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Rareplane 1/72 AJ-2 Savage


e8n2

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More photos and another update.  I know I said it before that I was real close to painting the cockpit, but this time I know I'm very close to it.  This week I was able to get the B/N panel in place and more importantly I managed to get the upper nose gear wheel well with its sloping left wall installed.  I just need to do a little bit of filing the bottom of the sloping wall.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 28

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 29

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 30

 

The next step will be installing the leaning ladder and the throttle levers in the center console.  After that I'll spray interior green.  After that drys, paint the items that need to be black.  After that I can finally install the cockpit in the one fuselage side.  The jet exhaust has been installed.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 31

 

In the next shot you can see the flame holder at the bottom of the exhaust.  Temp fitting the two fuselage halves together shows a nice fit for the exhaust on both sides.  It might not be perfect but I'm building this thing for me and not a contest.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 32

 

I noticed after I posted this photo to Flikr that is is backwarkds.  As with the previous photo, the exhaust is in the left fuselage side.  Before I can glue the fuselage halves together I need to figure out where the horizontal tail surfaces meet the fin.  I have some strut stock from long ago that seems to be about 12 - 18 scale inches wide that I plan on using as spars for the horizontal surfaces.

The build has been going slower than I thought it would but I put that down to the kits cockpit being totally wrong and trying to get it looking as close to accurate as I could.  I have also tried some things on this model that I have never done before like using resin remnants for center and side consoles and making throttle levers for the center console.  Once the fuselage is together things should pick up speed.
Later,
Dave

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Another photo and update.  This past weekend's Sanding Saturday saw me finish sanding out the armpit underwing panels, the other two horizontal tail surfaces, and the two outer underwing panels.  I was also able to get the outside of one of the tip tanks sanded out.  I plan on starting to sand out the upper wing this week.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 33

 

I also made some good progress on the cockpit assembly.  The sloping portion of the nose gear well is now in place as is the leaning ladder.  The bottom step of the ladder is in place but will need trimming, followed by getting the second step in.  I also came up with the control wheel.  It was a spare from the Hasegawa Ki-46 Dinah kit suitably modified to look like the control wheel and yoke for the Savage.  I also took a WAG (Wild A__ Guess and came up with a radar scope and small desk for the B/N position.  Since I am building it for me and nobody else, it will suffice.  I also put in the pilot's side console.  I have been checking the fit constantly and will have to do it several more times before gluing in the console.  I hope to be able to spray the interior green for the cockpit no later than Wednesday.  The seats will go in later before installing the canopy.
Later,
Dave

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One more update!  It is (except for one item) DONE!  The cockpit assembly that is.  Got the last bits of the leaning ladder in this afternoon.  Monday I will put in the throttle levers and finally paint the cockpit area on Tuesday. 

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 34

 

I plan on doing detail painting in the cockpit on Wednesday and hopefully I'll have the spars for the horizontal tail figured out and installed shortly after that.

Later,

Dave

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Another update and a couple more pictures.  The cockpit assembly is now painted and I did the detail painting this afternoon.  I don't know why but the paint started getting all goopy on me as I was doing the detail painting.  Maybe the outdoor temperature getting over 100°F had something to do with it.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 35

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 36

 

Tomorrow I plan on installing the cockpit assembly in the right fuselage half and also install the control wheel and column.  The kit cockpit seats are nothing like the real thing so I will check to see if there are any aftermarker seats for the A-3 as it's seats are more like what the AJ-2 had.  I decided to go with P2V props after all and have some on order from High Planes Models.  Now I need to work out where exactly the horizontal tail attaches to the fin so I can figure out where to put the spar stubs for the horizontal tail.
Later,
Dave

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Another update and more photos.  The first shot is of the cockpit assembly inside the right side fuselage.  I have already checked Scalemates and they don't show any aftermarket A-3 seats so I will have to try to come up with something myself or leave the seats as is.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 37

 

I had started on getting the stub spars in last Friday and was able to finish that up today.  I noticed that I had some plastic rod 3/32" in diameter and went with that for the rear spar.  I had both fuselage halves in place to make sure that I got the spars in the proper place and with no dihedrel.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 38

