redtail

My Feedback: (15)

Larry, I'm as overwhelmed and speechless as you. Absolutely beautiful work. Noah, you are my idol. Chic

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

You guys are too kind! I do appreciate the compliments. I think it'll look great when painted (which will get rid of those pencil lines).

Gear doors nearly finished.. just waiting for the primer to dry. Playing with the paint right now.

Still playing with pressure, thinning, paint volume, distance from the work-piece, etc... (lots of variables to consider) but it's going as well as can be expected for someone new to spraying (thanks for the advice, Mike!).

Noah

Firebar

My Feedback: (3)

Very impressive work Noah! The expertise of your craftsmanship is first rate. I am looking forward to seeing your next post.

Charlie

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Thanks, Charlie... could not have finished it so well without those drawings!

Finished the strut covers yesterday and today.

I used G-10 material, 0.040 to cover the retract, and two layers of 0.010 for the actual strut covers. The geometry of the gear (coupled with the fact that the gear is set rather high above the bottom wing surface) complicated the installation somewhat. Long story short, there was no way to completely conceal the gear in the wing... even with a helpful set of pictures of Charlie's installation on his second Avenger model. Charlie's looks perfecto of course. Mine, well they are ok. Anyway, those gaps in my installation are there by design.

I thought long and hard about how to attach the G-10 to the gear, and I ended up using methacrylate adhesive to glue some hardwood blocks to the struts and the gear mounts. The aluminum was scored a little with a file so that the adhesive would "bite," and it worked great. They are firmly in place.

When the gear is extended, the strut cover gets pushed around a little, which is the main reason that I chose to use 0.010 for those covers (plenty flexible but still really strong).

Finished off gluing the two layers of 0.010 together (they were just quickly sandwiched together in the photos below while I was still experimenting) and shot some primer on them today. So I re-installed to check to see how they looked. As I said above... good enough!

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

The weather was reasonably good here this afternoon, so I carried it all outside and assembled it to have a look. Not much new since my last "rivet detail" post, but I just wanted to see it all put together. Also included a shot from last October. Man, this project has come a long way. In October I honestly thought I was turning the corner and heading down the home stretch... HA!

I think NOW I can safely say that I am heading down the home stretch.

I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. And now it's just a matter of some paint, radio installation, and cockpit installation (of course I still need to permanently install the crew door, too).

Will try to get that done ASAP, as I'm dying to get the motor fired and send her up in the air.

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Avenger is back on the bench for some preliminary radio gear installation and mock-ups... trying to figure our where to hide everything, and where to route the wiring/harnesses. It's tricky with so much of the cockpit available for viewing through the long greenhouse canopy.

I also was digging through a pile of "left over" material from the build and stumbled upon the torpedo... I totally lost track of it. I suppose now I have to figure out how I'm going to drop it. One more thing I should have done months ago!

The plane looks pretty good with the bay doors open. I'm so glad I built these in... I almost decided against it a while back. That would have been a mistake. Keep on it, Larry! It'll be worth it in the end! My only regret was that I put so much detail into the inner surfaces of the bay doors, especially the two center doors. Can't even see them! Oh well.

Lastly, what are all you guys doing to secure and, to some extent, hide the end of the wires that hinge the control surfaces? I was just going to bend the wire back on itself and then embed the wire into the end of the elevator (or wing tip, or rudder) and then tack it with CA.

Is there a slicker way to deal with these wires? There must be. If I need to remove the surface, I worry a little bit about damaging the surfaces when I try to pull out the CA'd end of the wire.

Any tips would be appreciated.

Back later this week (hopfully in color!).

Noah

thedeuce

Hi everyone,

I thought i would show you all a couple of books I got from my father who for 26+ years flew TBM's, if any of you would like any info from them let me know and I can make them into power points etc for the forum.

Cheers,

John

BTW, Your avenger looks awsome Noah

Scott Prossen

Noah,

Absolutely stunning[sm=tongue_smile.gif]. The detail is fantastic and I can't wait to see it with a coat of paint on her. Wow, that Moki is going to make a perfect match for that plane. You have a real show piece. People will stop in their tracks to watch that puppy fly...especially when they hear that engine start up. Wish I could be there to see the maiden! Keep it up and good luck!

Kindest Regards,
Scott

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

John,
Thanks again to both you and your father for your collective willingness to help with documentation. I will certainly be in touch again if the need arises. And thank you for the kind words regarding my model. I'm please with how it is turning out!

