Andy Meade Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Great work, so is that going to become a live hinge (the kevlar)? The surface looks a little bumpy - is that just reflections? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murat Kece 1 Posted June 3, 2021 Share Posted June 3, 2021 What an excellent build! Very interesting and innovative... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted June 3, 2021 Author Share Posted June 3, 2021 (edited) Thanks guys ? And yes - kevlar is for live hinge, surface has 'dimples' ?. Dimples could either be due to the XPS texture, or more likely (I think) due to excess resin. On one surface I used peelply to remove as much resin as I could (at most 1-2g) - this is flatter I think, but has a couple of dry spots where the glass/XPS was still wetted out, but there was not quite enough resin to form the 'gloss' surface against mylar (75 micron laminating pouch). I only used the peelply on one surface as my resin started to go off and I panicked a bit to get them under weight (needed this as one tailplane had a bit of a curve ). I could of experimented with some stiff(.4mm) mylar I have - but only thought of this just now(!) and it may well have needed to be bagged, which seems a bit overkill and time consuming. I've dabbled before with using finishing resin as a second coat on glass and not had good results, so my feeling is that a deep fill primer of some sort would work much better? Guess it depends on the dimples ? Edited June 3, 2021 by Mike Chantler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) Did a lot of head scratching, coffee and diversio n activities, while avoiding decisions on how to mount tailplane. Eventually chickened out of the linkages when I discovered that the tailplane (10% NACA 0015) was thick enough to take small servos (am doing simpler, early conventional tailplane). And decided that the shells from the hot wiring would make good housings and reference for the tailplane itself. So cut holes and then decided to look at real pictures of F86 as had no real idea of how they were mounted. Discovered they were much higher than on Ron's plan so added extra foam to boost them up. Tailplane with shells Tailplane cored for servo runs Raised and trimmed shells in place. Edited June 15, 2021 by Mike Chantler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) next problem was getting the tail vaguely F86 shape - I had not realised that it was more complicated than I had though - so decided to get the profile right round the tailplane mounting and leave the rest to later in the build (yup - there is very little advance planning going on here, and I'm beginning to think that I should of just bought the mass build plan (sorry Ron ? ). Position of bellcrank below shows original position of tailplane Having raised the tailplane quite a bit I've now decided its about 5mm to high(!) but am just going to live with it as the whole model is a bit of an experiment for me. Edited June 15, 2021 by Mike Chantler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted June 15, 2021 Author Share Posted June 15, 2021 (edited) Next, started adding chunks of foam to the nose and then hot-wired to get basic shape. OK - very rough just now - but I can see a sort-of F86 in there somewhere ? Edited June 15, 2021 by Mike Chantler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Gay Posted June 15, 2021 Share Posted June 15, 2021 Looking good Mike. There are lots of views of the Sabre rear end in the various mass-build build logs: https://www.modelflying.co.uk/forums/index.php?/forum/94-pssa-mass-build-2020-north-american-f-86-sabre/ The photos may be of some use to you. Martin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted June 16, 2021 Author Share Posted June 16, 2021 Thanks Martin, I will definitely have a look, as I found the tail quite confusing from the 3-views. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 (edited) Have done a bit more filling and shaping just to get the feel of these materials. And then decided that I'd have to know more about the canopy before going further - the bit I was dreading as my previous attempts at vacuum forming a few years ago were demoralising and I totally lost patience. Especially frustrating when it looks so simple and folk get such nice results. But happened across this recent nice vid: here So before trying a vacuum set up I thought I'd try the coke bottle and heat gun trick. Edited July 13, 2021 by Mike Chantler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 (edited) Produced pretty rough MDF plug and tried it - wow it worked ?? 2L Coke bottle not long enough so will do in two parts: Some imperfections (e.g. front wedge too wide so bottom front did form properly and not as smooth as I would like) - But, am mega pleased with first attempts - MUCH easier than I expected ? ? ? Edited July 13, 2021 by Mike Chantler 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Gay Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 (edited) Vortex Vacforms do a 1:10 scale Sabre canopy for the PSSA Mass build model. I think it is priced at under £10. Martin. Edited July 13, 2021 by Martin Gay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 The Ron Collins fuselage (and canopy) is quite a lot thinner than scale, so unfortunately I don't think it will fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Gay Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 It's always fun making canopy plugs. I'm working on one for a 1:10 Mig-15, so I know how time consuming it can be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 Yes - after doing it I found it quite enjoyable(!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 So got really frustrated myself when applying and reapplying light filler to fus. grrrrrrrrrrr.......... Was far too impatient and sanded before 24hrs on tool cluttered table which meant sandpaper quickly clogged and its (and tools) were adding more more dings each time than I was removing ?? Could feel the vicious spiral of disaster coming on ... more dings and mistakes, more frustration, more impatience, more dings ... you know what I mean So decided new tack of a) covering in with 25g glass and b) reading the MB blogs as recommended by Martin (note I only read instructions when things start to go wrong lol). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 So discovered Freddie B's sauce on Phil and McG 6969 threads Also checked out some of Freddie B's build notes as recommended by Chris - so thanks guys - these were a bit of a life saver. Both for the 'sauce' and Freddie's comment somewhere not to buy cheap sandpaper. So I went to tool station and bought the most expensive 'sandpaper' I could see and did a sauce mix ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 This is the mix of things I had at hand. So now modelling room stinks of Imperial Leather (bet that takes you back!). Gave two coats as per Chris/Phil. Noticed quite a lot of 'grit' in sauce once applied - think this was due to Imperial Leather being > 40yrs old (!!!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 Discovered sanding 'mesh' - this is absolutely BRILLIANT as it does not block at all. Fantastic stuff. The Prodec stuff is quite course (120 grit) but worked well. However, the Abranet 180 grit was even better - seems to remove material faster than the Prodec but finer finish ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 Sprayed with deep fill primer. Still a few dings left but as newbie at this am mega-pleased at avoiding disaster 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 but also rather embarrassed at standard of my build compared with the MB ones that I've now seen ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 PS any comments on how to make it easier/better much appreciated as it's all new to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 (edited) Glad if Fred's Sauce could stop your "vicious spiral of disaster", Mike... ? Don't worry about those talcum 'grits', they sand away like butter. Please be patient this time and let the Sauce dry for at least 24 hours before sanding. Cheers & good luck Chris Oops > ... a bit late, I guess... Edited July 21, 2021 by McG 6969 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 Yes - I let the two coats of sauce dry for 24 hrs ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Gay Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Mike, Hopefully it will be ready to fly by 18/19 September on the Great Orme, along with all the other Sabres! Fingers crossed. Martin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Chantler Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 Only been down once before - as we were on holiday in Wales did not have a model(!). We have a pretty active club that meet every Sunday but only a handful of PSS. Would love to come down and see all the models again. Will put it in diary and see how it goes ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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