 

After looking at it for a little bit, and since there is still plenty of space to put in the crew seats when ready, I decided to go ahead and glue the fuselage halves together.  In the top center spot I used an adjustable DeWalt small clamp.  I normally would only use those when I am doing a wood working project, but they are so helpful I have also been using them on modeling projects as well.  I would highly recommend these to anyone who thinks they could be of use.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 39

 

I am going to have to do some filling on the fuselage and then again when I attach the horizontal tail.  For some reason either the top or bottom looks good on one side and terrible on the other side.  The trailing edges on the rudder and elevators were not as sharp as I would have liked, but test fitting the wing pieces together shows the trailing edges are very sharp.

Later,
Dave

 

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Time for another update and more photos.  It turns out I messed up a bit.  I should have put a couple of strips of plastic on the belly of the fuselage to try to prevent misaligned edges.  The photo of the fuselage on the Mach 2 C-131 that I'm also working on shows what I mean.  You can  see how I have two strips of plastic on both the top and bottom of the fuselage.  When I test fit them I haven't noticed any problems with one edge being higher or lower than the other.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 40

 

I was about to glue the two bomber nose halves onto the fuselage when I remembered that I needed to add some nose weight so it won't sit on it's tail.  This is the first of the two weights I put in.  In case you are wondering, it is a .440 calibre lead ball for use in a black powder gun.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 41

 

I had originally put the second lead ball in the right hand nose piece but it was too far back and the cockpit assembly kept it from fitting in properly.  I got the ball out and glued in the one nose half.  I glued the ball into the second nose half.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 42

 

After some minor adjustments I got the second nose half with the lead ball weight glued onto the fuselage.  There was a small gap at the front of the nose but the masking tape is enought to keep the two halves together until the glue sets and dries.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 43

 

I also sanded the body putty on the belly.  Also, no more Sanding Saturdays!  I got the last four pieces sanded out that I needed.  The only ones left are the canopy and the clear pieces for the nav lights on the tip tanks.  The canopy will go on just before painting the fuselage, and the nav light lenses will get put on after decaling.  Next week I want to get the horizontal tail surfaces on and hopefully get the wing top installed on the fuselage.
Later,
Dave

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Time for some more photos and another update.  It took a little bit but I managed to get the filling on the fuselage completed.  There might be a few areas that still need some more body putty, but I can always get to those a little later.  I also got the tip tanks assembled and the filling and sanding on those completed.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 44

 

I generally start out with 240 grit wet or dry sandpaper, then go to 400 grit, then finish up with a tri-grit sanding stick that you can get from most beauty supply stores.  It goes from 600, to 12000, and then to 20000 grit.  If necessary after than I'll use some Brasso brass polish.  That generally takes care of any remaining scratches.  This afternoon I glued the horizontal tail surfaces on.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 45

 

I set the fuselage between two cans of thinner to set up the fuselage at 90° to the workbench surface.  I then set up two bottles of True North paint bottles with ModelMaster type paint bottle caps to get the tips of the tail surfaces at the correct angle.  I'll leave this to set up and dry for the rest of the weekend.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 46

 

I also started working on the engine nacelle halves.  I opened up the front of the nacelle for when I install the engines.  It looks like the engines will fit just fine when both halves enclose the engine.  I will also have to separate the gear case cover from the engine ring cowls so that I can later attach the cover to the engine.  This will allow the engine cylinders to be seen from the front of the nacelle.  This coming Tuesday is the club meeting and I will be stopping at this one larger hobby shop to try to get some metal tubing to replace the exhaust stacks on the left side of both nacelles for the Savage and also for the C-131 that I am also working on.  I am going to see if I can make a bulkhead for the front of the nacelle that has the lower part act as ducting for the intake at the bottom of the nacelle.

