Warbirds replicas Tempest

[Graham Davies 3]

Evening all,

Been busy in the garage today, so missed much of the fun on 'the state of the play'...

So, covering pretty much finished. I'm having a few bubble issues, but I'm sure I'll prevail.

Otherwise, it's ready for a coat of non-shrinking dope, and onto paint. I've fixed the motor mount now so the spinner gap is nice and tight.

Not long now...

[RICHARD WILLS]

Great job Graham , Its starting to look the part now . The exhaust stacks will be the clincher .

I am pretty sure your bubble problem is down to the glue . I have always stuck to evostik wood glue or more recently Gorilla glue PVA , both with a tiny drop of water to help you spread it on .

Cheap glue always ends up the same .

Now , the best glue for an Apprentice Brown Paper Hanger is available at Band Q . it is made by Unibond , and is called "Super Pva adhesive and sealer" , Comes in a 500ml white and red tin .

The reason its good for the first go , is because its consistency is perfect and its good quality glue .

The other use of PVA/Brown Paper is for covering very tired foamies . Yes , it does add a little weight , but by covering say a Dynam or FMS warbird it will give a whole new life , more strength and the chance to try a different paint job . Dont keep the iron in one place though ,other wise you will melt it .

[Graham Davies 3]

Hi Richard,

The bubbling is not too bad. I did consider calling a halt until I had some other glue, but I experimented with the amount I put on, and thickness and the problem is not too bad. The aileron was an early attempt and is about the worse. I did the wing first and there are 3 bubbled areas on both the top and the bottom, so that leaves a lot that is fine!

It's not the end of the world at this stage as I can spend another evening or two getting these as flat as possible. I will change glues before my next brown paper excursion though.

Haven't looked closely at the positioning of the stacks, but they appear to be half on the cowl. is this right or are they further back?

There are various bumps and blisters on the wing on your model too. I'll look at the drawings and see what I can add.

Then it will be onto the cockpit...

Graham

[RICHARD WILLS]

The stacks are ABS just like the cowl , so you can use airfix glue or solvent weld on that section . and just a dab of epoxy at the back .

The stacks should be right on the spinner centre line with the last exhaust stubb actually over the wing . (all the others being in front of the wing when viewed from above) .

The cannon blisters (two for each wing ) are perfectly replicated by medicine spoons with a swipe of filler around the base to blend them in .

The Camo paint will hide any bubbles in the paper so no panic .

[Nigel R]

What's the recommended source for the brown paper itself?

"the best glue for an Apprentice Brown Paper Hanger is available at Band Q . it is made by Unibond , and is called "Super Pva adhesive and sealer" , Comes in a 500ml white and red tin"

I use this stuff as regular building glue for sticking bits of wood together!

Seems to work just fine.

[RICHARD WILLS]

Well Nigel , In this case , dont go expensive , Expensive paper seems to be reconstituted so that it can claim to be green or is too thick . Your nasty corner shop paper is almost always the best bet .

I have tried other stuff but brown paper seems the most compliant and forgiving .

[Jonathan S]

Graham, as an Aspiring NOB and waiting on Richard's P51 for my first box of balsa I am reading your build with great interest.

One of the many outstanding questions in my mind is how to cover.

I have read and watched a few youtube videos on covering with brown paper but they all tend to be foam and or flying wings.

How did you tackle the covering? How do you work out what sections to cover and in what order etc?

I imagine you try to do wings in 2 parts underside and topside. Horizontal and Vertical stab in similar fashion. But the Fus is the bit I cannot seem to work out in my head how you do it. Any hints tips would be welcome.

Thanks

Jon

[Nigel R]

thanks Richard

[Graham Davies 3]

Hi Jon,

I have to confess this is the first time I have covered a model in brown paper. Definitely won't be the last though. It has significant advantages, in the right circumstances. As long as the structure is sheeted (either a veneered foam wing, or a fully sheeted built up structure), it is possible. It gives more strength than a shrink film finish as the dope provides significant surface strength, is easy to apply, and once fitted, stays fitted. It's also MUCH cheaper.

I did the wing with two large pieces, lower side first. It's easy to work from the middle outwards, and use a heat iron as you would film. The heat gun makes it dead easy to get around curves. I 'topped up' the PVA for the edges, just to be sure there would be no lifting. To be honest, not really necessary unless you can see loose areas as once it's on, it won't come off without leaving half of the paper behind.

I did the fuselage fin first, and included the fin fillets and 1/2" of the top side of the horizontal stabiliser. The fuselage underside, the fuselage sides. This was easy enough, and included 1/2" of the lower side of the stab. Then fuselage top and finally underside followed by top side of the stabiliser (really easy as I had already covered the roots above.

Control surfaces all separate, and straightforward.

As Richard says though; get decent glue. I have a few bubbles to attend to. Either cut 'H' slots with a sharp blade and peel back the paper, glue, and iron back down, or a hypodermic and inject a little ova into the bubbles. It's a bit time consuming, but not a big deal.

This is where I'm up to. Next step is a coat of non-shrinking dope, and filling/ sanding, and onto paint. Richard has loads of tips to make this really easy. Im going to spray with acrylics and then wheel in a great mate of mine whose interest is 1/72 scale to a very high standard. He's going to airbrush the panel lines and weathering detail.

Then I have to try to not smash it to pieces!

Good luck; you'll love the kit!

Graham

[Kim Taylor]

Posted by Nigel R on 06/07/2020 09:28:39:

What's the recommended source for the brown paper itself?

