VACUFORM –Any Aircraft Subject (Starts 2/1/05 Ends 9/30/05)

... anyway, if you're wondering why it took me 1 +1/2 hours to sand everything, please recall the fuselage is no longer than 7cm!!!!!! and I still have to reshape the edges of the wings.....

... By the way, I just noticed that the trailing edge of the lower wing has a strange bow-shaped curvature in the middle. I suppose I can adjuste it into some sort of mold and damp it in hot water. Has anyone ever tryed this sort of corrrective technique?

I’ve straightened injected molded warped wings my rubber banding them to a flat board and soaking them in hot water then rinsing in cold water. One of the wings also had a pretty sizeable lump in the trailing edge that this took care of. Should work on vacuformed wings also.

More on the Avia 135 saga:

The moral to this story is NEVER look at reference material. :) I've gone over the photos in the MBI Avia monograph and compared them with my kit. The kit is supposed to be an Avia Av.135 Series Production version as flown by the Royal Bulgarian Air Force. What it actually is is the fuselage from the fixed-gear Av.35 coupled with the wing from the Av.135.1 prototype. The differences are not glaring, but they are noticable. The radiator opening should be oval instead of square, the lower nose should be more rounded and streamlined, and the fuselage behind the cockpit is missing the pinched-in shape. The nose isn't too hard a fix, but the rear fuselage deck will be tricky because of the molded-in fabric ribbing effect. And fixing the shape of the rear fuselage will mean having to form a new canopy to match. But, I want the Bulgarian version so that's what I am going to do. I admire the balls the Bulgarian pilots must have had to take on B-24 bombers while flying the Av.135 with it's 860 HP engine and pair of 7.92 mm machine guns!

In spite of all that, the kit is really very nice. The overall shape is good, and the panel lines put many injected kits to shame. I think it will be a real looker when it is finished.

So, I have filled the nose with Milliput before I start sanding it to the proper contour. The fuselage upper deck walls I will thicken by gluing styrene strips to the inside and then I will scrape and sand to the correct profile. In the mean time I am starting to work on the cockpit interior and then I will tackle that pesky mis-matched wing.

Am I having fun? You betcha!

Thanks, Dan. Although I'm looking for the opposite effect (to replicate the lump in the wing...), I suppose it will work out as well. Anyway, we will know for sure as soon as I manage to get some time free and return to the workbench....

Regards,

Everyone his having problems but try to keep going. You can't beat the satisfaction of working through them. Even if you just slap some putty on and call it done (like me).

Update: It looks like a plane now!!! This pic shows the distinctive "fatness" of the Fury. Glued the wings on and first fill of putty. There are lots of problems (just like all of us are having) due to the kit and my skill not to mention the severly yellowed canopy that has a dent. Still I'm happy it's moving along.

Nice going I-beam!! It looks real good, so far. Of course, as a subject it has a wing and propeler deficit (what is that hole in the back used for??!!...).

I just regret at this point not having that much time available to go through faster....

QUOTE: Originally posted by Rafael Pelote it has a wing and propeler deficit (what is that hole in the back used for??!!...).

LOL!! Yes I know yous guys are doing much more complex planes. I picked the fury exactly because of it's simplicity (famous last words that will prolly come back and bite me on this one )

Hey, I-bean, it was not intended to sound that way!!! It was just WW1 modeler rubish talk....

The complexity is not an issue here, I think! I suppose every vac model is equally complex, it is just a matter that some are more time demanding then others. And the Fury is a lovely plane, anyway... And yours is coming out really fine!!!

I found some time yesterday evening to do some modelling. Not want to sand, I started on the resin cockpit. Unfortunatly the CA glue that I used dried a lot quicker then I expected. I used thick, gel, CA to have some drying time, but it dried almost instantly. This resulted in a few bent/broken parts....
Don't worry however, I want this MIG-3 so badly that I wil retry glueing the parts this weekend.

Not much progress to report on my project, the Republic XF-91. So far, Ive managed to cut out and sand the wing halves and separate the fuselage halves. Progress will be somewhat slow until I make up my mind as to which version I want to do. Rollout? Radar nose? V-tail? Small or large drop tanks? Decisions. Decisions.

