A7K Jinpu-Kai?

[Brian da Basher]

When I Googled Gator Glue, I found that some U.K. sources that stock it, so I'd think there might be some hobby shops that carry it as well.

Brian da Basher

[sequoiaranger]

OK! Bitchen! *IT WORKED!!**

The dollhouse-door wing-fold is at the proper angle! Now mind you, this is strictly mock-up. The prop on the front end is tacked on just for show (a better prop and a nice spinner will eventually find its way onto the nose, but you can see the brass screen for the radiator). The canopy is the stock kit one just placed on, but the final model will have a nice, thin, vac-formed one. The wings are my "practice dummy" ones from the original Shiden kit, and the fuselage is just placed in the wing for the picture (thank God I'm not as dumb as I look!).

I used SuperGlueCA, and was careful not to get it in the hinge, but I will admit that the hinge needs to be deeper into the wing so there is no gap.  I also need a longer "ramp" upon which to attach the hinge to get maximum surface area of adhesion. In my glee at succeeding in the original match-up, I wiggled the wing a bit and the wing-tip fell off  so I re-did it a little more carefully for the picture. I am now fully convinced I will need an "overlay" on the hinge to more securely hold it onto the wing. But...boldly forward I go!

[Brian da Basher]

I really like the brass screen you added, Sequoiaranger! Glad to see the little hinges worked!

Brian da Basher

[NARSES2]

When I Googled Gator Glue, I found that some U.K. sources that stock it, so I'd think there might be some hobby shops that carry it as well.

Brian da Basher

I picked up some from Alistair of A2Z Models and it's good stuff. I think SBX near Ipswich now stock it as well

[wolfik]

hi
when you want I have drawings of the marine version.it was lenghtened between the engine and canopy.not much...but not easy to rebuild the fuselage parts.
I have a master for the hasegawa kit in 1/48 scale.build for a manufacturer who is history now
let me know at nepio@gmx.de
best regards!
good work!

[Joe C-P]

This "Macchi-Castoldi MC 605 Vendetta" was made from a Bf-110 with a 1/200 Connie tail, three MC 205 engine/nacelles, and components of an Me-410 (canopy and remote guns). The wings fold and unfold manually via dollhouse door hinges. Shown in "US" livery of the Italian Cooperation Forces aboard the Italian carrier Aquila requisitioned to sail with the Allies to invade Java.

I like this! 

[frank2056]

Craig, I have some Gator Glue I can send you if you want to try it out. It's more like a PVA/White glue than a CA glue or Gorilla Glue (which will expand, BTW). I used a fair amount of Gator glue on my french E-10 tank (tracks and PE). When dry, it's pretty strong; again, similar to carpenter's white glue. I'm not sure that the Gator Glue will be strong enough to hold the wing hinge if the wing plops down, though.

Frank

[sequoiaranger]

n/t

[ysi_maniac]

Serious work indeed

[sequoiaranger]

   ARGGGGHH!

I put the horizontal tailplanes on my Jinpu-Kai, thought I lined them up PERFECTLY with the vertical stabilizer, with nice 90-degree angles all around, etc., and then mega-beefed-up the butt-joint with stainless steel tubing spars and my "plastic epoxy" for a REAL SOLID bond.

THEN... when it was all dry and solid I checked out the overall angles again and found out that the whole horizontal tailplane group was "pointed" slightly right (when viewed from the top) of the direction of flight. OMG!--there was NO WAY I could get the tailplanes off, or even saw off the tail planes to do it over--the stainless-steel rebar would see to that. Uh-oh.

THEN an inspiration struck me. I remembered that the P-51 was DESIGNED with its vertical stabilizer canted a bit to the left (as seen from the top--and only about 2 degrees) to help offset the torque of the engine/propeller and keep the aircraft more stable while cruising. AHA! So now I can, once again, saw off the tail, re-do the angle to make the horizontal stabilizers "point" in the right direction, AND have a backstory of a DELIBERATE (as opposed to a bumbling c*ock-up) canting of the vertical stabilizer slightly to the left to help counteract the torque of the massively powerful engine I have assigned to it!

Hey! Being "creative" means more than simply originating new concepts; it means covering up your goofs as well!!

[jcf]

THEN an inspiration struck me. I remembered that the P-51 was DESIGNED with its vertical stabilizer canted a bit to the left (as seen from the top--and only about 2 degrees) to help offset the torque of the engine/propeller and keep the aircraft more stable while cruising. AHA! So now I can, once again, saw off the tail, re-do the angle to make the horizontal stabilizers "point" in the right direction, AND have a backstory of a DELIBERATE (as opposed to a bumbling c*ock-up) canting of the vertical stabilizer slightly to the left to help counteract the torque of the massively powerful engine I have assigned to it!

Offset vertical stabilizers are the most common form of propeller thrust compensation... IIRC it was @ 1.5 degrees on the Curtiss Hawk biplanes, another  common form is a vertical fin/rudder that is flat on one side. Among the more unusual methods were the port canted engine of the Bloch MB 150 and the Macchis with one wing longer than the other.

Jon

[sequoiaranger]

>Offset vertical stabilizers are the most common form of propeller thrust compensation... IIRC it was @ 1.5 degrees on the Curtiss Hawk biplanes, another  common form is a vertical fin/rudder that is flat on one side. Among the more unusual methods were the port canted engine of the Bloch MB 150 and the Macchis with one wing longer than the other.<

Hmmm-- The Tornado/Typhoon/Tempest series all used the same rotation on the engine. The Spitfire, on the other hand,  went from the Merlin to the Griffon with opposite rotation (and thus torque) on the engine. Do you know of any compensatory arrangements for that transition?

