Nick Somerville Posted January 10, 2023 Author Share Posted January 10, 2023 The canopy is quite a sturdy polycarbonate moulding, but just spraying the covered parts would not be particularly durable nor have a realistic appearance at the frame edges. So a paper template was taken for the metal part and the shape transferred to Lithoplate. Flush rivets punched with a sized piece of brass tube whilst flat and then formed to shape. I didn’t want to anneal the part as although it would be easier to work the tighter curves, I would be far more likely to introduce a crease and it would also be less ding proof when complete. I started using a small kitchen roller on the main spine and followed this by some scraping/burnishing with some smooth old cutlery knives. Finally the trickier tail end was burnished with a teaspoon whilst gently pulling the compound curves. I have done a glue test with some offcuts of roughened polycarbonate and litho using Evostick and am almost convinced this will work well….. so long as I can line it up first time. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Clark 1 Posted January 10, 2023 Share Posted January 10, 2023 Really impressive Nick. Your making great progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 Framing of the sliding canopy all finished and just the aerial pulley and top hinge to put in place. The tail doesn’t quite sit down as tightly to the fuselage as I would have liked but I shall have to live with that. There is just enough room to fit a 100mm Hitec linear actuator to operate it, but as the weight is creeping up and I still have some hopes of completing the model to under 15kg; that can wait. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david tilbury Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 Looking great Nick.....:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 As the cold weather negates any chance of spraying primer in my unheated stone shed, I have been hacking on with surface prep and fiddly details. The cowl has a total of 13 latches and although simple in their appearance attempting to gain some realism has been surprisingly tiresome. Ideally some from of 3d printed part could perhaps have made the task both more accurate and faster. As I don’t have either the equipment or necessary skills for such wizardry its been old fashion fettling of bit and bobs. The four piano type hinges had previously been added and blended in with car body filler. For the cowl latches I cut and drilled them from thin alloy sheet and epoxied them in place. As they should be flush I built around the edges with 3M cellulose putty and sanded back. The flat head slotted screws were the smallest brass screws available from my local independent diy/hardware store with the dome sanded of on a disc sander. The cowl panel lines are deeper and wider due to the fact they are openings with inside ledges so two layers of insulating tape were cut and used building ip with the putty again. Only the front circle, not moulded on the cowl, has a single layer of tape and will just have the primer paint to accentuate it. side bottom top Its looks a bit scruffy at this stage, but fingers crossed once the primer goes down the detail should come to life. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted January 26, 2023 Share Posted January 26, 2023 Looks good from where I’m sitting Nick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 First time with almost everything assembled less prop, batteries, receiver, ignition and paint. On the scales at 26.2 lbs. C of G about 3cms behind for now. Happy with that! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Gray Posted January 29, 2023 Share Posted January 29, 2023 Not only is that looking superb Nick, I can’t help noticing that whilst your taking indoor photos, others are out in the garden working! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted January 29, 2023 Author Share Posted January 29, 2023 Its Sunday Ron. Hands in pockets and just admiring the snowdrops! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted February 17, 2023 Author Share Posted February 17, 2023 With some warmer weather this week a chance to lay down a first primer coat on all of the parts. Most of course will be rubbed back after spot filling any areas required with 3M cellulose putty. Happily not too much required. Primer is U-pol P88 thinned 50% and sprayed using an inexpensive Fast Mover panel touch up HVLP gun. once all the rubbing down has been done I can move on to the numerous access hatches and panel lines. For the hatches the plan is to cut slightly oversized panels from plasticard, temporarily adhere in place and then spray around the edges with primer filler and blend back. This should give the appearance of the actual sized hatches being recessed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted February 28, 2023 Author Share Posted February 28, 2023 With most if the primer now rubbed out I have been working on the detailing of the wing. Top surface first I marked out the panel lines and applied a double layer of pvc insulating tape cut to 1.5mm width. My previous warbirds at a slightly smaller scale used 1mm chart tape but by the time the top coat was applied the impression was somewhat slight. With the tape in place I have brushed two layers of undiluted grey primer filler either side and when dry sanded back to blend out the brush stokes. The wing will have two coats if diluted primer sprayed on before removing the tapes and then some silver/aluminium applied along the panel lines and other high wear areas. I had considered a whole coat of silver/aluminium but Luftwaffe aircraft tend not to show much wear or oaint flaking due to the use if quality etch primer undercoating. Unlike Japanese fighters and some American examples. Also added are the gun and ammo covers. These came as vacuum mouldings so not too much work