Later,
Dave

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Another update and more photos.  I filled and sanded the joint between the horizontal tail and fin.  I know I took a picture of it but where the picture is now I have no idea.  I was able to get the supplies I needed before the club meeting this past Tuesday.  I noticed that the exhaut pipes on the left side of both nacelles are different between the front and rear.  I cut off two sections of 3/32" aluminum tubing cut at a 45° angle and used a rat tail file to thin the walls of the tubing.  I also made bulkheads for the front and back of each nacelle.  I also made a cross piece to horizontally connect the two bulkheads.  I made each cross piece a little longer than the distance between the two bulkheads for each nacelle.  I drilled a hole in each cross piece to mount the main landing gear leg to.  I also took some time to open up the front exhaust stack opening and adjusted as necessary so that the aluminum tubing will fit in.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 47

 

I will end up using the same size tubing for the rear exhaust stacks, but I need to do it at a smaller angle than 45°.  I will also need to flatten the rear edge of the rear exhaust stacks as can be seen in the Ginter book on the Savage.  I have the nacelle and cross pieces numbered for the engine they are for, #1 on the left wing and #3 on the right wing (#2 is the center jet engine, but most of you probably already knew that!).  I checked and cut and sanded the ends of the bulkhead cross piece on the #3 engine to get it to fit correctly and adjust where it should be so that the proper amount of the gear leg is seen coming out of the bottom of the nacelle.  I added a piece of .020" strip plastic at the right spot on each bulkhead and removed the cross piece so it is not glued into position just yet.  After I get the #1 engine set up the same way, I will super glue the aluminum tube into place before finally glueing in the cross piece.  The cross pieces are narrow enough so that they shouldn't interfere with the aluminum tubes.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 48 Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 49

Tomorrow I plan on getting the #1 engine nacelle cross piece set up and work on getting the exhaust stacks in place.  Next week I want to get the engines painted and installed.  Hopefully I will be able to get the nacelle halves put together, but time will tell.
Later,
Dave

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Just a quick note with a photo showing the Savage exhaust stacks:

 

https://imgproc.airliners.net/photos/airliners/7/5/4/1029457.jpg?v=v40

 

Also a slight correction about the tri-grit sanding sticks.  The grits are 600/4000/1200.  Still work very nice especially on plastic surfaces.  Mach 2 kits can be rather ruff on the surface, but the tri-grit sanding sticks help a lot to smooth out the surfaces.

Later,

Dave

 

Note:  The link doesn't work because Airliners.net doesn't like linking to pictures in their site.  GGGGGrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by e8n2
Airliners.net being jerks
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18 hours ago, heloman1 said:

Excellent progress...

 

Colin

Thanks, it just seemed to take a very long time to get to the point where I could close up the fuselage.  Did a lot of things on that cockpit and still have some work to do on the seats.

Later,

Dave

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Time for another update and some more photos.  The engine nacelles are almost ready for painting.  I have been able to get the exhaust pipes installed.  The rear pipes have the top part cut away on the real thing so I filed the tube down to about the halfway point.  I was then able to get the MLG struts installed.  Using 0.010" sheet plastic I have fabricated an intake trunk at the bottom of the nacelle.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 50

 

I actually started gluing in the trunk a different way on each nacelle.  If I ever need to do something like this again, I will probably first attach it at the intake opening and after that has dried, glue it in at a bulkhead.  Next week I plan on painting the inside of the cowlings and the cowl rings.  After the paint has dried then I will work on getting the engines glued in and then assemble the nacelle halves and the cowl ring after that.  I also separated the center portion of the cowl rings and will eventually attach that to the front of the engine gear housing.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 51

 

While letting the glue dry on the intake trunk, I attached the top of the wing to the fuselage.  I tried using masking tape to get a tight fit between the wing and fuselage, but the tape didn't want to hold very good.  Once again some small woodworking clamps came to the rescue.  The clamps are both over the main fuselage bulkheads so the fuselage won't be squished because of the pressure from the clamps.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 52

 

My plan for this part of the model is to first attach the two armpit lower wing panels before attaching the nacelles themselves.  Our club is having a contest this Saturday, the 25th, and I will be helping with set up the day before and judging on Saturday so not much more will be done on the Savage the rest of this week.
Later,
Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...

