AIR RACER GROUP BUILD BECAUSE WE FEEL THE NEED FOR SPEED

bondoman

I'm about to go up there, in a couple hours. I'll be online there, so post up anything you need, and I'll be in the pits all four days, so look for some good stuff when i get back.

Bondo, sir, I think I speak for us all when I say that we require pictures of everything! Yes sir!

Jmabx yup I think its safe to say you speak for all of us here

Time for an update on my soon to be late build. I decided to try something I have never had the courage to try, and well I would like your honest opinions of my endeavors with this paint job. I think if I had a smaller tip for my air brush I could have done a better job of it, maybe a .05mm (.020 ) tip would have done the trick. I still have a couple of days work to do and hope to have it finished by next weekend.

Oh was also my first time airbrushing with enamels, I like acrylics much better but couldn't get the colors I needed. I had lots of trouble with the Testors thinner separating from the MM paints and kind of floating on top of the paint.

Vetteman, all i can say is "Holy flamework batman!!!!"

That looks awesome.

WOW what great work guys!!!!

Howard, Tantrum is looking everybit her name!!!! Awesome Work Mate!!!!

Randy, those flames are great!! Love the paintwork!!!

Thanks guys I am still not too sure if I like it, the flames, or not, however the decal factory is in full swing at the moment. I am thinking if I am going to build very many racers that maybe I should check into those small air brushes they use for finger nails. They should have a fine enough pattern to accomplish what I have been trying to do.

Randy,my ex was/is a nail tech and looked into nail ABs and you'll be paying probably twice the price for them as well. They don't have any more thana good hobby AB. The tips are the same size, .2-.3mm. She actually asked for my advice on the matter and I told her that I can't see what you'd be paying for. It's just an AB bottom line. She ended up getting a nice one with multi cups, tips, needles and airline for $150AUD I think it was. HTH

vetteman42

I had lots of trouble with the Testors thinner separating from the MM paints and kind of floating on top of the paint.

Randy- How old was the MM paint ? I use MM paints almost exclusively, thinning with standard paint thinner or mineral spirits.  Never had any of the gloss colors separate,  and only occasionally with the flat . Usually an older bottle that's been sitting on my shelf awhile. I've never used the Testors airbrush thinner with their oil based enamels because a quart of paint thinner is so readily available and inexpensive. You can use it to clean your brushes and besides, MM paints are basically standard oil based enamels. Give it a try sometime.

BTW  I love how the flames and number turned out . Yellow/orange, yellow/ red flames on black is a classic hot rod look. Plus the pattern of flames fits the shape of the wings very well . 

Simpilot thanks for the adivse Actually I have been thinking about a new brush and figure I just need some more practice doing fine work with it. You slowed me down and made me think before spending. Thank you sir.

Daddy1 The MM paints were brand new and never opened, I have had the same trouble with standard paint thinners too that's why I got some of Testors universal paint thinner 10 bucks for a pint of the stuff. It was a PITA to keep swirling the paint cup to keep it mixed. I thinned it 25% thinner, 75% paint which is what the can said to do. So with that said when this stuff runs out I wont be buying anymore. Thanks for your kind words about my build, I was going for the hot rod look after all she is a racer

Anyway no pictures today, I did get all the decals on this morning and will mist a clear coat of future on this evening so I can do a few touch ups on the decals then its the home stretch. The final bits and pieces and pictures.

Randy, no worries buddy!! I bought several off ebay and have had good luck with them, Brand new .2mm tip dbl action with micro air control 7ml cup for about $50AUD. I would be willing to bet too that Iwata parts are interchangeable with it. Anyhoo, looking forward to more pics!!

I have a little story for ya all, as I was working on the F-5 my sister was in the mancave ( yes I allow her in the cave ) talking with me and I mentioned dirtying up the racer a bit, so we were talking about that among other sundry things. Anyway it seems my 3 year old nephew pays more attention to my building than I had realized.

When I was building the Mystery Ship I had a stick glued into the nose to use as a handle for painting. One day my sister went to the cave and found Kenny flying the Mystery Ship around the garage and came an got me, now at first I was terrified but then I saw he was being very very careful not to hurt it as he KNOWS not to touch stuff on my bench. When he was finished he very gently set it back on its stand, Mickie and I ran for the house so he wouldnt we had seen him. So the next day I went to Michels with a 40% coupon and got him one of Testors 1/48 super fast build screw together P-51Ds, got it home and he sat intently on my lap and we put it together, I would ask for a part and would be amazed he knew what the parts were. He had trouble placing the parts so I did that for him and started the screws in and he drove them in the rest of the way. Now that was 3 months ago that I got him that plane and believe it or not it is still in one piece placed proudly on his dresser.

