Spookytooth Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Looking quite nice Tony. All that effort is paying off. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Champion endeavours on the cowling Tony, and it looks like you are working through to a solution. I have yet to try vac forming myself, but intent on giving it a go some day. Lots to learn here. Liked Pete's radial crabstick comment, made me feel quite peckish! Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Great work on the cowlings once painted and weathered it will look superb! Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 7 hours ago, TheBaron said: It does however appear to involve the use of one of the thrusters of of our dear Martian's spacecraft: So that's where it went! Put it back you fiend! Who do you think you are? The Hood or something? 7 hours ago, perdu said: A: cut the back half moulding off its blank, then the front half and stick 'em together That would have been my plan B. Martian 👽 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Spadgent Posted October 7, 2018 Share Posted October 7, 2018 Lovely work El Barony. Shame about the vac form but plan B looks spot on. Johnny. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Nicely worked solution for the cowling. I too like the first vac attempt. I think I'd have been tempted to use that and repair the spidery bits at the back, but your plan b seems to be up to the task! Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Great work on the casting and cowling Tony. Very nice indeed. Keep up the good work. All the best Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheonix Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 That was a very neat solution in the end. I'll bet it was a bit nerve wracking trying to thin the cowling walls without going right through but you achieved it with flying colours as per normal! This is very interesting to follow how you solve different problems - inspirational to the rest of us who also struggle.... P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted October 13, 2018 Author Share Posted October 13, 2018 Must be the guts of a week since I posted something here, such have been the demands of work. Let's catch-up first and then I'll show you the little that I've managed to advance matters.... On 10/7/2018 at 3:41 PM, Franz75 said: WOW, this is more build from scratch than old Airfix. Keep up an amazing work Most gracious of your Franz - thanks and welcome to the build! On 10/7/2018 at 4:31 PM, CedB said: Lovely fit Tony, well worth all the effort Nice background too - is that what they mean in photographic circles by 'getting the right register' then? Thanks Ced. When I have it open in front of me a strange desire to channel Basil Fawlty sweeps across me.... On 10/7/2018 at 5:06 PM, Spookytooth said: Looking quite nice Tony. All that effort is paying off. Cheers Simon! TBH I think people can sometimes be unnecessarily afraid of birring-down plastic like that - on a slow speed and with a flexible extension on the Dremel it is a surprisingly controllable process. On 10/7/2018 at 5:08 PM, Terry1954 said: I have yet to try vac forming myself, but intent on giving it a go some day. Lots to learn here. I too hadn't tried it until the last build Terry but as a rank amateur can vouch for how accessible it is as a process. On 10/7/2018 at 5:21 PM, Hamden said: Great work on the cowlings once painted and weathered it will look superb! Most gracious as always Roger. On 10/7/2018 at 6:15 PM, Martian Hale said: That would have been my plan B. Surely you meant this plan dear Martian? On 10/7/2018 at 10:29 PM, The Spadgent said: Lovely work El Barony. Shame about the vac form but plan B looks spot on. Most kind as always Johnny. I reckon some finer holes drilled into the centre of the rig might gives just a slightly better performance on such complex surfaces in future... On 10/8/2018 at 7:24 PM, limeypilot said: Nicely worked solution for the cowling. I too like the first vac attempt. I think I'd have been tempted to use that and repair the spidery bits at the back, but your plan b seems to be up to the task! Cheers Ian. I'd briefly considered the idea but went for a more direct route in the end as my track record at trying to glue very thin pieces of plastic together is rather mixed, to say the least... On 10/8/2018 at 9:44 PM, bigbadbadge said: Great work on the casting and cowling Tony. Very nice indeed. Most kind Chris: On 10/8/2018 at 11:09 PM, pheonix said: That was a very neat solution in the end. I'll bet it was a bit nerve wracking trying to thin the cowling walls without going right through but you achieved it with flying colours as per normal! This is very interesting to follow how you solve different problems - inspirational to the rest of us who also struggle.... Thanks P. I must confess to sometimes wondering whether the kind of formal problem-solving that many of us seem addicted to here is of a kind with the same instincts that make 'whodunnits' of the Agatha Christie / Midsomer Murders variety so satisfying? Right. All I've managed in the last week is about an hour on Tuesday and a bit of time on planning the next stage this morning. Tuesday first: Transforming some scrap 0.4mm brass rod into 2-3mm lengths in order to form some push rods for the Cheetah: I added the original Flightpath etch ring for these to sharpen the detail around the centre but unfortunately the etched push rods that formed part of them were of a length that onlymatched the original kit part, so did not extend outward far enough to meet my resin replacement- hence the brass replacments shown here. Now, at odd intervals during the week I've been mulling over and trying to get a visual 'map' in my head of what is going on with the framework that I need to build up the exposed starboard engine. It is a complicated set of tubes and angles made more complicated by a flat outer framing onto which the removable panels attach. I'm cunnignly ignoring the latter problem for the moment whilst focus on getting the tubular framework sorted. This is the sort of building job that really needs good preparation to attempt as I know from past experience that just using a couple of reference photos to try and construct something at