28 Sqn Westland Wapiti (1/48) scratch 'n' print

[Brandy]

It looks great, but are you sure the colour band doesn't go all the way around?

It does on every other pic I've seen where it's visible,  even in other eras (WWI, WWII etc) so I'd be very dubious about it stopping at the upper camo demarcation.

Having said that I don't profess to being an expert!

 

Ian

[hendie]

On 11/22/2021 at 4:06 AM, giemme said:

I was going to suggest painting the fuselage band after reading your previous post, and there you are  Great minds and all, right?  

Great to see the roundels are behaving properly so far

 

Ciao

 

Thanks Giorgio. Decals are good so far - now I just need to draw up the rest and have 'em printed

 

On 11/22/2021 at 4:16 AM, Fritag said:

Still marvel all the lovely surface texturing and details.  Does it go without saying that she’s looking better and better as the painting/decaling progresses?  Well whatever I’ve said it now 

 

and I've no objection to you continuing to say so sir 

 

On 11/22/2021 at 4:21 AM, perdu said:

So far above my pay grade I am glad I am retired.

 

I think Steve nails the 'thing' about it, the textural changes stand out.

By not standing out.

 

retired?  I am sooooooo jealous Bill. 

 

On 11/22/2021 at 10:02 AM, heloman1 said:

Wow Alan, great masking and paint work. I think, I may have tackled it another way. Blue first, upper decking second and the silver last. Then, I don't trust silver and masking tape! And the Wasp is looking good too...

 

Colin

 

I've found that the Alclad dull aluminum stays pretty fast when sprayed directly onto the grey primer, and can withstand my usual clumsy handling

 

On 11/22/2021 at 10:35 AM, Terry1954 said:

Colour going on, lovely stuff!.

 

OK, I guess the silver and the Nivo are strictly speaking also colour, but the blue step was worthy of some brighter comment!

 

Nice one.

 

Terry

 

 

 

thanks Terry. I thought so too and it's just a shame that Ian had to jump in and pee on my bonfire 

 

On 11/22/2021 at 11:02 AM, Brandy said:

It looks great, but are you sure the colour band doesn't go all the way around?

It does on every other pic I've seen where it's visible,  even in other eras (WWI, WWII etc) so I'd be very dubious about it stopping at the upper camo demarcation.

Having said that I don't profess to being an expert!

 

Ian

 

No expert huh?   I called you a few things when I read your post and I don't believe expert was in there   However, you made a great observation Ian and when I went and zoomed in on my reference shots I could clearly see that the colored band did indeed wrap around the entire fuselage, so a grudging thanks to you for that!

 

Remasked, resprayed, and another small bleed or two.  No worries as I have to respray under the tail anyway so I can deal with all the little bleeders at once

 

 

Yup.  Definitely looks better for it.  I don't know why I didn't spot that first time around

 

 

The roundel settled in as good as could be expected.  I like how you can see the structure inside the step opening.  I'm not sure if the 1:1 step would have had a backplate preventing any see-through but I like what I see so I'm sticking with it.

 

 

I have to draw up the rest of the decals and figure out out to get them printed (and I have a cunning plan), but in the meantime I think I have to figure out what to do with the stitching.  Maybe I'll run some crayons over it to try and highlight it a tad.  I have plenty of fuselage spares to practice on so lets see what happens.

 

and thanks again Ian - great spot!

 

 

 

 

 

[Roger Holden]

A splendid project technically and which really looks the part.  But a few notes about colours......

 

The blue in your national insignia is waaaay out and far too bright. Not sure how any manufacturer could include those in a kit these days and they look like something provided in the 1960s. The blue used for your fuselage band is close to the correct colour....a medium blue, ultramarine shade. Just google some photos of the Shuttleworth Hawker Hind, which has it spot-on. Humbrol made this colour for years as their Blue #25, but not sure if it's still in the range.

