1/18 Fairey Firefly VX376

[Gordon Parker]

9 hours ago, Max Headroom said:

This isn’t modelling - this is engineering!

 

 

Trevor the impressed 

As an aside, I actrually met the real Max Headroom. Matt Frewer walked into my store one day (about 10 years ago) and I said "Mmmmy Gggod it's Max Headroom!" Matt replied: "Geez your old" 😜

Gord

[airscale]

Can't believe it's been over a month since I last updated - life has got in the way, with a bit of returning to the office in London for the day job (sadly..)

 

So the build has lurched from highly precise focused detailing, to low end agrigultural heavy engineering.. I was getting carried away in the cockpit at a time when there is still loads of basic structural stuff to be done..

 

..first up, there is nothing for the UC bays - these are unfortunately really complex so I am going to have to simplify when the time comes to detailing as otherwise I will be in there for months on end..

 

..they don't look so bad here, but trust me there is a lot going on both structurally and in bits & bobs

 

credit to the photographer shown

 

 

 

..I started by taking a slice of the plan drawing I have and drawing out the area I need to cut out that sits below the skin - also added ribbing locations as far as I could determine from photo's

 

 

..then cut into the balsa cores - you can see the brass reinforcement plates put in ages ago to hold the gear legs later..

 

..you can also see how the wheel cut-out area eats right into the fuselage exposing the structure and lego blocks in there (!)...

 

 

..floors were marked out in card with the rib positions..

 

 

..after the floors were added, walls were added and a few gaps & dinks filled in..

 

as the wings slide on and off the wheel bay area is fixed to the wing but slides out from the fuselage as one..

 

 

..and with a shot of primer the basics are there to build on - I have a guy coming from Axminster lathes on friday to fix my little C2 (no power) so hope to start turning the legs and epoxy in the mounting stubs in the next few weeks

 

 

..the next bit I had been putting off are the mould bucks for the transparencies - if you see the shape of the main hood you can see why I was stalling..

 

 

..I also found this drawing which I took as good enough to get some profiles..

 

 

..first step was to get some outline boundaries from the plans and translate them to 3D so I can see basics like the angle of the windshield and the shapes generally..

 

 

..I made up a plastic card frame with flat parts front and back so the blown bit starts at the right point - this is coloured black with a sharpie so I can see my sanding limit after I fill it - if you don't the card is white when you hit it and stays white while you sand right through the boundary (tell me how I know..)..

 

 

 

..filled with P38 and first pass sanded..

 

 

..primered and nearly done - the blown bits look ok in the end..

 

 

..same with the rear - balsa used to save on filler..

 

 

 

..and this is where they are at..

 

 

 

 

 

..anyone who has seen my build logs will know I HATE doing transparencies - they are my nemesis..

 

I spoke to John Wilkes (Tigger) and got some great advice on how to turn these masters into masters to actually get good pulls from. The main problem now is that these have a lot of filler & primer and the heat of the plastic causes that to melt, deform, delaminate onto your canopy etc. What he said was use them to get one good shape pull using PETG and the fill that pull with Filler like Herculite to make a better master that can take the punishment..

 

so that's where I am at - until next time

 

Peter

[CJP]

Hi Peter - I have made canopy moulds using filler & primers but had similar experience with bits sticking to the moulded canopy - I wasted a lot of ABS/PETG before I got something useable - I was looking on a supplier of materials for moulding and noticed a product listed as gypsum based casting material - I have no experience using it but wondered if it would be suitable to make the buck from?

CJP

[k5054nz]

Not sure what to say except, great progress that's fascinating to follow!

[Bandsaw Steve]

5 hours ago, k5054nz said:

Not sure what to say except, great progress that's fascinating to follow!

Yep. Very informative.

[wellsprop]

Oh my. Words fail me. 

[Fritag]

 

18 hours ago, airscale said:

The main problem now is that these have a lot of filler & primer and the heat of the plastic causes that to melt, deform, delaminate onto your canopy etc. What he said was use them to get one good shape pull using PETG and the fill that pull with Filler like Herculite to make a better master that can take the punishment.

 

Could you not use your crafted/filled master to make a silicone mould and then use that mould to cast the Herculite master? - thereby avoiding all together the risk of heat damage from even one pull with PETG?   That said, I'm not familiar with Herculite so I don't know how suitable it would be to be used in a silicone mould.

[heloman1]

Excellent work on the canopy bucks.

 

Colin

[airscale]

eveing all

 

Thanks for your kind replies

 

On 10/18/2021 at 12:56 PM, Fritag said:

 

 

Could you not use your crafted/filled master to make a silicone mould and then use that mould to cast the Herculite master? - thereby avoiding all together the risk of heat damage from even one pull with PETG?   That said, I'm not familiar with Herculite so I don't know how suitable it would be to be used in a silicone mould.

 

 

I think I will for the main canopy - I did for my Spit & it is a trusted method - I was just thinking lazy and needed to do something for the rear canopy plug as it would use a lot of resin/RTV

 

so, no real building to speak of, but I have been busy modelling some of the 3D bits I will need..

 

starting with the spinner - the outline was traced from a good side profile & the hub & backplate are a seperate assembly with the right spacing for everything - at least I don't have to skin this with metal - I will just wwork the rivet detail into the primer when the time comes..

 

 

 

..and how it seperates..

 

 

..next were the Griffon exhausts which are pretty complicated for little old me to get my head around in Rhino...

 

 

..they are in banks of 6 set to the angle of the cylinder head - I have yet to find out if the tips will print or be too fragile..

 

 

 

 

 

..and lastly the mainwheels & tyres - the period tyre has a block tread, not like the resto birds of today that probably use a 737 nosewheel tyre or something..

 

 

..photo's like these can be imported into Rhino to serve as the plan to draw from - very useful..

 

..that said I did need to reach out to Tim Perry for some help as some of my modelling was a bit 'fast & loose' and 3D requires absolute precision, but with a bit of email guidance on how to troubleshoot some bad surfaces here we are..

 

 

 

..still got some other bits to do like the tailwwheel and I might try the control column as thats a bit funky aswell, but it was these parts I was fretting over - especially the exhausts..

 

until next time - hopefully see you folks at Telford - I have a stand in Hall 2 so pop over and say hello

 

 

Peter

[perdu]

Much better than 'rather excellent' Peter I have enjoyed this update immensely. 

 

3D printing looks tragically likely in my sad little life after seeing where you guys are taking it but thankfully there are still special places for the sheer modelling of the master to keep hold, like here in the wheel wells for instance.

 

I am in the same mind as Steve @Fritag about the canopy, PETg can be a really evil but perfectly forming substance so it makes sense to use the best buck material you can for a masterpiece like this.

 

I will be in hall 2 too so I will make a point of coming to stand in awe, see you in a few days (11)

[Pastor Rich]

Just caught a recap on Telford!  Five awards for the Fury!!  How outstanding and well won, Peter!!!

 

Congratulations.

 

PS>  I loved the oil drip pan.  Nice touch!!

[Sabrejet]

Just caught up with this again: looks amazing. Any ideas on which colour scheme or did I miss that?