It helps to have a mate who.....

[PR19_Kit]

More giant progress today, Pete the Lathe got going on the moulds for the front mudguards and made a SPLENDID job of them too. We found an old broom handle was EXACTLY the correct diameter for them!

Here he is at work, with a larger lathe than last time. He's got another one too, for REALLY serious work!




And here's the first mould being worked on.




And here's the finished articles alongside one of the wheels. I can see some vacforming in my immediate future....

[PR19_Kit]

And after a mammoth masking session (It's difficult enough on aircraft, but on cars it's AAAAAGGGHHHH!) we're ready to spray the silver underside and interior.

[zenrat]

And that. my friend, is why I brush paint most of my car interiors...

[PR19_Kit]

I will be brush painting the rest of it, all the details and the seat and floor etc. but much of its aluminium and really needed to be sprayed. It's not to come out too bad but needs cleaning up a bit.

[Old Wombat]

Always liked BRG, a really elegant colour.

[PR19_Kit]

Lots of fiddling little painting jobs done over the last few days, but little visible progress really, so I thought I'd try and vacform the front mudguards. I sawed Pete's wood wheelforms in half and got them in place on the machine's bed, as below.



Then I heated up the styrene in the oven at 170 C as I did before and plopped the frame in place over the moulds.

ZIP! NOTHING! No success whatsoever. 

The styrene cooled down so fast that it wouldn't mould properly. I tried 4-5 times, and even raised the temp. to 180 C but with similar results, so I abandoned the job for now and I'll have another go tomorrow.

[NARSES2]

If it's worked at 170C before that's odd  Unless the ambient air temperature is that much lower that the styrene is cooling down more quickly ?

[PR19_Kit]

If it's worked at 170C before that's odd  Unless the ambient air temperature is that much lower that the styrene is cooling down more quickly ?

My thoughts exactly, but it's all happening in the kitchen and the oven door is open while I'm moving the styrene across to the  machine, very odd.

I may try plunge moulding them if it doesn't work this evening.

[Hobbes]

These mudguards are a lot higher than the scoop you did earlier. Are you sure you're getting a good seal between the frame that holds the styrene plate, and the machine?

[PR19_Kit]

These mudguards are a lot higher than the scoop you did earlier. Are you sure you're getting a good seal between the frame that holds the styrene plate, and the machine?

No, I'm not, because it cools down so fast I can't get it into position soon enough.

I had 3-4 more goes tonight with the same result so I'll try plunge moulding them tomorrow with a balsa frame around the half-wheels.

[PR19_Kit]

Pre-painted and assembled both the front and rear suspensions and their brakes, as well as did some more detail and touch painting on the fuselage body shell.

For some reason the pics are turning out very speckly, it's not like that for real.









You'll see I've got some of the decals on the nose cone too, some of them will need to be re-printed as they just weren't dense enough first time around.

[Hobbes]

These mudguards are a lot higher than the scoop you did earlier. Are you sure you're getting a good seal between the frame that holds the styrene plate, and the machine?

No, I'm not, because it cools down so fast I can't get it into position soon enough.

I had 3-4 more goes tonight with the same result so I'll try plunge moulding them tomorrow with a balsa frame around the half-wheels.

Do you have a heat gun? (paint stripper)
You could use one to heat the styrene sheet during the transfer from the oven.

[PR19_Kit]

These mudguards are a lot higher than the scoop you did earlier. Are you sure you're getting a good seal between the frame that holds the styrene plate, and the machine?

No, I'm not, because it cools down so fast I can't get it into position soon enough.

I had 3-4 more goes tonight with the same result so I'll try plunge moulding them tomorrow with a balsa frame around the half-wheels.

Do you have a heat gun? (paint stripper)
You could use one to heat the styrene sheet during the transfer from the oven.

Good thinking Harro, thanks. I'll see if I can get one, there's a tool shop just down the lane from me. 

[PR19_Kit]

Back to the Sixties. 

While I'm still going to get a heat gun as Harro suggested, I was half way through going back to basics with the current mudguards.

I glued a rod onto the one of the mould halves and cut a slightly oversize hole to take the mould in a chunk if balsa, just like I've done zillions of times before, but mainly for flying models etc. Then I cut a chuck of the 10 thou to suit and pinned it in place over the balsa hole, and stuck the whole lot in the oven. This time I went as hot as it would go, 200C, waited till the styrene went floppy, yanked it out and plunged the mould through the styrene and into the hole.

And it WORKED! 

Here's the 'tool set' and the result, and I did do two of them of course.

[NARSES2]

That set up brings back memories Kit 

She's looking good, that's for sure. I do like the yellow nose - serving on the Russian Front ?