 

Looking at your model, I thought the upper fuselage anti-glare area looked more like PC10 than the oft-quoted NIVO (mid grey/green), but then I read back a few pages.....

Black was also used I think.

 

Now, about that fuselage band......

 

The fuselage band was a squadron (not flight) identifier. The RAF squadrons operating in the North West Frontier area had a system of black and red fuselage bands (sorry....no blue) to identify each squadron at a distance. Specifically, these were as follows (think this includes all the relevant squadrons, but couldn't swear to it.....):

 

                                                                               5 Sq.   Single black band, behind the gunner's position

                                                                             28 Sq.   Single black band ahead of the tailplane

                                                                             39 Sq.   Twin black bands in both the above locations

                                                                             60 Sq.   Single black horizontal stripe

                                                                             20 Sq.   Single red band, behind the gunner's position

                                                                             27 Sq.   Single red band ahead of the tailplane

                                                                             31 Sq.   Twin red bands in both the above locations

 

These markings were on the Wapitis and their replacement Audaxes. Some of this info comes from Modeldecal's sheet for the Hawker biplanes which includes several of the above, including 28 Sq. and the late Dick Ward's research was beyond reproach.  It's also borne out by photos/artwork of the Wapitis and Audaxes.  Not sure if you're inclined to change things at this stage, but you asked for info and here it is.

[Roger Holden]

Looking at those formation photos of 28 Sq. aircraft from a few pages back, I would say that the upper fuselage, struts and rear fuselage band are all black.  Probably not as colourful as you would have hoped for, but it is what it is.....   Don't think the upper fuselage is NIVO, which usually photographs as a mid-grey.   

 

The fuselage bands were probably so that ground forces could readily identify them, in the army co-op role.

[hendie]

On 11/24/2021 at 5:17 PM, Roger Holden said:

A splendid project technically and which really looks the part.  But a few notes about colours......

 

Roger, thanks for that very useful information.

 

I had chosen the roundels as they were the only ones I had that were about the right size, and comparing the color to the Xtradecal sheet, the color didn't seem too far off.  I knew they were a bit iffy, but not that far off.

Is the Xtradecal sheet roundel color off as well do you know?

 

 

I've ordered some 40mm Tamiya masking tape as the devil in me is thinking of spraying over the blue. 

 

On 11/24/2021 at 7:39 PM, Roger Holden said:

I would say that the upper fuselage, struts and rear fuselage band are all black.

 

Rear fuselage band is now black.

 

 

On 11/24/2021 at 7:39 PM, Roger Holden said:

Don't think the upper fuselage is NIVO, which usually photographs as a mid-grey. 

 

When I zoom in on the shots I have showing the rear band, I can definitely see a delineation between the black band, and whatever color is on the aircraft spine

 

 

For that reason, I think I am going to stick with the current spine color.

Thanks again for the info Roger.

 

 

 

 

[heloman1]

Which brand of grey primer Alan? I'm about to start the Airifx 72nd Tiger Moth.

 

Colin

[hendie]

I'm using the Alclad grey primer Colin

[Roger Holden]

On 27/11/2021 at 21:41, hendie said:

 

 

Is the Xtradecal sheet roundel color off as well do you know?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xtradecal colours are good, I think. At least, the 1/72 ones I have are.

I don't think the upper fuselage colour is known for certain. Something I have noticed is that the home-based squadrons were the lighter colour (NIVO) and the overseas darker.The RAFM's Wallace restoration has black upper fuselage and struts...

[hendie]

On 11/28/2021 at 4:57 PM, Roger Holden said:

Xtradecal colours are good, I think. At least, the 1/72 ones I have are.

 

Thanks Roger.

I've taken a quick shot with my camera, and with my cell phone.  Cell phone shot is on the left, camera on the right. The camera shot is much closer to what I see with the MkI, but it is still displaying lighter in shots than in the flesh.  I think all the silver might be throwing everything a bit skeewiff

 

 

Now that the never-ending Scout build has finished I could concentrate on this Wapiti which has also been lingering around for some time.  Step one was to fit the ailerons on the lower wing - fixed in place with wire and cyano.

