mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 15, 2019 17:52:47 GMT -5
To start off, I have NEVER built an aircraft in plastic. 65 years ago, I used to build balsa and dope painted paper aircraft with little gasoline engines like the Fox 40. I'm a ship guy, with a little crossover to armor (if they float).
Saw this on the shelf in the LHS and couldn't resist. First, it's wood / paper. Second, when I joined the US Navy, after recruit training at Great Lakes and a 5 day leave to go home to Michigan, they flew me out of Grand Rapids on a DC-3 bound for Anacostia NAS. My first big adventure of my life, and the first time I had flown in an airplane.
I'll build this just as a stick frame without the paper, just cause I think it looks cool. I've been working on a 350 Missouri with all the aftermarket wood decks, PE, brass guns etc., and have to set it aside occasionally to keep from getting frustrated with a complicated, long term build.
I hope this will clear my head and re-invigorate my enthusiasm.
EJ
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 15, 2019 18:02:43 GMT -5
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 15, 2019 18:09:09 GMT -5
I started by getting some full size copies made of the building, parts and layout sheets. I wanted to save an original but also needed to cut up the plan sheet to make a building board. I cut the copy sheet into manageable pieces. I used some softer wood scraps from the shop for the boards, placed the first cut part sheet (the fuselage) on a board with wax paper over to prevent sticking to the sheet. The instructions said to cut out all the fuselage parts and gave the numbers, so - The die cutting did not always go all the way through so some careful e-xato work was required. In addition, the little notches were not cut completely, the vertical cuts were not die cut. This required each piece to be laid over the paper template and the notches cut to the template and filed to fit the stringer pieces. The balsa was somewhat brittle and tended to split along the grain of the wood, so I had to stick the broken pieces back on. I used CA for that. All the parts need a bit of sanding before assembling them on the building board. I haven't been able to find out what the bottom two parts are for yet. They are called fuselage formers on the sheet. A comment on the balsa wood - This wood seems to be very soft and crushes even with a scalpel blade. Years back, these die cut kits were cleanly cut, the parts popped out readily and seemed more sturdy. It might have something to do with the quality of wood available - re old growth vs newer stuff? Seems the quality of various materials continues to decline. We had trouble purchasing quality balsa for the bridge and tower building competition for Science Olympiad at the school for the last couple of years too. But, I will make a silk purse out of this sow's ear. The top, bottom and side keel parts on the building board ready to be glued and assembled. I need to get a new bottle of Titebond as mine is 3 years old and I don't trust it. The curved black thing at the bottom is my belly hanging into the picture. EJ
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 15, 2019 18:11:38 GMT -5
Got the top and bottom keel parts glued up, and both the side keels too. Cleaned up the fuselage formers and trimmed off the tabs on the left side formers while the glue was setting. Then started on setting formers. I need more pins. Can only do two or three at a time as I don't have square blocks small enough to fit between the formers. Oh well, I'll just have to slow down a bit. More tomorrow. EJ
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 15, 2019 18:14:33 GMT -5
Had to go out today, so stopped by Hobby L. Got a sheet of 3/32 balsa to remake a broken part. While there, I found some really nice pins in the sewing dept. Some shorter pins with a nice large round head, easy to push in, and some smaller, thinner T pins. Swung by the model supplies and lo and behold, there was a bottle of my all time favorite wood glue. and it was on sale! Looks like they might be discontinuing it. This was what I used back in the day of gas motored balsa planes. Sands nice, somewhat gap filling, resistant to dope and fuel. Next best is the white stuff from Midway or Titebond. Finished up placing all the formers. While waiting for the glue to dry, I made some guide clamps for installing the other side formers. After lunch, I test fitted the side keel and marked the former locations on it. Fit perfectly! glued it up and slid it in place. One fuselage side done except for the stringers. After supper, I'll take this side off the building board and start on the other side former install. EJ
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 15, 2019 18:15:29 GMT -5
This is 1/32 scale. The finished model will be 24 1/8" long by 35 1/2" wingspan.
