1/18 Curtiss P40C

[Russmeister 101]

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[airscale]

evening folks

 

On 9/14/2022 at 10:55 AM, Dana Bell said:

Hi Peter,

 

Continued brilliance - every visit to this build is more fascinating!

 

I may not be seeing this correctly, but have a close look at the leading edge extension on your wing fairing.  The original P-40 had a short fairing which was later extended to help control airflow and reduce groundloops.  All Bs and Cs had the extended fairing.  You may have something in between, or I may just be looking at this from an odd angle.

 

Cheers,

 

 

Dana

 

 

Hi Dana, thank you so much for dropping in and your continued contribution to our understanding of aircraft & their history. I would love to know more - do you mean the leading edge root fairing? I have no drawings and am struggling a bit to interpret photo's - plan views would be especially helpful as I think I know what you mean - i have had another go at it.. but likely still needs work..

 

it was time to sort out the under wing area - quite a lot to do here..

 

the wing join needed filling, the flap housing in the fuselage needed doing, the lower keel parts needed making etc etc

 

.. I started by filling and fairing the wing join - I also added some false flaps so I could fill and sand over them and leave a perfect outline for the recess..

 

..here mased up for a shot of primer so I can see whats what..

 

..you can also see the big hole at the front - thats where I ripped off the fairing I had made before as it was wrong..

 

 

..the false flaps doing their job well - these were just bits of litho exactly the shape of the recessed flaps bordered in tamiya tape....

 

 

..once it was primed I added the ribs right at the end where the flap meets the fuselage..

 

 

moving forward, there are no drawings I can find of the forward fairing - I just have to go off photo's and in fact this whole area has been really hard to interpret in terms of the fairings & LE wing root fairings..

 

..you can see behind the cowl flaps is a ducted fairing from the back of the radiators (the dull ali fairing on the right..)- this I made ages ago and now I find it's not quite deep enough, or long enough

 

 

..I remade the fairing to meet that ducted fairing and used the cowl flaps to understand and set out the geometry of the fuselage edge...

 

 

..I did my best to interpret it and compensate for the earlier error - you can see the fairing below the cowl flaps - this should be as long as the cowl flaps are...

 

 

..these pictures belie the amout of making, re-making, measuring, re-measuring etc that has gone on in this area and I am still not entirely happy..

 

 

..I reshaped the cowl flap borders, the leading edge fairing area and still think there is more to do..

 

 

..I also need to cut the slots in the forward fairing for the big ammo ejection chutes and do a lot more finessing here..

 

 

 

..once I get all the keel parts made, the shapes & fairings right I can start skinning it all, though there is a lot going on under here so it will take a while..

 

TTFN
Peter

[Pastor Rich]

I swear I can hear the purr of the Allison running!  You've certainly got the technique down Peter!!

[airscale]

evening folks

 

in order for me to work on all the fairings under the fuselage, I need to skin the lower wings like the real one and the fairings sit over these. To finish skinning the wings I needed to make up the canvas wheelbay liners - for these I used very thin lead foil which was shaped over a small pot..

 

..there is a small, box like bit of the cover that was made seperately and blended in with foil tape..

 

I took a pic with the label in case anyone wants to get some, it's great for this sort of thing..

 

 

 

..these were primed with mr surfacer, but the adhesion is very weak..

 

 

..I painted the canvas colour out of the model because I thought it would be eaiser to get in all the nooks & crannies, but a lot of paint flaked off when it came to getting them into the wheel bays so I had to mask up and paint them again..

 

 

..after painting the many press lock tabs were added into the well and the wing skin panel added. This panel has double layers in places so no need to rivet it. Also this panel has a lip all the way around the aperture which was added before sticking it down..

 

..they need blowing out as in the pics they still have lots of dust & wire wool bits from panel clean up..

 

 

 

 

..then the doubler panels were added..

 

 

 

 

 

 

..I am not especially happy about the painting - I see these figure modellers who make canvas and clothes look so realistic, but I just don't know how to do that

 

anyways, it's done and it means I can carry on skinning...

 

TTFN

 

Peter

[rOEN911]

Awesome work as Always Peter, advice for next time in order to paint anything metal like the lead even your photo etched  parts use either VMS metal prep or the Tamiya metal primer dont use standar primer you wasting your time ,i do believe AK makes one also !About the leather as it is if you use some white on the existing brown to make it lighter and dry brushing the highlights it will look just fine !

