CARF SPITFIRE ASSEMBLY and SCALE DETAILING
#101
Glued the haves together with the strobe inside , gave it a light sand and shot some primer , I will touch them up with a bit of filler after they are installed .
Machined a aluminum sleeve that is a bit bigger then the actual barrel of the cannon to help make the strobe a little brighter .
anyway time to move onto the installation of the cannons
Machined a aluminum sleeve that is a bit bigger then the actual barrel of the cannon to help make the strobe a little brighter .
anyway time to move onto the installation of the cannons
#102
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Litchfield Park,
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The 3d printed barrels were made for a customer's 1/4 scale Mick Reeves Spitfire. I did not weight them prior to sending them off to the customer but I can tell you they were very light. The wall thickness was around 1/32" in most places and I doubt they were much heavier than a similar pair vac-formed from plastic would be. Plus they had a couple of bulkheads internally printed in them to add some strength as well as to allow insertion of a carbon fiber tube which made them even more rigid and provided and easy way to make them removable for transport and storage.
#104
did a little work on the cannon fairings . made a little former with a block of hardwood and a hole saw
to make the radius . once formed to the shape of the wing the cannon was aligned / glued in place and primed .
to make the radius . once formed to the shape of the wing the cannon was aligned / glued in place and primed .
#105
Did a little more work on the cannons ,I did however find out I was making fairing only found on the prototype ,
all other models do not show this fairing around the cannon . well what the heck it's going to be far from true
scale and it looks not too bad .
all other models do not show this fairing around the cannon . well what the heck it's going to be far from true
scale and it looks not too bad .
#106
Also did a little work installing the machine guns , I neatly used one of the access panels
by making one out of lithoplate and using it as a hatch to access the wiring for the cannons
and machine guns . I made machine gun housings from wood and mounted them into the wing .
by making one out of lithoplate and using it as a hatch to access the wiring for the cannons
and machine guns . I made machine gun housings from wood and mounted them into the wing .
Last edited by RAMMJETT; 02-22-2018 at 10:27 AM.
#107
I did the final welds on the exhaust and trial fit it together . On final assembly I will use high heat silicone in the muffler to flex pipe joint . also made a scoop for the upper hood and mounted it in place . I have been pondering what to do about the machine gun patches , as it has strobes I will have to make patches that look like they have been shot through . Does anyone have a picture of machine gun patches after they have been shot through (please post if you do ) I was thinking of making some patches and shooting them with my 22LR to see what that looks like . Does anyone know what they were made of I am thinking likely a cloth material but cant find any information on it . thanks Roger .
#109
I will give that a go Bob , I could make some nice ragged edges with tape. I don't have much more I can do until the weather gets better . next will be to strip her down and paint , that gets done outside .I have never done a camo on a plane this big so I could use some help form anyone that's painted these big birds . The parts of the plane where they have taped off lines will be no problem but the over sprayed edges in the camo I am not to sure about . how are guys doing that . I red somewhere that one guy was making templates and spacing them 1/4 " off the surface to get just the correct amount of over spray . , other guys taping of the lines and air brushing the over spray in later ?? any advice welcome. cheers Roger .
#110
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Roger,
The best way to paint the camo is using round foam tape and a spray gun. You can get the tape from auto paint stores. It's used to mask door jambs on cars. The beauty of the tape is two fold. First it has an adhesive already on it. Second it gives the right edge along the camo.
So you draw in pencil the camo outline on the wing and fuse. Then you put the tape along the pencil line and affix it down.
Then you paint the area. It's a pretty straight forward process and not difficult.
Once finished remove the tape and admire your work!
Don't forget to get a good reference of the Camo patterns. They aren't wildly nilly but pretty specific.
The original planes were painted using large masks and were pretty standard from plane to plane.
The best way to paint the camo is using round foam tape and a spray gun. You can get the tape from auto paint stores. It's used to mask door jambs on cars. The beauty of the tape is two fold. First it has an adhesive already on it. Second it gives the right edge along the camo.
So you draw in pencil the camo outline on the wing and fuse. Then you put the tape along the pencil line and affix it down.
Then you paint the area. It's a pretty straight forward process and not difficult.
Once finished remove the tape and admire your work!
Don't forget to get a good reference of the Camo patterns. They aren't wildly nilly but pretty specific.
The original planes were painted using large masks and were pretty standard from plane to plane.
#111
That is just what I wanted to know . Now I know why Brian had a roll of the foam tape in the boxes that came with the plane ,He was much more a scale builder then myself and likely knew this method .So I guess I would paint the light color first and then scribe on the camo then place the foam tape and mask of what I have already painted ., He also had decals made by Mick Reeves in the UK I don't know if I should use them or have my buddy cut me some masks and paint them on . Painting all those roundels is quite the project and could end up with bleed through's if not careful . I don't know if anyone has used the Mick Reeves decals . I tried a small piece and it seems like very thin material that allows most of the detail to come through .
I will be taking some liberty with the color scheme as the plane Brian wanted is sky blue on the bottom and I am sure I would have a problem seeing it so I will be adding invasion stripes to the bottom of the plane over the blue
the top is a med sand brown and dark olive . the paint he had chosen is made by WAR BIRD COLORS , the colors have no names but that is what they look like to me .
anyway thanks so much for your advice Bob you have been a great help . cheers Roger.
I will be taking some liberty with the color scheme as the plane Brian wanted is sky blue on the bottom and I am sure I would have a problem seeing it so I will be adding invasion stripes to the bottom of the plane over the blue
the top is a med sand brown and dark olive . the paint he had chosen is made by WAR BIRD COLORS , the colors have no names but that is what they look like to me .
anyway thanks so much for your advice Bob you have been a great help . cheers Roger.
