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Chris McG F-86 Sabre Dog build blog


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Posted by McG 6969 on 07/04/2020 20:27:04:

Hello again,

‘Small bits duty’ part #2.

I started to concentrate on the cockpit furniture and had to have a careful introspective journey into my SHD - aka the Specialty Hoarding Drawers. cool

1014_cockpit_furniture_900.jpg

Great detail McG, you're the best! yesheart

Please continue with great work on the cockpit furniture and after that, I have some household furniture that could also use some great work wink

@Dwain Nice to read you are doing better now!

Hakuna matata

BRU- BE/ CTR household furniture

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Thanks lads & laddie,

@ Iris > I just hope your 'household' stuff is at 1:10 scale as well... indecision

@ Martin > ... if you feel comfortable with some full size 'household' stuff, please let us know... cheeky

@ Steve > I don't know if it could be nominated for 'cockpit fitting', but at least it would be for the 'patience' category... cool

Cheers

Chris

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Hello again,

I’m slowly progressing with all those small cockpit details.

No complaining here of course as I made that ‘crazy’ decision myself. blush

But I can’t imagine having a thread post with the progression of every single bit. Sorry about that.

I will share this as it was a ‘premiere’ using artist canvas to make Yvan’s safety belts.

1024_safety_belt01_900.jpg

I had some testing with a weathering of the belts using different dilutions of acrylic Raw Sienna to tint the canvas. The buckles are simply small pieces of shaped styrene painted with Valejo Gun Metal.

The following close-up is showing a little too much contrast as the light angle was very adjacent, but I’m quite happy with the obtained result.

1029_safety_belt02_900.jpg

Hakuna matata

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Adjacent Light Control

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To those still out there,

In between the small bits for the cockpit, I had some progression with the ‘tub’.

1032_cockpit_tub01.jpg

It may look very fragile but the floor frame - bamboo BBQ skewers - make it more solid than it appears. The floor is a lamination of two cross grained 1,5mm off cuts.

I had no idea, but I recently learned that, after balsa, bamboo is the second type of wood with the lowest density… angel

Matata, but stay safe, gents

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Tub Control

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Nice work Chris.

I realised today as I began to fit out my cockpit 'parcel shelf' rear of the ejector seat, that the cockpit requires some method of sealing it off from the wing box area, to stop dust and debris working its way into the canopy area over time. Does your 'bath tub' lend itself to this purpose too?

Dust and debris ingress into the cockpit on a finished scale model is one of my pet hates, at present there is a clear path from the canopy to the open wing box - so something needs to be done!

Edited By Phil Cooke on 16/04/2020 20:42:27

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Thank you all for commenting, gents.

Yes, Phil. Once glued in permanently, the 'tub' will be 'isolating' the cockpit area quite well. There will only be a small crevice at the back of the ejection rails. But as I don't want any 'intruders' either, I can easily close that one with a small strip of Blenderm or acetate.

Belgian jet pilots are usually very 'brave', Martin... but then Dirk's one will be Italian... maybe some 'ice cream'? ... wink

Cheers

Chris

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Hi to all,

My next step was to prepare the ‘tub’ for some paint.

As I couldn’t find any usable pics of the Q-259’s cockpit colour but being ‘new’ when it was delivered to the Dutch units, I just had to assume that it was the USAF type of medium grey with the front part in anti-glare satin/mat black.

I brushed on Freddie B’s Secret Sauce to give the ‘tub’ a first coat. Lightweight filler, talcum, WB varnish, half a drop of black artist acrylic and the lot diluted w/ some drops of water after mixing it the best I could.

1035_cockpit_tub02_900.jpg

In fact, it’s a ‘cousin’ of his recipe as he’s mainly using strong/hard WB varnish for his work and I just used ‘normal’ varnish as these parts are just cosmetic and there’s no real need for a stronger/heavier stuff here. The part has been slightly sanded already with 400 grit.

1040_cockpit_tub03_900.jpg

It simply replaces sanding sealer, covers up all the imperfections in one go and is a pleasure to sand. Win/win stuff really…

Hakuna matata if you stay safe, gents

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Freddie B Control

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Thanks for visiting, John.

