Gear UP Modelling

[John Howling Mouse]

To get the right fit with gear doors that are clearly not made to fit the intended aperture, here's a little tip from Mr. Scratchbuilder here:

1. Tape a strip of sufficiently wide masking tape over the aperture of the open wheelwell.
2. Burnish down the edges of the taped, open aperture with a soft pencil's edge to get a distinct, precise line of the wheelwell's open perimeter.
3. Remove tape with the outline's drawing and re-tape to a nice, flat/smooth working surface, like your wife's favorite antique desktop. Tell her JHM said it was okay.
4. Cut the exact outline with a sharp knife and RIGHT on the pencilled line since this traced outline might now be *slightly* smaller in dimension than the original wheelwell outline you copied. Don't cut the tape from the inner edge of the drawn outline (or it may end up being TOO small for the wheelwell's perimeter). Cut right on the line.
5. Using this taped silhouette of the wheelwell, position it to best advantage on the respective, kit-supplied gear door, taking into account whatever geometry is involved with your particular gear door. You now have the near-perfect silhouette of the actual wheelwell perimeter right on your gear door piece.
6. Sand/file down the gear door to the taped wheelwell outline, testing the fit of the gear door to the real wheelwell often. I often do not need to use any glue with this method, the final fit is that tight.

I believe what happens with any kind of angled cut-out is similar to that phenomenom encountered when trying to get all four chair legs the same length: while we focus on one edge (or chair leg), the other ones are becoming skewed by comparison. Even a square gets skewed as soon as you sand any one of the four sides at the slightest angle and/or make any side a bit shorter than the others.

Also:
Glue in little (4 or 5 mm long) styrene "tabs" around the perimeter of the open wheelwells (from the inner surface). I mean the homemade tabs you can add to project out from the open lip of the wheelwells as something for your gear doors to be set upon. This is essential in the event that any (or all) your final gear doors end up a tad too small for the aperture of your wheelwells. If you forgot to do this and the model is already partially assembled, don't worry. You can still get the tabs in place (I squeeze them to the inner face of the kit's wheelwell opening using tweezers if the kit is partially assembled).

[retro_seventies]

ahhhhh wonderful!

some super tips in there Barry, and (not wanting to swell your head or anything, BUT) i just printed it out to pop into my modelling file....

can't wait for the scratchbuilding wings article that you talked about a while ago - i'm sure its going to be great!

talking of articles, i'll get my weird little brush wars one turned in as soon as i get some time off from work....sorry its taking so long....

all the best mate,

ben  

[John Howling Mouse]

some super tips in there Barry, and (not wanting to swell your head or anything, BUT) i just printed it out to pop into my modelling file....

Thanks, Ben.

Don't forget: you are legally obligated to drink an entire pint of ale each time you use any one of my modelling tips (think of it like a cross between a drinking game and a royalty)!

 

[Radish]

An extremely useful and appropriate idea/tip since I'm about to build a 1/48th Flanker in "flying mode", and heaven only knows what the final result will be like unless the modelling expertise of Barry is used!!
Great stuff. Much appreciated.
     

[Nigel Bunker]

On the rare occasions I've made a model gear up, I fill the u/c bay with milliput and push the doors down into it. Excess miliput forces its way out and fills any gaps. Works for me.