Peterf's 1/4 scale Falcon Models Tiger Moth

[PeterF]

There has been some progress on the build, most of my time has been spent putting on the rib stitching and pinked tapes over the rib stitching along with perimeter tapes etc. This appears to take an inordinate amount of time, this follows the same method as for the tail planes described earlier on page 16. I have also been busy with the fuselage, the undercarriage has been painted and reassembled, wheel covers have had the logo painted. I have added the lettering to the fuselage, the smaller lettering has all been cut from vinyl, as I have noted previously, my wife has a small CNC cutter for her crafting hobby, which has now been annexed. For the registration lettering, which would not look good in vinyl, I have cut paint masks on her cutter and used these.

[Richard Thornton 2]

Many thanks Peter

Your painting and lettering is looking very smart

[PeterF]

Things are coming together nicely on the fuselage. There has been more painting of the cabane structure and fuel tank along with various details such as the tops of the doors etc. I have rebuilt the fuselage back to where it was before covering and painting, except this time all the nuts and bolts have thread lock on them. There are still many many details to add such as the venturis, magneto switches, luggage door clasps, leather patches over the control wire exit holes, some decals still need adding, etc. I have to admit to one slight error, the inspection rings and patches on the tail plane and elevator should have been on the underside.

And this is what I am trying to represent

Edited By PeterF on 16/03/2018 21:16:28

[Manish Chandrayan]

Looks lovely, does it not?

[cymaz]

This is a club members Tiger Moth at last Thursdays’ club meeting . Flair kit, it was built about 20 years ago but never completed or covered by the previous owner. Powered by , as yet unrun , TorquePro 70 fs petrol.

[cymaz]

PeterF, how was your Solarlac applied ?

[PeterF]

Cymaz, I have brushed it on using some high quality wide brushes after thinning it down a little. The finish has come out well but not perfect. I do not have spray facilities. I believe I have got away with this because of the low ambient temperatures, hence the solvent has not flashed off too quickly whilst applying it.In retrospect, I should have used a non solvent type paint as I did not need to match coloured Solartex.

[PeterF]

Posted by cymaz on 17/03/2018 06:39:13:

This is a club members Tiger Moth at last Thursdays’ club meeting . Flair kit, it was built about 20 years ago but never completed or covered by the previous owner. Powered by , as yet unrun , TorquePro 70 fs petrol.

That is a nice looking Tiger Moth and it is always good to get a model completed. As you said it was 20 years old I was initially wondering about needing to check the soundness of the glued joints, but as it had not been covered, then that was easy to do. The one odd sight to me having built the Falcon Models kit, is seeing self supporting wings without the inter plane struts or wires, the Falcon Models kit will not do this as the wing attachments are engineered as per the full scale and the struts and wires are completely functional and absolutely necessary.

[PeterF]

Well, the wings stripped down very quickly prior to covering, getting them ready to put back together is another story entirely. I have painted the wings and that went quite quickly, but I have had to clean up all the metal fittings as they had started to go rusty and paint them, paint the interplane struts, paint the covers for the slat mechanisms, cut some holes into the slats that I had missed, do some decals for the fuselage, cut discs for the aileron actuation mechanism and dummy aileron gearbox covers. It seems as though progress has stalled in terms of reassembly. However, in a few days time I am sure it will suddenly come together. I now have 2 weeks prior to my clubs show night and I want it ready. It will not be complete as a lot of scale detail will be missing, but the kit ex Falcon Models will be complete I hope.

Wings painted

Interplane struts and acorns painted

Slat actuation mechanism covers painted

Slats completed

Metal fittings painted

Tiger Moth logos on the rudders

Some more decals added to match the full size

Aileron gearbox disc and covers plus leather patches on elevator control wire exits

[onetenor]

Posted by Manish Chandrayan on 23/02/2018 02:11:41:
Isn't that a Practical scale ?

Ahh! Peter so we will soon have two in that scheme. I am going in for G-ADNV for exactly the same reasons, no ant spin strakes 😃

YUP that's it

[Manish Chandrayan]

Boy! you are now clipping along and how!

I am sure the model will evoke lots of interest at the Club's show night. All the best

And I do i have my usual few questions

1. What's your secret to the super neat DH logos on the wheel caps?

2. For the fuselage paint mask are you using a sponge to apply paint?

[PeterF]

I used a brush for the lettering with the paint masks, it did leave a slight raised edge, perhaps I will try a sponge for the wings.

