Lone Modeller's Tray

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ShaunW
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by ShaunW »

Wonderful work, LM, I am the world's worst woodworker and to me it is a dark art!!
Doing - Tamiya 1/35th Universal Carrier.

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skypirate
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by skypirate »

Superb shaping!

David
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by Lone Modeller »

Evening All,

Thank you SirT, Shaun and David for your kind remarks which are much appreciated. I hope that perhaps some readers of these posts may be encouraged to modify their kits in future as the methods which I am using here do not require huge amounts of skill: just the nerve to give something a try.

I have decided that as showing a photo of the hull coated with talcum powder and dope filler would not cause much excitement I will move on to the wings. These are to be made from halves of 3 x 60 thou card sheet which has been laminated. These need to be scraped and shaped so:

Scraping and Shaping 4: Wings. I used the flat file again to remove the bulk of the unwanted plastic - rather more on the trailing edge than the leading edge. I have managed to get a fairly sharp trailing edge as per the original aircraft.

Image

I added a strip of 30 thou card to the undersides of the leading edges and shaped this and the underside of the wing to give an aerofioil section to the wings. The wing halves were then polished with glass paper and the joints between the laminates filled with Mr Surfacer. This in turn was rubbed down and polished:

Image

To join the halves I drilled three holes in each half so that I could insert steel pins to reinforce the butt joint. The pins were cut from a paper clip: the wire is rigid enough to make sure that the joint is very strong and will not move when I need to fill it and sand it smooth later.

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I used CA to hold the pins in place and ordinary cement on the plastic surfaces, having first checked that the halves would line up properly when joined! After it had dried out overnight I liberally coated the joint with Mr Surfacer and vigorously sanded it smooth. I cut out the aeileron gaps and sanded these at the same time so that now the wing structure is complete and awaits the addition of the ribs.

Image

I will add these when the stub wings and elevator surfaces have been made and are ready too.

Thanks for looking.
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Clashcityrocker
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Neat and tidy work.

Nigel
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iggie
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by iggie »

This is an education to read your progress; although currently I struggle to find enough time for assembling kits comprising ready made parts, I hope that one day I'll be able to find the time to do some at least limited scratch building. I'm certain the processes you use and demonstrate so clearly will come in handy!
Best wishes

Jim
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"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by Lone Modeller »

Thanks Nigel and Iggie for your comments which I much appreciate.

Iggie: I am sure that you and many others could use some or all of the techniques which I am describing in my posts. I admit that carving wood for example is not something that everyone would find easy, (I do not for one), but with a little practice and patience it may surprise some what they can do if they are prepared to take up the challenge, overcome their hesitation and fear, and proceed by slow methodical steps. I did not start scratch building without modelling experience - in my case I started with an Airmodel conversion kit for the Me 262B two-seat night fighter (see SirT's thread), and then made other conversions using other Airmodel kits. I also made small alterations of my own using filler, rod, stretched sprue, etc. Anyone who adds their own detail is on the road to scratch building. It may surprise some that my first scratch build was the Maurice Farman MF 7 Longhorn, but I had already converted several biplanes into pushers and the Farman has relatively simple components: the only completely new challenge was how to make wheels. Biplanes are easy to scratch build because the number of complex curves is generally limited, whereas a modern jet presents a very different challenge, and a ship, tank or other vehicle other challenges again which I would find difficult in the first instance. However there are plenty of build logs to give suggestions and ideas for someone who wants to start with a simple model, and they can use parts from kits, resin, (I have used and will use resin engines if they are available), PE, and other sources as their imagination and ingenuity suggest. The one thing that scratch builders do have to provide is their own set of instructions: a little thought and a few mistakes soon provide the experience needed to be able to overcome this low hurdle.

I and others have written often and on many different sites: give it a go! Scratch building and conversions open so many opportunities to make something different if not unique and can give endless satisfaction.
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by Lone Modeller »

Evening All,

Readers on another site have asked me to describe in detail the talcum powder and dope method of filling wood grain which I mentioned in an earlier post, and
that I and other modellers of a certain generation use/have used to fill and seal wood grain. I discovered it in the pages of Airfix Magazine where it was used by the late Alan Hall: I am not sure whether he invented the idea or he picked it up from somebody else, but it was originally suggested for balsa wood. However it works well on basswood too and I have used it on other woods when I have made parts from them. The advantage that it has with balsa is that it provides a hard shiny surface which can be easily painted and takes some knocks without denting easily as balsa can do. It does not crack either, so the paint retains its cover as on plastic surfaces. I am aware that there are other methods to fill wood grain, but this is the one which I prefer.

The method is simple but of the bucket chemistry approach. The ingredients are talcum powder which can be found in any pharmacy or large supermarket, and clear cellulose dope used to stretch tissue paper on flying models:

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I put a quantity of dope, (the amount depends on the surface area to be coated), into my mixing container and the puff some talcum powder into it and mix with an old medium sized paintbrush. If the wood is balsa and has a fairly open grain I mix enough talcum powder to make a thick paste - rather like thick glue. This is plastered over the wood and if the wood is joined to plastic overlap the plastic slightly too. The surface will be lumpy: so when it is dry sand it down with medium and then fine glass paper until it is almost smooth.

Now mix a second coat of powder and dope but this time make the mixture thin - like a runny glue. Paint this on to the wood making sure that all of the remaining gaps and hollows are filled. When dry repeat the sanding operation until the surface is smooth.

