Ziroli p-47 92" blown up to 110"
05-05-2014, 07:05 PM
#204
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Pardeeville, WI
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Sam, have you found any paint that holds up to match the aluminum tape, my AT6 is covered with aluminum tape but the control surfaces and cowl are painted, they have all changed color and don't match at all after 1 season.
05-07-2014, 06:38 AM
#205
Tony:
Over 300 flights on my old P-47 with no bubbling or peeling.
A nice use of tape is easy fixes of hanger rash: No repainting hassles, just put some new tape over the damaged panel (looks like a field repair as, after awhile, the finish takes on a patina).
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Aluminum tape (cont)
Tail feathers:
Filled in the cracks between the fuse and stab and vertical fin with some 1/8" thick balsa sheeting. Two layers of easy sand then needed to create the fillets. Masking tape used to contain the waste with sanding between applications.
Right top stab:
Fillet taped first and then the rest of the stab. Rivets added as each side is done.
Last edited by samparfitt; 05-07-2014 at 06:43 AM.
05-07-2014, 02:36 PM
#207
Tony,
Every plane I now build that flew in aluminum will be finished with tape.
Presently I have plans, kits, gear, engines for planes: Z P-51B, Z C-45 twin beechcraft and a Z B-25.
While flying, the aluminum looks great reflecting the light and gives credence to the appearance of a full size aircraft.
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Aluminum tape (cont)
Tail feathers:
Vertical fin done.
Bottoms of stabs yet to be done.
Last edited by samparfitt; 05-07-2014 at 02:39 PM.
05-07-2014, 02:52 PM
#208
Sam, you got a few years on me in the building department. I can imagine that in a few years I will evolve to a state you are at where you have done many types of finishes and you know what you like. I am trying my hand at glassing, panel lines, vinyl rivets, and paint.
TB
TB
05-07-2014, 05:03 PM
#209
Tony,
I've got four hobbies so skill sets in one hobby carry over to the other hobbies. Personally, adding panel lines and rivets gives a plane a soul and makes it come alive.
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Aluminum tape (cont)
Stab:
Did the bottom of one stab. I'm putting detail on the bottom but I wouldn't have any problems if someone just detailed the top and left the bottom plain. Unless you enter contests, no one really sees the bottom of planes and in the air, it's too far away. Personally, I'm happy just to see a warbird (or a scale plane) at a flyin or club, no matter how detailed (or un-) and I appreciate the time and effort the pilot puts into his plane.
05-08-2014, 12:21 PM
#211
Tony,
Woodworking.
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Aluminum tape (cont)
Stabs:
Started on a 2nd roll of tape while doing the stab bottoms.
Fuse:
Had to get the 6" wide tape out for the fuse as some panels are very large. You can get away with just the 3" tape by adding extra rows of rivets in the panels (some 'liberties' with scale but no one will know). I got the 6" wide stuff a long time ago while doing the robart arf P-47 (the build thread probably states where I got the 6" tape). I find the 6" wide stuff more difficult to apply since it's difficult to control and lay down large sheets of tape. The 6" tape is also thinner: That sounds good but, after cutting the edges with an xacto knife, while removing the waste tape, it doesn't always come off at the cut line and using tweezers to get the waste edge can tear causing multiple attempts to remove the waste. The 3" wide stuff is more user friendly.
The ventricle vents were removed (except the turbo charger vent) to make it easier to apply the tape.
Due to having to move the fuse a lot to get at each panel, the rivets were added as soon as the tape was applied.
Last edited by samparfitt; 05-08-2014 at 12:25 PM.
05-08-2014, 12:23 PM
#212
Aluminum tape (cont)
Continued from previous post.
A tribute to the 2 part primer as it has never been pulled off when removing waste tape.
The bottom of one stab and what you see done on the fuse took me 8 hours.
Last edited by samparfitt; 05-08-2014 at 01:43 PM.
05-08-2014, 05:53 PM
#214
Tony,
The surface needs to be roughened to give the surface some 'tooth'.
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Functioning canopy:
Cut and sanded the rail slots that were built into the fuse before sheeting.
Aluminum tape (cont)
I really don't think one needs the 6" wide tape for much on this plane: I looked at a few more pictures and found I need a lot more rivets along the fuse. Initially, I used some 6" wide tape but switched to the 3" (easier to work with, anyway).
Got a lot done today (should, worked 13 hours: it's addicting!).