least semi-accpetable at this scale would lead to disillusion, if not downright disaster.... Here's the structure under consideration then - seen in both drawn and photographic form from the maintenance manual: The Cheetahs are bolted on to that circular collar at the front, as seen being measured here with calipers against the corresponding engine part that it mates with: As neither of the photographs in the manual are taken from quite exactly side-on aspect, I superimposed both sides onto each other in Photoshop to try and get the most representative profile, using this to start drawing out a plan-view for the main runs tubular framing: (Just noticed that these are actually illustrations of the the starboard side which I've acccidentally reversed to show a port view of, but the principle still stands.... ) The blue diagonal is of course the firewall whilst the less vibrant green diagonal to the rear is an outlying tube that angles out to bolt to the front wing spar. In the actual reveal I'm doing the internals will only be visible back as far as the oil tank, but this does require some thought in how to fix the tubing inside the nacelle, not only securely enough to bear the weight of the assembly but without interfering with the mounting of the undercarriage (which will be another set of headaches to think about later!). I then extracted this from those overlays: and then took it into Maya as a reference image in order to produce a three-dimensional model that would help me understand more clearly what was going on in terms of the relationship of all those respective parts and angles: Plan views: Some obliques: I think now that I understand that structure better but that is of course is the easy part. I need to see which thickness of brass tubing will work best and then some prolonged and delicate soldering session look on the cards. I'm itching to have a bash at this as I invested in some liquid flux recently but need to break this down into a series of steps, starting I think with annealing some brass tubing to form that front collar to an 8.5mm diamter. Thanks for looking in and I'm just sorry this is seems to be crawling along so frustratingly slowly these days. Hope you're all keeping well! Tony 13 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 Hello Dear Baron ! Frustratingly slowly ?? Are you kidding ?? Really great work and thank for sharing it, Which kind of carburant did you use in the Martian Thruster ?? Depleted Uranium ? Strong beer ? I'm curious…. Please do not tell him about the Gyrocompass, I have a really weird use of it, then I will return smuggle it to Poole…. Sincerely. CC 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 Enjoying it immensely old bean Including watching enviously as you turn concepts into cold hard techy drawings Amazing me with the structural draughting, I love seeing the drawings and photos become real 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giemme Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 5 minutes ago, perdu said: watching enviously as you turn concepts into cold hard techy drawings Same here, impressive job! Ciao 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbudde Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 Lovely work on those push rods. I must check out that film, there may be the basis of a song for the band. Martian 👽 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhoenixII Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 Hi Baron, don't know if your aware, there's a piece in the current (Nov.) issue of Flypast, dealing with the rebuild of the engine and undercarriage from an Anson, the engine had it's first outing earlier this year. Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 Ha, you've let your secret slip Tony.... you've stolen the Martian's shrink ray software, haven't you.... But I agree with Bill's comments above, you're tech drawing work is brilliant, lovely stuff to look at! And I think it's good the Flightpath etch pushrods were too short, they'd have looked a bit flat and I reckon your replacements are far better! Keith 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 Very impressive Tony. This is going to be spectacular when the framework is built up. Great work. All the best Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted October 13, 2018 Share Posted October 13, 2018 Lovely work on those drawings Tony. It`s going to look pretty damn good once done. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted October 14, 2018 Author Share Posted October 14, 2018 Up early this morning to have a go at some fiddly stuff whilst the brain was fresh.... 22 hours ago, corsaircorp said: Hello Dear Baron ! Frustratingly slowly ?? Are you kidding ?? Really great work and thank for sharing it, Which kind of carburant did you use in the Martian Thruster ?? Whacko CC & thanks! Carburant? Dammit - I put Blackcurrant in. No wonder it blew up in a puff of purple smoke.... 21 hours ago, perdu said: Enjoying it immensely old bean 21 hours ago, giemme said: Same here, impressive job! 20 hours ago, bbudde said: Thanks Bill, Giorgio& Benedikt - I've been getting withdrawl symptoms all week but on the plus side it has given me time to be more circumspect in mentally working-out what steps to proceed in. 20 hours ago, Martian Hale said: I must check out that film, there may be the basis of a song for the band. Look forwards to hearing it Martian. I will want points on the album if it goes platinum however! 19 hours ago, PhoenixII said: Hi Baron, don't know if your aware, there's a piece in the current (Nov.) issue of Flypast, dealing with the rebuild of the engine and undercarriage from an Anson, the engine had it's first outing earlier this year. Cheers for that nudge Paul. You're not the first person to remind me of that so I finally went over to Pocketmags and bought a copy. Later engine of course but excellent revelations on the undercarriage. 17 hours ago, keefr22 said: Ha, you've let your secret slip Tony.... you've stolen the Martian's shrink ray software, haven't you.... Whilst in Dorset back in July I noticed that Martian had left his saucer parked on a double-yellow outside Uncle Herbert's Ukelele & Castanet Emporium over in Portland Keith. I could see him through the window wildly brandishing 8 sets of maracas at the terrified assistant so managed to have both one of the thrusters plus the control panel for the automatic bagel-heater off his craft before the police arrived.... 