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Thanks, Randy. Coming from you, thats quite a compliment. The remaining work on the Pup is primarily painting roundels, the graphic band around the fuselage and the rudder stripes. After that, I can begin to assemble - first the tail & tail linkages, then the engine, wings and landing gear. At that point I can finally get a determination on the cg and decide what to do about it. Also I will need to run the engine with the cowl and dummy engine in place and check for overheating, end points on throttle, etc. AND photography. There are a few little things to keep me busy until the paint arrives > installing the tank and making some little scuff protectors for the cowl and wingtips. I wish our club had a grass field.
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Here are the lithoplate scuff protectors. They are not too attractive but way better than what these areas would look like with just one incident. The one on the cowl is almost invisible from most views. The white painted ones on the lower wingtips are acceptable. All were put on with contact cement. Now, while I wait for the trim paint, I am working on repairs to my Camel. I think I will make some of these scuff protectors for it too.
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I made some skuff protectors for my VK Camel too. Took it flying this morning along with my little electric Tigermoth - to start to get more into the WW-I taildragger groove so I will be ready when the Pup is done in a week or three. The skuff protectors on the Camel wing got a little test on my landing, even though it was a good one by my standards. I think part of the problem is the axle on that plane - which has two issues. First it was bent badly in my big crash a couple of years ago and, although I was able to straighten it out, I think it is soft because it gets bent on even the gentle landings. Then it tries to steer the plane to the right. Secondly, when the swing axle is pivoted under load it has a steering effect too. Anyway, I came back to the shop and remade my axle using a simpler single piece design and a 5/32" music wire rather than a 1/8th music wire with a brass sleeve over it. I stole some of the suspension cord retainer parts from the old one and had the new axle on the plane in about an hour. I expect to have much better ground handling with this and might do it on the Pup too, although I have a big time investment in its swing axle.
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The paint for my trim colors finally arrived and I started on the Pup again. The first pix is the graphics on the fuse side after one coat of Nelson's - brushed on..Second pix is after three coats and the 3rd pix is after six coats. Then I pulled the masking tape off. Mind you, this vinyl tape is the best masking product I have found, for both sharp clear edges and not pulling up the ground coat. The pix with the tape off shows the results. I am not proud. The next pix is the red dot on one of the wing bottoms. As you can see, the 20th Century (painted) fabric had some of its white paint pull up - in spite of only leaving the masking tape in place for less than an hour and a half, the time it takes to put on four to six coats of Nelson's paint. I am afraid I got a bad batch of 20Century Fabric. I can NOT recommend this stuff ever again. Nor will I ever use it again. On to the paint itself. On the red dot, it was lifting along the edges. I took a corner of it and PULLED the whole thing off in one piece. So much for adhesion, at least to this fabric. Yes, I did use the crosslinker and followed the instructions TO THE LETTER. Nelson's is good paint, probably as good as you can get. It still falls way short of doing the job on these coated fabrics. If I wanted to clear coat it later for good adhesion, I would have started with unpainted fabric and done the whole job from that.
All's well that ends well - see the last pix of the roundel on the wing bottom. It is perfect (except for the damage the masking tape did earlier - which I will have to touch up with white paint).
What did I end up using?? Iron-on film (Oracote in this case). I had gotten pretty good doing trim with Monokote and Oracoat but, in recent years I began to look down my nose at this as a trimming solution. I have learned my lesson. The iron-on film has much more uniform color, much better edges (for both thinness and clean lines) and is faster and easier. I wish I had used it for the stupid bird on the fuselage.
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Allan, that looks really discouraging, but I think 21st Century is very heavy anyway. I would hesitate to weigh down the tail of a WWI plane with it. I like Sig Koverall, when I need a fabric look, or Polyspan when I don't. The Polyspan is very light, even painted. Jim
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Solartex for me, I have never had any paint ift from it that was factory applied. I have pulled paint that I applied when using too agressive a mask. I have been using artist spray mount (repositionable spray adhesive)for simple things like the sharp line color breaks on WWI aircraft camo. Later Doc
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We live and learn. The last time I used this covering on a model it worked fine. It seemed an appropriate choice for this project but probably didn't work out quite like I had hoped. In the meantime, I must move on and, all things considered, the plane is coming together nicely. I epoxied on the horizontal stab/elevator unit this afternoon, then the fin and rudder. Then it was time to finish rigging the tail linkages. I am very happy with the way they all work. There is virtually no slop or binding. The tail wheel turns at about 50 percent of the rudder deflection, just like it was supposed to. For those scale purists out there - yes, the replica Pup I am doing does have a tail wheel and it looks just like the one on the model. I feel a little guilty about that but, when I am taxiing around on our clubs asphalt runway, I will be so glad I picked this plane to model.
< Message edited by allanflowers -- 6/26/2008 4:20:35 AM >
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quote:
ORIGINAL: allanflowers For those scale purists out there - yes, the replica Pup I am doing does have a tail wheel and it looks just like the one on the model. I feel a little guilty about that but, when I am taxiing around on our clubs asphalt runway, I will be so glad I picked this plane to model.
Let the Australian's feel guilty; they're the ones who made the changes. You've done a great job of modeling their replica! On the issue of the markings, I also had some problems with the Nelson's paint I used for the markings lifting off the underlying paint job. The clearcoat was an absolute necessity.
< Message edited by abufletcher -- 6/26/2008 10:18:17 AM >
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Took an Aussie to realise the skids don't work... BTW, seen the original at a couple of shows - taxis a whole lot better than my models with skids...
Just wondering why you chose hand-paining rather than airbrushing Allan? For authenticity? If not, suspect you could have saved some grief with an airbrush (thinking of the red on the fuz).
If it's any consolation, I've NEVER painted a plane without something going wrong, so I feel your pain. Looking good - hang in there.
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Spraying would have given smoother results but the problem I always have with painting is the masking. Either the paint leaks under it or it pulls the surface paint up or the new paint. I have painted other products with hard surfaces and usually got it right but model airplane coverings give me fits. - Assembly is always the most rewarding, yet stressful part of building. This project is no different than most others and all kinds of glitches occurred, from lost parts to things that fit perfectly… BEFORE they were painted/covered/whatever. After attaching all the tail parts I installed the engine and its links and hoses. This is a very tight engine compartment, including the fuel tank area. I would like to have more room, especially when I am trying to stuff the aileron wires into that space while installing the wings. Still, it's not too bad and represents an improvement over my previous models where I really didn't address the exhaust system from a scale standpoint. The installation of the litho panels is really stressful because the contact cement only gives you one shot. They seemed to go on okay and it was good to get this step behind me. The cabanes were relatively easy to attach (to the fuselage… the attachment to the wing center section later was much tougher). Before moving on I test fitted the other parts to make sure the cabanes were properly lined up.
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The landing gear is not tricky but there are a lot of little things to attach because of the bracing wires. The wing roots just slip on. I wish everything was that easy. Then I could flip the plane over and slid in the music wires that index the lower wings. Then it was back on its back to attach the upper wing center part, which I should have done before putting on the lower wings. The screws on the brass brackets for the cabane-wing are a %$#& to get a screw driver on. I found I had lost one of the brass fittings for the flying wires so I had to make another - not quite as elegant as those provided in the kit. The last pix is where I left it for the evening.
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All Forums >> RC Airplanes >> RC Scale Aircraft >> RE: CD Scaledesigns Pup build 
RE: CD Scaledesigns Pup build - 
You've done a great job of modeling their replica! 
On the issue of the markings, I also had some problems with the Nelson's paint I used for the markings lifting off the underlying paint job. The clearcoat was an absolute necessity.