More photos and another update.  I sprayed the interior of the cowlings using my last bottle of Model Master Interior Green.  It was a little goopy, but got the job done.  I consulted with Tommy Thomason about the color for the carb/oil cooler/whatever else intake at the bottom of the nacelle right behind the cowl flaps.  He didn't have any color photos of that area and raised some questions in my mind about using interior green for the cowls.  So I decided to go with an alternative he mentioned, chromate yellow. The paint seemed pretty thin to being with, but I added two drops. It was runny and ended up drying gloss and a bit dark.  This morning I stripped the paint the best I could and sprayed them with a rattle can of 36622.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 53

 

Monday afternoon I will try it again with the chromate yellow and it should turn out better.  I also decided to install the outer underwing panels.  Looking at this part of the wind you can really see the Mustang heritage in this aircraft.  I was able to get a thin trailing edge as mentioned in a previous post.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 54

 

I have also filled and done the rough sanding on the wing to fuselage joint.  Monday I will start over it again with increasingly finer grits of sandpaper to get a smooth surface.  I also have just a little sanding to do on the underwing armpit areas.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 55

 

I hope to be able to get the nacelles put together by this time next week.  Time will tell.  Wednesday workers will be here doing some work on the house and I don't know how much time I'll havea to devote to model building.
Later,
Dave

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34 minutes ago, e8n2 said:

I sprayed the interior of the cowlings using my last bottle of Model Master Interior Green.  It was a little goopy, but got the job done.  I consulted with Tommy Thomason about the color for the carb/oil cooler/whatever else intake at the bottom of the nacelle right behind the cowl flaps.  He didn't have any color photos of that area and raised some questions in my mind about using interior green for the cowls.  So I decided to go with an alternative he mentioned, chromate yellow. The paint seemed pretty thin to being with, but I added two drops. It was runny and ended up drying gloss and a bit dark.  This morning I stripped the paint the best I could and sprayed them with a rattle can of 36622.

 

A very pat story, "Dave."  You certainly won't mind our sending an Inspector round to verify the documentation and ensure you've got the gear wells correctly coloured, then?

 

The Ministry of Small Aircraft Production takes these matters quite seriously. 

 

😄

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23 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

 

A very pat story, "Dave."  You certainly won't mind our sending an Inspector round to verify the documentation and ensure you've got the gear wells correctly coloured, then?

 

The Ministry of Small Aircraft Production takes these matters quite seriously. 

 

😄

Certainly!  Send them by.  Of course on Navy aircraft of the time period the side walls were mostly GSB and the top of the well was interior green.  I do have a couple of tins of Humbrol Interior Green so I'm alright now for future projects.  But please send them by!  It gets lonely around here sometimes.  I could use the company!

Later,

Dave

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20 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

 

 

If it all meets spec you'll be issued a certificate of authenticity suitable for framing.  

Wunderbar!

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More photos and another update.  Hopefully the progress made this week will satisfy the Ministry of Small Aircraft Production inspectors.  I hear they can be a real pain in the rear when they want to be! 😉
I re-painted the cowling interiors and the under engine intake area chromate yellow and it turned out much better than before.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 56

 

I then tacked on the cowl rings to th left side nacelle halves using Mirco Mask.  I then set them aside to dry.  Maybe I'm preaching to the choir here, but you will also notice that I have a set of loups, or as I refered to them until told otherwise by an eyeglass technician, monicle magnifying glasses.  These and headlamps have been a must since I've been getting on in years a bit.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 57

 

I got the engine super glued into the #1 engine nacelle with no problem.  It is in there as steady as a rock.  The #3 engine did not want to cooperate as much.  I set it aside for this afternoon and I planed on using a little bit of epoxy to get it in the proper position.  Now I can't find the epoxy!  I did a little scraping with an Xacto knife and tried it again with the super glue.  It's still a little fiddly, but is staying put.  I'll have to do a little adjustment later after the cowl rings are glued into postion.  I checked the #1 engine to see if there were going to be any fit problems when I glued the two halves together.  It looked good so I went ahead and put the glue on it.  Besides the usual masking tape, I also used a stick from a corn dog to force the bottom of the intake inlate down into the glue so it will be in position.  I checked the #3 engine and as mentioned before, I will only need to do some minor adjustments later.  I glued to the two halves together and used another corn dog stick.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 58