 

 

then the pilot got a nice protective leather padding around the cockpit.  Yup, I'm knocking out the easy things to avoid starting the rigging.  Giorgio!  Before you start complaining again - I'm using the white stuff to protect the paint finish as it wears off with frequent movement against the mat.

 

 

Sadly, that was the last of the easy things so I braced myself and went for it.

There are a couple of rigging wires which attach to the fuselage at the wing root and with some rare forethought, I had modeled some holes for these wires to attach to.  What actually happened was a stroke of luck - there was a clear throughway from port to starboard which would allow me to use a single rigging wire for both sides, and have the added benefit of being able to use these to pull the top wing down onto the cabane struts.  The downside was that I would have 4 holes on the upper wing to deal with.  Holes be damned - I wanted a secure fixing.

First though I had to feed the rigging wire through the hole in one side and out the other - and the holes were only 0.6mm in diameter.

The solution was to glue a piece of rigging to a piece of wire and feed the wire through, pulling the rigging after it.  The wire looks exactly the same as the rigging in this shot, but you can see where I have attached the rigging over the starboard wing. 

 

 

It took a bit of fiddling but both rigging wires were installed.

The observant viewer will have noticed that I also printed a rigging jig.  Well... why make things difficult for myself eh?

Since I already had the 3D model of the full Wapiti, it was a simple process to throw a rectangular block into the model, fix it at a set distance from the centerline, then just subtract the upper and lower wing from the jig block.  Once I had the wing profile cut into the block, I removed some areas which would just interfere with the rigging operation, and ended up with what you see here.

 

 

I also used the same principle to create a datum block for the fuselage/upper wing gap, which also helped me center everything up.  Quite pleased with that.

The 3D prints aren't pretty by any means - the screen on my printer is dying rapidly and the finished parts were a bit of a mess - but I didn't need pretty here - I just needed functional.

 

 

Having that fuselage/wing gap set by the block was very useful indeed.  It helped enormously in getting the cabane struts in place, and allowed me to exert some pressure when fitting the struts without fear of the whole thing collapsing on me.  Brass was called into play for the struts and cyano'd in place. 

 

 

The first of the rigging wires went in without a struggle.   I put these in first, mainly to try and hold the thing from falling apart later.  That was a fail!

 

 

The next job was to fit the main struts.  These were painted black with a flat coat.  I can't remember if I showed these earlier, but I printed the struts with a 0.8mm hole through the length.  That allowed me to fit a 0.5mm wire rod through each strut to add a bit of rigidity.  I left a small section of rod protruding from each end to locate into the holes I had let into the wings.  

The brass rod meant I had to be careful when fitting the struts - as it was very easy to scratch the surface, but there was just enough flex in the struts and in the wings to get them in there  - it just took a bit of time and care.

 

 

It's a long process, but strangely quite calming - once you've figured out where everything actually goes.  I probably spent a good 2 or 3 hours just to get the rigging threaded.  At one point I did lose the top wing, but that was early in the process, and the only damage was a slight scratch on the green - but it happened to be right under the upper wing, so a quick touch up operation was completed and the whole thing sewn back together again.

This is two sessions into the rigging operation.

 

 

Somewhere between 6 and 8 hours work gets us to this point.  I only had one "oh dear" moment, near the end of the rigging I spotted that the upper and lower wings weren't quite parallel - luckily I still had a few wires to be fitted and they pulled things back in line easily enough.  It was a bit fretful there for a while until I got that operation squared away.

 

 

It wasn't all plain sailing though.  I ended up one hole short, and two rigging wires too many.  I think I mistook a shadow in a photograph to be another wire. Easily dealt with by a quick though gentle swipe with a new blade.