The kit comes with paper for covering, but I don't think I'll do that. I'm just gonna sand it up real nice and put on a lacquer clear-cote (or two) before installing the plastic cowling and trim. I just kinda like the look of the framework. There is no provision for motorizing it. Not sure how that would work with a twin engine plane. I might take it to school for Science Olympiad show n tell, just to show how the joints and connections should look.
The P-40 kit (single engine) I have, has a plywood bulkhead for mounting a fuel motor with a control line setup for controlling the stabilizer, or instructions for an RC rudder and stabilizer, or it can be flown with the supplied rubber band motor and instructions for that. Many of the older, single engine kits were designed for all these methods.
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 15, 2019 19:41:52 GMT -5
Formers done. Tomorrow, after the glue sets well, I'll start on the 3/32 square stringers. EJ
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 16, 2019 15:33:07 GMT -5
Started the stringers. Four had to be spliced to make longer parts so I did a scarf joint. The stringers themselves are a bit trickier than I thought they would be. Hard to clamp. Then, when held with rubber bands, they are in the way of the next one, so slow going. EJ
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Post by Leon on Jul 16, 2019 18:43:03 GMT -5
That is some fine work EJ! Takes a lot of patience to work with balsa wood.
I remember building a B25 or B17 balsa wood plane as a kid and putting on the tissue paper covering.
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Tojo72
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Post by Tojo72 on Jul 16, 2019 21:29:19 GMT -5
Very impressive
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S e r z h
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Post by S e r z h on Jul 17, 2019 10:02:11 GMT -5
Very interesting building. Successes!
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Post by mustang1989 on Jul 17, 2019 16:10:24 GMT -5
At 1/32 scale this thing outta take up a lot of room. I started building a couple of these things as a kid. I remember building the Dauntless from Guillows. It didn't turn out as good as I expected but hey, I was only 11 or so. lol.
Great progress on this one. Can't wait to see more.
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 17, 2019 19:27:51 GMT -5
From another builder - "I usually tack the stringers down with a very small drop of thin CA, then go back over the joints with aliphatic glue." Great idea. Us old guys sometimes get stuck in "the way we used to do things" mode. What did we do before CA glue anyway? Things are progressing smoother now. Thanks for the reminder. EJ
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 18, 2019 17:51:40 GMT -5
Made good progress today with the CA / wood glue process. The fuselage is completed. All that remains for tomorrow after the glue sets well is a few fills where bits broke off, and some sanding to clean it up and fair it out. Then I'll spray a clearcoat on it. I broke a couple pieces that had to be replaced, had to splice two more pieces that were not in the instructions and a four pieces I had to soak because they had not only a bend, but a twist to them as well. Otherwise it went quite well. Might get started on the wing sections tomorrow too. EJ
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Post by adt70hk on Jul 19, 2019 0:55:40 GMT -5
Excellent work. Well done.
Andrew
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Post by mustang1989 on Jul 19, 2019 6:43:15 GMT -5
Excellent work. Well done. Andrew I'll second that motion as well. Nice progress and am looking forward to the wing construction.
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joelsmith
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Post by joelsmith on Jul 19, 2019 13:52:27 GMT -5
Watch out for termites! ;<)
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Post by Leon on Jul 19, 2019 15:33:23 GMT -5
Fuselage looks great EJ!
