Monday 29 February 2016

C17 cores cut

Some progress, but not as much as I'd hoped with all the work going on around the house and more builds than you can shake a stick at.  Cores done - next up will be joining them and marking up flap / aileron positions, then adding some TE reinforcement where necessary before veneering.



Thursday 18 February 2016

F104 finishes primer stage 2

I've not mentioned her in a while, but here is the Starfighter, after fill / sand / prime / fill / sand / prime.  She's now ready for top coat, which I am very happy with for timing.


Flanker is there too, with bottom paint on and awaiting top camo.

C17 Former dry fit

The C17 continues apace, and I've had a chance to lay the formers out on the crutch.

Love it! Scale given by my A10's nose, which is not exactly small as it is. I have now cut out the rear section formers and crutches, but won't have a picture of that until I get the longerons sorted.  I'm now at a stage where I think I can safely mark-up Dave's set of formers, and get on with cutting them too.  

All of this C17 work means that the Albatrosses have been sat idle all week, but I may get around to cutting their wings sometime on Saturday, after I've met up with some of the PSSA crew at the Coventry Air Museum, where we will be fondling Vulcans, Starfighters etc.  Brill!



Monday 15 February 2016

C17 - former work commences

I need to get the 4mm ply out of the house, before the better half beats me with a stick.  So, I started on the cutting out of paper, and spray-mounting them to the wood.  I've actually cut them all out now, and am just fettling the edges for neatness and accuracy.


Thistle added for scale!  There are actually 3 more formers on another sheet that didn't fit on here.  So far, so good.

Saturday 13 February 2016

Vulcan rear end

I've just epoxied on the top parts of the tailpipes on the Vulcan - in amongst DIY jobs around the house.  She is very close to being covered now!



Albatross #1 progresses

I forgot to post this yesterday, so here it is.  This is the first of the new run of L39's, which now includes several more plan mods.  Might be able to call this one my own design yet!


Thursday 11 February 2016

Paint delivery

Lots of UA mimetic paint arrived today for the Su27 (top) and the Vulcan (bottom).  Spraying tonight!


Friday 5 February 2016

L39 Albatross for PSS

Steve asked for details about the Albatross, so here are some bits and piece.  I'd realised this morning that I had only really mentioned about kitting them in an obscure thread n the ModelFlying forums.

One of my first PSS builds was this little Albatross from the Cyril Carr plan :


I sold her shortly after making the Jet Provost, as I thought they'd be performing a pretty similar role.  Wrong!  The L39 penetrates better (MUCH smaller in cross section), is more manoeuvrable (shorter tail moment), is easier to build (certainly less wasteful of balsa), and stays up in lighter lift (more wing area for a similar weight.

As I still have the plan, I thought I'd make two more - one for me, one to sell.  After mentioning that, I had a bit of interest, so now I am making 5, keeping one still.

Specs? OK :

  • 40" wingspan.  Veneered foam wing (slightly thinned from plan).
  • Magnetized knock-off wing tanks.
  • All balsa fuselage.
  • Removable, adjustable, battery tray.
  • All linkages supplied (snake to elevator, single servo cutout and links for ailerons.
  • AUW ready to fly should be a smidge over 1.5lbs.  This may be different for different canopy versions, see below.
As standard, a solid, sprayed foam canopy, finished in silver solarfilm, the aircraft is £55 plus delivery.  This will need your servos (x2 mini size -  I can recommend these or similar from Hobbyking), a switch, a battery (4 cell NiMh or 2 cell LiFe is my preference), and your receiver.

A clear canopy with 2 painted pilots, ejector seat and interior details, again in silver solarfilm, is £70.

I can do various camo schemes, but cost depends on complexity.  I like these from a recent trawl for colour schemes :






If anyone is interest, please let me know.  As you can tell, from the blog, I have a fairly full workshop at the moment, so these build should all be ready by the first PSSA meet (16th April).

Thursday 4 February 2016

A little bit of Vulcan

Here is some Vulcan rear-end action!


The back of the bee-sting is now formed with pink foam and a central lite-ply crutch.  I've slapped some filler on, and will glass this locally before much longer.  I intend to Oracover the whole model, so the foam bits will be glass as and when necessary.

I have also gotten into the Albatross builds.  Looks like I will be making four and selling three, so if you are in the UK and interested, let me know.

Wednesday 3 February 2016

Vulcan under-body items

I managed to affix the port engine mouldings yesterday, and this morning I modified it as per the other side for access to the rear wing retention bolt.  I have started adding the last items to be built - the tailcone, and I am speaking to Matt about the nose of his one.


It's coming along!  I started top coat spraying on the Flanker last night, and had a bit of a disaster.  The new acrylic paint I am using did not spray well at all, and has gone on quite splotchy.  Now I have just changed the seals in the airbrush, but think there is a problem with one of the seals I couldn't get too.

I've quickly purchased a cheapo brush off of ebay that comes with lots of extra bits, so I will try again with that and the new paint.  If it all still goes tits-up, then I will change back to enamel paints.

So what would the priority of builds be?  Good question!  I have no idea.  I am also building some L59's for sales purproses, so really they need to be first.  Then the Flanker.  Then...not sure?  Vulcan and F104 are both fairly close.

Tuesday 2 February 2016

Sea Hawk gets her wings.

Last night I had a good dabble in the workshop, managing to get the new wings shaped and servo boxes cut, spar slots cut, then Gorilla-Glued to the carbon spar.


Some framework for the intakes has been added, now it's time to get on with the planking.  I'm very happy with the way the spar has set - it seems very stiff, and I'm happy with her overall size too as a one piece model.

Monday 1 February 2016

It's an addiction and I don't care

Forums are a dangerous place...for wallets!

I nice chap called Adam was / is selling off some of his late Father's models to get some room back in the house, and so he placed a advert for a few PSS machines.  I was initially interested in an FW190, but then came the mention of the Vulcan.  I have been looking at a SH Models Vulcan for a while, and had to put it off for costing issues - this way I have got a partially complete (about 80% I'd say) model that has been built to a very high quality, with some nice scale touches.

I have had her in the workshop doing odd and sods on it whilst waiting for glue or paint to dry on other airframes, so things are actually moving along well.

Here are some photos from the advert.







There was a bit of a problem with access to the rear wing retention bolts, so I remedied that this weekend.


The top of the black straw will be filled and smoothed so it shouldn't be too obvious.  
Colour scheme will be white underside / camo top, as per XL360 which is based not too far from me in Coventry.


So this means my lightweight PSS machine will be a Vulcan, and I can then sell-on the BUFF.


Sea Hawk gets some wings

With thanks to the Wife, I now have some wing cores cut and bonded to Poplar veneer skins.  At long last I set up the bow in the dining room, and got on with it on Sunday.  This was my first time skinning with Gorilla Glue (the PU foaming type) and it worked very well - quite happy with that!



Now of course the bow is set up, means that "larger" items can be cut..hello Mr. C17!

Storage continued!

On Friday I managed to get my third wing rack up, and this one was specifically made for the A10 wings.    I've got a couple of racking areas free under it now, so the little Salto fus has found a home too!