Luck seems to have been riding along with me today and the missing hole was in a location where I could actually add it.  This hole is for rigging from the rear cabane struts.

 

 

I'd like to say this was all a stroke of genius, but you've read my build logs enough to know that things just happen, mostly in a random fashion.  But this really is genius, honest 

I always make the rigging much longer than I need it as the last thing you need is to find you're a couple of mm too short when you're about to glue things together.  I cut the cabane rigging the same length as the rest of the rigging, and yes, it really got in the way many times in those hours previous.  However - I had cut the wires so long, I found that if I pushed them all the way into the fuselage so they coiled up in a mess inside - I could then reach in through the nose with a wire hook and fish out the rigging, where I could then pull it taught while it was being glued.

 

 

This method worked great for all the cabane rigging with the exception of the the two wires that had to go in through that hole I just drilled a few shots ago. The solution again was to glue the rigging to some wire and then feed the wire though the fuselage and out the nose.  If I ever do another biplane (which is never) - I must try to remember this method.  It made rigging the cabane area a really simple process and I've always had trouble with that before.

 

 

All the main rigging is now complete. 

 

 

and the wings are parallel, or at least as parallel as I'm ever going to get with these wings.

 

 

The tail was partially rigged - I've left the under the tailplane loose as I need access to that area to add the transfers

 

 

The wire through the nose and loop and thread and pull it all out again method was also used for rigging the undercarriage

 

 

Now why can't all rigging be as simple as that?

 

 

So after she's given the kiss of life and put the right way up again, the Wapiti now looks like this.  Aren't vacation days wonderful?  This update is about two days worth of work - free of interruption for a change. 

 

 

and we all know I can never resist the old dry fit mojo booster don't we?

 

 

She's not perfect by any means.  I seem to have lost a bit of dihedral in the upper wing, though all the struts are the same length so it might just be an illusion caused by the unevenness of the leading edge.  Those wings were a real struggle to print and mate up successfully, but considering that what I see in front of me there started out life as a bunch of grey gloop in a bottle,  all things considered, it's pretty amazing. 

 

I think the new screen for the 3D printer has arrived so I'll try and get that fitted tomorrow.  I also bought a "repair kit" for my inkjet printer and I'm going to see if I can get that thing up and running again for the first time in about three years as I need some custom decals for this build.  I spent a bunch of hours on Amazon trying to find a printer, but every time I thought I had found one, I'd read the reviews and change my mind, so nothing to lose by seeing if I can get the old one working again. Okay $6.99 is what I can lose, but I thought it worth a gamble.

 

 

Next up is (I think) the tail undercarriage.  Oh... dinner is calling... 

 

 

 

[k5054nz]

Just shaking my head in awe. Beautiful.

[Hamden]

 

A great step forward fitting the wings and rigging.

A superb looking replica is emerging, the finish line is in sight now

 

  Stay safe          Roger 

[Max Headroom]

Looking the business 👍

 

Trevor

[perdu]

Simply wonderful.

[Terry1954]

Great update Alan, and one that reminds me why I avoid biplanes, and why my Gloster Gamecock thread has been stalled for some time, RIGGING!

 

I may have missed it but what are you using for the rigging wire?

 

Re the holes, I'm assuming the only "through" wing holes you drilled were in the top wing, and that the others particularly on the lower wing were just locators for the rigging thread? With the through holes, I guess I shy away from that concept as there would be cleaning up and repaints to do on top to make those holes and fixing points go away. I will learn from you no doubt, how easy that is when you do it!

 

She's certainly looking the part with all those wires criss crossing!

 

Terry

[giemme]

10 hours ago, hendie said:

Yup, I'm knocking out the easy things to avoid starting the rigging.  Giorgio!  Before you start complaining again - I'm using the white stuff to protect the paint finish as it wears off with frequent movement against the mat.

I didn't even speak....         

 

She's looking splendid, Alan!     

