Phil Cooke Posted August 24, 2020 Author Share Posted August 24, 2020 Final job before the wing can be primed was to cut out and fit the little wing fences. No two diagrams I have for the Sabre show these fences quite the same shape, they seem to vary in length and some have the L/E and T/E angles perpendicular to the wing surface some have them vertical. Anyway I've sized and shaped them to what I think is correct...the important thing is they are true to the airflow and vertical when viewed from the front! I cut the fences from 4 pieces of 1/64" ply, cross ply laminated to make them nice and stiff at 1/32" final thickess. The wing was carefully marked up, the slots were cut with a brand knew scalpel and cleaned up with a file such that the fences were a nice push fit. They will be removed and primed separately to aid priming of the wing but then glued in place before the final top coat is added. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted August 24, 2020 Author Share Posted August 24, 2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Houghton Posted August 24, 2020 Share Posted August 24, 2020 Superb attention to detail, Phil. Your models always stand out because of these little extras. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 25, 2020 Share Posted August 25, 2020 Splendid detailing, as usual, Phil. Fortunately for me, the Dog doesn't sport those wing fences... I knew I made an 'easy' choice when deciding for the Dog... Cheers & keep safe Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted September 1, 2020 Author Share Posted September 1, 2020 From baby talc pink to battle ship grey! Good to get some of the parts in final primer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted September 2, 2020 Share Posted September 2, 2020 Looking great, Phil. ... and indeed, good to have some parts primed and ready to go. Cheers & keep safe Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted September 20, 2020 Author Share Posted September 20, 2020 Not much to report really over the last couple of weeks - around work and family my modelling time has been utilised in other ways - either reporting on our last event or working out how (or if) to run our next one in October! Fingers crossed we are not all on a full lockdown again by then!!! I'm still final sanding the fus in prep for glass... The wing received another coat of 'sauce' on the underside as I had noticed a little sag line along a join in the skins - this has now been remedied and the wing is ready for final primer then paint. To aid that process I've built a little painting jig so the wing can be held secure via the wing bolts in either orientation. It's not as cool a design as Dirk's but it's functional. Should make the painting a little easier. Some foam enables a soft grip at the back around the nylon bolts. And at the front the wing just drops on around the wing dowels. Just high enough off the bench for the airbrushing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 ... just amazing, Phil. Your jigs are just as 'immaculate' as the other parts of your Sabre. I might have to copy this one as well then... Cheers & stay alert, Chief Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 The weather was good so with the spray jig complete we got some primer on the wing in the garden! Two coats in fact, with a very fine sand between them. Dried really fast in the warm weather and the surface looked really good with the pink sauce now hidden beneath! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 ... really envious of your paint jig, Phil. Shame you had to hide your pink Sauce though... Did you use your airbrush or rattle cans for your primer? Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 Just rattle cans for the primer Chris, top coats will all be airbrush. I do feel a bit better now its not all pink. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted October 29, 2020 Author Share Posted October 29, 2020 A month since my last update - and truth be told not a huge amount to show for the time, not on the Sabre build anyway... During the last week of September I was busy putting all the required Covid related governance in place for our final planned flying event of the year (10/11th Oct) with a track and trace system and event risk assessment all complete as well as additional signage all made ready - only for it then to be cancelled due to the Welsh travel restrictions coming into play the week before we were due to fly! A dissapointing end to our season. The wing has had another coat of primer with a good sanding in between which has generated a surface I'm now happy to put the top coat paint onto with the airbrush. I've also added the final details to the wing ready for paint, the prominant little the wingtip lights and the wing fences - both now fitted and awaiting some yellow paint! I had to replace a number of halogen bulbs on an uplight lamp we have in our lounge - the vacform packaging looked about the right shape with a nicely formed dome so I used that material to cast some P38 'lollipops' - the wooden stick aiding handling during initial sanding. A few minutes with a small sanding block got them looking nearer the part with the classic 1/2 teardrop shape. They then needed to be shaped to suit the wingtip radius... watch those fingertips! and they were ready to fit. The tip centreline and position was marked up and they were glued on with a little epoxy. The wing fences were glued in place through the skins with some cyano initially and to finish off I added a tiny fillet of PVA to bridge the corner and make it all weatherproof ready for paint. Back