Live and learn! 

 

 

I should also add that I didn't have male mould exactly equidistance from the edges of the female mould and one side of the canopy was a lot thinner than the other.  I think, however, that this is do-able with this simple set-up and I'll keep at it until I get it right.

 

Cheers,

 

Dennis

[Tomoshenko]

Lovely work sir, as for the little dust and bubble iffy stuff, we are all generals after the battle. As you are constantly experimenting, pushing the boat out, and trying new techniques, then invariably dodgy things happen. Don't worry, fine modelling masterclass and keep it up.

[DMC]

25 minutes ago, Tomoshenko said:

Lovely work sir, as for the little dust and bubble iffy stuff, we are all generals after the battle. As you are constantly experimenting, pushing the boat out, and trying new techniques, then invariably dodgy things happen. Don't worry, fine modelling masterclass and keep it up.

 

Thank you, Tomoshenko, always a treat to read your replies.

 

As an aside: I have a thread running in the Aviation Art forum that might amuse you.  Early days in modelling and painting: Pacific Post Mortem

 

Cheers,

 

Dennis

[DMC]

Well, time to deal with a little brass.  The last, and only, time I worked with PE was back in the 80s.  I was quite interested in the FW190 and I had put a set of rudder pedals in a 1/72 (make not remembered) kit I had tried to detail up a bit.  I think the brand was Air Waves but am not sure, although there wasn't really much to choose from back then so it probably was.

 

Things have changed a bit since then, however, and when I began a search some months ago for affordable goodies to enhance my scratch-built U-2 cockpit I discovered the Airscale product line.  I sent off, and promptly received, a fret of jet cockpit detail parts and a sheet of dial decals which I also promptly put aside while I got on with building the U-2.   A week or so ago I had reached the point where I had done most of the cockpit insert and needed an instrument panel to finish things up so out came the brass and the decals.

 

I began by priming the fret with Mr Hobby Metal Primer, surprised that it was clear and not grey, and then sprayed it with Vallejo black acrylic.  I tried removing a small bezel using a scalpel and a scrap piece of self-healing board and it disappeared before my eyes.  I tried another and the same thing happened.  Doh! Perhaps backing the fret with masking tape will help.  It did, but I didn't de-tack the tape enough the first time and I bent a couple of bits trying to remove them.  I re-do the tape, much better, and start applying the brass to the instrument panel I had shaped to fit the cockpit opening.   I wasn't sure about the adhesive I would use so I tried gloss acrylic varnish, clear nail varnish and something of my wife's called Hard as Nails.  All of them worked but I didn't get very much adjustment time before the adhesive hardened off and the brass was immoveable.  The first attempt was not so good yet I was tempted to use it because I have been on this build for several months and I want to finish it and then get on with other things.  I happened then to have a look on Airscale's Spitfire build and saw his instrument panel and I was shamed for even considering it. 

 

So, using another panel blank, I had made several, I started on the second one.  This time, however, I used Microscale's Kristal Klear for the adhesive.  Much, much better.  I placed the decal on the panel, applied a dot of Klear and then the bezel.  On this panel I attempted to follow a general U-2 layout without being too anal about it.  There are probably as many different panel layouts as there are U-2s anyway, so fidelity wasn't a problem for me.  

 

Even though the second panel was an improvement over the first one, I am learning how to handle the brass and Klear so I sacrifice the both of them to the learning experience and begin a third.  This one turns out much better than the other two.  I enlarge the Airscale cards 200% to give my aging eyes a break and proceed.  On the third panel I want to add one of those keyboard-like devices that apparently have been fitted to later, modified, U-2 panels..  I have a square of very fine woven net that I saved for unknown reasons and with a spray of black acrylic and mounted on paper it serves the purpose, although the weave might be a little too open.

 

I'm getting a little concerned that something beyond my control will delete everything I have written above so I'm going to post a couple of photos at this point.  I'll probably edit all this and add another photo or two later. 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers'

 

Dennis

 

 

[Val]

Amazing work in the cockpit

[DMC]

6 hours ago, Val said:

Amazing work in the cockpit

 

Thanks, Val, you're a gent.

 

Cheers,

 

Dennis

[DMC]

To add a bit of definition to the re-scribed panel lines I went over them with a fine point HB pencil.  Then, using a Halford's rattle can, I sprayed on only enough appliance white to get a bit of gloss and allow the pencilled lines to show through.  Looks okay although the re-scribing is a bit heavy in places.  The white NASA U-2s were painted grey underneath but, depending on the scheme, the grey could cover part or all of the fuselage underside.  Not sure which one to go with.  The, very old, kit decals have the wide blue stripe running fore and aft and a, newer,  after-market set has red stripes.   Decisions decisions.

 

 

Dennis

[DMC]

I put this Testors U-2C I was building on the "to do later" shelf some two years ago.  Can't remember exactly why because I was totally into the whole U-2 theme and had acquired a stack of reference material, read the books, bought two more kits and did everything but get the t-shirt.  So, anyway, I see it on the shelf, gathering dust, whenever I go in the room and I say to myself " I'm going to finish that one soon".

Well, soon has arrived and I've started working on the last few things that I need to do before I can call it done. 

 

Going back over the thread, I see that a few photos have survived the Photobucket cull and I can get an idea of just where I can pick up the thread.  I had intended to use the Q-bay hatch on the left in the photo but noted in an overlooked photo that 708, this plane, had a hatch with apertures for the camera so I am going to use one of my "mistakes" instead.  That would be the one on the right in the photo.  It is a mistake because it has only six windows instead of seven, which is what this particular version of the Q-bay had.  the one in the middle is the correct version but I'm saving it for the Powers U-2 that I hope to build in the future.

 

The rest of the bits are pretty straight forward but I am leaving them off until last because I'm pretty sure I'd be knocking them off sooner or later.  The colours are from Halfords and the grey might be a little light but I liked it and think it goes quite well with the white and the blue of the decals.   The decals must be about 30 or more years old and are pretty fragile (lucky I had two sets).  The blue cheat lines broke in a couple of places but I somehow managed to get the one side done okay and later today I'll finish up the decaling.  

 

I remade the drift sight but will probably do another as it's a little too big and will interfere with the windshield as is.  So, really not that much to do and I might be able to hang this one over my bench in a few weeks.  

 

Cheers, and thanks for looking

 

Dennis

 

 

[DMC]

May Day tomorrow, 58th anniversary of the flight Francis Gary Powers took into the Soviet Union in Article 360.  Powers was shot down over Sverdlovsk by a SAM missile thereby changing US Soviet relations forever. This build is not of one of the CIAs U-2s but of 708, a NASA research U-2 based at Ames Research Centre.   I have the Hawk kit of the earlier U-2 and hope to get around to building the Powers U-2 someday.

 

Meanwhile, here is a photo of a test fitting of the Q-bay hatch and gear well in place.  Not a bad fit but can be improved with a little more fettling.  Also need to refine some of the panel lines without going crazy as these planes were no doubt maintained in pretty good order.  The Q-bay "Perspex" is a tension fit and requires no cement.  The dome for the drift sight optics is simple plunge moulding done with the smoothed end of a paint brush.  Made a little gizmo to fit underneath it so it wouldn't look empty.

 

In the bottom photo you can see how I got the intake ducting wrong by joining it right to the fan whereas it should be joined ahead of the cone, as I found out later.  Not a problem, really, as none it can be seen anyway.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Dennis

 

[modelling minion]

This really is excellent work Dennis from start to finish.

Your attention to detail and ability to scratchbuild and vacform is second to none, a very high standard to try to live up to when building a U-2, or anything else for that matter.