 

Ciao

[AdrianMF]

Lovely rigging!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Brandy]

Nice job on the rigging, I hope you remembered the double flying wires!

I don't understand why everyone is so afraid of rigging. It's relaxing, as you say!

 

Ian

[Pete in Lincs]

Rodney the rigging Spider strikes again. What a splendid job.

[TheBaron]

Those two days' efforts have really paid off in progress Alan; that's looking very sharp indeed now in livery and rigging. I haven't had a sniff of the bench all week.

 

Good vibes that the new screen goes on the Resin Magicker for you without any hassle as well. My youngest replaced the one on my M2 for me recently in about 5 minutes flat and I suddenly felt quite old.

 

20 hours ago, hendie said:

I spent a bunch of hours on Amazon trying to find a printer, but every time I thought I had found one, I'd read the reviews and change my mind,

You'll be getting those disingenuous notifications from them now for the next fortnight: 'We noticed you'd been looking at printers so thought you might like these saucepans.'

 

If it's any help, both Mrs.B and self have Canon Pixma inkjets in our respective studios and find them fine for a range of tasks. As long as the monitor and printer are calibrated together the colour accuracy of outputs is good.

[hendie]

On 12/2/2021 at 4:50 AM, Terry1954 said:

I may have missed it but what are you using for the rigging wire?

 

Re the holes, I'm assuming the only "through" wing holes you drilled were in the top wing, and that the others particularly on the lower wing were just locators for the rigging thread? With the through holes, I guess I shy away from that concept as there would be cleaning up and repaints to do on top to make those holes and fixing points go away.

 

Terry,  I'm using 0.12 mm fishing line on this build.

I did those 4 through holes in the upper wing purely because it made sense (to me) for that wing root to upper wing rigging.  For all the rest, I drill blind holes on the underside of the upper wing and fix the rigging to the upper wing.  I drill through holes in the lower wing and thread the wires through.  My method, and other are available is - I push the wire back through the hole so that there is a nice bit of slack between the wings.  I then add some superglue to the rigging wire and pull it through the hole quickly and hold it taught for a few seconds.  My reckoning is that the thread will pull superglue through the hole as I pull it and get the best hold, rather than just a drop where it enters, or exits the hole.

 

On 12/2/2021 at 3:21 PM, TheBaron said:

If it's any help, both Mrs.B and self have Canon Pixma inkjets

 

I almost did, but got put off by the reviews, and I know you can't trust a lot of these reviews, but I ended ordering a new Epson.  

 

Another few days with no interruptions.  Bliss.   It was tinged with a bit of regret though as I had to cancel my UK trip at short notice. I'll need to wait and see how things turn out for a reschedule on the trip.

The Wapiti beckons.  It was about time I got this thing up on her feet, so I needed to make a tail skid.  An easy job, using a length of brass rod fed into a small length of square tube and soldered up.

 

 

The "boot" was built up from Mr Dissolved Putty, and I kept an eye on it while the putty was drying - when it had skinned over but not fully cured I attacked it with a toothpick and created some folds and creases, then painted with a grubby black.

 

 

I then discovered I had missed a couple of rigging wires so out with the drill again and very carefully drilled holes just on front of the inboard front strut.  This wire attaches to the undercarriage brackets at the nose. As I already had some holes in there for the undercarriage structure, it was easy enough to thread the rigging through there and out the nose to pull tight. It does make handling that bit more awkward, but it's getting to that stage in the build where any false move is bound to knock something off or destroy some rigging.

 

 

As we are fat approaching the end of this build, it was time to start adding all those bits that have been lying in trays for the last 6 months or so, such as the generator, and the machine gun mount. 

 

 

Then drill another hole and add the gun sight

 

 

More holes drill and wires fitted - this time for the tail surfaces.  Dry fitted at the moment and they will removed until after the ceremonial sticking on of the transfers. 

