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Spitfire by Cambrian Funfighters Electric Version


Peter Garsden
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15 hours ago, leccyflyer said:

Nice work Peter - one thing though, I don't understand why you are balancing the model before it's been covered and finished?

Good point. Without asking you to read through the previous threads on this blog and Graham's build blog, in a nutshell, he had a lot of trouble getting the C of G on his model because there is very little room to insert it after the cowl goes on. The cowl is not removable to add any balancing lead, so I devised a plan to make the cowl removable, and test the C of G before covering. We will see whether the C of G remains the same after covering. I certainly hope so. I hope this makes sense.

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  • 2 weeks later...

So to covering. I am going to apply 25gram fibreglass cloth with a coat of resin, then fill the weave with some Freddy's Sauce (watch this space) then paint. I use Easy Composites Laminating Resin and cloth from East Coast Fibreglass, which moulds really well to the shapes offered to it.

 

In order to avoid excess resin and weight I use Peel Ply over the top of the cloth which soaks up any excess and keeps the cloth close to the surfaces. After the resin dries you peel off the peel ply and use a Permagrit File to file off the excess overlap at the edges.

 

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This shows the tools - a Jenny brush is used to apply the resin which then has to be thrown away and a discarded credit card to spread out the resin on the wing.

 

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Important not to join the cloth mid fuselage as it will leave an edge very hard to eradicate. This drapes over each side and is sanded off underneath.

 

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One has to be careful to peel off only the peel ply and not pull the fibreglass cloth off at the same time - peel ply in one hand cloth in the other.

 

Once the resin is dry, one attacks it with a Permagrit file (coarse) at the edges to work through the thin cloth then it   just pulls off with a neat join on the corner. Doesn't need to be overlapped.

 

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This is the rudder for example. You have to be careful not to mark the cloth with the Sharpie marker over the wood as it can show through the covering particularly if it is a light colour. You can see I have used dots here

 

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After filing off the edges are sharp and neat again. The slot is for my home made fibreglass horn lined with 1/32" ply each side for strength.

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So the next job is to fill the weave of the cloth with something. Thanks to McG for telling us PSS lot about Freddie B's Secret Sauce which he swears by. I haven't tried it yet but it takes me back to the days of when you use do mix talcum powder with dope to make a creamy filler on top of tissue. Freddy is American and used it to fill foamies prior to painting. It filled the bumps and made for a smooth surface.

 

As I have finished this in 25 gram cloth and resin one has to fill the weave of the cloth. It is possible to do with with primer or high build primer, but it costs in primer. This method is a lot easier and produces a surface as smooth as a baby's bottom - because I used Baby Talcum Powder. Gets a thumb's up from me. So how is it made?

 

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  1. Dollop of light weight filler
  2. Equal amount of Eze Cote of Poly C -  water based resin or water based varnish would do.
  3. Equal amount of Talcum Powder.
  4. Few drops of Acrylic Paint to suit - bear in mind your eventual top  coat and undercoat. I went for green because my colours are mainly olive, and grey.
  5. Mix it together into a paste.
  6. Add water if needed to get it into the consistency of double cream.
  7. Brush it onto the model and let it dry - only takes 20 minutes
  8. Sand it off with either 180 or 220 grade wet and dry. Next coat will be primer. It has filled all the gaps and the weave in the cloth.

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Before I start spraying on some undercoat with my new Iwata Airbrush, The canopy has to be added and Reginald, or was it Arthur, I forget.

 

This is cartoon scale so I usually find a cockpit layout, print it on photo paper to the right size, glue it onto some 3mm balsa and stick it in position. This is the cockpit I found

 

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So I put this in first. Bit of a waste as you can't really see it

 

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Reginald looks a bit bored. He just fits in - thank you again Andy Meade for him

 

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Also cartoon scale is the position of the engine exhausts, but done so as not to have part on the removable hatch and part attached to the front of the fuselage, which would be necessary if we were to adhere to scale positioning. I used a combination of canopy glue and cyano. There is not much to adhere to

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for the tip Lecceflyer. I am kicking myself as I have used the same technique before on ABS plastic parts which also tended to be flimsy and in need of reinforcement by way of balsa.

 

Well the long process of spraying has begun. Lots of masking and unmasking needed here, particularly with the unusual nose stripes which were a bit of a challenge.

 

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The Freddy's Sauce was a real help with producing a good finish, and better than wasting undercoat building up layers.

 

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The spinner I am sure won't last long so I covered it in a high gloss varnish for protection. The rest I am going to cover in Satin Varnish - just the spinner gets the tough treatment for long grass and heather on the slope - why 2 you ask? One for a conventional propellor and flat field, the other for sloping

 

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The underneath gets a coat of Medium Sea Grey from Vallejo Air - so much easier not to have to dilute, and the fuselage gets an Ocean Grey with Dark Green. And a stripe on the back of Sky Blue.

