Zenrat's Flying Circus

zenrat · March 14, 2015, 01:21:10 AM

I had toyed with the idea of a torpedo but think I might leave it as a fighter.

NARSES2 · March 14, 2015, 06:21:45 AM

Now I've had thoughts about a torpedo armed Hurricane I must admit. You'd have to get over or around the radiator but you could offset the torpedo to do that. My main concern was weight and brain just shook my head of it's own accord and the thought was discarded

NARSES2 · March 15, 2015, 08:13:58 AM

Quote from: Flyer on March 14, 2015, 09:06:31 AM
I'd put the torpedo on the centreline and make 2 smaller radiator scoops to put 1 under each wing.

Must admit the thought crossed my mind, but then I thought they would have to go outboard of the undercarriage and on early Hurricanes that would be fabric so not sure if it could be done until the metal wings came along ? Plus would it interfere with the gun positions ? Just things that crossed my mind and were part of the reason why I discarded the idea. Brain didn't want to think to hard about it.

PR19_Kit · March 15, 2015, 08:39:10 AM

How about putting them inboard on the wings and behind the main gear? The Spitfire's rads were similarly located so it should work OK.

NARSES2 · March 15, 2015, 08:52:22 AM

Quote from: PR19_Kit on March 15, 2015, 08:39:10 AM
How about putting them inboard on the wings and behind the main gear? The Spitfire's rads were similarly located so it should work OK.

Yup, that would work. Told you my brain just discarded the idea. I had nothing to do with it, brain just acted all of it's own accord

zenrat · March 17, 2015, 03:24:59 AM

I have a pair of Stuka underwing fairings spare...

The TurboStuka has Airfix new mould Stringbag undercarriage on it. They have flats moulded on the wheels and square bosses so you get the flat bit in the right position...
...for a Swordfish. Which is of course not the right position for a TurboStuka. It's close though so I pushed the wheels onto the legs yesterday and started sanding.
And snapped a leg.
Which I glued and snapped again today.
And glued again.

Apart from breaking stuff today I also did some PSR on the Mohawk.

And I glued the wings of the hurricane together. Not as good a fit as I was expecting given it's one of the new Airfix. Despite using my super-clamps there is a distinct gap in places around the edges and the trailing edge looks very thick.

NARSES2 · March 17, 2015, 08:48:04 AM

Quote from: zenrat on March 17, 2015, 03:24:59 AM

And I glued the wings of the hurricane together. Not as good a fit as I was expecting given it's one of the new Airfix. Despite using my super-clamps there is a distinct gap in places around the edges and the trailing edge looks very thick.

Not had that problem myself on the 5 I've built so far. Can't comment on the thickness of the trailing edge. There is an oddity with the wing which many have commented on but from what I've read Airfix have said that this is what the real thing looked like ?

zenrat · March 18, 2015, 02:32:30 AM

I thought it might have been due to me gluing the landing gear bay liner parts in misaligned but the fit in the middle is fine. The issue is from outboard of the guns all the way round to the trailing edge wing root. It looks like I should have trimmed off the locating pins and bosses.
It's nothing a bit of liquid filler won't sort out but it's annoying.

But then I just have to reach over to the Hasegawa Mohawk box and that puts it all into perspective.
PSR on the stretched wings is finished and now I have to scribe some lines back in.

On the D9 dozer i'm building the tracks which a slow process. First time i've done this and it's just as time consuming and tedious as I expected. So i'm breaking it down into small chunks of about 18 links at a time and then putting it aside for a few days while I get fired up again.

NARSES2 · March 18, 2015, 08:08:02 AM

Quote from: zenrat on March 18, 2015, 02:32:30 AM
It looks like I should have trimmed off the locating pins and bosses.

Must admit I tend to automatically drill out the holes for the locating pins on the new Airfix kits. Just enlarge them a fraction as I find the fit is very, very tight on some. I have a pin vice permanently fitted with a drill bit of the right size specifically for the purpose.

Had the "problem" with a couple of the new tools that when I dry fitted a part the fit was that good/tight I couldn't get it apart again

zenrat · March 18, 2015, 11:32:27 PM

A run of liquid filler among the seams fixed the problem so i'm back on track.
Here's a mock up - wings & "glass" not attached yet.