Last edited by RAMMJETT; 02-27-2018 at 09:09 AM.
#113
My Feedback: (2)
Roger,
I believe there were some light blue bottoms on the African corps Spits. They were a totally different color from the UK versions.
The UK Spit colors are Medium sea gray, Dark green and Ocean Gray. Plus Sky for the fuse band and spinner.
Roundel painting.
The way to do that and all your markings is once you put down your mask paint around the edge with the underlying color. Then paint the proper color over it. That way you seal the paint mask first so there is little to no chance of bleed under.
I believe there were some light blue bottoms on the African corps Spits. They were a totally different color from the UK versions.
The UK Spit colors are Medium sea gray, Dark green and Ocean Gray. Plus Sky for the fuse band and spinner.
Roundel painting.
The way to do that and all your markings is once you put down your mask paint around the edge with the underlying color. Then paint the proper color over it. That way you seal the paint mask first so there is little to no chance of bleed under.
#114
That is just what I wanted to know . Now I know why Brian had a roll of the foam tape in the boxes that came with the plane ,He was much more a scale builder then myself and likely knew this method .So I guess I would paint the light color first and then scribe on the camo then place the foam tape and mask of what I have already painted ., He also had decals made by Mick Reeves in the UK I don't know if I should use them or have my buddy cut me some masks and paint them on . Painting all those roundels is quite the project and could end up with bleed through's if not careful . I don't know if anyone has used the Mick Reeves decals . I tried a small piece and it seems like very thin material that allows most of the detail to come through .
I will be taking some liberty with the color scheme as the plane Brian wanted is sky blue on the bottom and I am sure I would have a problem seeing it so I will be adding invasion stripes to the bottom of the plane over the blue
the top is a med sand brown and dark olive . the paint he had chosen is made by WAR BIRD COLORS , the colors have no names but that is what they look like to me .
anyway thanks so much for your advice Bob you have been a great help . cheers Roger.
I will be taking some liberty with the color scheme as the plane Brian wanted is sky blue on the bottom and I am sure I would have a problem seeing it so I will be adding invasion stripes to the bottom of the plane over the blue
the top is a med sand brown and dark olive . the paint he had chosen is made by WAR BIRD COLORS , the colors have no names but that is what they look like to me .
anyway thanks so much for your advice Bob you have been a great help . cheers Roger.
http://warbirdcolors.com/order/
#115
#116
Thanks Bob that's a good tip with the masking, I think it would be worth the effort to paint the roundels , The cans of paint do not have any markings on them , there is only a spot of paint on the lid for color . 2 of the cans have no color on top and are marked with a (p) I am assuming that is primer . . From what I understood from Brian he wanted to do the Canadian Ace Buzz Burling's plane . It had the tropical air cleaner and was in desert colors with a red spinner .strangely that is not the colors he purchased . I will have to do some more research to see if buzz ever flew a plane in these colors .
#118
Ok I think I found the plane , I took a picture of the cans of paint beside it . I now see what he was up to, the small cans all say RAF, I assume they are for the roundels . the bigger cans look a awful lot like this plane that buzz did indeed fly , had 20 kills at the time he flew this plane . not sure but I think he had 29 in total. has a lighter blue belly .
Bob you beat me to it LOL.
I first thought the colors were more like the picture in my book but after seeing the schemes side by side it is the color for buzz's plane
Bob you beat me to it LOL.
I first thought the colors were more like the picture in my book but after seeing the schemes side by side it is the color for buzz's plane
Last edited by RAMMJETT; 02-27-2018 at 04:42 PM.
#120
On the up side Buzz Burling's plane has minimal markings . Here is a picture of the cowl with the exhaust installed . I don't yet have the correct screws but I will replace them when they come in .
#122
Bob ,I have scaled the head size of my screws to the same diameter as the Dzus fasteners and they are countersunk to sit flush with the panel , I could not find Dzus that small and there are so many it would have added crazy weight . So I ordered aluminum pan head screws , with a slot cut and a hole drilled in the center they look pretty close , I will be grinding off all the fake screw heads that carf felt necessary to riddle the plane with and replacing them with my dummy dzus. This by no means will be exact scale but even I cant live with phillips head screws sticking out of the cowl all over the place, looks like a bad drywall job LOL. These screw heads that carf added are not only the wrong diameter they stick out 3/16" and are in all the wrong locations ??? funny because everything behind the fuel tank on the spit looks to be correct, It's almost like a different person built the front of the plane or they gave up when they got to the fuel tank . The one thing that is really bugging me is the cut in the engine bay side cover where Carf decided to end the cowl , I have been trying to think of a way to get rid of it . what do you think about adding litho plate or 1/64 ply to the sides of the cowl so I could extend the sides back to the correct place and then screw them down with my dummy dzus. I find that line really changes the look of the front of the spitfire. maybe I am just getting to picky . If I were to do the plane again I would hack the nose off from the fuel tank and reconstruct the whole front of the plane .
Last edited by RAMMJETT; 02-28-2018 at 06:31 AM.
#125
Yeah I would rather they did nothing then put a bunch of wrong and misplaced features . Sorry I should have posted a picture , I already joined the top for the engine cover so you don't see the part line that does not belong across the top with a row of there dry wall screw heads to accent it but I don't like the part line down the sides of the cowl either . they even went as far as to detail this part line with a bunch of there dry wall screw heads ??? why would you accent something that should not even be there ?? they should have made the cowl so it neatly slid over the front of the plane up to the point where the real hood ended . Maybe I should just pull some molds from these panels and make my own cowl from scratch out of fiberglass .
Last edited by RAMMJETT; 02-28-2018 at 01:10 PM.