 

I noticed a gap at the front of the cockpit which I have filled with a sliver of balsa.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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As you can see I have airbrushed on firstly Ocean Grey on top of the fuselage, then Dark Green. I know a lot of people don't free hand airbrush camouflage, but at the end of the day that is how it was applied in the war. They just sprayed the colours on. They didn't spend hours masking off colours. The edges are meant to be feathered, so I follow the same procedure.

 

I used the finer needle valve nose cap to the airbrush as it comes with 2. It is important not to open up the paint valve too high, and to keep the air pressure between 20 and 30psi - lower the better. Closer to the model for sharper lines. I am getting the hang of this now.

 

I use Vallejo Air paints which are brilliant because they don't need any dilution. And the Iwata Airbrush is worth all the money it cost.

 

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I normally spend hours trying to mask round the canopy panel lines. This time, I masked off the whole canopy then cut out the areas to be painted, which was much quicker.

 

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I didn't spray the whole top of the fuselage with Ocean Grey but overlapped it slightly as grey is the correct undercoat for green.

 

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I then masked off the yellow lines to the leading edge, but first gave 2 coats of white undercoat as yellow would not make any impression on grey and green.

 

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14 hours ago, leccyflyer said:

The use of masks is hotly debated by the plastic kit modellers, but contemporary reports do confirm that heavy rubberised mats were used in painting the "A" and "B" camouflage patterns on Spitfires and Hurricanes.

Very interesting sir. Contradicts what I was told by our local model shop owner in Macclesfield - now sadly deceased from cancer and the shop closed.

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Well we are nearly done - time for an assemble. I have now done the panel lines but have ordered a cheap fine line airbrush to do the weathering as my large scale airbrush just won't cope with it. It would kick out too much paint. I need to create the smoke from the exhaust, the smoke from the guns and some shading to highlight ribs on the elevators and ailerons. I did this before on my Hurricane but then had a much finer airbrush.

 

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This is the slope soaring spinner with the gaps filled in. I need to add lead as I originally balanced it with the prop and spinner.

 

I have also put multiplex plugs on the 2 aileron servos. I have had repeated problems using JR plugs. They are not made to be constantly connected and disconnected. Eventually they malfunction, particularly the thin wires on my Emax s

 

 

ervos

 

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The decals I cut myself using my handy vinyl cutter. I suppose it is only a matter of time before I get a 3D printer and  a CNC cutter - when my new workshop is built.

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Looks great Peter; better than mine!

 

A quick tip if I may? on your panel lines, use a white gel pen and go over them slightly to one side with a 'broken' line. It represents light falling on the panel gap and brings it to life. Try to go the same 'light side' of the lines or it looks a bit odd! You can make them out on this picture of my Yak-3.

 

 

Graham

yak3 240521-2.jpg

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Well I think we are more or less done. I bought a cheap airbrush to do the weathering because it had a smaller needle ie 0.3mm as well as a 0.2mm needle. I think my Vallejo paints are a bit old because they do not produce a consistent paint flow. With care, however a light mist pattern can be achieved. They say that less is more with weathering and some of my shading is a little strong, but I am pleased with the overall effect.

 

Thanks for the tip Graham re the white gel pen. Works well, and highlights the edges of the panels well.

 

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After burn and oil from the exhaust is a mix of black and burnt umber. The shadows are produced by placing a post it note along the panel line and spraying the note overlapping onto the surface. Sometimes too much paint came out. The paint is diluted more than normal.

 

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Wing gun after burn.

 

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Quite a lot of shading which helps the parts stand out and look more 3D. One can see the white gel pen panel lines here. Also Wing Bolts painted.

 

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Ribs with shading shown with white highlights again.

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And I forgot to mention that I took her up the slope for a test flight on Saturday, more of which below. I didn't have the patience to give her a coat of varnish, which was remiss as it collected a little sheep poo under the wings on landing - soon washed off back at base.

 

I used my Vanessa balance cradle to re-balance her with the soaring Spinner which had to be filled with lead. I needed 71 grams of lead so not much. I moulded this using the Plasticine plug method. The oxidation of the lead when melted lost me 23 grams which I didn't replace due to impatience. The method is shown on this You Tube video and is excellent - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEEhzV289jg&t=9s

 

It was blowing a 23mph wind up Edge Top in Flash Derbyshire so ideal. I got a hang glider visitor to launch me as no one was there on a Saturday! Shows that the average age of members is past retirement and fly during the week. It needed a bit of right trim and flew well. It is a great soarer - fast and responsive. It did the usual rolls and loops excellently and has real momentum.

 

It was however, prone to poke its nose up a bit into the wind, due to it being 23 grams short on lead in the nose. I have since added this back and will re-balance it soon.

 

All in all a successful maiden and a gentle landing - due to the ease of offering the nose up into wind to slow it down. I have dialled in some spoileron just in case as obviously we have no flaps on this one. With the C of G right it might be a bit quicker on landing.

Edited by Peter Garsden
Missed a bit out.
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  • 4 weeks later...

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