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 19, 2019 18:55:02 GMT -5
Watch out for termites! ;<)
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 19, 2019 19:11:32 GMT -5
Thanks for the comments everyone. Having been a carpenter/cabinetmaker/builder/industrial maintenance guy most of my life, I really feel comfortable with wood. Plus, I like scratchbuilding. Wood kits are not much more than a box of materials instead of parts and I'm fine with that. Today I got a pair of small angle plates, 1" X 1" X 1". These work really well for wing struts and ship frames. I've got some 2" ones and some 123 blocks but they are sometimes too big. I might even get another pair of these. Prepped and layed out the center wing frame parts. Dry fitted, then glued them up. While waiting for the glue to dry, set about filling some small divots in the fuselage, sanding and fairing it in. It turned out well I think. Then placed the stringers on the top of the wing center part. Tomorrow, will flip the section over, finish the stringers and a couple of blocking parts, then start on one of the wings. EJ
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 20, 2019 12:17:45 GMT -5
She's gonna be big. Amen to that! I guess I didn't really think about size. I'll have to hang her from the ceiling in the den. Yesterday, I went to the LHS for some wood. The piece in the kit for the leading edges was warped pretty badly so I needed a strait one. Plus, I booger d up enough of the 3/32 sq stuff that I thought I'd run short. When I got home it donned on me that the stuff from the kit was 18" long, but the stuff from the LHS was 36" long. Not only did I get twice as much as I needed, but if I had gotten some sooner, I could have had one piece stringers and have avoided splicing 6 of them together. Oh well. Plus I got some more CA glue, a few glue bottle caps, some fine applicator tips for them and some sanding sticks. I flipped over and finished the stringers on the center wing section, glued in some reinforcing blocks and set it aside to dry. When it's dry, I'll start sanding the thing to fair it in and shape the leading and trailing edges to the template. In the meantime, I cut and prepped the parts for the left wing. Then set them up on the building board and started to assemble it. While that dries, I'll merrily sand away on the center section. EJ
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joelsmith
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Post by joelsmith on Jul 20, 2019 14:45:00 GMT -5
EJ, what are you using for a building board? Thanks in advance for your speedy reply, Joel.
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Post by adt70hk on Jul 20, 2019 17:33:46 GMT -5
Outstanding work. Really looking forward to this one crossing the finish line. Keep it up. Andrew
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 20, 2019 18:04:20 GMT -5
EJ, what are you using for a building board? Thanks in advance for your speedy reply, Joel. Just some scrap stuff from the workshop. The pieces are all red cedar which is soft enough to stick the short ball head pins and the smaller thin T pins.
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 20, 2019 18:04:58 GMT -5
Made good progress today. Assembled the left wing struts, glued up and drying. Cut out the parts for the right wing. Faired in the center wing section, planed and sanded the leading and trailing edges. End view showing airfoil shape. Done with my little mini plane and a sanding block. scribed longitudinal lines with a compass for a visual guide while planing. Here's how the center section fits up with the fuselage. It's a nice fit. Tomorrow, add the stringers to the top of the wing, cut all the little notches in the parts for the right wing, flip the left wing over and add the bottom stringers, Start the assembly of the right wing. Late in the day maybe fair in the left wing and do the leading and trailing edges. Also have to fit the aileron to it and taper that to match. I hope I got the angle on the wing root right to get the dihedral correct. EJ
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Post by Leon on Jul 20, 2019 18:58:40 GMT -5
WOW....Nice progress on the wing sections EJ!
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Post by Tobi on Jul 21, 2019 9:14:38 GMT -5
I'm off for vacation for just one week and then this! Great to see a variation from all the polystyrene kits. Thumbs up for this project.
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Post by wbill76 on Jul 22, 2019 7:42:13 GMT -5
Man you are really rocking this one EJ! Brings back memories (some good, some not! ) of building these as a kid. The good memories involve building a balsa rubber-band powered model with my dad. The bad involves building a full-RC Piper Cub in my high school physics class...it was never able to actually get off the ground!
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Post by mustang1989 on Jul 24, 2019 11:22:41 GMT -5
This things off the friggin' charts......
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mm2snipe
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Post by mm2snipe on Jul 25, 2019 18:52:38 GMT -5
Didn't get much done for a few days. Spent a lot of time sitting in the hospital. My oldest son (53) had kidney stone issues. On the 4th day they finally decided to do the sonic boom thing on it and broke it up. It passed after that. It was 9mm, almost a half an inch. Like pushing a marble through a drinking straw. He's back to work now. He is the equipment Sgt for the 126 Army Band. Got both wing sections fully assembled. Ready to fair in and form the leading and trailing edges. Got the rest of the wood parts cut out and ready to clean up. Will do the stabilizer first. Then the rudder. Then 2 nacelle's. Last of the wood parts to cut out - the prop parts. Gonna do all but the props, then start forming and shaping the assemblies. Coming together now. EJ
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