Heather's Workbench - The Netherlands, 1940

[dogsbody]

11 minutes ago, Heather Kay said:

I always get my Pegs and Percies mixed up, don’t I!

 

Thanks Chris!

 

 

 

Just my anal-retentiveness bubbling to the surface again. I just can't help it sometimes.

Just ask my wife! ( if you do, be prepared for some vulgar language! Those old farmgirls can cuss like sailors! )

 

 

 

Chris

[Navy Bird]

8 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

Now, William, the plural of and collective noun for Lego is…?

 

And I left off the ®! A double whammy whoops for me - I hope I don't get a letter from their lawyers.   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[CedB]

Jigs? Now you're talking…

 

I bought one of these from JH Models for my 'build it when I have the skills' WnW Camel:

 

 

Probably too big for 1/72 though?

 

For props with separate blades I invested in a UMM PropMaster; it does 2, 3 and 4 blade props either rotation:

 

 

Not cheap but, at about the same price as a Valom kit, might help maintain your sanity  

[Heather Kay]

 

8 hours ago, CedB said:

Not cheap but, at about the same price as a Valom kit, might help maintain your sanity  

 

I looked at the Propmaster gadget some time ago. It really looks the biz, but I weighed it up against how much it would actually get used and decided it was an expense I couldn’t justify.
 

Besides, it’s far too late for my sanity.  

[AdrianMF]

9 hours ago, CedB said:

Not cheap but, at about the same price as a Valom kit

Funny, I use the printed 60 degree lines on my cutting board, some masking tape and a scrap of balsa as a wedge for exactly the same job 😛

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Ed Russell]

On 5/29/2022 at 11:39 PM, Heather Kay said:

a chore I never seem to get right, thinning the trailing edges

I use a cabinet scraper. Commonly available from hardware shops or online. Heres just an example of one

https://www.thewoodworks.com.au/shop/hand-tools/cabinet-scrapers/scraper,-cabinet,-kirschen,-0-8mm-goose-neck,-3802-detail

[heloman1]

Heather, sanity prevails, we're modellers! Like you, I think some of these 'assistance' jigs are OTT. Lego, which I don't use, lolly stick, cocktail sticks and lumps of Bluetak and even Tamiya paint jars. I looked long and hard at the circle cutting device at Fifty Pounds plus, I can do without. That's me.

 

Enjoy your build.

 

Colin

[Marklo]

For multi bladed things ( or rotary engines) I usually print off a template.

 

my all time favourite tool is my permagrit a metal sanding stick that never goes dull.

[Heather Kay]

As maffs isn’t my strongest point, I’d struggle to draw a template. Most times, I just eyeball things. Luckily, the location points in the kit made fitting the blades easy.
 

 

Meanwhile, this little lot is distracting me. In total, I have a dozen 4mm 1/76th scale PE kits of Great Eastern Railway coaches to build for a commission. This batch is the new build stuff, while the case below contains the parts mostly assembled by a previous builder. 
 

 

Today's fun was starting to build a pair of bogies. These are complex little kits in their own right, and I’ve not even started on the complicated bits yet. They’re all supposed to have working suspension, which will be interesting. If things go well, I’ll be back in Fokker land over the weekend.

[Navy Bird]

11 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

I looked at the Propmaster gadget some time ago. It really looks the biz, but I weighed it up against how much it would actually get used and decided it was an expense I couldn’t justify.

 

I have one, and it works fairly well. It can be a bit fiddly at times, as the inner plugs (that the prop shaft goes through) are invariably too large or too small for the prop at hand. Plus, you can't easily adjust the pitch of the blades so you use whatever angle was machined into the unit. Notwithstanding these comments, I like it a lot and use it all the time. It's a life-saver for all those short run kits that have separate hubs and blades.    👍

 

Cheers,

Bill

[HAMP man]

My spidey senses tell me that there will be soldering action on them there bogies 👍

 

Just saying 

 

Box on

 

Strickers

[Heather Kay]

Blimey! Where does the time go? I have to admit, though, the old mojo bimbled off for a bit, which doesn’t help.

 

While I had been concentrating on the T.V, the noggin had been occasionally wondering how to fix the G.1's undercarriage problem.

 

 

As a reminder, this is the situation. One axle end of one bit of the contraption has been short shot. 
 

Now, I had thought I could use reconstructing the undercarriage in brass tube and wire to give a little soldering tutorial. 
 

 

So I did some measuring, created a little drawing…

 

 

Rummaged in the metal stock drawer to dig out some suitable materials…

 

 

Posed a bottle of my preferred flux (currently unavailable, sadly) and my usual 60/40 resin-cored electrical solder…

 

And fired up the soldering station.

