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Hello All... this is a place holder for my 2nd build in the movie themed portion. I will be building the Stearman from “Charlie Varrick”

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charley_Varrick

 

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This will  be modified to really represent the aircraft from the movie. A few things to do will be the Venturi crop dusting tray underneath. The metal fuselage skin replacing the fabric. The covering over of the forward cockpit. Extending the tailwheel and exposing the metal framework in the rear of the plane. NMF finish on the fuselage, silver dope with yellow leading edges. Replacing the engine with a 9 cylinder radial. And possibly replacing the wheels and tires ? Not sure about the last one as i need to get a close up still to see if the real plane had the upgrade. The kit isnt here yet so will add photo’s of sprues when i start this build. 

 

Dennis

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Hello everyone... Well i think i can get this ball rolling, all be it slowly as i still have a few builds that I've been neglecting. Here are the sprue shots. I opted ultimately to go with the 1/72 version. 
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Bought this for the 9 cylinder radial i think its the correct engine ? If not it’ll have to do as i spent money i really shouldn't have on it. 

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Questions, comments, and or thoughts ? 

 

Dennis

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Hello everybody... Well i started doing a little work on this yesterday. I scraped down the fuselage cloth effect as the real plane was metal skinned.
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I haven't been able to find close ups clear enough to show this. But I've seen the movie well over 100 times and I'm pretty sure its metal. I then cut out the tail wheel cover as this was removed on the real aircraft. Here are a few photo’s that i think i can share. The first is a link to a movie theater advert card. 

https://www.amazon.com/Charley-Varrick-bi-plane-chasing-Imperial/dp/B00GT3D5D6
 

The rest are stills taken from the movie.

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I will attempt to watch the movie again sometime this week and take some stills from it that are better. Tonight I built up the hopper for the crop dusting agent in place of the forward cockpit. You can see it in the photo’s, and here is my attempt. osJX8Qp.jpg

 

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Its real rough right now, however some sanding and filler should smooth it out to its proper look. It wasn't glass smooth either as it was a working crop-duster not just made up for the movie. Here is the plane several years earlier before being skinned with metal. Im guessing this ⬇️ is when they built the hopper and were going to re-skin the plane. If you look closely that isn't a standard cockpit arrangement for a Stearman. 

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I have found several crop dusters of the same vintage that have the same markers. They all have the large Venturi tray for the crop dusting agent. They all have the tailwheel cover removed and tailwheel raised. They all have 9 cylinder radials, and most have the same hopper as seen in the film. These photo’s are all taken from one of my sources. I have more but three should show that some were skinned. 
http://www.aerialvisuals.ca/Locator.php

 

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Some like this one ⬆️ and this one ⬇️ have skinned wings that are clipped ? 

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Like I said im fairly confident mine has the metal skin. Sadly while doing research I found that N53039 my plane crashed and burned in 1977, it was a total write off. Questions, comments, and or thoughts ? 

 

Dennis

Edited by Corsairfoxfouruncle
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Not much to report today except some sanding and filling has started. Ive also started building the engine.

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I know they're not perfect but they're better than nothing. Yes i know it was molded as a single piece but it will need pushrods as they're not molded on. It will also need an exhaust ring and stacks. Don't know how I’m going to do that yet ? I might have to go out and buy solder to make the ring. Questions, comments, and or thoughts ?

 

Dennis

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Hello everyone...So I've got the engine painted up. JBvnP4F.jpg

I will give it a wash tomorrow and then start on the exhaust ring as soon as the plane is painted. Ive got it partially sanded up to 1000 grit. pSkaEyi.jpg

 

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Finish sanding tomorrow and then i can prime it by Friday. Ive got a couple of other builds I've been neglecting that aren't a part of group builds. Questions, comments, and or thoughts ? 
 

Dennis

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Hello everyone... My most humblest of apologies, only had time lately to keep an eye on everyone else's builds. Haven't had much time for anything else due to life interrupting. I was able to finish sanding and started a primer brush coat of black on those sections that will need the color. 
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I even added the seatbelts on Friday. 

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Questions, comments, and or thoughts ? 

 

Dennis

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Well got a little more done tonight on this. I made an exhaust ring out of a spare 1/48 Eduard Bf.109 tire. Its slightly oversize but its quite right in the size for the engine. 
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These are mocked up photo’s, i wont glue it on until the very end after the plane and exhaust ring are painted. 

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When the C/A is dry on the brass tubing i will file them to an angle that looks appropriate for the exhaust. Questions, comments, and or thoughts ? 
 

Dennis

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Well I pulled a stupid... I decided to work on some stuff last night and didn't realize until 01:15 local that I needed to get up at 07:15 for a Dr’s appt.. I was airbrushing stuff and have determined another reason I'm having issues with my A/B’s is that my hose has a pinhole somewhere. Fairly confident since its only 14 months old that its probably a cat related issue. They're want to chew on stuff that they really shouldn't. Anyhow i did get a 2nd coat of black on the Stearman and that part is done. 
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Mocked up as the wing is on upside down. 

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will clear it tonight then mask over the weekend for the metal colors. Questions, comments, and or thoughts ? 
 

Dennis

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Thanks i will take care of the pin hole before metal. Now for Matthau, I don't think so. Though this kit says 1/72 im guessing judging on the parts that the two pilots that come with this. They would measure out to be the size of a large hobbit. And the few 1/72 figures i do have are way to large for the opening. In all honesty I should have done this in 1/48. However SWMBO wasn't happy I was spending $ on models again. The kit is nowhere near as good as the larger version, I've built it before. The landing gear struts are scary looking and are butt glued to the fuselage with very tiny pins that didn't mold properly.
     In honesty I'm really not enjoying this build because of quality of the kit. Maybe i will use this as a practice run for a 1/48 build in the future. Next up before paint is the Venturi tray for crop dusting, then touch-ups to the black. I will finish it as i don't usually give up on a build. I still have 3 Roden WW1 planes sitting in my drawer of shame. I need struts for all three of those as the Roden plastic basically exploded when i looked at it.

 

Dennis

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4 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

the Roden plastic basically exploded

Yep...that's an indication of the Roden seal of disapproval.

 

Sorry you're not having fun with this.  And the figure was more a humorous poke than anything else.  He was 6'2" after all!  

 

 

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Was able to mask the black off tonight. When i spray this it will be a couple of different tones to explain the difference between fabric and metal. WwMJFxQ.jpg

 

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My biggest hurdle now will be to find the registration #’s. My source for civvie letters and numbers dried up. So now i need to figure that out. Good thing I have three months to do that. 

 

Dennis

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Hello everyone... well I asked up and painted the fabric color tonight. Once thats cured i will re-mask and paint the yellow leading edges on the wings. Here is where she sits right now. 
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Questions, comments, and or thoughts ? 

 

Dennis

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