 

 

Wassis then?  Well, it was time to print off the windscreen and the navigation lights, and some long dangly things...

 

 

which were actually Vickers machine guns.  Transparent machine guns I hear you say?  Well since they get painted it makes no difference if they ere transparent or not, and since I was running the printer I added them to the print run.  It saved me from having to clean out the vat and set up for another print run later. I'm lazy that way.

 

 

In this motley collection we have the Vickers, upper wing navigation lamps, upper wing center lamp, tail lamp, windscreen, as well as signal flare holders

 

 

Machine guns primed and the detail starts to come out to play.

 

 

painted

 

 

All the light up things painted, but these won't get fitted until right at the end as they are so fragile.

 

 

I spent ages painting the windscreens and it wasn't until the end of day I realized I had painted them the wrong color  - after I had glued one in place.  If I'm feeling brave tomorrow I might have a go at painting it the right color in situ. Idiot!

 

 

Here's a tip for when you need to get in to one of those unreachable places to drill yet another hole you've forgotten about.  I snip the plastic collar off the carbide drill but and jam the bit into the end of a tube.

 

 

The holes I had forgotten about were the mounting holes for the oil cooler.  Those rigging wires were in the way, and having an extra long drill allowed me to manipulate and rotate the drill bit well out of the danger zone.

 

 

Knocking these jobs out now aren't we?  A small dab of cyano and the Vickers is mounted in place.

 

 

The rigging fairleads were added - at least I had remembered the holes for those. 

 

 

Signal flare holders painted and added, along with the wing bump stop which was made from 0.8 mm brass rod. On the upper wing I added the slat actuators - actually just small plastic lumps, but they are so small it was impossible to add any detail, and they look convincing enough when she's the right way up.  I printed the slats as part of the upper wing, and in hindsight I really should have printed the slats as separate pieces. 

 

 

Now came one of those painstakingly awful jobs that fills you with dread, but can be very rewarding when it goes right.  Take a look at this image below and note how the exhaust  is supported by a bracket arrangement at the top of the undercarriage leg.  Much like a car exhaust, it's held in place by a U bolt.

 

 

Solution ?  Take a piece of brass tube the same diameter as the exhaust, and another piece of rod the same diameter as the brass rod I had used to pin the undercarriage in place.  This was another one of those lucky moments as I had not yet trimmed that rod pinning the undercarriage legs in place.

Now take some 0.2 mm stainless wire - overlap the brass rods in a + shape, then wrap the stainless wire around the surrogate exhaust, then over the cross brace and do a double wrap on the small rod.

Follow me?

 

 

Well if you've done it right you should end up with something like this

 

 

That was the easy part - now I had to install it on the actual undercarriage stay - without destroying it!  0.2 mm wire bends if you breathe too hard. I fiddled with this for ages before taking my life in my hands and attacking the rod on the Wapiti with a file to remove any burrs on the end.  Once that was done, the stainless U bolt went on easy enough.

 

 

All that was left then was to thread the exhaust through the U (carefully), and connect the front end to the collector ring. 

This shot is from an earlier test where I tried to do all the wrapping in situ... then discovered I cannot trim the wire close enough when it's assembled like this.

 

 

but it was a better photo than this one which has the final part fitted in place.

 

 

That's all dry fitted at present as I need to fit the starboard side exhaust and make sure everything aligns and both exhausts are symmetrical 

 

Now lets finish with a teaser.

While examining this photo of two 28 Sqn aircraft which has been posted before... I noticed something rather perplexing 

 

 

Ignore the fact that these aircraft have the three vents on the nose, which I deleted from the model based on the drawings I have - and it's too late to do anything about now -  take a look at what's in the red circles. 

 

 

Okay, I know it's a shield/escutcheon, but what could possible be emblazoned on that shield.  This aircraft in this photo served with 28 Sqn but also seemed to have served with other squadrons at various times.  I've checked the other squadrons listed, and none of those appear to have carried any such decoration.