Edited October 16, 2022 by rOEN911

[John_W]

In this scale, I am surprised you didn't use real canvas 😆

[Pastor Rich]

I wonder if you could create a paper mache over your mould and get the same cloth/fabric effect as the lead but with a textured surface that would hold paint readily?  No matter, it looks awesome to me!  Brilliant work as always!!

Edited October 18, 2022 by Pastor Rich

[Thom216]

Joining the chorus by saying 'outstanding!' In some of these pics, I could almost see it as a 1/1.

[Pete in Lincs]

And I'll second @Thom216 and also the dry brushing idea from @rOEN911. Good tip from @Pastor Rich with the papier mache.

Did I mention awesome?

[airscale]

Hi everyone

 

On 10/16/2022 at 10:25 PM, rOEN911 said:

Awesome work as Always Peter, advice for next time in order to paint anything metal like the lead even your photo etched  parts use either VMS metal prep or the Tamiya metal primer dont use standar primer you wasting your time ,i do believe AK makes one also !About the leather as it is if you use some white on the existing brown to make it lighter and dry brushing the highlights it will look just fine !

 

Hi Antonis what a pleasure to hear from you, how are you my friend? Good advice indeed - I do try primers, I have Mr Hobby and car etch primers and I find they are all pretty much the same - useless.. I will have to try VMS - I do have a good one from precision paints but its a faff to decant it and thin it, plus it needs about a week to cure / etch properly (and even that isn't bulletproof...)

 

Anyways, not much of an update today, more just proof of life really

 

..still trying to get all the panels around the wing fillets done so I can start them, so I added the fuselage sides and upper wing skins.. no in progress pics, just a few to see where I am up to..

 

..the port fuselage side has a hand hold and a hatch - this fuel filler hatch is only applicable for the very early versions before the B/C which my subject is. It also does not have the formation light each side that later ones have either..

 

 

 

 

..the other side was also done..

 

 

 

..and as can be seen in some of the pics above, the upper wing skins were also added..

 

 

 

 

 

...and that means about 70% is skinned now..

 

..still some very complex areas to go around the U/C fairings, wing fillets and windshield...

 

 

 

 

See you at Telford hopefully - our airscale stand is in Hall 2 so please drop by and say hello

 

TTFN
Peter

[Pete in Lincs]

1 hour ago, airscale said:

and that means about 70% is skinned now..

And that means 70% of loveliness. Bang on!

[Pastor Rich]

Dittos to Pete!  Bang on!!

[Thom216]

The shine is going on! Let me get some shades on...😎

[Pastor Rich]

Peter,

 

Did you make it to Telford this year?  I've been skimming videos looking for your work and may have seen the Mustang but nothing in detail.  Would love to hear how it went if you did!  Cannot imagine a show without Airscale.

[Bandsaw Steve]

Watching and trying my best to learn. 🤪

 

Fantastic work!

[Dancona]

Dear Peter,

 

Just found this, simply awe inspiring work, I can't shut my mouth, in addition my jaw has dropped so many times there is a dent in the floor.

There are no words

 

Cheers

 

David

 

[airscale]

Happy New Year all

 

Finally got a bit of time and mojo to get back after a hectic few months...

 

Been busy making the new Airfix Spitfire set and also adding some RB Productions tools to our website in addition to Telford, birthdays, Christmas, work and a bunch of other distractions...

 

anyways, enough nonsense, what has actually been going on..

 

For starters my Santa son-in-law surprised me with this 3D printer for Christmas..

 

 

so that opens up a load of opportunities - it's the PLA one so good for structural stuff rather than details but is a fine bit of kit and simple enough even I can work it out...

 

..I wanted to try it on a part for the P40 so went for the spinner as this is a relatively simple thing to design & print..

 

..saying that, the first try failed as the pla spool got stuck for some reason so after an hour I was stuck with no tip and a squiggly mess..

 

 

..changed out the pla for a spool designed for this machine and after a bit of sanding had a good, solid, smooth structure to work with. The real spinner has the tip as one big spun cone which goes back nearly to the blade outlets and after much trying this was impossible to do with litho, so I went with just doing the tip to start with where the most demands are made on the metal..

 

..started by rough shaping a disc..

 

 

 

..then stuck this and started to beat / sand it into shape.. in doing so, a bit fell off so that determined how big the tip cone would be...

 

 

..I cut away the waste and used masking tape to get a template for the remainder of the upper cone..

 

 

..used tape again to get the lower section and the all important shape and position of the blade outlets..

 

 

..put that on a fresh bit of litho..