involved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted February 28, 2023 Author Share Posted February 28, 2023 Moving onto the lower wing the first job is to fabricate the outer lower gun covers. Pity these weren’t included with the other vacuum moulded abs parts from Vailly Aviation as they are a bit tricky. To keep weight down I have started out with 1/16 balsa and some shaped block. I shall glass cloth these and then add the spent cartridge chute made from formed Lithoplate afterwards along with the latches. The cover overlaps the aileron servo hatch so I will have to decide whether to fix them in place with screws or separate them along the servo cover line and glue in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted March 3, 2023 Author Share Posted March 3, 2023 Here’s the completed lower outer gun cover fitted with the cartridge exit chute. The front outer corner has been separated and glued to the servo hatch. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 Work continues laying panel lines and adding access hatches on the fuselage. The large lower access panel has been simulated with thin tape to accentuate the edge, but no litho added as I am low on the really thin stuff and I am trying to avoid adding any weight aft. The raised blimp behind for the loop antenna which will be removable for transport. For now I have simply cut a strip of 1.5mm plasticard which seems to work well enough. Fixings are 2m csk machine screws. The port side hinged large hatch I have added with litho as it makes simulating the latches easier. The piano hinge is brass rod sanded flat on one side, so it doesn’t sit too proud, and slots cut with a razor saw. This cold spell of weather has been helpful as there is still quite a bit of surface detail still to add. Hopefully all will be ticked off by the time it warms up and I can then lay the final few primer coats ready for adding rivets 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasD Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Nick, you do very nice details on your Butcher!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted March 18, 2023 Author Share Posted March 18, 2023 Thanks Thomas. Nearly there with this stage of detailing so hopefully next week I can lay down the final primer coats and set to some rivets. I may be a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted March 23, 2023 Author Share Posted March 23, 2023 With all the surface detailing completed, finally time to commit to the primer coats. It’s good to see it all one colour again as I have been getting a bit tired of endless weeks at the scruffy stage. Back on the model bench with a pile of peeled panel line tape. I do like peeling that away to reveal the lines. Wings up next. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted March 23, 2023 Author Share Posted March 23, 2023 I know it’s got a petrol twin to power the model hut there are no less than four batteries required. Two for the receiver/ servos, one for the ignition and one for the on board starter. Here we have a pair of 4300ma Li Ion Molicel packs on top of the engine box. Another of the same sits inside the box along with an 1100ma 4s lipo for the starter. Hopefully the oversized batteries should mitigate against having to use too much lead to balance the model. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david tilbury Posted March 26, 2023 Share Posted March 26, 2023 Hi Nick, It was great to meet up today for a chat and see the Fw in person........fantastic work!.......looking forward to seeing the next stage....it's going to be a stunner...:-) All the best Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artto Ilmanen Posted March 28, 2023 Share Posted March 28, 2023 Hi Nick, What engine are you planning for the model? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted March 28, 2023 Author Share Posted March 28, 2023 Vallach 85. swinging a 26 x 12 prop. With a fan. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artto Ilmanen Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 Looks good, Nick! Too bad Laser doesn't do anything larger than a small 60cc, at least for the time being. Anyways, from what I have heard Valach engines are supposed to be of high quality. And it's a 4-stroke and not a chainsaw engine. Is the fan for added cooling, by the way? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted March 29, 2023 Author Share Posted March 29, 2023 Thanks Arto, yes if Jon had a radial 90 I would have chosen it for sure. Second choice was the Saito FG 90 but someone had the new Valach for sale at a reasonable price so went for it. The fan is scale and moves a lot of air. I shall only partially baffle as I want to avoid back pressure from the fan, which I have read can actually reduce peak rpm. There is a lot of exit area for the cooling so I don’t anticipate any overheating issues. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artto Ilmanen Posted March 29, 2023 Share Posted March 29, 2023 3 minutes ago, Nick Somerville said: Thanks Arto, yes if Jon had a radial 90 I would have chosen it for sure. Second choice was the Saito FG 90 but someone had the new Valach for sale at a reasonable price so went for it. The fan is scale and moves a lot of air. I shall only partially baffle as I want to avoid back pressure from the fan, which I have read can actually reduce peak rpm. There is a lot of exit area for the cooling so I don’t anticipate any overheating issues. Sounds good. There has been lot of issues with Saito FG series engines although the FG90 is of newer design. Probably you will be happier with the Valach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Somerville Posted March 29, 2023 Author Share Posted March 29, 2023 The riveting begins. My pilot ‘Gunther Raal’ looks on to make sure I keep the lines on track. 2mm sharpened brass tube set into a cheap Aldi soldering iron. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.