Jump to content

White Knight - Short Crusader


Recommended Posts

Very clean work on the oil rads/ coolers.  I left the radiators on the Macchi smooth as I don’t quite trust my eyesight. 

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hello, hello,

 

An update while I wait for putty to dry..

 

Today some work on the wing to float strut junctions.

 

I’ve been thinking for some time that it makes some sense to have the floats, with their struts, separate from the wings for painting.  However this will commit me to having a pretty good fit where there are to be brought together, if I am to avoid fiddling with the painted finish.  Now the one-piece wing is as good as done, I test fit it to the top of the sawn-off brass struts .. & it was not so good ..

 

So how to fix?

 

Figured I need to bring the join together & putty it .. without joining it.  If that makes sense?

 

So, here’s a 0.25mm strip of styrene held to the curve of the lower wing / fuselage by a combination of double-sided & regular tape:

 

Unjoined join

 

Unjoined join

 

The theory being to fix the struts to this & putty the gap, hopefully leaving a good-fitting slightly concave cap to the brass struts.

 

So next, a jig of sorts to make sure the wing is held in the right place for this work.  Cardboard again:

 

Unjoined join

 

At this stage mostly concerned with maintaining dihedral:

 

Unjoined join

 

But then a test fit to the main jig made aparent that I needed to be sure it was fixed in all three axes, so more cardboard:

 

Unjoined join

 

Unjoined join

 

Here you can see both the gaps I’m aiming to deal with, and the cramped space in which to do so!

 

Unjoined join

 

Unjoined join

 

And then here the schloppy mess once a tiny dot of CA was applied then puttied over:

 

Unjoined join

 

Looks pretty awful, but I reckon I’m only going to get one chance at this, so I slathered it on .. as much as one can at the pointy end of a toothpick!

 

Now the theory is, once cured, I remove the wing from the top leaving the styrene sheet over putty over brass .. ready to be sanded to shape.

 

Remains to be seen where this will lead me .. keen to progress it but trying to make sure I given the putty full opportunity to cure.

 

More soon hopefully..

 

 

  • Like 9
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for your confidence gentlemen,

 

Well I could have made a favourable impression by being at work a little earlier today, but instead I’ll merely be on time ..

 

Took the few minutes to perform ‘the reveal’.  Upper jig with wing removed:

 

Cut free

 

Happy to see the shallow curve of the wing under-surface retained.  Next cut the strip into four ..

 

Cut free

 

.. which allows me to free the floats from the main jig:

 

Cut free

 

Inside faces need more filler - they were near impossible to reach in that earlier setup.  But I think I can say, so far so good!

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, you're certainly addressing the challenges of this kit (more of a collection of parts than a kit). What an ingenious approach to the problems it poses. I think we can all gain some useful ideas from this.

Great work!

 

Dave

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Stuart, & nice to hear from you again Dave!

 

Well I think it’s worked about as good as I could hope.  I’ve ground them down till only a tiny teardrop of white is left perched on top of each strut.

 

Top of the struts

 

They look rough.  But a test in place shows a set of satisfactory butt joints which should get even tidier when (if ever!!) glued together at final assembly.

 

Top of the struts

 

Top of the struts

 

Top of the struts

 

Out of primer, so hold for now ..

 

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Hello, floats primed ..

 

Floats primed

 

.. foreground starboard float is a little further progressed with resin decal re-riveting barely discernible under the most recent primer coat.

 

Its been a long way from these:

 

Crusader_17.5.30_1

 

.. via this:

 

Top of the struts

 

.. to now be here:

 

Floats primed

 

 

  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Greg,

               What an amazing improvement - well more of a remastering. Great to see how it's progressing. Such a pity that Karaya didn't do a better job.

Mikromir have an 1/48 S5 in progress. Wonder how that'll turn out but at least they seem to be doing their homework. Maybe the dog ate Karaya's😉.

 

Great work and dedication.

 

Dave

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great to see you back on this greggles, your work is paying off and she's looking great.

If you build in 1/72 (and I do) and you want a Crusader (and I do), where else do you go except Karaya. At the end of the day, if they are the only 'kid on the block'...

 

Stuart

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Courageous said:

Great to see you back on this greggles, your work is paying off and she's looking great.

If you build in 1/72 (and I do) and you want a Crusader (and I do), where else do you go except Karaya. At the end of the day, if they are the only 'kid on the block'...

 

Stuart

 

Believe it or not, there are three kits of the Crusader in 1/72! Karaka aside, Dekno (resin) and C. A. Atkins (metal) also produced a kit. I have the later, a beautiful but very chalenging kit. I'm learning a lot from this thread.

 

Carlos

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the cheering comments guys, most appreciated.

 

A happy day, ending with a late evening opportunity to decal the port float .. riveting .. satisfying .. (no counting please!) .. now to go & un-cross my eyes!

 

Float rivets

 

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rainy, rainy, rainy weekend.  Much tidying and organising of the house, including my new workbench space in the back room - I’ve graduated from the kitchen table!  A nice little space with lots of natural light ..

 

New workbench!

 

And to declare the space open, I’ve gone ahead & CA’ed the Crusader fuselage halves together!  Which has started the challenging task of filling & finishing those longitudinal internal corner junctions ...

 

Fuselage joined!

 

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/18/2019 at 3:13 AM, limeypilot said:

Nice upgrade on the build, and an even nicer upgrade to the work area! Congrats on the promotion!

 

Ian

Thanks Ian, an upgrade it is .. merely having it all on standby  rather than packed away in shoeboxes is a luxury.  So much better than always needing to first set up shop & then de-camp again at the end, for even the smallest task.  Now I can fit a bit in here & there as opportunity presents.

 

However in unpacking I have been reminded of a niggling issue with the wings which was emerging around the time I packed up to move.  See here ...

 

Wing scars

 

... that hair-line split parallel to & in front of the aileron.  Hard to photograph, but clearly visible to the eye.  This is a ghost of the laminated sheet I spliced into the wing to increase chord.  Some hardy souls may recall this stage:

 

Crusader_17.5.8_2

 

Well I got stuck in a frustrating & baffling cycle of putty & prime, sand & surfacer (Mr.), which would seem to have hidden these scars, only for them to reappear.

 

Having been forced to put it aside while moving house, & now rehandling it .. I think I worked it out .. I think the Mr Surfacer was doing its job, but when rubbing back, following the curve of the airfoil I was inadvertently levering the gap open with every pass of the sanding pad.  It doesn’t seem to be happening along the CAed resin to styrene seams, just the styrene laminations.

 

So, at this late stage I find myself running beads of cement over the primed wings!  Top ...

 

Wing scar surgery

 

... & bottom too ...

 

Wing scar surgery

 

I plan to let that cure for some time before trying, once again, to blend in seamlessly.  Here’s hoping this resolves things!

 

 

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...