 

 

..cut it out and added some rivets while it was flat & easy - even under sanding some witness marks are left so always worth doing this if I can as I can always go over them again..

 

 

..and this layer was added and the final scribing & detailing added..

 

 

..i also printed a hub / blade holder so I could test fit it on the airframe..

 

 

 

..the important shark side profile

 

 

 

 

 

...it will all look better when properly fitted and the rest of the skinning is done and in fact this one was just a bit of a test with some things that could be improved so I may redo it if I can be bottomed..

 

TTFN & hope everyone has a great New Year

 

Peter

[basket]

Hi Peter.

Takin a seat to enjoy the building of your next gem.

[airscale]

On 11/30/2022 at 2:56 PM, Pastor Rich said:

Peter,

 

Did you make it to Telford this year?  I've been skimming videos looking for your work and may have seen the Mustang but nothing in detail.  Would love to hear how it went if you did!  Cannot imagine a show without Airscale.

 

 

Hi PR

 

Yes I did, I was very lucky to win best aircraft for the P51 and we were so busy on our stand we did better just on the Saturday than any other full weekend in all the 11 years we have been trading so the show is definately back!

 

Take care

 

Peter

[Bandsaw Steve]

17 minutes ago, airscale said:

 

 

Hi PR

 

Yes I did, I was very lucky to win best aircraft for the P51 

Yes, pure luck I’m sure… no skill or experience required. 🤣

[Pastor Rich]

34 minutes ago, airscale said:

 

 

Hi PR

 

Yes I did, I was very lucky to win best aircraft for the P51 and we were so busy on our stand we did better just on the Saturday than any other full weekend in all the 11 years we have been trading so the show is definately back!

 

Take care

 

Peter

Good to hear!  A well deserved win.  You've come so far and it shows.  Congrats on the new printer.  I know you'll be putting it to good use!  Keep climbing!!

 

Happy New Year

Edited January 1, 2023 by Pastor Rich

[Sabrejet]

More lovely work going on. I have no idea how you manage to work that litho sheet and make it look neat. I assume you've got an army of worker bees going at it full time.

[Pastor Rich]

A random thought...I wonder if one could make a plunge mould for parts like spinners?  We do it with plastics why not metals as well?  I see it done on an industrial scale to make pots and pans!  Perhaps using a press and machined mould?  Hmmm....

[airscale]

evening ladies

 

I am still in skinning mode - all the lower rear fusealge has been done - to do this meant I needed to sort out the tailwheel well..

 

No in progress pics, but essentially the mount was set in the fuselage on day one of the build and then bulkheads and inner skins added. I used very thin lead sheet for the canvas boot in the same way as the main gear wells...

 

 

 

 

..also made up the doors but will fit these much later..

 

 

 

..then it was up the other end to finish the nose - all of this is so I can get the wing fillets done as I need them on top of all the panelwork that surrounds them..

 

..this is less a sequence of work, but some random pics taken throughout the process, so sorry it's not very co-ordinated..

 

..first a tape template and markers for the double row rivet lines where the internal formers are.. these must be positioned to match the upper cowl ones..

 

..I use the same thin blue tape to set out the lower boundaries of the panel under the tape template so I can just get the border marks on the template when its down..

 

 

..these are then transferred to litho..

 

..another important step here - I also scan this sheet so I can import it into coreldraw and draw out all the rivet patterns as they are on 'my' panel, rather than as they appear on plans or drawings..

 

 

..here the rivets from that scan originated drawing have been made with an awl on the sheet - so much so it has started to curl, but that is sorted out by burnishing when its finished...

 

 

..the same process for this tricky nose panel - it's asking a bit much of the tape to do compound curves like this and the panel itself will need a bit of fettling to fit...

 

 

..same process, different panel.. a tape hinge keeps its position so I can add the contact cement to both surfaces..

 

 

..and again - this one is being beaten into shape with a small ball pein hammer..  once it's fixed all the wrinkles are beaten / sanded out and the rivets re-instated..

 

 

..and then after cleanup, sanding, wire wooling and polishing..

 

 

 

 

 

..the cowl panels stop just short of the cowl flaps as there is a dark (green?) strip then the flaps on the real one..

 

 

..and with the spinner on it starts to look the part..

 

 

 

 

 

 

..still loads to do, but glad the nose is complete now - though the chin intake fairing casting needs cleaning up and painting again..

 

TTFN

Peter

[Pete in Lincs]

39 minutes ago, airscale said:

and with the spinner on it starts to look the part..

Does it ever! Smarter than a very smart thing. The word superb springs to mind.