Brigbeale Posted September 27, 2021 Author Share Posted September 27, 2021 Tonight, i designed the rear filler piece for the cockpit. I wanted it to simulate the angled pressure bulkhead as well as fill in the space behind the pilot’s seat. The cockpit was measured and designed. It turned from a curved top ‘plate’ with the angled bulkhead to a simple curved block with an angled front face. Once the seat is in it’s intended position, the bottom won’t be seen. I just need to simulate the instrument panel and the control column (with a wide u-shape yoke mad out of a piece of wire). I’ve also been messing about with the amount of weight needed in the nose to keep it from tail sitting. I’ve got just over 50 grams of curtain weight packed in (dry at the moment). The fuselage was taped back together along with the wings which I temporarily taped on. Two cocktail sticks were placed in the locator holes for the main gear to see if there was enough weight. I might have mere than what’s needed but I have a feeling it’s not going to be a tail sitter. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted September 27, 2021 Share Posted September 27, 2021 I can't remember how much weight I packed into mine, but 50g sounds about right, and it sits on its nose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted September 29, 2021 Author Share Posted September 29, 2021 I 3D printed the instrument panel/front filler piece last night (which fits quite well after a bit of filing here and there, and designed the prototype bomb bay. This morning, I 3D printed it and tonight, after a bit of sanding of the rough egdes (I need to investigate that), I test fitted it. It was mostly a good fit but the underside joint between the nose-wheel opening and the bomb bay opening wouldn’t close up, so obviously the forward end was too large for the interior of the fuselage. I wanted to add some detail as well, so I found and image of a Canberra B2 weapons bay and copied it - kind of😜. So while I was making adjustments to the sizing, I added a simplified centre ordnance mounting rack. That’s going to take about four and a half hours to print so I’ll do that tomorrow. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted September 29, 2021 Share Posted September 29, 2021 Very nice and looking good, Not too much adjustment for the front fuselage end. Chtis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
opus999 Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 I love the detail you're adding! Using a 3D printer is a different type of scratchbuilding indeed, but no less impressive! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted September 30, 2021 Author Share Posted September 30, 2021 As promised, I printed the revised bomb bay this morning. This evening, I offered the bomb bay into the fuselage. Something went awry and the front end was still the same size as the previous incarnation. Fortunately, I still had the initial trial disc from the start of the construction of the flight deck, so I used it as a template to trim the excess off and sand it to a round profile. Once trimmed and sanded, it fitted nicely. I then added strips of priming strips from the 3D printer to add more detail to the bomb bay and refitted it with tape to see the results. It was then time to (finally) break out the airbrush to get some paint into/onto the cockpit parts and on the bomb bay for an undercoat. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tornado 01 Posted September 30, 2021 Share Posted September 30, 2021 Looking forward to seeing the ongoing results 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 Ooh, nice work, especially the bay! Did the Airfix decals arrive yet? Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted October 1, 2021 Author Share Posted October 1, 2021 Not yet. My usual postman is on holiday and apparently the delivery round is being covered by other postmen if they want to do it!, so post is sporadic at the moment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted October 1, 2021 Author Share Posted October 1, 2021 Typical…… The decals arrived just now. Once again, thank you @Hook 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted October 1, 2021 Author Share Posted October 1, 2021 Tonight I started off by removing the strips on the inside edge of the bomb bay opening. I figured with the bomb bay doors open, these are surplus to requirements. I used my Tamiya scribing tool to keep scribing at each side until they were separated from the fuselage. A light file and sand back and the sides were as I intended. The next step, after the control column was made, was to use sprue goo to fit the cockpit assembly into the fuselage. The weights were added, but not the full amount that was originally fitted, maybe half a block’s worth. The bomb bay was then fitted and left to sit for a while to set up a bit. Once it was sufficiently dry, I could then think about closing up the fuselage. A quick check to make sure I hadn’t left anything out and I started to fix the two fuselage halves together starting with the nose section. The two halves fitted together reasonably well despite the lack of locating pins. Once that was taped in while the Mr Cement S sets up (I’ve still not been able to get more Tamiya Extra Thin), I s=wenr round the fuselage a bit at a time to glue and tape it together. Once the fuselage was cemented and taped, I fitted the instrument panel is but had to trim the fuselage as it no longer fitted like it did when I dry fitted everything together. It fits fine now, so the Martin Baker mk2 ejection seat was glued in position and the canopy test fitted to make sure everything still fitted. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 1, 2021 Share Posted October 1, 2021 Great progress and the Bomb bay looks fantastic, what great work. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheyJammedKenny! Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 Nice and tight fit on that cockpit assembly--looks really good. Pro job on your part! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted October 2, 2021 Share Posted October 2, 2021 20 hours ago, Brigbeale said: Typical…… The decals arrived just now. Once again, thank you @Hook Glad to help. Looking forward to seeing them on your model! Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted October 3, 2021 Author Share Posted October 3, 2021 (edited) Why is when I get settled into doing some modelling recently, I get nothing but interruptions?🤬 Last night all I basically got done on the Canberra was paint some Mr Surfacer 1000 over the centre seam (while trying to watch the Battle of Britain on the tv) which took all of 2 minutes! The rest of the time I could squeeze in, was spent trying to close the wide gap at the rear of the lower half of a wing as it wasn’t the best of fits out of the box. There was a point just outboard of the engine nacelle which stopped both ends closing in properly. I used a mix of sanding and filing to gradually ease the rear edge of the lower wing to fit and my Tamiya Scriber to sharpen the receiving recess in the top wing half. The one on the left is the result after sanding. Some time was also spent measuring up the lower wing and where the featureless main-gear bay is. I found a video on YouTube with somebody doing a review on two 1/48 scale Canberra’s and one had a resin kit with it. The YouTuber showed some close ups of the wheel bays and I screenshotted the image. Tonight i sanded back the MrSurfacer to get a smooth finish. It looks good at the moment, but, no doubt it’ll throw up a surprise later on. Also, I printed the wheel bay picture and designed my own simplified version with allowances for the original kit provided mounting points for the main-gear. I hope I’ve got them somewhere in the ballpark. The wheel-bays in Cura (slicing program). One was designed, the sent to Cura, duplicated and one was then mirrored to print one for the opposite side. Edited October 3, 2021 by Brigbeale 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted October 4, 2021 Author Share Posted October 4, 2021 (edited) This morning, I fired up the 3D printer again and printed the two wheel-bays. That took about an hour to print them on the finest layer height. After a trial fit, I found I needed to take out the inboard side wall (nearest the fuselage) and extend the square end of the landing-gear-mount hole by 0.5mm. They also appeared quite shallow (which occurred to me half way down the stairs this morning after getting up). I set the height for the lower half of the wing but forgot to add the upper wing inner dimension. A quick check with the vernier gauge confirmed that there was enough room for extra height, so I went back to the design program and altered the height by 2mm and adjusted the aforementioned hole. They were printed out also which added about 10 minutes to the print time. The original 3D printed wheel bay and the redesigned and reprinted wheel bays. Tonight I set about fitting the wheel bays to the wings. They fitted perfectly so I must be getting better at designing parts - by no means professional standards but adequate for modelling purposes. The kit wheel bay. The test fit. The wheel bays airbrushed with Tamiya Flat Aluminium and the lower wing halves dry fitted. The wheel bays with my home made black wash painted on for more depth of contrast. I also painted the bomb bay Aluminium and black washed that as well. I’m happy with the results. Edited October 4, 2021 by Brigbeale 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hook Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 7 minutes ago, Brigbeale said: I’m happy with the results. And justifiedly so! Cheers, Andre 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Yes you should be too! The undercarriage bays look fantastic and the Bomb bay looks great too. Cracking work. Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tornado 01 Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Some cracking design work on the main wheel bays. It certainly makes it look the part 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Great work! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted October 5, 2021 Author Share Posted October 5, 2021 (edited) Tonight I set about applying the strengthening plates to both sides of the fuselage. But what to make it with? I could have used Tamiya tape, but I was doubtful it would give a smooth enough finish once painted. I also didn’t want to change it (or any other tape) lifting later on in the model’s life. So I decided on a thicker aluminium foil. I cut a square of the roll in the kitchen and taped it to my cutting mat. Using a drawing from @canberra kid’s website, I saved the image and resized it to match the height of the model fuselage. This gave me an approximate size of the plate. Once printed, I cut both one half out with a knife and sellotaped it to the other half on the separate drawing making a straight edge along the top. this was then sellotaped to the foil and again cut out with a knife. I then applied some Clearfix to the back of the ‘plate’ and applied it setting the tip of the ‘v’ against the rear of the wing root and the other end was set half way over the scribed panel line which runs along the side of the fuselage. A cotton bud was used to press the foil flat to the fuselage. This was then followed by a body of a cotton bud to burnish the foil and flatten the edges to smooth out the cut edges. The same method was used to apply the other side although I simply stuck the foil on the reverse side, and the two plates under the rear stabilisers. I’ll let them dry before I trim the excess from the ‘v’ sections over the wing roots. Edited October 5, 2021 by Brigbeale 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted October 5, 2021 Author Share Posted October 5, 2021 Oh and I glued the upper and lower wing halves together. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 I love the printed bomb bay and wheel wells. You are transforming that old kit, piece by piece. Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigbadbadge Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 The foil sections look great, great job. You'll be doing complete bare metal aircraft models soon!!! Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brigbeale Posted October 5, 2021 Author Share Posted October 5, 2021 34 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said: The foil sections look great, great job. You'll be doing complete bare metal aircraft models soon!!! Chris I had thought of trying it out on a P-47 Thunderbolt I bought ages ago for restoration🤔 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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