Mcdonall Douglas KC-11 et all

[Gondor]

Biggest decision I am having at the moment is weather to cut out the opening for the weapons bay before or after sticking the fuselage halfs together.

Gondor

[TallEng]

[/quote]

Bah! Skydrol, hate the stuff
Always drips in your eyes when working in the rain.
Don't know why they use the stuff anyway.
It's horrible.

[/quote]

Drips in your eyes?? That's dangerous, the stuff is very corrosive to human flesh! That shouldn't be allowed, and I'm being deadly serious here.

It's how it is 'cos it has a high bulk modulus, doesn't freeze even at ultra-low temperatures, it's pretty non-hygroscopic, plus I suspect it's not that expensive to manufacture.

Oh yes, it's fire resistant too, not a bad idea when it's running past hot jet engines etc.
[/quote]

Well as part of my job entails doing a walk around of the A/C after its finished flying for the day,
And as most Airliners are taller than me that requires looking up!
Consequently every now and again in the wind and the rain, I'll get a drop in the eye
This is v. Painful and needs washing out at once.
I much prefer DTD585 (OM15 I believe) which I think was just as good as skydrol , except perhaps the
Fire bit. (although I've been told skydrol burns just as well if sprayed in a fine mist) as you might get from
A hydraulic leak.
I'd take OM15 any time.

Fred hijack over 

Nice work Gondor, looking forward to seeing the rest of the family of DC10's
(Death Cruiser as we used know them  and Mega Death for the MD11)

Regards
Keith

[PR19_Kit]

Cut it out undersize first, glue the two halves together, say 3mm per side, and then trim to sze afterwards?

That way means you don't run the risk of getting the two sides out of line which each other

[PR19_Kit]

I much prefer DTD585 (OM15 I believe) which I think was just as good as skydrol , except perhaps the
Fire bit. (although I've been told skydrol burns just as well if sprayed in a fine mist) as you might get from
A hydraulic leak.
I'd take OM15 any time.

Yes, 585 is a lot less 'orrible for humans, and you're right about the fire resistance bit. Skydrol was developed to run at much higher temperatures and has a very flash point. Almost any hydraulic fluid is liable to ignite if vapourised from a high pressure leak. We had the end of a test coach blown off at the Railway Technical Centre from just that problem, and that was OM33 stuff.

[TallEng]

OM33 was I believe the Hydraulic fluid for the Comet? Though it's a long time scince I attended
1 SofTT at RAF Halton thank god, now only the funny side of things remains in my memories.

Regards
Keith

[Hobbes]

Biggest decision I am having at the moment is weather to cut out the opening for the weapons bay before or after sticking the fuselage halfs together.

Gondor

Before! That way you can fit the weapons bay inside before gluing the fuselage halves together.

[Gondor]

Received a Minicraft E-3 Sentry in the post today which I had bought from ebay. Not only does it have the rotor head but it also has the canoe for the JSTARS as well   so now I am looking for a copy of the E-8 instructions to see what would be used from the sprue's to build the E-8 so I can build my DC-10 version of the E-8.

Gondor

EDIT: that should be instructions from the Minicraft E-8

[McColm]

I think I've got a copy of instructions from David J Perkins, I could photocopy it and send it to you. If you like?

[Gondor]

Only been inspired enough to add an old rusty wing nut to the nose with super glue for ballast then I used some sprue to help keep it in place.

Gondor

[McColm]

Sorry I don't have the Minicraft instructions. Check on Youtube, I'm sure that they will be on there.

[Gondor]

Catch up pictures of what little work I have done recently.

First up the weapons. So far only roughly cut to length......


Next is the nose weight and the structure used to hold it in place


Lastly, for now anyway, the mounting points for the modified tail.


The black line in the above picture was made in-line with the window recess on the inside of the fuselage to give me a datum to work from when placing the plastic tubing vertically in the fuselage half. I have some brass rod that fits snugly into the plastic tubing, two lengths of the tubing will have a kink put into them with the upper ends fitted into the tail at different cords to provide support for the tail as I work out height by the good old Mk 1 eyeball. The bends in the brass support tubes will also allow me to work on the tail separately from the rest of the fuselage, at least initially.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Very ingenious Alastair, that's model engineering in styrene! 

[NARSES2]

Very ingenious Alastair, that's model engineering in styrene! 

Yes it is helpfull to see these builds in such detail. You can do the classic "why didn't I think of that" which I've just done 

Dig you literaly dig that wing nut up Alistair ?

[Gondor]

Very ingenious Alastair, that's model engineering in styrene! 

From someone with your background that is praise indeed Kit.

Yes it is helpfull to see these builds in such detail. You can do the classic "why didn't I think of that" which I've just done 

Dig you literaly dig that wing nut up Alastair ?

I inherited the wing nut when my parents downsized to a flat and my father was clearing out the shed, the nut may even have been my maternal grandfathers.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Decided to check how well the tail supports align



not bad considering it was done by eye........ its not perfect but its close enough for me 

You would think from the picture below that I had used fuselage sides from two different manufacturers rather than two half's from the same box going by this picture which was taken to make sure the nose weight and its securing structure fitted ok when the sides were closed together.



Good job I intend to use decals for windows as I don't think there would be much clarity in the kit provided transparencies once I get the cockpit glazing to fit. 

Gondor