Head in the clouds. Posted December 12, 2018 Author Share Posted December 12, 2018 I am back! I must apologise for the large gap in my posts, a wedding to plan and some family issues all took my time amongst day to day living but hopefully things should gather pace a little now so here goes. Telford was a welcome distraction though and much fine modelling was seen. My thoughts have now moved to giving the old girls some clothes so the newly made and fitted glazing was masked off after a little tidying up around where the glazing meets the fuselage. It is the last time she will look like a Canary, so by-by that lovely yellow plastic some of you love. After the obligatory coat of primer it was time for a close look for any areas that may need some attention and some were found. The one that stuck out the most were one of the two grilles in the top of the wing, it was slightly wonky and this had been bugging me for months, I was living in the vain hope that a primer coat of 4 microns was going to cover it, what a plonker I am. It had to come out and be repositioned so it was prized out very carefully, I had no spare, luckily it came out in one piece......phew! After some fettling it was glued and made good around the edges. A little fettling; A little more cleaning up ; Now I am happy with the general finish before giving her a top coat I need to fix the framework that holds the emergency stall chute. After offering it up it became apparent that something was not right...it turned out to be the height of the bracket supporting the chute cannister so this had to be addressed. Off came the chute cannister and the two support brackets were ground down to a more acceptable height; All sorted now. Now adjusted I tried to drill two small holes to locate the framework in the tip end of the fuselage and this happened; No big shake just a little annoying and more time to affect a repair, all done with a little Green Putty and Mr Hobby 500. A new approach was needed and the only option was to lay them on the underside of the fuselage and fix with a little Cyano. With the chute cannister framework fitted it was now time to fit the rest of the framework that I made way back when in this build, when I offered it up all it needed was a little trimming and bending and it fitted like a good un; Frame offered up; Trimmed and fitted starboard side; And to keep it company, port side too; Now both are fitted the four strutts were mearsured up and fitted to complete the stall chute assembly, a fiddly job that had much potential to trip me up but it all went smoothly so I am pleased with the end result. Now that is done I can now do one of two things, paint her or play about with the propeller...hmmmm, decisions, decisions! Tune in next time to see which way I go, exciting stuff heh! 😉 Thanks for looking and keeping the thread going. Tatty bye. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 More movement on the MA4, well sort of. I have altered some items I did earlier but more of that in a later post, I have a couple of little oddments to add to the airframe then i am going to dress her up in her top coat of Royal Blue but this is where I am confused and want to get it right before spraying. When I look at these 2 pics something jumps out at me; I know from my research that the MA4 is painted Royal Blue, Tamiya Royal Blue is very dark, as dark or darker than the blue in the roundal but the airframe colour looks lighter. On this site;https://www.lifewire.com/medium-blue-colors-1077400 . This looks more like the blue I need so two questions; Is the Tamiya colour incorrect or is the other colour in the link correct? The RGB numbers, are they mixing ratio numbers to get this correct colour or something more sinister? I always new colour would upskittle me one day so any help or suggestions most welcome. Cheers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Aero Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Interesting project and nice work by the way. To my chagrin I saw this aircraft in it's later guise at Marshall's. I can't quite remember, the colour, Blue Grey seems to come to mind. I do remember the wing was covered in lots of tiny holes. I had hitched a ride down to Cambridge in our Comm flight Anson TX176, from Coningsby, when we were getting rid of our Canberra B.6's c.1963. We were to pick up the ferry crews to return them to base. The MA.4 was parked next to us on the apron. I knew what it was, as it had appeared in 'The Aircraft of the World', John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rumblestripe Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Nice project and looking really good. On the subject of cutting thin brass sheet with a piercing saw. Firstly buy an adjustable piercing saw like this one This means that when you snap the blade (and you will) you simply narrow the frame and use a smaller broken piece of the blade. It'll cost you a few bob more but save a fortune in blades! Secondly lubricate whilst cutting, a little spittle will help or my favourite is to run the blade in the side of a candle to pick up some wax. I'll follow your endeavours with interest. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 1 hour ago, John Aero said: o my chagrin I saw this aircraft in it's later guise at Marshall's. I can't quite remember, the colour, Blue Grey seems to come to mind. I do remember the wing was covered in lots of tiny holes. I had hitched a ride down to Cambridge in our Comm flight Anson TX176, from Coningsby, when we were getting rid of our Canberra B.6's c.1963. We were to pick up the ferry crews to return them to base. The MA.4 was parked next to us on the apron. I knew what it was, as it had appeared in 'The Aircraft of the World', John Thank you John, very interesting story. It is a bit of a rare beast and the people who have seen it don't seem to number very many. From what I understand for a while it wore a bright orange scheme with some panels in grey primer so your memory serves you well. 52 minutes ago, Rumblestripe said: This means that when you snap the blade (and you will) you simply narrow the frame and use a smaller broken piece of the blade. It'll cost you a few bob more but save a fortune in blades! Thanks Runblestripe. Too late I am afraid but that is sound advice you have given, I went