Scott,
Thanks to you, too, for the compliments! That means a lot coming from a guy who owns and operates (or in some cases is simply photographed standing next to) some of the finest models in the States!

I'm still working on markings. I have had very little time over the past 2 weeks. What little time I had to spend on the model was rapidly consumed playing with my sprayer... but I got it figured out and now the Avenger is in its base-color coat.

No pictures until I get the markings applied!

Back soon... It'll likely be a couple more weeks that pass before I have all the stencils finished and in hand.

Noah

WARBIRDRCER

My Feedback: (22)

Just stopping in to say all of the work I see looks great. This should be known as the Masters Build Thread.

P-40BRB

O.K. I have been keeping an eye out and I must Say like everyone else WOW, the Avenger looks awesome. I'm so ready to here that five cylinder come to life and taxi down the runway, break ground,wheels up, well I get excited easy you have got to know what I mean. She is once again awesome!! I have been in the shop as well. Its no Avenger but it is turnning out all right. My wife saw one of these at the JOE NALL last year and suggested that I build one, well she's paying for this one. Here is a couple of pics from today, almost completed. I'll check back in a couple of days looking forward to that finished paint job on that Avenger, I still can't wait, hope we get to fly together in formation this year that would truly be awesome, maybe we can get Charlie to join in. Keep them Flying straight and level guys, see you all soon.

Brian

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Brian, well you have turned out another masterpiece in that Beechcraft! Well done!

I am making progress still, but it's been slow going the past few weeks. I have been primarily focused on, and traveling as part of, my job over the past few weeks. A necessesary evil, I suppose. Our club will hold its annual maiden flight day this coming Sunday, but I don't think that the Avenger is going to make it into the air that day. Aside from finishing the markings, there's still a lot to do in the way of radio installation, final set-up and systems testing. The last thing I want to do is rush to meet the Sunday goal and have a bad outcome as a result.

I'll post some pictures this weekend. It's looking good. Just need to spray the roundels and markings and then add all the dry transfer nomenclature/maintenance markings (and then clearcoat, of course). See? Still so much to do!

I've been working with Vikie and Jerry from GetStencils.com... terrific people!

This week looks pretty bleak, too... Everytime the weather is great for spraying, I'm stuck at work. And it's supposed to get rainy towards the end of the week here in Iowa, so we'll see how much I can get done.

Back soon (weather permitting).

Excuses, excuses!

Noah

P-40BRB

You make sure that you do not rush at this point. Check and recheck everthing twice at least. Ground test, Taxi Test, Range Test, you know the drill, but as beautiful as that plane is slow down and take lots of photo's, pat yourself on the back and then recheck everything again. My first flight was a sucess, on landing it turned out that one alerion screws had fallen completely out and the arm was off and dangling from the control horn. The other alerion screw was loose and almost out. Can you say Lucky!!! Got in a hurry, I though you checked it, no I though you checked it. Nobody checked it or lock tighted it or even tighten it for that matter. By the way the plane turns more scale with only one alerion working. I didn't even know it was off until the wheel pass check for landing. I'm glad I didn't I would have had a panic attach. Very little throw needed to make these big babys fly well, you'll see. I'm looking forward to the finished Pictures so I can add them to my every growing Avenger Album. Have a good week and I will talk to you later.

Brian

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Here and there over the past couple of weeks I've been working to get the colors on the Avenger.

I chose to pattern the plane after a Royal Navy Avenger that saw action in the Suez Crisis, well after WWII. Her name is Beryl the Peril.

Anyway, colors are glossy dark sea blue, insignia yellow with black stripes which were specific to craft that participated in Operation Musketeer that took place in 1956 in the Middle East.

I played around (for literally 2 weeks) with Model Master paints and an airbrush, but I could not get the efficient coverage required for such a big model (sorry, Mike!!). I ended up having Behr exterior latex paint mixed up in the appropriate colors and shot the blue and the yellow with an HVLP gun. That gun took some practice, believe me, but I finally got satisfactory results (I was practicing on a piece of glass).

The photos detail my approach, which was basically to mask off the portions that were to be sprayed yellow and then get the blue base color applied. I followed the blue with the yellow bands, and then just sprayed the black stripes over the yellow color. I have to say that the Tamiya 6mm masking tape is worth its weight in gold... Zero bleed, great adhesion and very easy to get it to conform to the curves.