In the case of the hull for this model I only used the thin powder and dope mixture followed by the dope because the grain is so tight that two coats were sufficient to seal the grain.

Finally coat the surface a third time with clear dope only, and when this is dry polish with some of the fine glass paper used previously. This should give you a hard shiny surface which will be indistinguishable from plastic. To clean the brush after each coat I use propriatory cellulose thinners but remember that these are inflammable and should be used in a well ventilated room. They used to reek of pear drops in the past but modern thinners no longer smell so much.

Just to illustrate what the finished and painted product looks like, (the hull of the current model does not look any different through a camera lens after it had been coated), here is an image of the engine of a Manchester which is made from three pieces of balsa, (main nacelle, upper and lower air intakes) which I converted from the Airfix Lancaster in the mid-1970's in an earlier incarnation as a modeller. The wing outboard of the engine is also made from balsa wood and all have powder/dope grain filler:

Image

I hope that this satisfies your curiosity. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask and I will try to help.

Thanks for looking.
ShaunW
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by ShaunW »

Now this is what I call an informative thread, LM. I've heard of the talcum powder and dope technique for use with wood but have never really had it explained to me. My much younger self in the mid-1970's would not have been capable of anything so adventurous as that Manchester conversion, I wasn't even attempting to add additional detail back then but was concentrating on trying to avoid stuff like fogged up canopies!

A tin of Imperial Leather talc costing 19 pence? is that a 70's original? :grin:
Doing - Tamiya 1/35th Universal Carrier.

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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by Lone Modeller »

Yes Shaun, that dates from the 1970's! The reason that I still have it is that I stopped making models for 30 years in around 1982 so it simply sat in the bottom of a cupboard in the hope that "it might come in useful one day!" I am pleased that you found the description helpful: I have posted a description elsewhere but of course not everyone knows that it is there and even in my local club most people do not know of the method. I assure you that it is simple and easy to use and in my opinion is the most effective grain filler that I have seen described or tried.

I am a little older than you but I too remember the days when avoiding fogged canopies was near the limit of my skills. Sometimes I wonder if I have progressed very far in the intervening years......... but others assure me that I have! The Manchester was based on an article in Airfix Magazine by A Hall and was attempted after I had made several others: by then I had learned how to mould canopies and carve balsa into simple shapes. It was by no means the easiest conversion that I have attempted and now of course there are very good resin kits to save all the bother of carving and grain filling, but at the time it was either DIY or go without!
Lone Modeller
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by Lone Modeller »

Evening All,

I seem to have missed out posting one piece of this thread so here it belatedly is, followed by the most recent progress.

I have been working on the ailerons. I had cut out the sections from the wings where the ailerons will go, but I need to make new ones as the later versions had balance ears and the outboard trailing edge curved upwards in a similar way to those on the Ago C II. That meant that I had to cut new pieces from 60 thou card with a laminate of 60 thou card:

Image

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These look rough at the moment but that is normal for my scratch builds. Once again I decided to use my new tool to make life quicker and easier as there was a lot of plastic to remove:

Image

By judicious use of the file I was able to remove the underside and introduce the curve on the outer part of the trailing edge. I also thinned the trailing edge and rounded the ear and leading edge. The junction of the two pieces of plastic also needed treatment with Mr Surfacer and the whole units were given a polish with fine worn glass paper. Now they are ready for the ribs to be added which is what the pencil lines are for.

Image

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Thanks for looking.
Lone Modeller
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by Lone Modeller »

Evening All,

I have been working on the part of scratch building WW1 aeroplanes that I enjoy the least - the wing and other flying surface ribs. They are not difficult to put on but shaping and scraping them can get a bit tedious, especially if there are lots of surfaces or if they cover a large area. In this case both apply!

The method is simple enough: transfer from the plans the positions of the ribs on to the flying surface with a pencil line. I use Evergreen strip and select a suitable size for respective surfaces. In this case I used 10 x 30 thou for the wing and 10 x 20 thou for the stub wings, and tail surfaces. If the wing ribs sound large just remember the size of the original aircraft - there were lightweight girders in there! The main ribs were added first by applying liquid cement to the wing surface and laying the strip on to it. Liquid cement was then run along the strip to ensure that it was properly held down - these are long strips and the cement dries quickly:

Image

I added the small leading edge ribs in the same way:

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In the case of these short ribs I had drawn a line span wise along the wing to make sure that they are all of the correct length, in addition to the chord wise lines for each rib. After what seemed like a long half of an evening I had this:

Image

On to the other flying surfaces and the same procedure was followed. Everything was left to dry overnight. Then I could do what I like doing best with this task which is to trim off the leading and trailing edge pieces of strip. Before I sanded the ribs I added some filler to the edges to help smooth them into the general flying surface. After sanding they are ready for priming:

Image

Any irregularities which show after priming will be filled with Mr Surfacer and sanded and primed again. These are the ailerons, elevators and horizontal stabilizer for the tail. From the top the ailerons and upper elevator are complete and primed, the lower elevator has still to be filled and sanded and the horizontal stabilizer awaits trimming:

Image

Still a lot to do on these surfaces before they are ready, so I will plod on....

Thanks for looking.
celt
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by celt »

LM you are a true artisan,its been a pleasure reading your post.
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Clashcityrocker
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Lovely wings LM. It's progressing nicely.

Nigel
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iggie
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by iggie »

Very nice work indeed!
Best wishes

Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
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Stuart
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Re: Lone Modeller's Tray

Post by Stuart »

Impressive work as always!
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