splinterz25

I've finally picked
it's going to be the SQD 52 BLACK MAGIC Captain W.J. Lahodney and crew were some of first to take the black cats on the offensive; instead of the single machine gun in the nose they removed the alum. plate in the bow and mounted four 50 cal's bolted to the keel and still had the 3 aft machine guns plus bombs or torpedoes.

I'm still trying to find out more info on this subject.
Near as I can tell this plane was VPB-11.

splinterz25

Well I pressed on today went to a LHS and picked up some styrene to make the base of the removable cockpit.
This won't be perfectly scale but it will due for this build; I wanted a sort of pan to catch an water that may leak into the cock pit.

So I made another plug this one very simple just to get a rough shape for the bottom
my plan is to make the seats and dash from scratch using bits and pieces of plastic I have on hand and some sheet styrene .

The other thing I've been working on is the plug for the bubble turrets there's a small hole I'm going to have to fix before pulling those.

Check it out it may help you to understand where I'm going w/ this,

Bruce

splinterz25

Here's where I'm at today, the seats are well under way; I finished the hatch between the seats.

And then I carved out one of the steering wheels and mounted it to the control bar/ this still needs to be cut down to a lower position.

The seats are glued to the back wall, but the wall is just sitting in there.

Check out the days progress,

Bruce

klord125

Very nice Sir Splinterz!!!!!

klord125

Any more progress Splinterz?

splinterz25

Okay I'm sure some of you were wondering where the heck I went?

I took some time this summer and built my self a cedar strip canoe from scratch; I needed a recovery boat for my water planes and just wanted one for my camping trips.

I'll add a few photos of the canoe also,

Well I'm BACK ON THIS BUILD .... I'm trying to pick up where I left off in the nose turret & cockpit area; I've came to the conclusion that the nose needs to be sealed and so I can pick up the pace there will NOT be a rotating turret, and I'll use a thin layer of silicon to glue the nose once ready.


On the turret I'm not even cutting in the aft windows since it's going to be fixed; but I think I'll put in a floor, the scale plane I'm modeling didn't have a gun in this turret.


Instead it had FOUR 50's that were behind the front hatch; I don't know a way to show this and still keep the model dry inside, so I'm leaning toward the hatch just being closed.


Check it out and I would love to hear from you guys on this,


Bruce

splinterz25

Here's the pby update photos

splinterz25

For some reason it's not letting all the photos go on the first post?

Trying again,

splinterz25

Well I made some headway today; I still need to fabricate the pieces around the sides of the turret, litho? or plastic?
On the scale bird there curved alum. panels.

Bruce

splinterz25

Okay Iwas able to get a bit accomplished today even though I had a DR. APT.
And the varnish came in yesterday afternoon so when I got back I gave the canoe another coat on the bottom.

Once I was done that I got back on the PBY's nose; I went w/ litho plate for those curved pieces I was talking about and put some more rivets on the turret.

These rivets I get from Chad Veich; there mylar laser cut in various sizes and spaced w/ different spacing to suit your needs.

The smallest size 1/32" that I have really test you nerve to apply; these are what I used yesterday on the nose, the turret has a bit larger rivets w/ larger spacing.
These went on much easier for me today; there's definitely an art to applying these rivets.

Here's what she's looking like now,

splinterz25

OKAY guys....The good news is that the Appliance Epoxy Paint that I used on the plug works like a charm; no wax, just an air hose gun and they pop right off.

I did 8 pulls and maybe have 2 that can be used each one had at least one crease form
BUT there's two that will be covered if my next idea will work.

I plan to trim one of the clear pulls to size then pull some white styren over the clear; then I can cut out the window grid pattern in the styren & paint it before the install.

I hope this works it's getting very CO$TLY using a piece 12"x 13" each pull.

So here's what I have so far, I've tried the plug in many different directions put keep having the same thing happen some worse than others.

splinterz25

Okay I was given some info over on RCSB.... When heating the clear plastic starts to sag at 2 min.; I let it run 4.15 -4.30 min.

From what I read I was getting TO MUCH sag; So from now on I'll heat the first 2 min upside down then flip for the rest of the time this should solve the problem.

The Styren works much easier got those on the first 2 pulls; I should be able to make two of the clear pulls that I've already made work for this project.

This has been my test bed for the BV-138's Vac-U- Form pieces parts and to figure out my new set up for making parts.

I need to make some escutcheons for the top side of the wing struts these will be Vac- U- Formed, so I need to make a few plugs so I can pull 4 pieces at a time.

I may also make a new turret this way?

Check out the days progress,

Bruce

klord125

That's not a recovery boat. That's a piece of fine furniture!!!! WOW!! Excellent work and craftsmanship!!! And the plane is looking great also...

splinterz25

Thank you klord 125.......I needed something just as fancy as my planes to rescue them.