Gaston is OK, but he's a bit sad at the moment.

He's feeling lonely as the lockdown keeps him separated from Mademoiselle Jeanne, his former colleague but also his very official 'fiancée' ... heart

jeanne_gaston01_900.jpg

She appeared the first time during the Vicomte 1916 build when they had some holidays together. kiss cake cocktail

Does anybody remember her??? ... smiley wink

Cheers & stay safe, gents

Chris

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Hello again,

Freddie B ‘s Secret Sauce isn’t ‘secret’ at all as he gave it away on RC Groups some years back.

If someone is interested to give it a try, all you need is a test bit of foam or balsa and some basic ingredients.

If using balsa, best is to have it glassed and filling the wave afterwards with the ‘sauce’ instead of going on to add some more epoxy. For covering of stressed parts like wings, it is best to use ‘hard WB varnish - like Diamond Ronseal or the V33 ‘parquet’ varnish that I use - as the result becomes very hard but still is a pleasure to sand…

I used it on glassed Depron during the Bella Ballerina build.

You can find the exact recipe on page 43 of my build if you scroll down a bit.

Sharing of test results is absolutely not prohibited during these hard times…

Hakuna matata & stay safe

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Fred B’s Test Control

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Hi to all,

Even with this confinement, it seems that the visiting forumites are not very interested in testing Fred’s stuff. No probs, if it can help only one fellow modeller, it was worth posting… smiley

I went on using the same sauce for the fixed cockpit part.

1041_cockpit_tub04_900.jpg

If you look a bit closer, when the sauce is dry it turns out a few shades darker - absolutely no allusion whatsoever here - and when it’s sanded, like the tub, it becomes a lighter grey. angel

I noticed this before with different colours but I have no idea why. The advantage is a simple build in sanding guide. cool

I also prepared some bits for Ivan’s seat. Two 6mm balsa pieces, beveled to an angle, glued together and they will be tapered when dry to form the back and the headrest.

1046_pilot_seat01_900.jpg

The two pieces below, bamboo skewers & tongue depressors, will become the seat ejection rails. Hopefully…

Matata, but stay safe

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Shades of Grey Control

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Thank you for the encouraging words, Mark.

Certainly not as neat as your translucent purple covering... blush

But I'm trying the best I can with these fiddly small parts.

Apparently I forget that I still have the Dog's fuselage & wing to complete... frown

A bit of progress today, but nothing very spectacular as the bits are either drying or waiting for an additional paint coat.

Cheers

Chris

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Thank you for the kind words, Dwain.

I was convinced that I couldn't really face a voodoo curse from you... angel cool

Looking at your post, I didn't realize that you were flying helis as well.

Some years back I bought a second-hand ARTF heli (F-39?) and really enjoyed it. So I took over a Trex 450 Pro on Ebay but when it arrived, it really needed some work and spares. The parts are waiting since years together with the Trex as I started buiding Peter's Ballerina instead... blush

Cheers & keep safe

Chris

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Hello there,

Not a large cascade of words here, I’m afraid. blush

But McG is still making full progress.

1050_pilot_seat02_900.jpg

1056_pilot_seat03_900.jpg

I had the seat & headrest tapered following plan.

The seat rails got assembled and finally glued to the seat.

In the meantime, several other cockpit details were painted or sub-assembled… cool

Hakuna matata, but keep safe, gents

Chris

BRU - BE / CTR Full Progress Control

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Thank you for posting, gents.

I'm trying to be 'attentive', Mark... but my skills aren't always necessarily following my thoughts... angel

Going nowhere unfortunately, John. Cruises - Iris hates 'm btw - or summer holiday plans are entombed and even post-summer hopes will probably be buried as well... sad

No Magnums to enjoy, Dirk. The popsicle sticks came in bulk from our Shenzhen friends. But, you're right the seat sides look a bit 'toy-ish'. A bit late to do something about it now as they just got painted, I'm afraid. blush

Cheers

Chris

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