Cockpit assembly is complete! I just have to paint it, I probably can do that tomorrow. Despite the difficulties with the resin, it turned out nice. I'll try to get some pictures, but this might take some time because I will have to lend a digital camera.
The sanding of the wings still has to be done! I am going to tak a short holliday next week and will try to do some sanding their.

bstrump: don't worry about the building speed, my first vac toke me a year to build. And my second vac toke me ........ a year to build. I'm expecting this one to take less time, because of all the resin parts. I'm hoping for it to be finished in november, just in time for the nationals (if I like the result)

Hey guys,

Check this out:
http://www.internetmodeler.com/2005/march/aviation/vacuform.php

Regards,

That Internet Modeler article is pretty good but a couple of his techniques I don't agree with. To me it is pretty hard to keep an X-acto blade aligned just right when scoring the parts to snap them out. I found that my Bare Metal Foil brand panel line scriber is much easier to control. I used 220 grit sandpaper to sand out the parts where he uses 60, but I found even 220 to be pretty aggressive at biting into the plastic. If I used 60 grit my 1/48 model would have been 1/72 by the time I was finished. :) Finally, for thinning down the trailing edges I found that scraping along the edge with a sharp X-acto blade thinned them down quicker and with more control. It's nice to see articles like that to encourage modelers to try vacuforms, but if everybody else finds out it isn't as hard as they think, other modelers won't have so much awe and admiration for those of us who build them!

QUOTE: Originally posted by bjohns5 but if everybody else finds out it isn't as hard as they think, other modelers won't have so much awe and admiration for those of us who build them!

Good point.....

Rafael, Thanks for the link. I thought his use of epoxy resin was interesting.

QUOTE: Originally posted by bjohns5 It's nice to see articles like that to encourage modelers to try vacuforms, but if everybody else finds out it isn't as hard as they think, other modelers won't have so much awe and admiration for those of us who build them!

LOL!!!

RemcoGrob, congrats on finishing the cockpit!!

My update: Gear done, kinda crude but done. Stretched and bent sprue pieces. I was messing around with Brass, Copper, and Aluminum tubing but sprue ended up easier and better IMO.

bjohns5: I also use the scraping methode, but only with parts that aren't flat. The advantage of sanding is that, if done properly, you get a perfectly flat part and thus easy fit.
I use a boxcutter/stanley knive for scoring. They're thick and heavy giving me lots of controle, that way it's easiest to keep the blade aligned.

I finished sanding al of the parts. I had some difficulty with the wings. They have a prononced dihideral, making sanding difficult. so I used the scraping methode on some parts (see above).

Ok...I knocked out a couple other GB's I had to get done and now it’s back to the Fokker...tomorrow. It’s time to correct the fit issues and then scratch build the pit. It’s going to get interesting now.

How's everyone else doing?

Unfortunately, I'm not making much headway on my build other than the fact that I've decided which version I'll actually be doing. I'll be doing my XF-91 with the radar nose and large fuel tanks. I'm still working on my number 2 build for the F-14 GB and plugging away at my project for the It Floats and Flies GB. Between these and some of my other projects I'm tidying up, there's not much time for this GB. This GB ends when?

I/we haven’t set an end time for this group build, right now it kind of open ended. Let’s let it run thru the summer, we can go longer if need be.

I'm a bit stalled with my project. I have extensively studied the available photos and plans of the production version of the AV.135 and compared it to the kit and the results are discouraging. The fuselage is pretty good, as is the rudder and stabilizers. The wings, on the other hand, are a major problem. Not only is the basic outline incorrect, but almost every panel line is in the wrong place and even the flaps and ailerons are the wrong size and shape. Even if I fill and re-scribe all the panel lines, I will still have a wing that is obviously too narrow and too swept. This is the point at which, if I didn't REALLY want a model of this plane, and wasn't signed up for this group build, I would put it away and wait for a better kit to be released. :) What I'm going to do is scratchbuild a new wing using a balsa core covered with .010 styrene sheet. That way I can get the shape right and scribe in correct panel lines. I can even drop the flaps and move the ailerons while I am at it. I'll put up some in-process photos once I have something that looks like a wing to show you.