through most of my pack of blades but the candle wax tip is priceless so thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 (edited) Not sure how I missed this for so long, but this is wonderful surgery, my kind of modeling! BTW, the "spring" on the main wheels is a torque link. The lower leg fits inside the main leg and has to slide up and down for the suspension, which means there is no positive attachment. The torque link stops it from rotating whilst it's doing its suspension thing and also helps stop the lower leg dropping out when the aircraft is airborne. Note in the airborne shot it's almost straight. I've had one come apart on landing and, believe me, when your main wheel rotates 180 degrees at the moment you touch the runway, it's not much fun! The 'chute is an anti spin parachute, often seen on prototypes, and jettisonable after use. Ian Edited December 16, 2018 by limeypilot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted December 17, 2018 Author Share Posted December 17, 2018 On 12/16/2018 at 4:34 PM, limeypilot said: BTW, the "spring" on the main wheels is a torque link. The lower leg fits inside the main leg and has to slide up and down for the suspension, which means there is no positive attachment. The torque link stops it from rotating whilst it's doing its suspension thing and also helps stop the lower leg dropping out when the aircraft is airborne. Note in the airborne shot it's almost straight. I've had one come apart on landing and, believe me, when your main wheel rotates 180 degrees at the moment you touch the runway, it's not much fun! The 'chute is an anti spin parachute, often seen on prototypes, and jettisonable after use. Thanks for your kind words Ian. The description you give makes it all drop into place now and your mishap sounds hair raising to say the least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted December 25, 2018 Author Share Posted December 25, 2018 Hello one and all. Today of all days I am probably talking to myself, not uncommon but with the good lady at work and the family not visiting till later it is me and,er....me. So on with a little update. As mentioned before I have changed something that was bothering me, namely the support wires for the horizontal tail plane, my thinnest brass rod was used but it looked over scale so I went for some 0.2 wire, this is just about workable without it being too flimsy so out with the old and in with the new. I think it looks better but maybe not 100% . Not to be missed are 2 little steps to allow access to the cabin . These are going to be very tiny and need to be made from metal so I turned to my spare Wessex PE set Somewhere on there is my answer to the steps an it turned out to be items #26, cut of 1 leg and it should work. once bent we had these, Whilst having the CA out for fixing the steps I also fitted the 2 support wires in between the wing underside and strut top. Those little items are begging to be knocked into the new year so I am sure I will be making more as the build progresses. Once the festive break is over I will start on the painting. Thanks for looking and any comments or suggestions always welcome. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 I was reading a post the other day on another build and I made a comment about putting a task off, whatever the reason be and realised I have been doing the same thing for nothing other than worrying I may get it wrong, rather daft for a 54 year old me thought. SO, onwards and upwards. The task is giving the MA4 her very distinctive Royal Blue overcoat but that is not as simple as it sounds, for one there are many shades of Royal Blue from mid shade to dark, also, after a chat down my local model club it was suggested that very often manufacturers would sometimes use colours from the nearest automotive factory which muddied the waters even further. An executive decision was made, make the best judgement on colour with the info I have and if someone says it is wrong and can prove it then so be it, science is fluid after all and what was right yesterday is no longer the current thinking today. Dinosaurs come to mind. Anyway, I chose the two blues which I thought showed the most promise; Model Colour809, Royal Blue and Humbrol Blue 25. First though the test mule had a little respray to her tail feathers. Now what I needed were a couple of roundles for reference so I could compare to the photo; To my failing eyes the Vallejo on the left is a bit on the bright side but the Humbrol, with a little white will be on the money. When looking at the roundles the difference in shade to the blue of the paint and that of the roundle look to be close to my reference photo. After a little bit of experimentation I felt I had the colour I wanted and so went full steam ahead and painted the old girl; Now for the anti dazzle panel on the nose; I am more than happy with the colour, she is starting to look the part now. Next job is all the small bits such as aileron and rudder counter balance, aileron actuating links, wheels, exhaust and filler cap on the canopy. The other job is to replace one of the PE foot plates, which, if memory serves, it was foretold that at least one if not both would disappear. Lets not forget the propeller eh, it as after a major component for flight. My only dilemma now is how to represent the tens of thousands of holes in the wing that allow the boundary layer air to flow. It cannot be done physically, i.e. pressing pin points to represent holes, as these will be way over scale, The only way I can think of is a very thin mist coat of black in certain areas to represent the holes which were punched out by hand for that particular test of the day. I see before me several practice sessions and a trawl for a picture that may show me any other possibilities Thanks for looking.. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Nice to see this one back, and in colour too! Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 37 minutes ago, limeypilot said: in colour too! Thanks Ian, even I have to move with the times🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Would it be possible to make a decal to represent the holes? Martian 👽 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 20 minutes ago, Martian Hale said: Would it be possible to make a decal to represent the holes? That is a good idea Martian, I cannot make them myself (yet) but there may be some out there that I could adapt. At one point it had 200 000 perforations in the wing, so I cannot imagine how small that would make them in 1/72. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 I have this photo which shows the MA4 in it's later modified form with hundreds of tufts on the upper surface but I think this was not done on the earlier mod that I am modelling, an interesting pic nonetheless Even in this great shot you cannot see any individual holes but you can just make out slightly darker rows where the tufts are not fixed of which I believe are the perforations. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhouse Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 According to this article, the 'holes' were 0.05" diameter and covered over so that the actual 'lift' holes could be punched as required with. So the maximum diameter of a hole would be 0.0018mm in 1/72. I think the only advice I can offer is "good luck"! Your model is looking fantastic. I'm sure you'll find a way to represent the holes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattlow Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 What an interesting build, just read the whole thing... I think, regarding the holes, that your initial idea about darkening the areas where the holes are would be the only do-able solution. Maybe mask and use Tamiya smoke (see through colour/tint) or a similar homemade concoction.? The blue looks 'right' suits the aircraft, which is half the battle when modelling.. Matt PS, the areas with holes could also appear matt compared to any sheen on the covered areas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 17, 2019 Author Share Posted February 17, 2019 1 hour ago, bhouse said: "good luck"! Thanks bhouse, do they sell that at Hannants? 36 minutes ago, Mattlow said: the areas with holes could also appear matt compared to any sheen on the covered areas. Thank you Matt and welcome aboard. That is another good idea and one worth exploring, I may give the model a satin varnish coat so a matt area over the top may work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhouse Posted February 18, 2019 Share Posted February 18, 2019 12 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said: Thanks bhouse, do they sell that at Hannants? Yes, but they seem permanently out-of-stock... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 Evening all. A wee update. After considering some of the helpful or otherwise (funny) recommendations for representing some of the 200000 perforations in the wing upper surface I made the executive decision in my meeting of one to try a very light mist coat of smoke. Having no information of how many perforations were present at any one time I decided to go with full span in 3 rows. First job then was masking; Next was to apply the mist coat of Tamiya Smoke; Unfortunately, when removing the mask it pulled some of the blue with it, leaving a few patches of white showing through. Also, to my eye, the smoke strips look to obvious so a repair and rectification was needed. A new coat of blue was applied to the wing to repair the pulled paint and upon inspection it also toned down the smoke.; I think I have it. The stripes are there, if you rock your screen you can just make them out and they pretty much match the picture above of the later version of the MA4 which kept the same wing. I feel I need to highlight the grills on the wing just a little to break up the blue a little, next job then! That's it really, not a big update but thanks for looking. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted February 25, 2019 Share Posted February 25, 2019 Maybe a bigger update than you think The variated finish does the job perfectly for me Well blooming done 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted February 25, 2019 Author Share Posted February 25, 2019 Cheers perdu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head in the clouds. Posted April 20, 2019 Author Share Posted April 20, 2019 As if by magic I reappear, it seems an age since my last post and it probably is but I am in the final straight now and I can see the finish line. Now that the paint was on and varnished up I had to turn my mind to the decals, sounds simple but no one does a sheet that covers the MA4 so I would have to source from many different sheets. Those used where Xtradecal 72041, 72045, x72129 X72158 and X72190, the last was the only place I could find with anything that represented the fusalage roundle, it is in fact a DH82 sheet. One decal I could not find for toffee and that was the fin flash with a yellow border so I had to cut up a yellow decal off the DH82 sheet and make a square for the flash to sit in and on, it did not go to plan but was the best I could do. In hindsight it may have been better to paint it on. Many of the decals decided to bubble or try to melt so upon close inspection this becomes apparent. Next job was to make all the little items that finished her off, they were also a pain to fit and keep on, as the song goes....' I see trouble ahead' Here we have the Aileron counter balance, Aileron actuator connections and filler point. All off them were either repaired, replaced or modified. Next up was to finish the wheels and attach, this took some time as again I had to modify my attachment method. The propeller and rudder counter balance mass were last to be fitted but they did not want to be photographed. So here she is, finished. Hope you like her. More pics soon in RFI. Thanks to all who tuned in or offered advice. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 Like her? Damn it I love her Great work thanks for sharing with us 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bhouse Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 Superb work! It seems incredible that your MA4 started life as an Airfix Auster Antarctic. Fantastic skills on display here... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted April 20, 2019 Share Posted April 20, 2019 Fantastic result, especially the subtlety of those boundary layer holes. Very well done that man! Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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