So, did 28 Sqn at any time stick a shield on their aircraft, and if so, what on earth is one that shield?   More to the point... what do I do with J9506 (the aircraft closest to us).  Do I just leave it off the model? or do I make something up ?

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

5 hours ago, hendie said:

Transparent machine guns I hear you say?

And you can see inside when you get a jam.

 

Lovely collection of small transparent bits and bobs. The exhaust clamp arrangement is very smart.

 

5 hours ago, hendie said:

Do I just leave it off the model? or do I make something up ?

At some point in time the Aircraft didn't have shields, and then one day they did. Pick a day.

[RidgeRunner]

I’ve just picked up this thread and I am in awe, Alan. I’m not brave enough to attempt a biplane so I am happy to observe skills such as yours :). Great work. I’ve also never attempted 3D printing, although my son has one. One day maybe :).

 

Martin

[TheBaron]

You've had an incredibly rich and productive time with this aircract of late Alan - I can barely keep up with the sheer range of parts which you've produced, let alone the amount of assembly and painting that's subsequently happened to them.

 

Absolutely love this shot:

16 hours ago, hendie said:

 

Can I ask what thickness and layer height you used on the windshield and how the optical quality turned out?

[wellsprop]

Unbelievable... 

[PeteH1969]

18 hours ago, hendie said:

 

Terry,  I'm using 0.12 mm fishing line on this build.

I did those 4 through holes in the upper wing purely because it made sense (to me) for that wing root to upper wing rigging.  For all the rest, I drill blind holes on the underside of the upper wing and fix the rigging to the upper wing.  I drill through holes in the lower wing and thread the wires through.  My method, and other are available is - I push the wire back through the hole so that there is a nice bit of slack between the wings.  I then add some superglue to the rigging wire and pull it through the hole quickly and hold it taught for a few seconds.  My reckoning is that the thread will pull superglue through the hole as I pull it and get the best hold, rather than just a drop where it enters, or exits the hole.

 

 

I almost did, but got put off by the reviews, and I know you can't trust a lot of these reviews, but I ended ordering a new Epson.  

 

Another few days with no interruptions.  Bliss.   It was tinged with a bit of regret though as I had to cancel my UK trip at short notice. I'll need to wait and see how things turn out for a reschedule on the trip.

The Wapiti beckons.  It was about time I got this thing up on her feet, so I needed to make a tail skid.  An easy job, using a length of brass rod fed into a small length of square tube and soldered up.

 

 

The "boot" was built up from Mr Dissolved Putty, and I kept an eye on it while the putty was drying - when it had skinned over but not fully cured I attacked it with a toothpick and created some folds and creases, then painted with a grubby black.

 

 

I then discovered I had missed a couple of rigging wires so out with the drill again and very carefully drilled holes just on front of the inboard front strut.  This wire attaches to the undercarriage brackets at the nose. As I already had some holes in there for the undercarriage structure, it was easy enough to thread the rigging through there and out the nose to pull tight. It does make handling that bit more awkward, but it's getting to that stage in the build where any false move is bound to knock something off or destroy some rigging.

 

 

As we are fat approaching the end of this build, it was time to start adding all those bits that have been lying in trays for the last 6 months or so, such as the generator, and the machine gun mount. 

 

 

Then drill another hole and add the gun sight

 

 

More holes drill and wires fitted - this time for the tail surfaces.  Dry fitted at the moment and they will removed until after the ceremonial sticking on of the transfers. 

 

 

Wassis then?  Well, it was time to print off the windscreen and the navigation lights, and some long dangly things...

 

 

which were actually Vickers machine guns.  Transparent machine guns I hear you say?  Well since they get painted it makes no difference if they ere transparent or not, and since I was running the printer I added them to the print run.  It saved me from having to clean out the vat and set up for another print run later. I'm lazy that way.

