Yes ANOTHER MB5! It's the Monsoooooon!

[PR19_Kit]

Yes indeed, another one.........

I've started work on my AZ Models MB5 but I'm not going to post a blow by blow account, others are already doing that, so I'll just mention the odd point as they arise.

I've started with the wings, and thanks to Gondor's timely tip I managed to get the wheel wells sorted pretty well, but I'd hardly say the top and bottom of the wings match too well. Both of mine needed some hefty clothes-pegging to get the edges to join up properly. One of them, the starboard one I think, needed the inner wing rib filed down a tad before it would fit.

[kerick]

Bring on the MB5s! Never enough.

[JayBee]

I had the same problem with the top and bottom of the wings. I glued the leading edges into place, let it set for 24hrs. thenclamped and glues the trailing edges.

I also solved the problem with the wheelwell walls. I left them out 

Jim

[PR19_Kit]

I'm glad it's not just mine then. I just clamped the whole darn lot together with five VERY strong clamps and it seems to have worked OK.

I'm amazed they butt jointed the wings and yet put tabs on the tailplane, very weird.

[NARSES2]

I'm amazed they butt jointed the wings and yet put tabs on the tailplane, very weird.

Me to, just get the impression they rushed it a bit for Telford ? As I've said in my own thread the Me 109 is a street ahead in terms of finesses.

[PR19_Kit]

Making good progress on this, both wings are assembled and 'modified'  and PSR'd too. I've joined the fuselage but left out the cockpit as you won't be able to see it with this version. 

I didn't RTFM and left off the tailwheel, so then I had to UNdo the fuselage and insert it. 

[PR19_Kit]

That tailwheel doesn't have any positive positioning and even after a few hours it doesn't want to stay down, so I dribbled a few drops of thin superglue into the tailwheel aperture. THAT fixed it. 

The fuselage needed much more radical surgery than I anticipated so here's the required pics, along with the wings.

Yes, they're SHORTER! 

JayBee, you got it right, it's going to be a Reno racer.

[PR19_Kit]

One step forward, another step back. 

I finished off planking in the upper fuselage deck that you can see above and when the planks had dried off I started layering on the putty. It needed three layers before it got close to looking right and I'd sanded down the 2nd layer before applying the third.

Darn me if the whole lot went soft! Not only the top layer, but all three! 

I had a chat with the guru of the Presto putty I use, Dizzyfugu on here, and he'd never had that happen before, not in YEARS of using the stuff, so I've scraped it all off again, back to the styrene and started all over.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...... 

In the meanwhile I've started on the decals for it, they're looking pretty darn good too. 

[JayBee]

Kit, you are just going to have to give in and try Isopon P38.

[PR19_Kit]

Kit, you are just going to have to give in and try Isopon P38.

I wish Jim, but Mrs_PR19 can't live with the smell sadly.

I tried a second bout with the Presto, after levering off the un-set layer, and it looked promising at first. I'd ensured that some of the putty was spread over the normal plastic of the fuselage as well as over my strip styrene planks to get some comparison about the setting or otherwise, and it's good that I did. The stuff that was over the normal plastic set, and the stuff over my strips didn't! The putty had even softened the strips!

There must be some adverse chemical reaction going on with that particular brand of styrene that I used to make the strips, but I'm darned if I noticed it was any different to any I've used previously for the same purpose, so I went to Plan B. I dragged out an ancient FROG Hunter FGA9 than was lurking un-loved in The Loft and I've assembled the fuselage halves with the intention of chopping a chunk out of the bottom of it to replace the cockpit area of the MB5.

The MB5 is amazingly wide for a piston engined fighter, a Mustang is quite a bit narrower and a Spitfire is like a razor blade in comparison. I was hoping that a chunk of P-47 would do, but there isn't an area that parallel sided for long enough, so the Hunter it was.

Hopefully more positive progress later today.

[Rheged]

Kit, you are just going to have to give in and try Isopon P38.

I wish Jim, but Mrs_PR19 can't live with the smell sadly.

It is a truth widely recognised within Whiffworld that upsetting the domestic management can lead to a series of unfortunate circumstances.

Think of it in the terms of Hirohito's surrender speech in 1945  which noted that "the  situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage"

You may translate that into your own domestic circumstances as appropriate.

[kitnut617]

The MB5 is amazingly wide for a piston engined fighter, a Mustang is quite a bit narrower and a Spitfire is like a razor blade in comparison.

I've always said that the Griffon look kinda lost stuck in the front of the MB5 Kit, remember though the MB3 (which the MB5 evolved from) was powered by an early Sabre engine.  Two of my Falcon MB5's are getting re-engined, one with a Sabre VII (or VIII) and the other with a Centaurus

[Captain Canada]

Cool idea sorry to hear about the putty woes

[PR19_Kit]

Attempt #2, all the Presto putty and the planked styrene strips were cut away and the open bay smoothed off (again....) and then I inserted the chunk of the sacrificial FROG Hunter's underside.

I'll wait till it's really hard and then try the Presto again.

Oh yes, you'll note the addition of a dorsal fin too, a common addition on Reno racers.

[PR19_Kit]

I'm feeling much better about this now as the PSR on the cockpit blank worked a treat. The Presto putty set hard and I've sanded it down to the shape I want now. 

Because I don't trust those butt jointed wings I added two piano wire min-spars to each wing and drilled matching (sort of...) holes in the respective wing root as well. The port wing's now superglued in position and the starboard one is ready to glue. I used gel type glue with a hardener spray to fix the spars into the wing and then a touch of gel on the spars and liquid superglue for the joint itself. It'll need some serious PSR later on but it's very strong.



The wings do a look a bit short for one of my models, don't they? I must avoid this becoming a habit......