Bruce

klord125

Well I think you succeeded there!!!! They both look great...

alex5

when molding your canopy and such,here is a slightly different take on doing those parts more quickly,or perhaps,more durable.In the patternmaking trade,I used a product called quick cast(available from Freeman supply)I would make a plug then paint it with epoxy to seal it.Sand it ,and paint it again..(talking foam ,or mdf parts)Sand,and apply the usual mold preps.Make your mold boxes,out of plywood or dry pine,good and strong.Then,I mix up some quick cast,and pour and paint my plug and parting surface,making sure to cover my plug without major runs(I have 10 minutes to do so).Let it go tacky,then repeat the painting,making sure to apply the quickset on the parting surface and corresponding connection to the mold box.For additional strength,place ply fillers,(cut with the jig saw),around the plug,and pour quickset to seat the filler pieces and re-inforce the mold by the plug.At this point,you are about 1/2 hour into making the actual mold.Let this set for 40 minutes.All along your plug is still in the mold,sitting on the parting surface.Now,you have 3 options..you can layup with epoxy and matt,you can mix chopped strand with quickset and pat into and around your quickset covered mold,or you can fill the balanceof your mold box with plaster,or expanding foam,or ribbing fastened with bondo.Many molds can be constructed simply by imbedding cubes of plywood with quickset,or bondo.Remember,you have created an impervious quick set mold,that requires structural strengthening to with-stand the parting process.The mold surface itself,will be an exact copy of the surface of your plug,including the imperfections.If you fill with plaster,make sure that the plaster is totally dry before fiddling with it(may take days).Qick set,is a polyester,so,epoxy doesnt bond,particularly well,and for convenience,I will use autobody filler,and imbed cubes of ply,to provide wall thickness,and strength in my mold wall.One advantage is that the mold is actually modifiable(ie,adding inserts and different backdrafted components).To mention your revolving turret idea on the nose,think of an O-ring notch formed in your mold and matched to a smooth bore on your Turret.The advantage of quick Set,is that it is ready to work with in 40 minutes,You can build up to an inch of wall,or work it like paint.It shrinks very little,unlike Autobody filler.Some people use cracked corn as filler,with quickset,mixed like concrete,to economize on mold filler.There are many directions one can take in making a multi-part mold.

splinterz25

Well I did some lay out and started cutting the grid on the aft bubble turrets today.
The white styren will get primer; then rivets and finish coat before there installed.

The bubble turrets look pretty good to me.

splinterz25

Update: Today's progress photos

alex5

Nice fit.Are you going to stick a million rivets on them?Secondly,are you going to make a mating flange to seat the bubbles and Ribbing,and associated rivets,as the real plane has it?I always thought that copper tape(the stuff that they maked stained glass lamps with) would make excellent canopy ribbing,it is adhesive backed and you can thicken it with a little bit of solder.Alex

splinterz25

YES I'll do all that w/ chart tape self stick rivets and high build primer & maybe some litho plate.

Bruce

splinterz25

Today I did some more vac-u forming for the gunners station walkway/ gangplank corrugated metal and part of the gun mount & platform.

I'll still need to make a few more parts but these are a good start.

Bruce

alex5

you are making a shrunken head model...from 100 ft to 8 ft.great attention to detailAlex

splinterz25

Well as it turns out I'm not even going to be putting the gunners station in after all
There's to much going on in there; push rods and the main spars go right through there.

So as I do when I make a mistake I show that as well; I started w/ a small hole to find the forward former then opened it up almost the size of the blister, and then could see it wasn't happening.

But I am showing how to fix this; I was smart enough to cut a clean hole each time, so the pieces got glued right back in place.

Then filled the drill hole w/ a 3/ 32" balsa plug and sanded smooth; I didn't even go through the 3/4 oz fiberglass, but I still added another layer about an inch larger than the hole all the way around.

I applied the glass patch w/ Deft Sanding sealer and now have two coats on, next I give it a few coats of high build primer.

So it won't have a great detailed look but it will not have the chance to leak there; I did however find a great glue for something like this and will use it in the nose section it's E-6000.

Here's where I'm at now,

Bruce

alex5

Because the bubble is so long,it's kinda difficult to not have a former somewhere in there.I suppose it would have been do-able,before you started,to build a rib cage and linkage channel,but at this stage,retro-fitting just wouldn't be in the cards.That is one advantage in Solid modelling(cad).You could flip the virtal model around to find advantageous changes.When you build from another's plan,you dont have that benefit.At that size,you could install your servos,just behind the gunner location,and,run linkages to the back,without affecting the balance too much.Keep in mind,it is easy for someone else to say that,but,we are not the guy with the balsa dust in our hair.Alex

splinterz25

Yes your right Alex...I would love CAD but at this age I will have built many models before I would ever learn how.
These plans are RETRO circa 1970 copyright date; I should have known / remembered what was inside.

I've been working on the wing strut location and putting the wings tips back on today; there's a discrepancy on Robert Sweitzers plans though.

The front view shows the bottom of the struts 1 3/4" from the top of the V hull

The side view shows that dim. to be 3 5/8" BIG difference

I think the front view is the correct setup:

This is an important dim. for the beaching gears size; the first thing I need to do is make the mount for the forward struts w/ the clip that the beach gear locks into.

This will be all one piece soldered brass; the strut tube is alum w/ brass tubing glued inside bent at the correct angle and will slide into another piece of brass tubing that will get glued into the fuse.

on the top of the strut thee will be a machine screw that will thread into a T-nut.

The drawings are on page 1 of this build.
Well I figured out and made the first clip that holds the beaching gear to the fuse; just under the forward strut, this clip will get soldered to a plate that will have a hole for the brass tube.

I will glue the tube& plate in to the fuse and maybe a counter sunk screw or two.

After I make the second clip I start on the male piece that fits in to it check the tec. drawing and photo.