USN P-4 Pluto **DONE, PICS PG. 10***

Old Wombat · April 22, 2020, 03:11:03 AM

OK, coming together, now, & looking much better!

TheChronicOne · April 22, 2020, 09:29:10 AM

Thanks, bud! The more crap is glued in place, the better. We're in Bob Ross mode here where it looks goofy and unremarkable until all of a sudden it doesn't.

More today. I need to fill in the gaps by the engine pylons. I suppose while that dries I can finish off the gear bay doors and perhaps start figuring out how I would like to incorporate a tailhook. Time to start thinking about paint, as well... I have an idea of what I want to do but how to get it applied without it looking weird is the question.

The era appropriate paint job, I do believe, would be this here:

But... there's nothing really stopping me from going over all dark blue. The problem is the perfectly round fuselage.... this would have me putting the transition right in the middle of the fuselage which I think could look weird/bad (because the wings would be below it instead of lining up with the transition line). In steps the overall blue paint job which solves all those types of problems but it a bit less interesting and also a bit "out of era" for what I'm shooting for but it's not TOO far out of line.... Then again, it's all fake anyway here in the alternate universe so why not?

Other minor things need done like making sure the nose gear is the proper length. I think I might have this one sitting with a bit of a nose high attitude whilst on the ground.... give 'er maybe a 5 degree angle... I think it would look cool and is typical for carrier birds. I think where I have the cockpit would mean the visibility should still be good for taxiing. I guess.

I'm no airplane engineer... who knows what all I'm forgetting but I think I have most things covered.

TheChronicOne · April 22, 2020, 02:05:48 PM

Alright..... something was "off" about this thing so I decided to re-do the whole engines and pylons stuff all together. I decreased the size and changed the shape of the pylons themselves the moved them down to the fuselage. I like this better.... something about the other configuration was off proportionally and this looks more "correct" in my opinion. Of course, after I sleep on it tonight and wake up tomorrow morning I may tear it all apart again.

So anyway... I decided to take some pitures to see if looking at it in 2D would offer up any other "problems" so here those are. Bear in mind the differe colors of things and the fact that I still need to fill in some gaps is going to "throw things off" a bit. I wish I had a coat of primer on it all so it was the same color but wish in one hand...

Gondor · April 22, 2020, 02:29:01 PM

Looks very "Tails of the Trigan Empire" to me, cracking build

Gondor

TheChronicOne · April 23, 2020, 09:30:29 AM

Thanks!! I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out.

More today..... fill in the gaps on the engine pylons and start to get the arrestor hook "housing" made then I think I'll prime it and see where we stand.

TheChronicOne · April 26, 2020, 06:16:31 PM

Update on the pile of spare parts:

Still working on the engine pylons but also getting things like gear doors done and patched the gap between the wings on the underside.

TheChronicOne · April 26, 2020, 07:31:03 PM

Thank you!!! Still going.... I've since decided that something isn't right about the back portion of my engine pylons so I'm currently working on those... too much "stuff" toward the back I think..

I've since filed a bunch of this mess into a much cleaner and symmetrical appearance. I sure hope I'm doing the right thing here.... Every time I think "this ain't right" and start cutting and chopping things away I get an uneasy feeling.

Old Wombat · April 27, 2020, 03:53:41 AM

And a slap of primer makes her look even better!

TheChronicOne · April 30, 2020, 10:45:55 AM

Gone backward on this thing ever since I started chipping away at the rear of the pylons. Engines were a bit loose so I decided that before I put a bunch of elbow grease on all of this with sanding that I would re-inforce it some and let it dry up a few days. That was about 2 days ago so tomorrow or the next day I'll get back to it.

In other news, I finally showed some people on Facebook this thing and how it came to be and I've already inspired others to dive into their parts stash to create Frankenmodels so check the whifs on Facebook thread soon for some of that action!

Old Wombat · May 01, 2020, 08:24:37 AM

Feels good to have inspired others, doesn't it.

TheChronicOne · May 01, 2020, 08:38:55 PM

It does...... I've not made much of a mark on anything of "real" engineering in my life but there have been a few times I've inspired creation out of others in our fine hobby and it always makes me smile. One instance in particular was simply turning a guy on ( oooh yeeeeah..... insert jokes here...... ) to wet sanding and how friction from heat can do weird things to putty when doing PSR. This feller made a huge breakthrough in his model building efforts and kept coming back to the page to thank me... and damnit... it felt good. TWO happy modellers!

As for an update tonight, this one will be back "on" tomorrow, I hope. Weather is going to be crappy (sunny and around 100 degrees) and I've pre-emptively done a bunch of house chores so I'm going to have some fun getting my Pluto into shape.

TheChronicOne · May 02, 2020, 11:35:53 PM

Finally found time to work on this today!

It doesn't look like much, but I've done a fair amount of knife and sculpting work on the rear pylons for the engines. Among other things I've had to fill in gaps in the backs of them from where I opened up the interior "voids."

Otherwise I've been working on making these things below that I'm going to stick (or not, depending on how it looks, etc.) on the ends of the wings. I can't recall at the moment where they came from or what they are/were but I cut off one of the two fins on each and sanded the seams smooth. Trying to present the idea that the front of these are search lights (with blah blah blah inside the domes to direct the beams, whatever) perhaps. They'll also be fuel tanks.

PR19_Kit · May 03, 2020, 05:23:05 AM

They are what you say they are, it's YOUR model.

TheChronicOne · May 03, 2020, 01:19:14 PM

Right on, thanks!!! I think... on that note.... some of the little do-dads I put on this I won't even bother explaining and just let people have fun within their own imagination assigning a function to it.

Getting some good work done on this today.... I've finished off the gear doors and I've used wood file to countour the shapes of the roots of the tail planes so they fit snug to the fin. I'm starting to paint those and have decided to wait until the end to glue them on. With them on there's just not enough room between them and the engines to work on those ares so instead of bust them off 14 times I'll just leave them off for now.

Speaking of engines... they're pretty solid now so I think I'll get into sanding on them a little bit and prime all this stuff again to see what all is left.

Also, I'm working on the wing tip fuel tanks/whatevers and decided that leaving the single fin on the outside didn't quite look right.... I was beginning to cross a point of having "too much" busy stuff going on and I'm trying to maintain at least a bit of plausibility and common sense. Next up I'm taking my rotary tool to cut open a gap so I can slide them onto the wings.

I'm also going to try to get the arrestor hook situated... speaking of, it's mostly painted and almost ready to be attached although I'll save that to the end with the other stuff like gear doors. But, I DO need to make the little area where it attaches to the airframe so I'll be working on that today.

I've decided to not put external fuel tanks on this for the same reason I cut the last two fins off of the wing tip tanks... it would have been "too much" and besides, I think there's plenty of room in the fuselage for a fuel tank seeing as how it started life as one anyway....

TheChronicOne · May 03, 2020, 05:45:01 PM

Still chipping away. I didn't get all of my goals accomplished but I have managed quite a bit.

This is pretty much the "final form" as it sits now. Tip tanks and tail planes just mocked up along with the nose cone which I haven't taken pictures of yet actually attached.

I still need to do a ton of sanding at the rear where the engines attach but I'm going to tackle that very soon before I progress too much further.