 

I will only do a little bit on the Savage tomorrow afternoon.  I had thought about installing the tip tanks now, but I will wait until after I have the nacelles in place and the filling done before I do that.  The cowl rings will also have to be glued on next week as well.
Later,
Dave

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Another week and another update with a couple of more photos.  I had a number of things going on this week so not as much progress as I would have liked.  The engine in the #1 position did not want to stay cemented into place.  The #3 engine did stay in place.  I filled the gaps aft of the firewall on each nacelle.  I got a small applicator for epoxy and put some around the edges of the #1engine.  It seemed to take forever but the epoxy finally started setting.  I had a length of 0.060" rod sticking in the engine gear case and hung it up.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 59

Tomorrow I'll try to glue the cowl ring on and then next week I'll do the rest of the filling on the two nacelles.  I also have some other stuff I need to get done next week so it will be interesting to see how much I can accomplish. 

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 60

The #3 engine was a lot better.  The engine ended up being a little off center, but I think I'll be able to make it look not so noticeable.  The Hi-Plains Models Neptune props don't have a shaft on them so I can directly glue the props to the gear case cover.  I glued the cowl ring on the #1 engine and should be able to get the filler applied tomorrow.

Later,

Dave

Edited by e8n2
Forgot to add second photo!
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It's Friday evening in California so time for another update and a couple of more photos.  Due to some other priorities I wasn't able to get as much done as normal, but did make some progress.  I was able to get the filling and sanding done around the cowl rings on both nacelles.  I also went over the area that I sanded with the tri-grit sanding sticks to get a smooth finish.  I also cleaned off a couple of spots of paint, but noticed that I missed a couple of spots.  

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 61

 

On the right hand side you can see part of what I was doing this past week.  That is the cylinder from a reproduction of a Colt 1862 Navy cap and ball revolver.  Since my last inspection  three months ago the cylinder and barrel got stuck together with some rust.  It's all cleaned up now and functionally it is working properly.  Not sure when it will get fired again.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 62

 

As I mentioned last time, the engine I had to epoxy into position ended up a bit too far forward.  I sanded it back to where I needed it to be before gluing on the cowl ring and filling and sanding in that area.  The gear case cover will go over that area and since there is no shaft for the props going back into the engine, it won't matter.  Before painting I will have to mask off the openings into the nacelle.  Should be able to get a lot more done this coming week.  Hope to have both nacelles attached to the wing by this time next week.
Later,
Dave

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Another update and more pictures!  Last Saturday I was able to get the #1 engine nacelle attached to the wing.  It took a lot of scraping, filing, and sanding, but I finally got it attached.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 63

 

This next picture is the #3 engine nacelle giving you an idea of the amount of gap there was in the front.

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 64

Monday afternoon I put in the #3 engine.  In this shot, the #1 engine nacelle shows just a little gap between the sides of the nacelle and the wing.  However, as you can see for the #3 engine there is a good size gap.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 65

 

From the outboard side of the nacelle you can see that there is a bigger gap towards the rear of the nacelle.  I should have lots of "fun" filling and sanding there.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 66

 

Just as I had to do with the #1 engine, I cut away and sanded flush the forward end of the nacelle opening for the engine.  I really don't remember ever having to do that before, but it could also be that over the decades I've blocked bad memories from the past in working with other vac kits.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 67

 

Both nacelles are now in place.  I had some things to  do this afternoon so no work was done today, but tomorrow I will start puttying up the gaps.  I have medical appts on Thursday so it will be Friday before I can do more on it.  I did a test to see if there is enough weight in the nose.  It wanted to sit on its tail, but if you pushed the nose forward, it would rest on its nose.  If need be I should be able to throw in a little extra weight.  I'll know for sure before I put the canopy on and start painting it.
Later,
Dave

 

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On 7/9/2022 at 1:20 AM, e8n2 said:

I re-painted the cowling interiors and the under engine intake area chromate yellow and it turned out much better than before.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 56

 

I like how the diversely diverse crowd from YuSmile Dental is gazing up in admiration of your fine zinc chromate primer work.