I think that initial 20,000 is now 30,000 rivets!
Last edited by samparfitt; 05-08-2014 at 05:58 PM.
05-09-2014, 02:10 AM
#215
Sam you got that tape thing down, I can see that this is a very fast finishing system, you get finish and detail done all at once. Great looking bird! Question, do you use a butt joint at the panel lines or over lap?
TB
TB
Last edited by TonyBuilder; 05-09-2014 at 02:15 AM.
05-09-2014, 11:01 AM
#216
Tony,
Everything is overlapped by about a 1/16". It would virtually be impossible to butt joint without leaving a gap.
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Aluminum tape (cont):
Took the front engine exhaust parts off to apply the tape.
The wing fillets are always fun due to a compound curve. I get the tape into a V shape so the center of the fillet gets first contact with the tape and then work outwards. Wing fillet gets larger rivets.
Save a space for an access panel, the left side is done.
Last edited by samparfitt; 05-09-2014 at 11:07 AM.
05-09-2014, 02:47 PM
#218
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Sam, great job. Hope you haven't gone cross eyed from doing all those rivets. just kidding. I've used the same tape you are using on my SNJ. Had to paint the missle red to match the Super monokote on the wings and in the photo. The paint is holding up really well. Keep up the great work. John T.
05-10-2014, 01:59 PM
#220
Thanks, John.
---
Zdauntless:
not sure what you mean by 'paint sticks on aluminum tape'?
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Fuse:
Since I slid the stab into the fuse and then applied epoxy, I only did the top and needed to finish off adding epoxy to the bottom of the stab that contacts the fuse stab saddles.
Installed the two elevator servos(HS-7955's) and linkage.
Aluminum tape (cont)
Wing:
Finished off the top of the wing.
Bottom wing:
I installed all the servos (all HS-7955's) for the flaps and ailerons.
Last edited by samparfitt; 05-10-2014 at 02:26 PM.
05-10-2014, 02:20 PM
#221
Bottom wing:
Gear doors:
Before I can tape, I need to build and insure the gear doors will fit properly onto the wing and before that, I need to install the gear.
Air lines:
Some tubing was cut into 1/16" wide pieces and are used as collars over the air lines. Some physician's forceps are used to enlarge the collar so it can be inserted over the air line. After putting the air line on the cylinder nipple, the collar is slid over the nipple.
The oleo shrinks so there is an air nipple on the oleo which is connected to the retract side of the air cylinder line.
Gear covers:
The original sheeting cut off the gear area was used to make a template using think poster board. A 1/4" lip is around the gear opening on the wing so I reduced the template size by a 1/16" around the edges for clearance. Each part of the template gear door assembly was cut out, some balsa was taped to the oleo to get proper door height and all the parts were attached to the wing using tape.
The restrictor bar is attached behind the oleo so another 1/8" had to be cut along the back plate of the door assembly.
I wasn't sure how much of an opening in the wing was needed for the oleo so I made the opening a little larger to be safe (I figured it easier to added some balsa than try to cut it out of the wing surface). The door that is hinged at the wing was going to be too wide so filler will be need along the sides of the wing surface. For door stops for the hinged door, some additional pieces of wood will be sistered along the present door stop.
All parts now seem to work properly so I can cut out the doors.
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I deleted the last picture but, for some reason, it now shows up as a thumbnail and can't be deleted??
Last edited by samparfitt; 05-11-2014 at 09:19 AM.
05-10-2014, 02:22 PM
#222
Gear doors:
I have two options:
some 1/16" thick black plastic that looks like carbon fiber but isn't or use some G-10.
Landing lights:
Rotating landing lights also have to be installed before taping.
Last edited by samparfitt; 05-10-2014 at 02:27 PM.
05-10-2014, 05:32 PM
#223
Gear doors (cont)
I decided to use the black plastic. It appears to be ABS plastic only pretty thick (about 1/16" ), especially since it cuts easily in the scroll saw but it didn't melt, which was good. I made one inner gear door. For thickness, I epoxied some 1/4" thick balsa sheeting to the inside after roughing up the surface. I also left a 1/4' gap around the edges. Using fast 6 minute epoxy, I pushed the door against the wing surface to get a slight curve.
I think this will work well, especially with the balsa re-enforcement. I'll use some robart pin hinges along with their pocket hinge so they will be removable. The balsa will provide a good place to epoxy the hinges.