[jcf]

>Offset vertical stabilizers are the most common form of propeller thrust compensation... IIRC it was @ 1.5 degrees on the Curtiss Hawk biplanes, another  common form is a vertical fin/rudder that is flat on one side. Among the more unusual methods were the port canted engine of the Bloch MB 150 and the Macchis with one wing longer than the other.<

Hmmm-- The Tornado/Typhoon/Tempest series all used the same rotation on the engine. The Spitfire, on the other hand,  went from the Merlin to the Griffon with opposite rotation (and thus torque) on the engine. Do you know of any compensatory arrangements for that transition?

Its possible that they used the oldest form: application of opposite rudder on takeoff. 

Jon

[sequoiaranger]

Hallelujah! I tried multiple times with various adhesives to get the hinge to stay and stay put in just the right spot. We're talking fractions of millimeters here. But...I truly think I have FINALLY done it right this time!!

Incidentally, I bought some "Gator Glue", now called "Gator's Grip", and used it to position the hinges. I am not overly impressed by the glue, as the glued hinge broke off several times with handling. I think "handling" is the key here as far as the usefulness of the glue is concerned. There are moving parts here, and widely varying stresses and leverages put on the hinge, so I think better adhesives and bolsters were needed in this specific case. "Gator's Grip" didn't "bite" instantly like SuperGlue, but took less time to start gripping than, say, white glue or RC-56.

I had to fabricate and build "ramps" to put inside the wing parts to attach the hinge to at the proper angles, yet having the hinges protruding enough so that the wing won't impinge upon itself. I had to notch out part of the wings at the fold to accomplish that. But....my "final" version had the folding wing part and the inner wing part a slight bit apart, so that when in the "down" position, the wing drooped below dihedral too obviously. Can't have THAT.

BUT, the space was evenly spaced, and by experimenting, I found that putting a flat piece of plastic in the gap would allow the wing to be perfectly aligned with the dihedral. So...I had to laboriously fabricate an exact airfoil piece, with a cutout for the hinge, to attach to the outside of the inner wing piece. This doubled as an end-piece anyway, as the kit's open space between the upper and lower wings had to be filled in somehow. I also put in an even smaller airfoil piece just inside the wing fold to bolster the hinge and then "plastic epoxy" the whole mess to brace the hinge and fill in the empty space. I'm pretty sure the hinge will not fall out once the plastic epoxy dries (coupla days for that stuff!).

Picture 3-1m shows the general wing and fuselage under-fairing. An old propellor was stuck on for the pic--that's not the one that will grace the final product

Picture 3-11m is a close-up, showing the tight wing-fold fit (upper LH corner), the miniature stainless-steel tubing (even-thickness walls) used for the wing guns, and the over-and-under mega-exhausts poking out of the under-fuselage fairing used to meet up with the increased size of the "Renzan" cowling I used.

Picture 3-08m shows the top of the wing where the hinge is*, and shows the extra "bumps" I put over where the 30mm breeches might go. And then there is the partial thumbprint that was "burned" into the wing when some extra-thin glue got under my thumb when I was holding the model (GRRR!) and that had to be sanded and puttied. (*Compare to my "Roughly Successful" post of Aug 31 when I first experimented with the old Shiden wing to try out the hinge idea--proves that practice makes perfect!)

Picture3-09m shows off the tubular guns, though the flash reflected off the squared-off end of one of them and looks kinda weird. The under-fuselage fairing fits EXACTLY, but in the photo I am trying to get my fingers far back out of the picture and didn't hold the fairing (dry-fit, just being held) flush with the cowling as it should (will) be.

Anyway, I am excited that for ALLLLLL that work, the end product of the micro-engineering of the wing fold SEEMS to be fabulously turning out the way I had envisioned it.

[sequoiaranger]

WOW! Once I got the wing-fold mechanisms to hold, the rest came easy. I just touch-glued the canopy and prop/spinner for the photo, and of course it is "raw" and unpainted (oh, and the wing drop-tanks aren't there yet) but man-oh-man the "hard" part is over. The wing has taken over a dozen hours itself to get right. This is just a photo-op mock-up, and the light-colored plastic regions make for an especially poor "silhouette" to get the feeling of the shape of the plane, but....hey, just WAIT until I get this baby decorated!!

I had to laugh at myself when I put together the Shiden-Kai in less than 15 minutes for a comparative photo. Of course the Shiden-kai has a few parts left out, and it's not "properly" done to my construction standards. I used it to experiment with the wing-fold, and will use it as a "painting dummy" to try out my new compressor and paints--see what works and what doesn't.

So photo #1 shows the comparative size of the Jinpu-Kai relative to its progenitor Shiden-Kai. Luckily for "us" the Shiden is a little "tubby" and the same-size center section looks more lean and sleek in the lengthened and widened Jinpu-Kai.

Photo #2, a rear-quarter shot, shows off the wing-fold angles I diligently tried to create with micro-engineering. Notice the tailhook, too.

Photo #3, a front-quarter shot, shows the fold and wing filler piece.

PS---This and the Avro Avatar I was building simultaneously are the first models I have made in 15 years!!! I'm almost giddy. Giddy-up! I traded over 500 1/72 models for a new air compressor and some LHS in-store credit, but won't be spraying paint for a few days (and then I'll be using the "dummy" for all the trial-and-error from lack of practice over the last 15 years). You'll see the finished product on this page in a few weeks, I would presume.