Hello fellow group builders. Here are some starting photos of the After the Battle group build that I’m working on. The subject is the Trumpeter 1/32 F-105D.
First photos are of the inside starboard rear fuselage and starboard wing areas that are marked with pencil to show where the panel lines are on the exterior. This will be the battle damaged areas.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/enginebaymarking.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/InteriorRt.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/Verticlefinbeginning1.jpg
With those areas marked, I begin the application of the Bare Metal Foil on the exterior surface of the areas that will be battle damaged. This was also done with the starboard outer Pylon and the vertical stabilizer.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/BMFapplicationexteriorfuselage.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/ApplyBMFtowingexterior.jpg
After the foil is applied, I began thinning the plastic of those areas using a Dremel with a round grinding bit. (If you use this technique, remember to grind down gradually and as evenly as you can.) The plastic is thinned down enough so that you can start to see the foil appearing translucent through the plastic. I stopped thinning it with the Dremel at that point and used 400 grit sandpaper to get an even thin skin. Next I applied foil over the thinned area. This was done on the upper and lower wing halves and to the right side of the right outboard pylon. Use a Q-tip to press the foil down so that you don’t puncture the thin skin.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/Thinningupperinteriorwing.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/Thinnedinteriorwingbottom.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/upperwinginteriorBMFapplication.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/BMFappliedtopyloninterior.jpg
Next came the building the structure of the interior of the wing, fuselage and vertical stabilizer. I used a skeleton drawing of the F-105 as a reference of where bulkheads, spars and linkages were located. Since I planned for a large hole caused by AAA to be in the fuselage, I had to build the bulkheads and spars for the port side of the interior as well as the starboard.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/interiorwingstructureapplied.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/1stbulkheadinplaceEng.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/Csaulet2001/EnginebayBulkheadsinstalled.jpg
That’s all for now. More to follow very soon.
Chris