I've got a roll of brown masking paper, as used by automotive body shops, which I intend to use on my current project which I wanted to try the brown paper method on. I had the paper 'in stock' as I used to use it in my work, but from memory I paid less than a tenner for a 200 metre (yes, that's two hundred) roll.

It's quite thin, but I read somewhere that Richard recommends for it to be a similar weight to xmas wrapping paper, which describes this stuff to a tee.

Either cadge some from your local car body shop, or the local car paint supplier will no doubt have something in stock.

[Jonathan S]

Graham,

Thanks for the info. I have not covered a model befor so this was useful.

A follow up question how are you planning on putting the panel lines in. I make a lot of 1/48 planes so can work an airbrush and would like to weather my model to look worn in....

Thanks again for the help.

Jon

[Graham Davies 3]

Jon, I'm getting a bloke to do it! I'm no good with an airbrush, but I know a chap who is!

Graham

[Ron Gray]

Weathering an airframe can be a very easy thing to do and doesn't need an airbrush! (although I do enjoy using mine). In fact for the finishing of my Warbirds replica LA-7 I decided to not use my air brushes and opted for simple rattle can acrylics for the base colours and cameo then used a combination of thin paint brushes, sponges and cloths plus a finger to achieve what I wanted. Give it a go, you maybe surprised at how good a finish you can get with the simple (and cheap) approach.

Edited By Ron Gray on 06/07/2020 21:59:42

[Graham Davies 3]

Looks great Ron.

I'm going to do the same regarding the base coats; acrylic rattle cans. If I didn't have a keen mate, I'd find a way but this is not an area of strength for me!

[Ron Gray]

This is an area of warbird construction that puts a lot of people off because they think that it’s difficult to achieve a ‘decent’ finish. I’m just trying to say that it is not difficult and can be quite good fun! I’m not saying my LA-7 is brilliant, in fact it’s far from it but it’s what I wanted it to look like and, let’s face it, who can argue against it as nobody knows what the actual ‘planes looked like?

[Jonathan S]

Ron, I love the chipping and the faded paint on the wings very nice, It adds interest insead of being a flat toy like single colour.

What did you use to create the panel lines. On platic models they usually have them molded in or we make our own by engraving / scratching them in. Not so easy in balsa I would imagine.

Thanks

Jon

[Denis Watkins]

Posted by Jonathan Sharland on 07/07/2020 10:40:20:

Ron, I love the chipping and the faded paint on the wings very nice, It adds interest insead of being a flat toy like single colour.

What did you use to create the panel lines. On platic models they usually have them molded in or we make our own by engraving / scratching them in. Not so easy in balsa I would imagine.

Thanks

Jon

Before your top coat Jon

Use a soft pencil, 4B, and a flexible ruler, and draw your lines in

They show through acrylic top coat especially if light in colour

[Graham Davies 3]

I'd been watching the weather forecasts to find an evening to fly. This evening showed a nice gentle northerly, but also rather a lot of rain, so I went back in the garage!

Airframe is now doped and the first coats on. Light grey on the underside and a darker grey on the top. It's starting to look good now.

Regarding finishing; this is something I'm looking forward to a number of years learning the art. I am not looking for full scale; I want a sports model that looks like a real aeroplane so have realistic aspirations. If it looks good as it flies past, my work is done here. It already looks better than my Acrowot in the background! That one is 'naturally aged' by 20+ years in my loft, 10 in someone else's and having an old cold water tank dropped on it. It's a little known technique amongst the scale glitterati...

Graham

[Ron Gray]

@ Jon - Ah, the panel lines! I actually recreated the panels using self adhesive foil with a slight gap between them, I then accentuated the line using a very thin brush and black acrylic paint which I rubbed back before it dried, using my finger, along the line of the air flow! Yes you could paint or draw the lines on but the problem is that the lines wouldn't have any depth and would look a bit like most of the ARTFs you see! So, to create panel lines without panels use panel line tape (very narrow strips of masking tape) stick the tapes to the airframe then spray the primer over the whole lot. Follow that with a light rubbing down and remove the panel tape which should have now left a small narrow groove, your panel line now has depth!

I'm no expert at this weathering game but the above works for me!

[Jonathan S]

Graham,

Looking really good.

Denis, thanks for the hints on the panel lines. Its a great idea.

Jon

[Kevin Wesley]

I second the self adhesive foil system. You can rub through to create the effect of wear and tear. This model is covered in white printing paper to simulate panels

[Kevin Wesley]

[Peter Miller]

I would just like to comment on weathering.

DON'T over do it. Mechanics wear soft soled shoes so the wear is not as pronounced. When walking on wings it is normally on the main spar or marked walkways. NOT down near the trailing edge.

There may be some wear or paint off round screws on panels that are opened frequently.

THe biggest NO NO is to rub the paint off all the rivet heads so they are silver. In fact rivets tend to get a film of darker dirt round them. Many years ago there was a giant scale model which had every rivet painted silver,then camouflage and then the rivets rubbed back to silver OH DEAR!! The worst thing was that the full size aircraft skins were flush rivetted!!

My experience is from observation while working on RAF aircraft including Lancasters, Shackletons and a host of others.

[Peter Miller]

To clarify the last. When I said soft soled I meant normal leather shoes,or rubber soled cold weather boots but never,ever hobnailed boots.

[Jon H]

I agree with Peter.

Leading edges, walkways, ammo hatches/panel edges etc might be stripped back to silver but usually any dimple or groove in the surface will accumulate dirt and go black.

This is a great close up example

A war weary Typhoon

Less is usually more...but not if your aircraft is Russian!