to the fuselage which is still being glassed, bit by bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 ... nice to have you back to the building board, Phil. But, if allowed, you should stop coming out now with 'new' ideas as it makes it more and more difficult for me to follow up... Great stuff, anyhow... Cheers & keep safe Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk tinck Posted October 29, 2020 Share Posted October 29, 2020 Great to see you back in the workshop Phil , looking good ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 A major milestone finally achieved today as the last piece of glass cloth has been stippled onto the model! Been another slow month for me modelling wise - and in each session I kept finding more final shaping to do before I eventually committed to the glass. I've used 6 panels in total, trying to position the overlaps in areas where feathering them will be easy - I was conscious of the 90deg sharp corners around the tailplane so I did those bits separate in the hope I can maintain a nice crisp corner. Undersides were done first, the wing fillets front and rear dictated the size of these panels. With the undersides dry, claned up and feathered in I focussed next on the tailplane mounting faces... Some tricky corners around the tail end but a few well positioned pins kept it all geometric and tight on the internal corners! Finally the fin and fuselage sides were done in one big piece - this is the second panel going on earlier today which has finished the job! Edited By Phil Cooke on 05/12/2020 18:07:03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted December 5, 2020 Author Share Posted December 5, 2020 I've also done a bit more work on the drop tanks which still required their characteritic fins adding. I cut appropriate shapes from some stiff cardboard and then applied two layers of glass cloth both sides which made them nice and stiff with credit card like properties. But with a surface now which would take paint. These were trimmed up and sanded. The fins were fitted with little cocktail stick guides and glued up to the tanks with cyano against a little guide ridge made from thin strips of tape. The cyano wicked into this making it quite robust. These are now ready for a final coat of grey primer prior to the top coat blue! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted December 5, 2020 Share Posted December 5, 2020 ... great move forward, Phil. I'm still way behind now still struggling with the fin fairings. ... and then that dreaded fuse fine sanding job. Well done, young man. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk tinck Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 Great the sabre build is back on track Phil ! Now the fun part can begin ! Start stirring that yellow paint ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted December 8, 2020 Author Share Posted December 8, 2020 With the glass panel edges all feathered in I gave the fus a gentle blast of primer to help visualise any lumps and highspots, then cut it back with a medium grit ready for some more of the light weight sauce - as an alternative to a resin flow coat. Trimming the glass overhangs away allowed me to inspect the 6 gun ports for the first time. You can see more sauce is needed around here as I was very tight with the resin around these features so as to avoid flooding the tubes and losing their definition. I just need to decide now what colour paint to add to the sauce for the fuselage - maybe a blue!? A few more sessions sanding and we should soon be ready for the cockpit detailing and canopy fix! Edited By Phil Cooke on 08/12/2020 12:40:11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 What colour primer will you be shooting? if It's white (probably recommended due to amount of yellow in top coat) then I'd steer away from high contrast colours like blue underneath it. Good progress though chief Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted December 8, 2020 Author Share Posted December 8, 2020 primer will be grey like the wings Andy as I've just invested in some more! Im not expected any trouble with the yellow over the top of that - should I be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 Have you got the yellow yet so you can run some tests? In my experience it has to be really bright white underneath, otherwise it looks like stained, aged yellow unfortunately. Certainly my experience with acrylics anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted December 8, 2020 Author Share Posted December 8, 2020 Yep I've got all the paints Ill run some trials - all the other bits are finished in grey primer so plenty of blank canvases to test - thanks for the guidance I've never thought about it not covering well enough. Edited By Phil Cooke on 08/12/2020 16:55:49 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk tinck Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 Hi Phil,just let dry the first coat of yellow and you'll be fine IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted December 8, 2020 Share Posted December 8, 2020 Hi Phil, If it can be of any help, I used my acrylic water based spay cans right away - without even a primer - on my test-wing for the Dog. ... and that even was on a 'pinky' (sorry) underlying sauce coat. Dirk's advice sounds OK as I did nearly the same with a thin first coat of yellow, letting it dry up for a while and adding the covering coats afterwards. Best of course is to test it with the products you have at hand. Cheers Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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