TurboStuka is just awaiting the other 2 quarters of the spinner to be painted followed by some satin clear.

Wings are now attached to the Mohawk. Once flash is trimmed and sanded this doesn't go together too badly. Horrible brittle plastic though, of the sort I think of a "Monogram" plastic.

zenrat · March 19, 2015, 03:56:51 AM

From here

Quote from: PR19_Kit on March 19, 2015, 02:51:52 AM
How about driving it down the street to go shopping?

We never tried that (we did plot a route from the poo farm to Port Phillip Bay via creeks and drains but never tried that either).
I suspect the cops would have a field day writing tickets.
I found some (slightly fuzzy) pics of it.
It was an e2 built by ASV

Power was by a Rotax 582 2 stroke twin.

Top speed was quoted to us as "at least 110 km/hr. Probably more if you can find someone brave enough".
The plan was to use it to speed up drying in the (digested sewage) sludge drying pans. Running the hovercraft over it was like running a trowel over wet concrete - the biosolids were pushed downwards and the effluent came to the top.
After I spent many many hours writing bespoke OH&S paperwork (safety procedures for operating hovercraft in sewage treatment plants are not exactly 10 a penny) we found it worked very well although the operator did get covered from head to foot in sludge thrown up by the lift air escaping from under the skirts. Disposable paper overalls went from white to black in 5 minutes.
The problem was the wind. Gusty winds from the wrong direction would blow it sideways and if it was in the wrong place it would hit the banks of the pans. We had to put a wind speed limit in place which meant that given the flat open nature of the place we hardly ever got to use it.
In the end it was sold to a bloke from the Northern Territory who wanted it to get to fishing spots he couldn't reach any other way (he figured he could drive it over the crocs on the mud flats).
The real shame is that I never got to drive it.

PR19_Kit · March 19, 2015, 05:30:02 AM

Totally the opposite end of the size range of the only hovercraft I ever worked on/in, which were the two extended SRN4s operated by Hoverspeed, the largest hovercraft ever built. Amazingly both of them still exist, although now museum pieces.

scooter · March 19, 2015, 05:43:25 AM

Quote from: zenrat on March 18, 2015, 02:32:30 AM

On the D9 dozer i'm building the tracks which a slow process. First time i've done this and it's just as time consuming and tedious as I expected. So i'm breaking it down into small chunks of about 18 links at a time and then putting it aside for a few days while I get fired up again.

Yup...I'd bought a set of tracks for the Ferdinand to replace the vinyl ones, and after about 3 or four broken links and a hella lot of swearing, I broke down and just used what came with the kit

NARSES2 · March 19, 2015, 08:02:03 AM

Hurricane looks like a touring/sporting aeroplane with that car door canopy and no rudder, especially a 30's one (fairly obvious I suppose, but you know what I mean)

Nice work on those

zenrat · March 20, 2015, 01:26:43 AM

Quote from: scooter on March 19, 2015, 05:43:25 AM
Quote from: zenrat on March 18, 2015, 02:32:30 AM

On the D9 dozer i'm building the tracks which a slow process. First time i've done this and it's just as time consuming and tedious as I expected. So i'm breaking it down into small chunks of about 18 links at a time and then putting it aside for a few days while I get fired up again.

Yup...I'd bought a set of tracks for the Ferdinand to replace the vinyl ones, and after about 3 or four broken links and a hella lot of swearing, I broke down and just used what came with the kit

Well I got another 18 links done today without breaking any. And they all flex as well which is a bonus!

I've also been doing some research today. I've got a Hasegawa F-102 and want to build it with the missile bay closed. Something that is by all accounts tricky to do with the kit parts as it's designed to be open. Resin closed doors are available from the US but since I plan to use the closed doors as the basis for a gun pack that seems to be a bit extravagant.

Painted the Red and the Blue on the two Porco Rosso planes yesterday so they're coming along.
If you want a really surefire way to clog your airbrush confuse your paints and thin acrylic with enamel thinner then try to spray with it.

Glued the nose on the Mohawk and then added even more weight. There is now more lead in this model than in an Indonesian drug smuggler. And it might still need more. Which could be a problem as the only place left is in the front of the nacelles and the SLAR pod and there isn't much room in them.
Hope the undercarriage can take the strain.