For the logos and other fine work I have a small brush that comes to a very fine point, I can load a small drop of paint onto the brush, place it on the raised logo and then tease it out to the edges with the tip of the brush.

[Manish Chandrayan]

Ahh! I see, steady hands I guess

[Richard Thornton 2]

Hi Peter, your painting job is comming on fantastically.

I am glad someone else asked about the snazzy decals, pray tell, did you make them yourself.

Both you and Manish have helped me get my Tiger back on course. I have almost finished the central control box, but have to go on holiday.......

Once again , thanks for your input and help.

[PeterF]

All the lettering and paint masks were cut on a Brother Scan n Cut, it is not ideal for this but as we have it for my wife's crafting, then I may as well use it. The coloured decals are home printed onto self adhesive inkjet vinyl, printed on a standard home HP inkjet printer then cut out by hand. I have done the same with laser print vinyl on other models, but now I have retired, I can no longer access a colour laser printer. The inkjet vinyl prints well without colour bleed, I bought mine from ebay, just make sure you get inkjet vinyl, printing onto laser vinyl with an inkjet makes a mess as the ink does not dry. I generated the images in Microsoft PowerPoint, apart from the Moth logo, which my memory is that Manish had a copy of it on his RC India build log or someone put a copy somewhere in this build log. Anyway, here it is again but this time on a white background ready for printing.

Edited By PeterF on 27/03/2018 19:23:21

[Richard Thornton 2]

Evening Peter

Many thanks for the info on the decals.

I only have an inkjet too, but I think I previously used the wrong vinyl and as you say, it created a mess, both on the sheet and in my printer.

That logo looks very trim and clean, it will print perfectly, many thanks.

[PeterF]

Posted by PeterF on 27/03/2018 13:20:48:

I used a brush for the lettering with the paint masks, it did leave a slight raised edge, perhaps I will try a sponge for the wings.

For the logos and other fine work I have a small brush that comes to a very fine point, I can load a small drop of paint onto the brush, place it on the raised logo and then tease it out to the edges with the tip of the brush.

Here is a picture of the brush, I do not know what the name is, but with the very fine point it can be used to coax the smallest of droplets to an edge without going over the edge.

Edited By PeterF on 29/03/2018 21:51:16

[PeterF]

Progress on the build continues apace. I have completed the lettering on the wings, both upper and lower surfaces. I used the same procedure as before, vinyl masks and brushed on Solarlac. The red does not cover well and 2 coats of paint were required. This led me to find that the solvents in Solarlac soften the vinyl, which caused some wrinkling at the edge and some paint bleeds on the second coat. It would have worked OK with a less aggressive paint. This needed a bit of fine tidying up in silver (using the paintbrush above) and it all looks fine now. I did not have this problem with the silver lettering on the fuselage as the silver covered in one coat and the masks were removed before they had started to soften, so I did not know that there would be an issue with the wings. Live and learn, I will not use Solarlac again.

I have reassembled the wings with all of the metal fittings, slats, slat mechanism covers, interplane struts and flying wires. I should be able to put the plane completely together in the new couple of days to see it in its (almost) completed form and check that the rigging angles are all still good. I have added the rubbing pads between the flying wires on the cabane structure and the windscreens, which are Mick Reeves Models screens. The pilot, Tiger Terry from Jim Reeves has climbed into the cockpit and strapped himself in.

Paint masks applied

Lettering painted through the masks

Completed lettering

Wings put back together

Flying wire rubbing pads, windscreens and pilot added to fuselage.

Edited By PeterF on 29/03/2018 21:50:49

[Manish Chandrayan]

Fantastic looks like a proper Moth now.
But tell me where is the venturi? Hope you have not forgotten about that important piece of visible equipment

[Tom Thomas]

Posted by Manish Chandrayan on 30/03/2018 03:15:11:
Fantastic looks like a proper Moth now.
But tell me where is the venturi? Hope you have not forgotten about that important piece of visible equipment

Ah, there's always one!

