"Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Celebrating the man who flew 487 different aircraft, more than any other pilot, and who could be the greatest pilot of all time. We cannot duplicate his feat but each modeler will build a unique aircraft replicating one flown by Captain Brown.
The GB runs 19 November to 18 December and your host is FredK.
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Purplethistle
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by Purplethistle »

jRatz wrote: Note the tail "boom" assembly, which MPM has rendered as lumps of plastic pole, rather than tubing. It took about an hour with the finest file I have to clean one half, I'll go after the other tomorrow. I'm not sure you can see the difference in the picture, but I can.
It's like the difference between night and day.
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splash
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by splash »

It's looking good.

I have one of these in my box of shame I got as far as you have and gave up when I got to the tail as the kit parts and instructions made no sense to me. Once you show us how to build the tail I might get mine back out of the box of shame.
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
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fredk
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by fredk »

A very noticeable big difference to that cleaned up tail part
You're on the home straight now so you are.
Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Its not just how good your painting is, its how good the touch-ups are too.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

splash wrote: .... gave up when I got to the tail as the kit parts and instructions made no sense to me. Once you show us how to build the tail I might get mine back out of the box of shame.
That jinxed me :) .... I got the other half the tail cleaned up today. And without breaking anything, it was amazing considering how some of the plastic is soft, some brittle, and all hidden by flash.

Anyway, you are correct - the parts and the instructions bear no relationship to each other. They should form a box, but if I just hold the back together, the front is twice as wide as needs be. I suspect that the side of the box truss that mates to the opposite side should be sliced off to avoid doubling up .... but I am going after some pictures of the back end before I do anymore hacking & slashing.

I thought we already did the conversion GB - I am having to convert this into a model :(
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Silly me .... I spent so much time pouring over Hoverfly pix to find the specific aircraft 'Winkle' flew that I forgot to look at all the pix of just the aircraft itself.

Now that I see how it should work, I can see that the main problem is part 14 is malformed - the two sides are at an obtuse angle, not at a right angle. That the various trusses are almost 1:1 scale thick isn't helping matters.

Must think about how to fix this - scratch my own or just a bigger hammer .... stay tuned, I will defend my thesis another day, party tonight.
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splash
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by splash »

It's refreshing to know that it's not just me that got confused with the kits tail, I recall I started mine back in the late 90's before the Internet took off, so researching images of the tail was too difficult hence the placing in the box of shame.

We tend to take the Internet for granted now and forget how it's transformed our hobby.
My work bench is starting to look like Portsmouth Naval Dockyard.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

This picture shows what I said above, that part 16 is at an obtuse angle, not a right angle. Not obvious is that parts 15 & 16 aren't the same size and do not form a perfect box structure.

Image

I sliced off one side of 16 and reglued square. I also sanded down some of the truss where they mated with the opposite side. Then I glued then together, square as I could and let them dry. After that I did some sanding to flatten out the outer sides and fit the truss to the fuselage -- good enough. And here we are, ready to start assembly when it dries.

Image

I'm almost free from meetings so I hope to get some serious time bench time in, not much time left.
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

And here is the tail boom mounted.

Image

Which allows me to get back to the cockpit and the rotor. On the latter I decided to make the hub/blades, get them solid then add the other parts. I know I am doing a "flying diorama", but forget the moving blades or even discs, etc. Once this part of the rotor is done, I can add the rest of the parts, most of which are already fitted, paitn it and have a drop-in assembly when the rest is done.

Image

As to the cockpit, adding seats and rudder pedals and such. That will allow me to make a little Winkle and start to work on the vac canopy and details therein. It's my plan to leave the landing gear to last as I think it very vulnerable.
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59North
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by 59North »

Fine work going on here. Ambitious, for a limited time group build. Well done!
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fredk
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by fredk »

yup, wot he says, I agree all the way
Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Its not just how good your painting is, its how good the touch-ups are too.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Too ambitious, maybe -- I just got into the vac canopy and am not sure exactly how to cut the front and top to fit. Ideally I'd make the best guess I could on the front piece and mount it, then cut the top to fit. Still puttering with it ... and of course I knocked the tail boom off while doing so, so that is drying again :)

If I had not gone on holiday, this all would be doable, but now I'm making up time ....
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fredk
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by fredk »

Don't panic.
Have a beer. Relax.
You've got a whole week yet
Loads of time
Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Its not just how good your painting is, its how good the touch-ups are too.
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JohnRatzenberger
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Bad bench weekend. Hopefully short meeting Monday morning, dishwasher replacement Monday afternoon. Hopefully back to work soon. Aaaarrggh !
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Still working -- rotor assembly, cockpit details, a "little Winkle", etc ...
Lots of one small part at a time as I clean things then wait for glue to dry.
Pix tomorrow.
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Re: "Hands Off" - the R-4B Hoverfly

Post by JohnRatzenberger »

Rotor needs 3 small pieces of rod for detailing, but done.
Winkle has his body parts, but needs s bit of fill and then paint.

Image

Once I get Winkle done and glued in, then I can do the small bits & seatbelts and start to add the cockpit glass. I have the vac parts cut and some instruments, etc, that mount t the front. I really need to paint an interior greenish on the frame before gluing the front and top on. The door pieces are cut not trimmed. I guess this is the next step before I start on the landing gear.

Not all all sure about this ....
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