 

Before I get any further, I’m afraid I’m going to disappoint you. What I ended up actually creating with the soldering equipment proved difficult to photograph, and I didn’t think through how to document the process. The soldering iron I have is pretty much industrial grade and would be overkill for most light users. You can’t get the flux I use any more, and tin/lead solder is pretty much banned because of the lead. All in all, it would be a hopeless task trying to explain how to solder anything using what I did as an example!

 

So, if anyone really wants to know more, drop me a DM and I’ll copy over what I sent to @Martian when His Eminence asked the question. 
 

Back to the modelling. My aim was to recreate the bottom part of the leg and axle. It made sense to make both sides, rather than a single part. My plan was to use suitable brass tube (rod would’ve done) as a full length axle through the wheel, attached to pegs fitted into holes drilled up into the remaining plastic legs.

 

 

After chopping off the bottom of the good leg, I somehow managed to drill into the centre of the main legs. I tried to ensure I drilled the same depth, so pushing rod into the holes would always be near enough the same place. I also drilled through the wheel hub centre.

 

With lolly sticks and masking tape I made a sort of jig so I could try to ensure the short pegs were attached to the tube (axle) at right-angles.

 

Then it all went a bit wrong. I soldered together the small brass bits you can see above the jig. I failed to realise I needed to fit the wheel before adding the second peg. Then I realised that, even with my ninja soldering skills, I couldn't solder metal parts in such close proximity to plastic. Well, I could, but the end result would be catastrophic.

 

I took a minute to review the situation.

 

The solution was to chop the tube short so the wheel could be dropped in between. Brass wire could be passed through as an axle. Simples. I have since discovered the "good" undercarriage legs will break if the wheel is fitted. I guess I’ll have to make some new parts for that one, too.

 

Apologies for disappointing on the soldering demo side. I’m afraid I can’t really work out a clever way to explain the equipment and techniques that would fit into this format. Like I say, drop me a DM and I’ll pass on what I wrote before.

 

 

 

[Martian]

I can confirm that Heather's advice on soldering was a gamechanger and that as a result she now holds the title of BM Wise Woman in addition to her rank of official "Usual Suspect".

 

Martian 👽

[HAMP man]

I am in your debt. The soldering station in itself shows that we are not messing around here, it has numbers and buttons and a mini headphone socket for some hot tunes? 

I can see why the undercart fix would be a wee bit wee for a 101 on soldering so I will be in contact as offered. I think my main stumbling block will be trying to find a second hand TARDIS off Amabay to get the time to practice, (perhaps if I talk nice to the Martian).

Anyhoo, thanks for thinking about me in the update.

 

As always

 

Box on

 

Strickers

[dogsbody]

I think I would have searched through the spare parts until I found something that looked close, then done a hack & slash and glued that to the kit part. 

I may even have cut up an easily replaced kit and then bought another kit. But then, I don't have skills that are any way near to Heather's.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Heather Kay]

13 hours ago, HAMP man said:

it has numbers and buttons and a mini headphone socket for some hot tunes? 

Definitely hot tunes. It’s for an anti-static wrist strap, important for electronics work.

 

8 hours ago, dogsbody said:

then done a hack & slash and glued that to the kit part.

 

This solution was considered. However, I always worry about strength. The wheel-to-undercarriage area takes a lot of stress over the life of a model aeroplane, and I’m always scared I’ll break something when moving things about. The metalwork solution makes the problem area much, much more robust. 
 

At least I didn’t have to rebuild the entire caboodle, like I did with a Pavla Airspeed Oxford. 

[heloman1]

Neat work on the u/c replacement part.

 

Colin

[Dave Slowbuild]

The fix has worked out well - glad a soldering iron was not required in the end as I’ve never wielded one in my life.  I’m very envious of those who are skilled in its ways.   Something I’d like to take on in retirement maybe (like a lot of things..).

 

Slightly off track, but I enjoyed browsing your photo gallery of builds on your website Heather.  Really well photographed, so effectively staged with the vehicles.  Rather a fancy a truck or two to mix in with my aircraft in the display case.  Adds a sense of scale doesn’t it?

[Heather Kay]

20 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Neat work on the u/c replacement part.

Thanks Colin. It’s actually a bit messy close to, but nothing some paint won’t fix. You’ll never know when I’m done.
 

15 minutes ago, Dave Slowbuild said:

glad a soldering iron was not required in the end

There was soldering action, but not enough to make a demo out of.

 

Regarding the trucks, that’s a throwback to a book I found in my secondary school library when I was a kid. It was full of scale models in dioramas, and I was hooked from that day to this. I want to make large dioramas, not the beer mat sized things others are happy with. I want to photograph the model at any angle and not see the edges of the scenery, if that makes sense. The lack of storage space means I have to be content with temporary efforts, reusing a simple base and backscene, and occasionally dropping some vehicles in to give it some context. One day, I’ll have enough space to set out a decent size of base. One day. 