I´ve been stoped for the past couple of weeks due to some travelling and family affairs, but I've setled a deadline for this and some other projects. The last weekend of September there is an important model show in the Lisbon area, and by then I plan to have at least 10 models finished (most of which are well on the way), this one being, I hope, the cherry on the cake. This means it has to be finished by then, but I'm hoping to finish it sooner!

in the meanwhile I took some time to read more about this aircraft and I even ordered an additional book on it, so, it wasn't totally waisted time...

However, I took and important decision, which will affect the overall construction. I will reproduce one of the Roland-buildt aircrafts, and not one from the Halberstadt factory, meaning I will have to enlarge the fuselage, by cutting and adding a slice of plastic card. The Roland-buildt Halbies where longer that the original ones... all because I just love the four tone fuselage of the roland built aircrafts...

Check this one, in the Munich museum...

http://www.biplanes.de/show_muenchen_halberstadt.shtml

regards,

Looks like miduppergunner (aka David) is first to complete this group build. He asked me to post these pictures of his Javelin for him. Looks like a very nice build to me. Very good job and thanks for participating.

David, any detail you’d like to share with the group?

Wow! That is a very impressive build. I've always liked the look of this plane and David has certainly done it justice. Tha fact that it's a vacform makes it all the more impressive. It would certainly be nice to have some details of the build.

I hadn't expect anybody tot finish this soon!
And with a very nice result, I might add. I like the vortex generators, where they scratch builded?

Here is an update on my build:
I have finished the cockpit and am test fitting the fuselage. I will glue this together and insert the cockpit later. After the fuselage is glued (and before the cockpit is inserted) I will have to test fit and shape the wings. I have identified one big problem, the wheel wells are to big to fit inside the wings!

Congrats to Miduppergunner for finishing his build. That should be some motivation now for all us other slackers to get moving on this. LOL!!! The problem with not having an end date is that IMO you tend to procrastinate a little or a lot like me.

My update: Completely frustrated with the canopy. Can't seem to form the curve correctly. Decided to make some new ones with some acetate and "melt and stretch" method. ARRRRGGGGGGGG!!!!!

David,

That is a VERY GOOD JOB!!!!! Congratulations. I really love the way it turned out!

All the best,

Congratulatons on a job well done, and then to think that I haven't even started yet... what's the deadline again ???

Many thanks - blushing more than a bit. This is done in 33 Sqdn livery - simply because they were at Middleton St George (N England - near Darlington) where an Uncle was stationed in 76 Sqdn in 1942 and did not return from a raid in a Halifax over Essen.

The general fit was OK but a lot of the detail was a bit underdone! I was able to photo an "original" which predictably showed up the differences - like the ailerons - they have a blunt trailing edge to stop flutter - and the hinges are very pronounced. Hence it was really a rebuild! The vortex generators are with the kit (Dynavector) - photo etch - about 1.5mm square and there are about 97 of them. You drill 0.5mm holes in the wing and insert a small "tail" on the PE into it - bit of superglue and that is it!! I only lost one incidentally - they give you a few spares. The instructions are not brillaint - they tell you to put spars in the wing but omit to point out that the location is important because of other fittings. When (many years ago) I saw Javs at West Malling I recalled they were in good condition - quite clean etc. I think the RAF used to look after them because they new they would not get any more!!

This was my first vac form - I did enjoy it - a bit of a challenge - not for the Tamiya fan perhaps - and certainly won't be my last. The decals were good I have to say. Overall then Dynavector kits are OK - a bit pricey I feel; but if you like a good building challenge then can be recommended. If anyone has questions I will attempt to help

So as motivation the rest of us to get busy do we need to assign an “end” date to this group build? If so how far out do we want it? If we end at the group build at the end of July that would be 6 months total. We could go thru the end of September, that way there is a time limit without too much pressure. Let me know what you think.

I'm not sure about setting an end date. As I told earlier, my vac's usually take a lot of time. September should be OK.

I have got some images on the net, so without further ado:











the last picture shows the gap between the upper and lower wing, caused by bad sanding!