Harry Twist Posted June 1, 2016 Share Posted June 1, 2016 Hi All, Thought I would add my A4 scooter progress to the thread but I'm not in great at bloggy things so lets see how we go. There are a few images below of my build so far. I'm planning to do mine (hopefully) as the second prototype model - image below shows a nicely made plastic model version (not made by me - found on the net). The pictures are the product of around 5 or 6 weeks work doing a little bit each or every other night. Not sure how or if I will model the long nose yet. Just like other A4 builders images seen here - early stages-fuselage sides joined, battery box completed. Awaiting dry fit up. Fin and rudder as per Phil's method Intake cover sheets cut to plan and shaped around my thermos flask which matched the aim diameter almost perfectly. Intake sheets needed a little tweeking to enable continuous contact around A1 A2 and A3 I removed around 3mm thickness of material in the centre section of the sheet - tapering to and keeping the height at the front (101mm) and back (55mm) the same as plan. To help I carefully drew on the A1 A2 and A3 locations on the outside of the sheet. So- to where I am as of today! After two serious sessions in three days - of getting intimate with my Davy plane and some sanding sheets - I have the semblance of a fuselage. Not quite finished yet - one more sanding session should see me there. I inked on the safe limit lines as suggested by Phil and carefully planed to these- then sanded away. I was amazed at how much wood needs to come off! Still little bits to do around the intakes. I have beefed up the bottom of F4 a little - the balsa in my former felt a little rubbery so I have added 1/16th ply braces front and back of the former. I will drop on more images as I move along. Happy building Regards H Edited By Harry Twist on 01/06/2016 22:53:22 Edited By Harry Twist on 01/06/2016 23:02:14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Gilder Posted June 2, 2016 Share Posted June 2, 2016 Looking great Harry. Further on than mine but hey, Its a marathon, not a sprint!! Wont be long before I'm onto the intakes... Not looking forward to that bit! Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Kettle 1 Posted June 2, 2016 Share Posted June 2, 2016 Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted June 2, 2016 Share Posted June 2, 2016 Looks great that Harry - nice one! Yes a lot of wood has to come off - a function of the very simplistic fuselage construction method I'm afraid - but it's important to get the shape right to achieve a true scale fuselage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Mackey Posted June 2, 2016 Share Posted June 2, 2016 Yes looks great Harry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Twist Posted June 24, 2016 Author Share Posted June 24, 2016 Hi All, I thought I would share some more progress on my A4. Like others - my focus has now moved on to the wing construction. I set the sub TE on the lower wing sheet and based everything forwards of that, for the ribs I used simple plastic aligners ensuring everything was square to the sheet (apart from R1 where I used the supplied dihedral angle jig). Basic wing construction went to plan- building first the right then the left wing. I used the - "slide under the LE a section of aileron stock" method to raise the lower sheet to meet the front rib bottoms - works well - apart from rib R1 which I lined up and glued later. Inter rib sheeting and triangular gussets now fitted and since the photos were taken I have cut slots for the dihedral brace. For this I temporarily fitted a piece of waste ply stock trapped between front and rear gusset as I glued the gussets in place. Also now made a full thickness dihedral brace. Have trimmed the canopy and feathered the rudder down to 1/8th (ish) - after this I couldnt resist a dry fit of the bits so far. Next jobs - servo boxes, prepare aileron section/ torque rods and then make up top sheeting in prep for wing completion. Some photos below. Regards H Edited By Harry Twist on 24/06/2016 21:48:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 Looks great Harry, congrats on the first bit of bench flying!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Twist Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 Hi All, Lots of A4's coming along in all these blogs, cracking to see but I'm starting to feel the time pressure now! Update on mine - wings made and joined no problem, found my wing to fuz dowel to sit low, so had to elongate the hole in the former, now sits lovely. Shaped the canopy and now have a good fit apart from the very front where I have added a small balsa fillet. I have made a shield shaped upstand for the rear to help location and give the canopy material something to contact. Also- pilot painted and as a treat made an arrester hook scaled up from one on my diecast a4 model ! My A4 test pilot has assumed a white helmet and orange flying suit.... Next major decision - glass all over and paint or, cover in film? Been pondering this for weeks still cant decide! Photos attached regards H Edited By Harry Twist on 26/07/2016 21:47:04 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Looks like you're hooked! great job! I like the shield idea to help locate the rear of the canopy - I'll have to do that too! Yes, Glass or Film, Glass or Film... I'm at the same point - but I think glass wins out - applied carefully I'm hoping we can minimise the amount of sanding and pre-paint prep required knowing there are only 6.5 weeks to go! Edited By Phil Cooke on 26/07/2016 22:07:26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyer Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 NIce work Harry, looking good. Looking forward to seeing all these A4's above the Orme. ( and hoping mine will be with them). Ade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Jennings 1 Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Well done Harry, that's looking great. The shield idea is a really neat solution to something I hadn't yet thought about, I may incorporate a bit of a bulkhead too. Can't wait to see it lined up with the rest. Bob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Twist Posted August 1, 2016 Author Share Posted August 1, 2016 Just finished a busy weekend pushing the A4 along - mainly fibreglassing all the components that were ready! So tailplane /elevator fin & rudder assembly now glassed as are the undercarriage pods. I wasnt overly happy with the fuz - full of tool and handling dings so - resanded all over to get down to 400grit. Then cleaned and glassed it in 5 stages - tailpipe area/ rear underside/front underside/ nose to intakes/ intakes to tailpipe. Overlapping between each section. Used 25gsm cloth and Deluxe materials "Eze Kote" - following the instructions to the letter! ( However I may yet give an extra thin topcoat). Very impressed with the finish this stuff gives. The fuselage is now glassed and awaiting final gentle sand. Attached -some pictures show a little of the glassing. Happy scootering! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Barlow Posted August 1, 2016 Share Posted August 1, 2016 Looks good Harry. I'm feeling a little pressure too now due to several weekends away planned before September. Glad I'm not the only one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John A H Posted August 2, 2016 Share Posted August 2, 2016 How easy was it to cover the rudder without messing up the detail of your "riblets" ? I'm not looking forward to that bit as it looks fafftastic - and there isn't much faffing time available before september. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Twist Posted August 2, 2016 Author Share Posted August 2, 2016 Hi John, Good question - I sort of copped out on that! Before glassing the fin/rudder I carefully sanded the area between the riblets and the riblets themselves. I then masked off the riblet area itself - but not the whole of the rudder. I then glassed up the whole surface up to the masking tape. Once dry I sanded off the excess glass, removed the tape and then finish coated the whole rudder with Ezee Kote - including the riblets. So strictly the riblets arent glassed but have got a coating. I'm hoping after a little more careful sanding they will be OK for painting! Got onto glassing the wing today - all looks good apart from on drying I have noticed that - a couple of areas of upper wingskin on one side have popped off the ribs! Not sure how to fix this - may involve a series of very fine drill holes along the rib tops and dribbling in aliphatic or CA! Unless anyone has a better fix! So I'm a bit annoyed at myself for letting this happen - Hey ho. I'm currently trying to put in some hours on the model - since I go away for a few days on Thursday so the job stops! Edited By Harry Twist on 02/08/2016 18:12:23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted August 2, 2016 Share Posted August 2, 2016 yeah that's the way Harry, I'm doing exactly the same on mine, don't want to lose all that lovely carved our detail with the glass cloth - the epoxy flow coat will be sufficient followed by a gentle sand and a quick blast of filler primer! We don't need the strength here, just the weatherproofing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyer Posted August 2, 2016 Share Posted August 2, 2016 Nice job Harry; I'm intending to just resin the ribs, and cloth the important bits. Hope mine's finsihed in time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Twist Posted August 19, 2016 Author Share Posted August 19, 2016 Hi All, Time to update my A4 mini blog! Seeing Peter's rip up the slope at the Lleyn last weekend was fantastic! My A4 is now fully glassed, ailerons and elevator fitted and I have started the priming/filling/ priming cycle. Had a a couple of hours making a balsa insert to sit below the fin and above the exhaust shroud- but happy with the result. I have made this part removeable - to enable access the elevator linkage. So all the lovely woodwork is now buried under primer - most of which I sanded off again! (last picture!). Since the photos I have added a further coat of primer filler. Couple of photos below: First picture is a "dress rehearsal" image prior to stripping down for paint. Getting closer...... Sorry about the poor quality of the above picture - model still covered in sanded off paint dust. Edited By Harry Twist on 19/08/2016 19:44:14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Looking really neat Harry, nice one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted August 19, 2016 Share Posted August 19, 2016 Hey! That looks great!! Superb job! Yes I agree - seeing Peter enjoying flying his A-4 at the weekend will have spurred on a number of us to get back and get focussed... looks like you are nearly there Harry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Twist Posted August 22, 2016 Author Share Posted August 22, 2016 Hi All - I'm looking for a little advice from any painting gurus out there, regarding the painting of my A4! I've usually painted - light colours first, then dark colours second, - I also usually aim to do the largest areas first. My planned colour scheme is as shown in the photo below. Predominantly - aluminium effect with dayglo red/orange edging. So... would you ....paint the whole model aluminium than mask up for dayglo? Recognising that ali should have a grey primer and dayglo a white primer! Or- would you ....start with the dayglo and mask up later for the aluminium? Or would you do anything else? Basically I'm trying to avoid 2 maskings along the same paint colour boundary line. I'm using rattle cans to lay on the paint. Any advice or comments welcome. Edited By Harry Twist on 22/08/2016 00:01:42 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onetenor Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 FWIW I would mask off the dayglow areas and complete the grey primer and chrome areas first. Then do the base white and dayglow using good quality enamels and a soft brush. If you have done the prep well it will come out as though sprayed and saves double masking . Just my personal approach. Good luck John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorenz Mueller Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 As far as I remember from my plastic modeling days masking on painted aluminium is risky at best. Masking tape tends to destroy the sheen of the aluminium paint. Personally I would try painting the dayglo first. And don't forget the clear coat on top of the dayglo! If you want to do the aluminium first try masking with wet paper only - a pain in handling, but avoiding the masking tape problem. Lorenz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Jennings 1 Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Hi Harry, Definitely dayglo first, but for best results put a white primer down first, then the dayglo, then you could put the clear coat on. Then leave it all to cure. Mask these areas off with Tamiya tape and run a thin line of clear coat down the edge to prevent bleed under. A leap of faith with gloss black and aluminium alclad will give a superb result! However, if you are comfortable with the rattle can approach, use a standard grey with a Halfords Nissan Silver or similar over the top! Be careful peeling the tape back against itself along the surface when it's all cured. A final clear coat will blend it all in. Best of luck, Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Jennings 1 Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Just remembered you mentioned not having an airbrush! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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