[PeterF]

Posted by Manish Chandrayan on 30/03/2018 03:15:11:
Fantastic looks like a proper Moth now.
But tell me where is the venturi? Hope you have not forgotten about that important piece of visible equipment

I have a list of 20 or so scale details, venturis, pitot tubes, fuel tank fittings including pipes, filler cap and level gauge, windy ASI, crash pads, cables and pulleys for the slats, luggage door catches, wing walkways, etc. that are not in the kit and need hand making. I am trying to get the plane as completed as possible for my clubs model show next week so I have a completed and painted the airframe and done as much major scale detail as possible to make it look really good. I have only added the scale detail so far that needs to be added before painting can take place, such as the luggage door hinges, access panels below wings and cockpit and added details such as the lettering without which it would not look complete or the windscreens that I bought as a completed premade item. All the additional scale detail will not be ready for that point in time, it will all be added later, and it can all be added onto the completed airframe without problems.

[Martin McIntosh]

Had lots of masking problems myself recently but with paint I am not used to. I actually like (liked?) Solarlac because I could get a very crisp line using paper masking tape cut into strips. Just wipe over the edge with white spirit when the tape is removed. Vinyl I cannot get on with.

Your model looks fantastic.

[PeterF]

Thanks for the comments Martin, I agree when using masking tape (I used Tamiya) I got a nice edge with the Solarlac, even on Solartex, no bleeding or other problems.

I have continued with plenty of the details around the cockpit area of the fuselage over the past few days. The cabane strut covers have been added to the rear cabane struts. The front step has been completed, in my case this had a fabric bag on the inside (Solartex) without a flexible flap over the entrance. I have added the screws for the instrument panel attachments, they are prominent on the plane I am modelling so they have been added. Thy have no function on the model although they do pass through into the panel. The crash pads have been added, I will write a separate post on how I made these as this may be of interest.

I have also built the leading edge root rib covers. I have taken an idea from someone else's build (apologies can not remember who's) for the attachment of these and used a pair of thin disc rare earth magnets, one glued to the root rib and one to the cover. This is a good idea and works well.

[Manish Chandrayan]

Looking even better now, I am sure the model will be a star attraction at the club show.

Would love to hear how you went about making those crash pads.

With respect to the root rib covers I was debating between using magnets or using the Multiplex canopy hold downs (that I got specifically for the model)

[PeterF]

I have seen many ways that the crash pads have been built previously. Carved from a balsa lamination and then covered, carved from pink foam and covered etc. The Duncan Hutson model has them moulded integrally with the turtle decks so only need covering. I thought that I would make mine flexible rather than rigid, thinking I would cover a foam block that I had shaped. When looking round for a starting piece I found some old foam tube that was meant for a 4 cell NiCd receiver battery, which was just the right size. I split this length ways to give me the two crash pads. I then cut some 1/64" (0.4mm) ply to a curved shape so that when it was sat under the turtle deck it would extend into the space above the instrument panel and extend outwards the required amount when covered with the foam rubber. The foam rubber was then cut on the free edges to match the same curve as the ply. The next bits takes some thinking about, but the foam is placed onto the ply in the opposite direction. The middle of the bottom of the foam is glued to the ply and when set, the sides are glued to the bottom, which means pulling the foam around the curve in the ply, so that it now follows the right shape. Unluckily, I did not photograph the first gluing step to explain this, hopefully the sketch will suffice. The top is then trimmed back to be the right length to meet the turtle deck and the underside chamfered to a 30-45 degree angle. The middle of the top of the foam is then glued down, followed by the sides, which need to be pulled forward to follow the curve in the ply plate. Trial fit the pads at this stage.

The covering is with a sheet of 0.4mm latex rubber with a matt surface. The edge is cut to match the curve of the outside of the foam and glued onto the top of the ply from the middle to the edges, stretching the rubber so that it sits against the edge of the foam rubber. Once it is attached to the top of the ply, wrap it under the foam, around the outside curve and back to the top of the ply. Glue to rubber to itself, starting at the middle with some stretch and then plugging and teasing the outside edges around to keep a taut covering over the foam. Trim the loose material off and then make sure that the ends are glued shut.

Foam battery protector split into 2

Initial cutting and gluing operation

Bottom of foam glued to ply

Trim upper edge to 45 degree

Top of foam glued down to ply

Test fit

Bottom edge of rubber glued to middle of ply

All of bottom edge of rubber glued to ply

Middle of rubber stretched around and top end glued to ply

Top of rubber glued to ply all around, the foam is now completely covered

Start trimming

Installed