[Dave Slowbuild]

5 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

There was soldering action,

Apologies for misreading, I will have to blame a short lunch break and trying to cram too much in.  So much good stuff on BM!
 

Apart from the soldering iron, I am also short of two lolly sticks so I would have been in a pickle with this one

[Heather Kay]

16 minutes ago, Dave Slowbuild said:

Apologies for misreading

No worries. I am often guilty of skim-reading something and getting entirely the wrong end of the stick!

 

As today was taken up with various domestic duties, I allowed myself some more Fokker time.

 

 

Having solved the broken axle problem, it was time to finish assembling the undercarriage units. This involved a pair of PE side panels, plus a pair of styrene "cheeks". It all seems overkill to me, but I aim to get my money's worth out of the kit!

 

If you’re after hints, take note the PE panels all needed subtly trimming. The easiest places to do this are the rear and along the longest edge. Dry fit many times before choosing where to chop. The styrene "cheeks", the function of which seem simply to aid support in the nacelles later, also need a little trimming to snap into place.

 

The next stage of the instructions moves onto the wings.

 

 

First, I want to draw your attention to the way Mikro-Mir solve the thick trailing edge problem. The upper halves of each wing have the trailing edge moulded as a ridge. The upper parts, two of them either side of the tail boom/nacelle, butt up to the ridge. A little gentle sanding to smooth any likely ridge and you’re golden. A neat piece of design. Another thing is the way the inner section of upper wing fits. Note the step in the trailing edge of the root? That’s meant to be there. Don’t be tempted to sand it away. It’s designed to fit nicely on the moulded wing root on the fuselage pod.

 

I’ve just brush painted some acrylic brown paint over the undercarriage units. I’ll do a coat of the dark brown another time. The next stages involve assembling undercarriage in the tail booms, and installing the engines. Things are coming together fairly quickly, and if if feel in the mood after working on the day job, I’ll try and get this little model more or less to the same point as the T.V. Then I have an excuse to get the paint booth set up.

[Heather Kay]

I awoke this morning feeling definitely suboptimal, so I gave myself a day of light duties. Feeling a little better this afternoon, I took a look at the stuff in the bench. I should’ve been doing paying work, but I wasn’t well. At least, that’s my excuse.

 

I only wanted to see how the tail boom assemblies fitted in the wings. I hadn’t intended in gluing anything, but it sort of happened. 😇

 

I made the mistake of gluing the outer wing halves in place. These should be left off until the tail booms are seated in place, because they’re moulded to sort of conform to the nacelles.

 

 

For about the first time in this kit, a large amount of sanding and filler was needed to smooth the nacelle joins. I will also need some careful panel line repair, but the end result isn’t all that bad.

 

 

The worst gaps were on the undersides. I mean, this is nothing compared to some kits I’ve worked on. A few minutes with sanding sticks and it looks okay. I have checked, and it will be possible to fit the exhaust section of the cowlings before the engines go in. That way, everything can be painted leaving the engines and exhaust collectors to be fitted after the fact. The next stage, then, will be attaching the wings to the fuselage, and fitting tailplane and gear doors.

[Brandy]

On 6/19/2022 at 8:07 PM, Heather Kay said:

The solution was to chop the tube short

Isn't it always?

(Ouch!)

 

The wings look good and that is definitely a neat bit of problem solving in the trailing edge design. However I can think of a few manufacturers who, even with that method, would still leave us with a trailing edge akin to a brick!

 

Ian

[HAMP man]

How wonderful to be, as thick as a brick. Now that takes one back to simpler times.

 

Box on

 

Strickers

[Heather Kay]

Sometimes it can make life easier if you sidestep the instructions and go your own way. I’m paying the price for that hubris. If you’re planning on building this kit, follow the last few instruction steps in the order they’re printed. Don’t be like me! 🙄
 

I was in the mood to attach the wing assemblies. The starboard one went on okay, so I left it alone for the glue to harden a while before attempting to fit the port. Feeling the booms might need help - which proved to be the case - the tailplane horizontal part came out to play. Tape was also deployed. 
 

 

The port side really didn’t want to fit. This was down to a misalignment of the wing parts, caused by me not following the instructions and attaching the lower outer halves before the tail boom/nacelles. The result forced the inner section out of place, and left me with a bit of a gap to fill. 
 

The wings are at least level. I think they’re level. If they’re not, it’s not out by much. The port undercarriage seems to be a bit off straight as well. Oh well. It is what it is.

 

So, leaving that lot alone to set properly means I really ought to get back to paying work - oh, except we have to go out this afternoon. Perhaps tomorrow then.