 

One imagines them all thinking "Well done, Dave."

 

 

On 7/23/2022 at 1:11 AM, e8n2 said:

On the right hand side you can see part of what I was doing this past week.  That is the cylinder from a reproduction of a Colt 1862 Navy cap and ball revolver.  Since my last inspection  three months ago the cylinder and barrel got stuck together with some rust.  It's all cleaned up now and functionally it is working properly.  Not sure when it will get fired again.

 

 

Black powder residue can gum them up enough to break the hand (the mechanical bit that rotates the cylinder, not the shooter's hand) after a couple dozen shots.  No more than four cylinders of fun before a thorough cleaning!  Must've been a bitch to maintain those things under wartime or frontier conditions, especially with mercuric caps.

 

 

The Savage is shaping up nicely, thanks for the update.

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23 hours ago, Jackson Duvalier said:

 

I like how the diversely diverse crowd from YuSmile Dental is gazing up in admiration of your fine zinc chromate primer work.

 

Black powder residue can gum them up enough to break the hand (the mechanical bit that rotates the cylinder, not the shooter's hand) after a couple dozen shots.  No more than four cylinders of fun before a thorough cleaning!  Must've been a bitch to maintain those things under wartime or frontier conditions, especially with mercuric caps.

 

The Savage is shaping up nicely, thanks for the update.

From the pictures, Dr. Yu is pretty nice looking to, but I already have a dentist I've been going to ever since I retired from the Air Force.  I do a quarterly inspection on all of my weapons, and if necessary, tear them down and rebuild them.  I've had to do that with the black powder revolver about two or three times.  Still works pretty good.  The last time it was fired I think we, I had some other people with me, put about 18 - 24 shots through it.  I also have an original 1863 Springfield Rifle.  For being nearly 160 years old, it still work pretty good.  It fires a .58 caliber minie ball.  You can just imagine the kind of damage a round like that could do the the human body.

Later,

Dave

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Wanted to get a little bit more done before my normal weekly update.  Both nacelles are up and all of the sanding and filling around them has now been done.  I also checked the balance with the nose gear strut in place (not glued in yet, after painting is done).  As you can see, it's a tail sitter.  But I have a couple tricks up my sleeve!

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 68

 

I tried putting a couple of lead split shot fishing weights in the cockpit area to see what that would do.  It might be a big hard to tell from this photo, but it is on its nose gear.  Yesterday I put some tube glue around the weights and dropped them into the cubby hole underneath the flight deck floor where you would have a hard time seeing them even if  the canopy was crystal clear.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 69

 

I have now installed the two tip tanks!  The left one went in perfectly, the right tank and wing tip needed a little adjustment but is now glued in position.  I will take a closer look next week to see if I need to do any filling around the tanks.  Hopefully not.  I then placed one of the two canopies provided in the kit to see how much room there would be with the seats installed.  The kit seats are not correct, and there are no aftermarket A3D seats which are pretty close.  I cut off the top edge of the seats.  The seats are more for a WW II type aircraft. I then sanded that down a little bit.  I cut three pieces of 0.015" x 0.125" sheet plastic a bit wider that then seats.  I put two lines 3mm apart and then glued the pieces onto the top edge of the seats.  Next week the glue should be good and dry so that I can trim the sheet plastic from the edge to the two vertical lines.

 

Rareplanes AJ-2 Savage WIP 71

 

Hopefully you can get a better idea of what I'm going to do from the picture.  I have labeled the seats as to what position they are going to, Pilot, Bomb/Nav, and Crew Chief.  The crew chief's seat for sure has rods attached to each side of the seat that go down from the top to the seat pan that I will try to replicate.  I have some 0.010" rod that ought to work nicely, even if all three seats have those rods.  I'll check the photos later.  That's all for this week.

Later,

Dave

Edited by e8n2
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