"Empire of the Clouds" -- ** Finished **

[JohnRatzenberger]

I have pulled this one out for the GB.



I have a dozen or so Anigrand and Miniwing kits; doubtful I'll get into them because of other commitments, but who knows.

[JamesPerrin]

Fantastic resin! I hope you go for the BOAC markings

[JohnRatzenberger]

Yes, BOAC it is !!!

All the resin looks good except a slight and simple warp on one wing that will be easy to fix.

I'll also have to figure out a stand for it.

[MerlinJones]

That looks well ace! Working Features, too!

Regards,
Bruce

[splash]

Being a mind of useless information, did you know that Barns Wallace experimented with swing wing models down at Predannick airfield, on the Lizard down in Cornwall?

The Royal Navy use Predannick as a satellite airfield for Cauldrose, if you look at google earth you will find a lot of Harriers parked on the airfield ready for the fire pits. also on the airfield there is or was back in the early 90's the old rail track that Barns used as a rocket sled run to practice high speed variable wing model test on.

Barns was a true visionary.

Regards
Splash

[Motley]

Being a mind of useless information, did you know that Barns Wallace experimented with swing wing models down at Predannick airfield, on the Lizard down in Cornwall?

The Royal Navy use Predannick as a satellite airfield for Cauldrose, if you look at google earth you will find a lot of Harriers parked on the airfield ready for the fire pits. also on the airfield there is or was back in the early 90's the old rail track that Barns used as a rocket sled run to practice high speed variable wing model test on.

Barns was a true visionary.

Regards
Splash

Splash you mean these Harriers plus their friends??

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/sho ... predannack;

[splash]

Splash you mean these Harriers plus their friends??

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/sho ... predannack;

That's the ones

[JohnRatzenberger]

On a second look, both wings have a minor warp, in opposite directions -- but they do mate perfectly if placed underside to underside.

[JohnRatzenberger]

OK, just to get started, I'm taking out the "wing warp" today.



I'm following my usual resin-straightening procedure:
1. Clamp the parts in the desired position; do not over-correct.
2. Soak in hot, not boiling, water for a minute or so.
3. Soak in cold water for a like time.
4. Take out and let sit, still clamped, for 24 hours (to develop "memory").

Doing this I noted the two wings are of slightly different thickness (airfoil) at the ends -- I think I'll leave well enough alone.

Over the next couple days, when I can get outside, I'll clean up the rest of the resin parts. There aren't many parts and I don't think there are any real problems so it should go well.

[MerlinJones]

That's an impressive clamping set up, John. Looks like the warp will be sorted easy enough.
At the risk of teaching you to suck on ova, commit to memory the phrase "Must Wash before Paint".

Regards,
Bruce

[ShaunW]

This is a fascinating looking aircraft, pity it never got off the drawing board. I like your wing warp removal technique John, I bodged about using the kettle, a measuring jug to dunk the piece in and a flat kitchen worksurface to take the warp out of my 747's wing. It worked but my method is not nearly as professional and I certainly would not recommend it to others I will, however, base future efforts on your technique!

[JohnRatzenberger]

That's an impressive clamping set up, John. Looks like the warp will be sorted easy enough.
At the risk of teaching you to suck on ova, commit to memory the phrase "Must Wash before Paint".

Regards,
Bruce

Oh, yeah, lesson well-learned, the hard way. When I wash really depends on the kit. This has fairly large solid parts so I'll wash 'em after cleaning, that takes care of the dust and gets all my oily fingerprints off also. But if the kit has really fine tiny parts, I'll wash them before anything else so I don't loose them from the sprue or break something.

[JohnRatzenberger]

BTW, I'll hi-jack my own thread, but this is one of my favorite "de-warping" shots.

This is a 2-1/2T Shop Van I was making and as you can see the roof line is badly warped.



And here's what I needed to get the pressure on in the right places.

[JohnRatzenberger]

Well, away we go ....

The wing is still being un-warped; it is resisting my usual efforts.

So, as it is a nice day, I've taken some resin out to sand. Here are the main pieces I'll be working with and a few of the saw blades I use -- either the CMK resin saws or Hasegawa Tri-tools.



Here are the two sanding boards I use for both resin & vac-form. They are big enough to hold multiple sizes/grades of sandpaper and to conveniently rest on the arms of a chair. I also use a hobby knife and sanding sticks. I save old sanding sticks to use with resin -- since resin snads down easily, the grain doesn't need to be fresh -- and when clogged with resin, then I throw them out.



And here's the fuselage, tail cone, and the parts that hold the wing in. I almost cut the whole plug off the rear fusleage until I realizes it was keyed to the tailcone, so I just cut it down by half and than did some tweaking to get them to fit -- the join will be much stronger now. The wing housings are fitting pretty good, but I'll wait and final clean them when I fit the wings. The little "+" on the fuselage is where I think I'll drill for an acrylic rod for the stand.



I also made up the 4 engine bodies. I sanded two halves on the mating line then glued them together. Then I'll spend time (much I think) cleaning up the flash along the join line and repairing some holes and thin spots. After all that, I'll get the inlet and exhaust pieces clean and installed.

At least I'm now started for real ....

[jssel]

Pretty nice John. And a great primer on how the work resin.