17 hours ago, keefr22 said: And I think it's good the Flightpath etch pushrods were too short, they'd have looked a bit flat Agreed. 16 hours ago, bigbadbadge said: Very impressive Tony. This is going to be spectacular when the framework is built up. 16 hours ago, Spookytooth said: Lovely work on those drawings Tony. It`s going to look pretty damn good once done. Chris, Simon: thanks lads. Having memorized that structure I got up this morning with a clear idea of what I wanted to get done.... Reet then. Last night I spent some time turning the 3d designs into plan-view silhouettes and scaling them down to be used as a construction template for the tubular framing: This gives you some idea of both the delicacy of the required structure plus the need to use thin turbing so that all the negative spaces are large enough to install the required oil tanks and wiring &etc. That's a piece of 0.4mm brass in the photo above - it looks appropriate for the scale and in matching the structure of the real thing it should be possible to form a cage from it strong enough to support the engine. In breaking this part of the build down into a number of stages I've decided to: a) work from the engine back to the wing, and b)build most of it - including the firewall out of brass for strength. Firstly then the mounting collar that the Cheetah is bolted onto: This was 0.4mm brass tube π'd from the radius to get the right circumference before annealing and bending by hand round some brass tube of the correct diameter. To solder it I used liquid flux for the first time and was amazed at the difference. Using the flux paste as I had in the past had usually involved using a lot of solder and having to clean the excess off afterwards. This time around just using a smidgeon of solder on the tip of the iron and then applied to the liquid flux resulted in a bond that really needed no cleaning -up afterwards bar a light sand. Great stuff! Test-fitted to the starboard engine: Having decided to make the firewall out of brass as well I first used the calipers to establish a diameter just shy of the surface diameter of the nacelle - allowing for the fact that the firewall extends to just inside the covering panels: With the Silhouette cutter now I no longer need to be so precious about preserving the blades in my old compass cutter so used this to score a circle in brass and roughly cut down to size with scissors: After roughly circularizing that with a diamond-dust disc in the Dremel, I put the final shape on it using the sihrsc: Although using brass gives a much better scale thickness (as well as strength) I must confess that I would probably have used plastic for this job in the past, but since getting the workbench thingy for the Dremel and being able to use it in a controlled fashion as a pillar drill, I've lost my fear of drilling small (0.4mm in this case) holes in brass: Two holes top and bottom for the framework to pass through - drilled vertically the first time and then a second pass at about a 15° angle to allow for the inclined orientation of the firewall: This is just a scrap length threaded through for show but you get the general idea: The photo below shows the space that it has to perform its job in, so you can see that I'm going to have to make some adjustments to accomodate its diameter: Actually I probably need to look at replacing that plastic underside that it's sitting on with some brass as well for robustness, as for that particular part of the structure simply thinning the plastic there is not an option strength-wise. Going to mull that over first though before proceeding. Likely to be another fallow week I'm afraid but hope to have some more to show you by next weekend. Talk to you soon fellows and thanks for watching. Tony 14 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 You have got a great plan going there Tony. The use of brass tubing/sheet should give the strength plus finesse to carry this out. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Amazing work Dear Baron ! I'm really impressed Now I also Wonder about the title of Martian's song… Faithfull Annie ?? Electronic warfare ?? Annie's going Sigint ? this late one sound good enough !! Sincerely. CC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendie Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 coming along with no less finesse than we've come to expect from the Baronial ruminations 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perdu Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Solstice Song, no doubt at all I am wondering about the 0.04 brass though, is it not a little high on the scale comparison scale scale? (oh come on, you know what I mean) My thoughts are that as scale creep is inevitable and the 0.04ness puts the tubes at the higher end of the scale, would seeing if Albion Alloys or another supplier of choice might have an 0.03 diameter tube or rod available be an option? One of my slide tube sets has 0.03 diameter in aluminum, seems possible there might be suitable brass too I base this possibly misplaced fear on the comparison between the drawings and the brass rod in your picture, quite understand if the Collective tells me to go and boil one's head 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr22 Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 24 minutes ago, perdu said: I base this possibly misplaced fear on the comparison between the drawings and the brass rod in your picture, quite understand if the Collective tells me to go and boil one's head Go and boil your head Bill.... ...just hold on a minute when I join you, as I was thinking the same thing! Keith PS nice metal working, again, Tony. I'm rather envious of that workstation! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamden Posted October 14, 2018 Share Posted October 14, 2018 Nice start on the engine mounting structure Roger 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
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 accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now