Steve McLaren Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 I have now finished planking the top part of the fuselage, and fitted the elevator servo and hinge mechanism. Now turning my attention to how to create those tailplane fairings. I decided it might be easier (and maybe half a gram lighter) to construct them them 1/8th sheet rather than 1/2 inch solid balsa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted March 9, 2020 Author Share Posted March 9, 2020 Not but progress recently, but I managed to add the 'lids' onto my tailplane fairings yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted March 9, 2020 Share Posted March 9, 2020 very smart Steve - definitely one of the more tricky features on this build - interesting to see the different approaches taken by various builders. We're at a very similar stage - we'll soon all be glassing and painting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Meade Posted March 10, 2020 Share Posted March 10, 2020 That poor Spitfire fus sat in the corner Very neat building though Steve, good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted March 10, 2020 Author Share Posted March 10, 2020 I did start on the Spit wing Andy. But everything has had to stop to concentrate on getting this Sabre done in time. Even though we're getting close to glassing, it still feels like there's a long way to go. And we're going to be interupted by some flying weekends soon!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted March 29, 2020 Author Share Posted March 29, 2020 It is a relief when that last plank goes in! So I have now turned my attention to the pilot. I found this head on 'Thingiverse', and scaled him up to approx 1/10th. Unfortunately, he's not as tall as I need him, so he's being extended with a bit of 1/2inch balsa. Today I've been working on the wing seat area. I cut a bit more out of the fuselage sides to be sure that the wing was resting on the inner ply formers. I figured I can add it back later as 2 more planks. I also found that I had to sand the formers a bit to get everything to sit down nicely. Have now added the 2 front dowels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Twist Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 Nice and tidy there Steve, innovative solution on the tailplane cheeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted April 17, 2020 Author Share Posted April 17, 2020 After studying most of your build blogs, this is what I've ended up with at the tail end. It's not perfect but it's the best I think I can do. So i thought i would move on to cutting the canopy. Then I need to rebuild the fuselage the fuselage sides at the wing seat (having cut a little bit too much away). So I pinned a piece of 1/8th strip to the wing and tack bonded it back to the fuselage side. My plan is then to re-build the fuselage side to this level by adding an extra strip and then sanding back. I will then remove the extra 1/8th strip and tidy up whilst sanding the outside of the fuselage. (Well that's the plan!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 I like this idea on the wing seat Steve, it assures a perfect fit both internally and externally, and must be an easier way to achieve I think than the progressive sanding and checking and sanding and checking... I think I'll be following suit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 I have most of the main parts made now. I just need some work on the fairings between wing and fuselage and between fin and fuselage, then I'll be on to the glassing and finishing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McG 6969 Posted April 27, 2020 Share Posted April 27, 2020 Looks really great, Steve. I love your method of blending the wing into your fuse sides. I might shamelessly copy that later on . Nearly there now, young man. Cheers & stay safe. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted May 4, 2020 Author Share Posted May 4, 2020 So, I'm into my first tentative trials at covering with glass cloth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted May 4, 2020 Share Posted May 4, 2020 Excellent Steve - I cleaned up and readied all my parts for some glass tonight then realised I've run out of foam Jenny brushes which I like to stipple the resin on with, so a small delay for me whilst I await my Amazon order! Still a few other jobs to do in the mean time... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Houghton Posted May 5, 2020 Share Posted May 5, 2020 Steve, Great progress. I'm following your glassing with interest as I've never tried it myself. Keep us informed about the pitfalls and tips as you go. I'm toying with glass-cloth and Poly-C (for the first time), which will be somewhat less resilient than glass, but stronger than film. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk tinck Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 Good job Steve !It seems that everyone is using wash pin's to hold down the cloth ?This way the fabric will never stick any futher than the centerline of the elevatos (in this case ) Just an opinion i guess ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk tinck Posted May 6, 2020 Share Posted May 6, 2020 I always go round the part with a foam roll .This way ,the cloth stick's a little further than the centerline and i'm sure i have some overlap from the opposite side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted May 9, 2020 Author Share Posted May 9, 2020 Thanks for the tip Dirk. I'll try that on the next pieces. I'm hoping to do a bit more today. But I've only got 4 of those foam rollers and I'm struggling to find a supply during this lock-down! I was saving them for the main panels, but maybe I'll try to do more parts in a single batch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted July 5, 2020 Author Share Posted July 5, 2020 Almost a month since I made an entry on this blog, and I'm still on glassing! It's a slow process ( the way I do it!). I did the wing first, and I used the foam roller technique as recommended by Dirk. I found the rollers excellent for spreading the resin without dragging the cloth around and for making sure everything was well stuck down. Since all the advice seems to be about not adding too much resin and making your model heavy, I was quite careful in using what I thought was just enough resin to get everything to stick down and look uniform. But when I came to put some primer onto the surfaces later, I found that I hadn't used enough resin to fill the weave, and so I was getting this 'pin-holing' effect. I tried on one of the tailplanes to just keep adding primer and sanding back, until the weave was full and the pinholes disappeared, but it took 6 coats! I figured that was going to get expensive in paint, on the bigger surfaces, so I asked advice from the regular glass cloth users. The solution was to apply another coat of resin - again with a roller, but scraping off as much excess as possible with a credit card. I found it was necessary to roll a bit more after scraping to get a uniform finish, but this seemed to work. The resulting surface would take the primer with very few pin-holes appearing even on the first coat. So now I have done most of the fuselage too. There are a just a few fiddly little bits around the nose and tail-pipe to sort out before I can get onto painting that. I did the fuselage in 4 operations + 2 more for the fin. Hence why it takes a long time to get this far. I found it very difficult to get the planked fuselage smooth enough, so I am expecting to be doing quite a lot of skimming with filler on top of the glass cloth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirk tinck Posted July 5, 2020 Share Posted July 5, 2020 Looking real good there Steve ! The amount of resin in the glassing process is a story of trial and error as we all use different materials i guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 Great work Steve, good to see it all in glass - you have leapt ahead as my fus is still in final sanding - like you've reported I'm also struggling to get the smooth curved finish I'd expect in certain areas prior to the glass going on... Anyway work has stopped for a while as I prep for the weekend but I must refocus after our first flying session next week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted July 26, 2020 Author Share Posted July 26, 2020 As I suspected, when I applied a coat of primer to the fuselage, I found quite a few flat spots and ridges and all sorts of other defects in the shape! However I have found that off-cuts of 3mm depron make quite a good filler spreader which you can form to the general curvature of the fuselage. I'm hopeful that this will allow me to achieve a reasonably smooth curve over most of the fuselage. Its certainly easier to do this after the glassing/priming when you can see the shape a lot better. But I think I've got a few more cycles of paint>fill>sand to go yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Looks good to me Steve, good progress! Can I ask - if you are applying filler on top of the glass - what type of filler are you using and will that be suitable for paint or does the filler itself need another coat of resin to seal it once you are happy with the local shape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 Hi Phil, I'm using Isopon P38 car body filler on top of the glass so that I can spray the primer directly on it. Heavy I know! But I'm hoping it will only be a few thin slivers here and there! Obviously it would be better to have spent more time getting it right with lightweight filler before glassing, but I found it very difficult with the pattern and texture created by the planking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve McLaren Posted August 23, 2020 Author Share Posted August 23, 2020 After many hours of filling, sanding and spraying primer, I've finally got the fuselage to a state which I think will be just about acceptable. So over the last couple of days, I've put the canopy on. After bonding with canopy glue, I used a little more filler to fair out the canopy into the fuselage. Now I think I'm ready for the fun bit - applying some colour! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Cooke Posted August 23, 2020 Share Posted August 23, 2020 Hey nice one Steve - great progress - getting this fus shaped has taken me way too long too! Looking forward to getting to the stage you are now at, ready for the final top coat and all the detailing - enjoy this final few stages! (Don't forget to remask your canopy!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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