AndyD Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 very nice in deed,defo a Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Banner Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Yeah, that's proper. Good job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosco Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Absolutely agree with the others.Mighty fine work there Chris. It's starting to come alive now.Very nice mate.Rosco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 Very good indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted July 29, 2016 Author Share Posted July 29, 2016 Thank you for all those nice comments, gents. It's not only giving Gaston and me a large smile but most certainly boosts up our motivation... Thanx again Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Boost Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven S Posted July 29, 2016 Share Posted July 29, 2016 The free 1 metre flexible rulers at Ikea are nice for measuring around curves. They have hundreds of them hanging in each department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted July 29, 2016 Author Share Posted July 29, 2016 Hey Steven, I must admit I even didn't think about our Swedish mega store... and we even have a very large one here in Zaventem... On the other end, "1 meter", you wrote... the Bella isn't 'full scale', you know... just about 1:6 scale and no obesity nor pregnancy... Next time I visit them, I will think about your tip anyway. Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Aldi Ikea Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 Hello again, My temporary desertion from La Grotte was only motivated by the 24 Hours of Spa for GT3 cars. The M-Motorsport troops of Malcolm Wilson had a victory at hand with their 'factory' Bentley, but made such a strategic mess up that the podium places finally went to BMW, Mercedes & Audi. Sorry guys... Back to the Bella now. With all holes measured and drilled in the cowl, including the fixation for the exhausts, I could sand it down and give it a coat of primer. After sanding that primer with 800 wet, it was ready for some measurements. With an average thickness of 0.65mm - and with a maximum of 0,74mm at the flat bottom - can you believe me when I say it is still very light and flexible? Just for the sake of Rosco, our down-under Weight Master, I put it on the scale and got quite satisfied with under 20gr before the final paint job... If anyone wants to try some fiberglassing for this kind of item, allow me to advice - even as a modelling rookie - to use 2 layers of 30gr (or 3 layers of 18gr if you don’t have 30) followed by a minimum of 2 layers of 50gr in strategic places like fixations locations or edges/back-ends. Flat areas are best treated with some ‘tunneling’ or ‘bridging’ if the space is internally available. Also peel off ply is fantastic stuff for larger flat surfaces, but is quite unusable in this very confined space. Don’t worry, this is very probably the very only advice that this rookie will be able to provide during this Bella build. Possible exception made about other composites or glues… Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Advice Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 1, 2016 Author Share Posted August 1, 2016 Hello gents, The early followers of the Bella’s blog will remember that following Peter’s Purple Plan, I used to prepare some small bits while another item was drying or curing. As Bella’s hatch is nearing its final stage, I think it’s about time to bring those together. So, the Ultegra glass panel, the two side panels, the magnetic compass, the cockpit combing, the headrest - which is ‘fully operational’ as it allows to lift the battery hatch - and of course the windshield got finally out of confinement. Now, having a good old magnetic compass for navigation redundancy is great, but also a bit useless without having some maps at hand… So, I downloaded a few low-air maps from the net, scaled them down, printed/cut them out and protected them with a piece of laminating film. All bits & pieces were glued in place except the windshield which has four tabs sliding into slots in the hatch & pinned from the inside. IIRC, I’ve been stealing that idea from AndyD’s 120 Ballerina… “Is this some case of insanity, Your Honour?” “Not at all, young man. I can fully validate your cerebral mapping!” “Thank you, Your Honour.” … Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Mapping Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Banner Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 That has a real steam punk feel to it. I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyD Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 im liking that alot,makes mine look like a cheap copy of a ballerina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 2, 2016 Author Share Posted August 2, 2016 Thanks a lot, guys. I totally agree with that 'retro-science-fantasy' aspect, Jack. I must have been reading too much of Jules Verne's extraordinary books when I was a young lad... Not a "cheap copy" at all, Andy... Remember, I was the one who 'copied' your windshield idea... Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Retro-Futuristic Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 2, 2016 Author Share Posted August 2, 2016 Hi out there, On my very first build page more than six months ago, I promised Danny Fenton to try a few of his famous ‘rivets’ to my canopy frame. So I did - if you have a close look to the windshield - but they weren’t really that ‘great’ so I decided to ‘weather’ them down as much as I could. In fact I messed it up by trying Formula 560 which was ‘flattening out’ when drying. Now working at my fibreglass cowl, I decided to give it another go just to try keeping my given word. Danny is using Modeller’s Glue if I remember well, but as I don’t have that at hand and even don’t know what it could be replaced with, I will have to go another route. First job was to trace some twin and single pencil lines and to measure an acceptable distance between the rivets. A small bottle filled with Deluxe Aliphatic topped with a syringe tip would be my weapon this time. Having some tests done, I noticed that the Aliphatic slightly retracts when drying, so let’s hope for the best… By the way, tracing the lines on the compound curves took far more time than applying the little white dots… Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Rivets Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted August 2, 2016 Share Posted August 2, 2016 Looks great Chris, what size syringe are you using?CheersDanny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted August 2, 2016 Share Posted August 2, 2016 That is very impressive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Banner Posted August 2, 2016 Share Posted August 2, 2016 I am prevented from concurring with my esteemed compatriots due to a real concern that your subsequent increased cranial circumference may retard your access to "la grotte". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 3, 2016 Author Share Posted August 3, 2016 Hello Danny, Thank you a lot for commenting on the ‘rivets’. To be honest, I didn’t really measure the size of the needle. It comes with these tiny bottles. I have a type of smaller ones - from the Singapore friends - which I can use on the Superphatic bottles but they are a ‘non fit’ to these bottles. When at La Grotte, I will measure both types and come back with some figures. I honestly think my rivets are a bit oversized for 1:6 scale, but… hé… “learning curve” again, I guess… And, at least, I kept my word & they surely will be ‘strong’ enough to keep Bella’s cowl together… Thank you again for your help & please, feel free to jump in for comments anytime. Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Rivet Size Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 3, 2016 Author Share Posted August 3, 2016 Thanks Peter, & Jack for your approach to a diagnosis, This morning The LotH did a full analysis of my “esteemed” circumferences (!?) and did not find anything out of proportion. Only if La Grotte’s entrance door would abnormally shrink to 1:6 scale, there might be a size conflict… But thank you anyway for your concern… Hakuna ‘size’ matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Cranial Size Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 3, 2016 Author Share Posted August 3, 2016 Hello to everybody, For those who still have some doubts about it, here‘s a bit more ‘mental insanity’… When I was taking care of that cockpit detailing and after scaling down those low-air navigation maps, I thought about having a scale down as well of the ‘back to the roots’ December 2015 RCME magazine where it all started for the Mass Build 2016. So, I scanned the magazine front page, scaled it down to 1:6 and included it in the Bella’s cockpit. Please note that if the format of the magazine is to scale, I had to adapt the number of contents pages to avoid ending with a huge telephone book… But it’s always nice to have some reading at hand when the runway clearance for take-off really takes too long… Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR RCME Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted August 3, 2016 Share Posted August 3, 2016 I see that you used the one with the Ballerina plan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 4, 2016 Author Share Posted August 4, 2016 Yes absolutely, Peter. I went for some kind of wink to the "Birth of the Bird"... ... or, more even more appropriate in this case the ABC of the Bella project - i.e. Another Ballerina Conception... Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR ABC Control Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 4, 2016 Author Share Posted August 4, 2016 Hi again to all, When the rivets went dry, I had to take a decision regarding the ‘covering’ of the cowl. My skills wouldn’t definitely allow me to finish the cowl with the ‘Bright Silver’ covering, especially not considering those rivets. Unfortunately, this idiot projected to choose for some ‘Chrome’ spray can instead… The method could very well - perfectly even - serve a fully polished DC-3 model of the Costa-Rican regional airline Sansa, but IMHO way too ‘blingy’ for the more ‘classy’ Commedia Dell’ Arte dancer... Even Gaston seemed quite surprised by his total ‘reflection’… Here we go again, the Scotch Brite treatment followed by the ‘classic’ weathering… you all know by now, don’t you? … What I would like to obtain is the look of an old aluminium sheeting, totally oxidised by the years and then ‘restored’ to obtain a ‘shiny grey-ish’ look. Well, I know what I mean… Nearly... I also measured the syringe ID following Danny’s question. So the diameter of the pictured little bottle is 0,8mm, while my other ‘pale yellow’ nozzles are 0,7mm. I’ll look for an adequate support recipient and use those narrower ones on my next ‘rivets’ attempt. Thank you again, Danny. ‘Chrome’ matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Brite Control Edited By McG 6969 on 04/08/2016 18:58:03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Miller Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 That is very nice and I know that those who want to replicate higly polished aluminium will love that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted August 5, 2016 Author Share Posted August 5, 2016 Thanks, Peter. The painting went really very well as for 'highly polished' metal but wasn't the kind of result I desired to obtain. Not a real problem though as the 'wash' is now done and I just have to add some anti-reflection flat black on top. The cowl will then be ready to receive the Turbomeca exhausts & done. The readers will very probably be aware of the trick for spray cans, but it was a 'first' to me. I had been reading that before spraying with a can, it was best to put it in warm water, at about the maximum T° you can get from your boiler, mine was 53°C in the sink. Leave it there for a few minutes, shake it well for a couple of minutes and start the job. The temperature of the paint, together - probably? - with a slightly higher propellant pressure, seems to allow for a better 'mist' and improved end result. Worked very nicely for me anyway. Hakuna matata Chris BRU - BE / CTR Paint Control Edited By McG 6969 on 05/08/2016 15:59:12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyD Posted August 5, 2016 Share Posted August 5, 2016 ive heard of the hot water idea but usally forget about it untill ive done my spraying,but i will give it ago one day.my mustang im brush painting now as my compresser gone up in smoke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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