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Complete after 3 years: 1/72 Aerovac Latecoere 302.


Pin

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Although Late 302 is among the most sought after kits I haven't ever seen it built.

Time to change this sad stats and seriously decrease the value of my stash by building one

 

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The kit comes without decals so one of the first task was to get one. I bought a book about french flying boats that I could not praise high enough

 

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/French-Flying-Boats-Gerard-Bousquet/dp/8363678066

 

Based on the information from the internet and this book I have ordered a custom decal. It has arrived recently and I'm very pleased with it

 

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The decal was designed and printed (with white, otherwise I would print it myself) by a man called Alexey, check out his portfolio, highly recommended

http://www.pas-decals.ru/forum/barakholka/6085-shtuchnye-dekali-po-individualnym-zakazam

 

Another problem is that the transparent parts are all yellow and cannot be used.

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I decided to vacform my own using kit's canopy as a master. On the right is the canopy from Bizerte that is even worse. I will try to utilize the abilities of my vacforming machine and fix two problems at the same time.

First step - create a positive silicon form

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once the form settles I will take a negative silicon form from it using separation fluid and cast a negative resin form out of it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Well done Alexey

Really pleased to see this one joining the GB.

Given the rarity and value of this kit do you want me to organise some round the clock security for the build on BM ? :fight:

We can't take any chances !

cheers Pat

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Thanks Pat, but I afraid after this little operation the value of this kit has seriously deteriorated.

Are you as excited as i am?

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Things are not so good on the canopy front. The positive silicon form is not good at all, the surface is quite uneven, I duspect because of improperly applied release agent. I don't have enough silicone to make a new one at the moment so I either a. get more silicone and retry, b. use positive form for vacforming or c. do not vacform at all - all the windows are flat so probably it is easier just to use transparent sheets to make them

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Great to see this one started, excited what gave you that idea  :jump_fire:  ;)

 

Its a lot of glazing to do with flat sheets, I would be tempted to try the vacforming again when you have got all the suitable materials, for example more pink lego !

 

I also checked out the reference book which is superb but also blooming expensive, so I will have to put it on next years Christmas list.

 

cheers Pat

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On 10/01/2019 at 22:55, Pin said:

Things are not so good on the canopy front. The positive silicon form is not good at all, the surface is quite uneven, I duspect because of improperly applied release agent. I don't have enough silicone to make a new one at the moment so I either a. get more silicone and retry, b. use positive form for vacforming or c. do not vacform at all - all the windows are flat so probably it is easier just to use transparent sheets to make them

What release agent are you using?  I've found this one very easy to use: http://tiranti.co.uk/product-category/mouldmaking/silicone-rubber/formula-5-release-agent/


I generally use two coats for casting silicon against silicon.

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Thanks Robets, probably worth a try. What silicon do you use it with? 

One of possible causes of failure is that both my rubber and release agent are way our of their "best before" date so I need to resupply. I used to deal with Sylmasta 370 silicon and release agent that needs to be applied with a brush, being old both substances are now much thicker than they used to be. Although I'm generally happy with Sylmasta I would probably try something else and aerosol agent seems more suitable than brush applied,

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Generally with tin based silicones - from their mixing proportions and labelling, I believe Tirantii's silicones are tin based.  Any other silicone I've used has been tin based from Notcutt.

Both good friendly suppliers.

 

Looking at Sylmasta 370, my guess is that is tin based too.  (Platinum silicones generally use 1:1 or 2:1 silicone/hardener ratios, tin much less hardener to silicone.)

 

The best before date should be respected, especially if the tubs have been opened.  I stand to be corrected, but I believe the stuff starts curing in contact with air.

Having said which, there are a few neat tricks here (pun intended) https://davidneat.wordpress.com/materials/mouldmaking/silicone-rubber/recycling-and-fillingextending-silicone/

 

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Sorry Pin, I generally discuss my mould requirements with the supplier.

Having said which, from Tiranti I've usually bought their T20, which has a low Shore A hardness (16) - i.e. its a soft, flexible silicon, easy to de-mould though it is vulnerable to tearing.

 

Note, my usual materials should be kept below 60 C, lower, I think than vac-form plastics - you'd need to check suitability.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Although this project has moved to background it is not abandoned completely

 

Resin parts are well below modern standards. Indeed, both materials and technology leaped massively in 20 years. Pretty much like Lubuntu that I'm using to write this post vs. OS/2 I used back then  

 

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Some parts are easier to build from scratch that to extract something useful from resin bulbs. Control columns for sure

 

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Cleaned, not that scary

 

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And primed. Caverns - check, bubbles - check, brittle and hard resin - check

 

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I'm keeping removing parts from sheets, the thing is quite big, just look at these wings!

 

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Talk about old tech! Your Latécoére has cleaned up nicely

 

Lubuntu is a new one on me, I've used other Linux systems including Ubuntu, but had to google Lubuntu - way off topic, but I wonder how it compares with the usuall systems?

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Where else can we discuss operating systems? ;)

Lubuntu is basically Ubuntu with LXDE desktop environment. The difference is that LXDE eats far less resources than GNOME that makes it possible to run Lubuntu smoothly on relatively old machines of which I have plenty.

Although my main workhorse is quite powerful Dell XPS 15 with 32 GB of memory onboard I still use Lubuntu on it to keep my IT zoo homogenic.

Windows 10 is an absolute abomination (so is OSX but to lesser extent) 

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11 minutes ago, Pin said:

Where else can we discuss operating systems

Not easy in this space.

I'm stuck with Win10 these days*, but still write stuff in the old scripting languages.

 

* Though I agree with your sentiment about the environment

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  • 4 weeks later...

Working on transparencies. Trying different options

 

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Let there be foam!

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Scary? Not quite

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Most of the foam goes to the bin

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Strut is needed to provide correct wing dihedral.

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With more than half metre wingspan the beast is going to be the largest on my shelves once complete. B-17 wing for comparison

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  • 1 month later...

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