I'm actually watching very closely, how you finish out the fuselage. I'm assuming you are planning panel lines, etc.
With the lightning in the works, looking for techniques.
I have a difficult idea (scale of 1 to ten...somewhere around 13) of possibly making each individual panel somehow, then affixing to the fuselage structure...trying to figure out best materials to pull it off. Thats if I can find a detail line drawing of the skin in three views..
Yes, I know the easy way is to mask and use fill primer..
(I have been accused on fb of making things way more difficult for myself when building a plane, thanks to the mustang's modified engine, so....why stop now lol)
Wyo, while you are lazing about "working" and neglecting your spitfire (grin) ponder this and tell me if you think it will work, or peel off lol.
make base for panel from balsa sheet, shape as needed with isupropyl, clean it well, then I could a. Apply very light glass/resin to the panel, once cured, flitemetal..affix to structure with a. Hysol, b. 30 min zap epoxy, or c. med CA..or b..just balsa, no glass then flitemetal. For the wings and tail surfaces use fliteskin in a similar manner, gorilla, then flitemetal.
Once done, a "wash" of a very transparent black tint paint to pop the panel edges, followed by a scotchbrite pad to create a "brushed" finish on the flitemetal. The paint would most likely be a klass kote paint (two part epoxy paint and is fuel proof) mixed with reducer to create the wash. (The wash I may or may not do...just depends on how it looks when the panels are on.)
A warbird, in combat, wouldn't be all polished to a mirror, more of a brushed, or even natural aluminum if in air superiority "raw" scheme. This would be accomplished with a klasscote satin clear over whole plane as last step. Also result in a sealed fuselage at the panel junctions Fuel could never get to the wood.
What you think?
There would be the added possible benefit of making a couple of the panels, like what you did for switch etc, removable by magnets without having to slice and dice Runen's structure. Thinking the ammo hatches in the nose of the lightning..one side switch and charging, then on either boom for fuel fills. Just not sure on those..
Input is always good, especially before more money spent lol
Last edited by Txmustangflyer; 03-04-2022 at 08:01 PM.