But even with excellent tape, it was particularly tricky to get the bands and stripes evenly spaced around the compound curves of the fuse, but I think it came out OK in the end. All the rivets and lines still show, so that's a good thing, too. I should also add that I will NEVER use yellow again... that took about 10-15 coats to get it to cover. I thought the primer base would be OK, but maybe I should have shot some white paint as a base for the yellow. Misery!

Still waiting on some paint masks and nomenclature dry-transfers from Vickie and Jerry at GetStencils.com, but those should arrive soon. After those markings are in place, I only need to spray a few light coats of clear and then I'll fly this fat girl.

Back soon!

Noah

wulf190

My Feedback: (19)

The end result is all that really matters in terms of your own preferences, and the result so far looks fantastic Noah! Sorry to put you through some trial and error, but glad to see that the 'Venger looks that nice. Looking forward to more.

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

No worries, Mike... the Model Master paint was laying down great with the airbrush, and my decision to switch guns and paint was more a function of efficiency rather than quality of finish. Besides, when the final stencils arrive, I'll be ready to hit the ground running because I played with the airbrush so much!

Saw your mozzie update... looks like it's coming along well! Keep up the good work.

redtail

My Feedback: (15)

I'm so proud to know you. Keep going for the both of us. Chic

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Oh, I'm keeping it going as often and as best I can, Chic. Thanks for the encouragment! The build has gone on much longer than I anticipated, and that's mostly due to my job. But there is an end in sight!

Although I say this every 2-3 weeks... I should have it all ready for flight in 2-3 weeks!

Back soon.

Noah

lkahn4

Noah,
Magnificent, what an awesome paint scheme.. can't wait to see it all together. We finally got the New, Improved and correct sized bomb bay doors redone and ready to install, all the connectors and both rods cut to size, next step attaching to the fuse. Will send pix after our 3rd attempt to get them as good as yours are . Had to put off the T-28 project due to legal issues but I hope to have that resolved one way or the other in the next few weeks and I already have a cosigner ready when I'm ready to ask the wife for the $1,000+ I need for the kit and gear... I just hope her interest rate will drop to a reasonable 15% - 20%
The progress on our Avenger has been extremely slow, though the time seems to fly, 3 hours a week just isn't getting it done but that's all we can squeeze in.
I did get the windows cut and ready to attach plus the crew door is almost finished and the use of magnets to hold it closed it gives us a much cleaner appearance, we are using pinpoint hinges for the hinges and we have fabricated some fairings to hide the door side of the hinges.

Okay I've taken enough of everyones time, hope everyone is getting some stick time

Larry

jdeluyck

My Feedback: (6)

Hey Noah,

The Avenger looks great! Masking the yellow stipes is a lot harder than it looks... I did some on a Jug and was surprised at how hard they are to mask...

Vikie just told me she sent your Paint Masks and Dry Transfers yesterday.

Keep up the great work,
Jerry

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Thanks, Jerry!

You're right... what a pain it is (was) to get those lines parallel around the compound curves of the fuse. Wing was not so bad...

Looking forward to getting the stencils applied and flying her soon!

Thanks for providing such great products, service, and support.

Best regards,

Noah

Fleet

Charlie K. has an interior kit did I read?

Ray W.

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Yes, Ray.

Charlie's cockpit kit (~1/6th scale) consists of a vacuum-formed dash, instrument panel, cockpit side-walls, pilot's seat, head-rest, and center console. I think the details can be found on his website (http://kelloggplans.com/)

I have some pictures of my assembled kit posted earlier in this thread (page 19, post 459), although my detailing/painting leaves a lot to be desired!

Are you approaching completion of a Kellogg Avenger?

Regards,

Noah

Fleet

Nope, I keep getting sidetracked. I got his plans, Sierra gear, Saito 450 over a year ago and just can't seem to get it started.

I do like your bombbay door treatment. I was hoping for a better pic of it and lo and behold, you provided one.

My plan , overall , is more a flyer and will keep it as light as can be. I've seen youtubes of TBFs and other nice scale planes pass by the camera at warp 5.

Thanks for the tip on Kellogsplans.com.

Great job again.

Ray W.

butlern

My Feedback: (15)

Time to re-prioritize your projects, Ray! You'll really enjoy the build.

I loved the build (although I dragged it out too long), and I appreciate your compliments.

Anyway, don't put off the Avenger too long!

Good luck.

Noah