 

 

In this motley collection we have the Vickers, upper wing navigation lamps, upper wing center lamp, tail lamp, windscreen, as well as signal flare holders

 

 

Machine guns primed and the detail starts to come out to play.

 

 

painted

 

 

All the light up things painted, but these won't get fitted until right at the end as they are so fragile.

 

 

I spent ages painting the windscreens and it wasn't until the end of day I realized I had painted them the wrong color  - after I had glued one in place.  If I'm feeling brave tomorrow I might have a go at painting it the right color in situ. Idiot!

 

 

Here's a tip for when you need to get in to one of those unreachable places to drill yet another hole you've forgotten about.  I snip the plastic collar off the carbide drill but and jam the bit into the end of a tube.

 

 

The holes I had forgotten about were the mounting holes for the oil cooler.  Those rigging wires were in the way, and having an extra long drill allowed me to manipulate and rotate the drill bit well out of the danger zone.

 

 

Knocking these jobs out now aren't we?  A small dab of cyano and the Vickers is mounted in place.

 

 

The rigging fairleads were added - at least I had remembered the holes for those. 

 

 

Signal flare holders painted and added, along with the wing bump stop which was made from 0.8 mm brass rod. On the upper wing I added the slat actuators - actually just small plastic lumps, but they are so small it was impossible to add any detail, and they look convincing enough when she's the right way up.  I printed the slats as part of the upper wing, and in hindsight I really should have printed the slats as separate pieces. 

 

 

Now came one of those painstakingly awful jobs that fills you with dread, but can be very rewarding when it goes right.  Take a look at this image below and note how the exhaust  is supported by a bracket arrangement at the top of the undercarriage leg.  Much like a car exhaust, it's held in place by a U bolt.

 

 

Solution ?  Take a piece of brass tube the same diameter as the exhaust, and another piece of rod the same diameter as the brass rod I had used to pin the undercarriage in place.  This was another one of those lucky moments as I had not yet trimmed that rod pinning the undercarriage legs in place.

Now take some 0.2 mm stainless wire - overlap the brass rods in a + shape, then wrap the stainless wire around the surrogate exhaust, then over the cross brace and do a double wrap on the small rod.

Follow me?

 

 

Well if you've done it right you should end up with something like this

 

 

That was the easy part - now I had to install it on the actual undercarriage stay - without destroying it!  0.2 mm wire bends if you breathe too hard. I fiddled with this for ages before taking my life in my hands and attacking the rod on the Wapiti with a file to remove any burrs on the end.  Once that was done, the stainless U bolt went on easy enough.

 

 

All that was left then was to thread the exhaust through the U (carefully), and connect the front end to the collector ring. 

This shot is from an earlier test where I tried to do all the wrapping in situ... then discovered I cannot trim the wire close enough when it's assembled like this.

 

 

but it was a better photo than this one which has the final part fitted in place.

 

 

That's all dry fitted at present as I need to fit the starboard side exhaust and make sure everything aligns and both exhausts are symmetrical 

 

Now lets finish with a teaser.

While examining this photo of two 28 Sqn aircraft which has been posted before... I noticed something rather perplexing 

 

 

Ignore the fact that these aircraft have the three vents on the nose, which I deleted from the model based on the drawings I have - and it's too late to do anything about now -  take a look at what's in the red circles. 

 

 

Okay, I know it's a shield/escutcheon, but what could possible be emblazoned on that shield.  This aircraft in this photo served with 28 Sqn but also seemed to have served with other squadrons at various times.  I've checked the other squadrons listed, and none of those appear to have carried any such decoration.

So, did 28 Sqn at any time stick a shield on their aircraft, and if so, what on earth is one that shield?   More to the point... what do I do with J9506 (the aircraft closest to us).  Do I just leave it off the model? or do I make something up ?

 

 

Great work hendie can I ask which clear resin have you used for printing the glazing parts machine gun etc?

 

Pete