 Thats the back story

Anyway he was at the back door listening to Mickie and I talk about the F-5 and we hear him playing in the dirt, then he walks in carrying the P-51 all covered in dust and dirt. And asks " Is my plane dirty like yours ?" I was laffing so hard I spotted, Mickie couldn't talk, and I grabbed the camera, this is what I saw.

I had to share that with you guys. Ok the F-5 is offically finished and will now be known as Race # 23 " Dastardly Dreams" This is a highly modified F-5 with trick engines from ACME Inc.

I learned a bunch about painting from this build, and think I will be trying something similar for round 2. The huge thing I learned was when trying something like this for the first time, do NOT try it with paints you are not familiar with. This was the first time I sprayed with enamels. Came out ok though I think, I like it. The flames and numbers were painted using enamels,chrome yellow, international orange, and red, all the rest was done with acrylics

Now for a little camera and photoshop fun. I am not a graphics wiz like some here, but I had lotsa fun making these

Dastardly Dreams qualifying at Reno............................. a few days late.

Now for the Pilot and Crew Chief briefing

LOL AWWWWWW THAT IS A PRICELESSSSSS STORY!!!!!!

Randy, Dastardley Dreams and the fun with photoshop look GREAT!!! Really came out well, the flame job really sets it off rounding the pylon!!!

Randy, the plane looks great . Yours does too.

 Seriously, Your nephew is adorable. He is so proud of that Mustang! You know the feeling I get when I've got my daughter building with me . I think I'm about ready to start moving her up to building some glue and paint kits.Micheal's Crafts has a couple simple 1/72 scale models that would be perfect starters.

 I've got wheels under Tantrum ,the elevator and canopy on. But, have to carfully trim the ends of the flaps to get them to fit . My repaint made them a skosh tight. Will post new pics in a day or two.

Howard

BTW  Took my girl to Modelpalooza in Orlando,FL last weekend. Many beautiful builds in the contest. I definately will be entering next year. Also got an event next March in Ft Lauderdale if I can swing the logistics . I've posted pics of Modelpalooza under the IPMS heading in the general modeling page.

Latest oics of Tantrum with wheels,flaps,etc. Just realized I forgot to glue the tailwheeldoors on.

Working on props and exhaust stacks. This winged beast should be complete in a few days.

BTW- On the brow of the instrument panel, you may see two small black retangle shapes. That's my engine display screens . Powered down LCD screens would look black. Powered up ,would look some thing like this . That's the idea anyway.

 On to cutting 24 little sections of brass tubing

 Howard

WOW, she's on her feet!!!! WOOHOO!! Howard she looks amazing!!!

Daddy1 now THAT IS an air racer !!!!!!!!!!! Tantrum is over the top Howard. cant wait to see her all finished up, Little Miss Magic and Tantrum will be show winners to be sure.

Thanks for the kind words guys It was a fun build after coming up with the theme I built it too. *** Dastardly and Muttley seemed to go along with it perfectly and he was one of my favorite cartoon villians .

Howard Kenny is really proud of the Mustang, he even took it to his daycare the day after he, errr we finished it. I have been thinking of going back to Michaels and picking up the Testors Apache for him. Maybe next summer he will be ready for a few snap together kits.

The 5 looks outstanding V-man!!!

But I think bigDaddy's got us all beat!!!!   AWESOME!!!

fermis

But I think bigDaddy's got us all beat!!!!   AWESOME!!!

Fermis I must agree with you 110 percent, Tantrum is an outstanding build indeed.

Thanks for feeling that way fella's . Actually , you guys deserve some of the credit . You've helped inspire and build my confidence in my skills to even attempt some of the things I've done with Tantrum or even my B-24. ( Got to get around to finishing that one off too. Soon!)

Fermis- It was studying your Modelcraft F-82 build that first gave me the idea of building this one as a racer. Although, I have carried it a bit farther than my original thought.

V-man- Your original post asking about interest in an air racer GB , I thought "Why not? Lets go with it." I knew just what I wanted to attempt, and Tantrum was born.

Got the exhaust stacks in . Just need to weather them a little with washes of blue, purple, and some yellow to heat discolor them. Also the surrounding bare metal will get a touch of discoloring.

 Here's pics of the stacks.

 Back to the bench,

Howard

A few pics of the weathered exhaust and current stage of the prop blades.

Weathered with succeding washes of water based acrylics starting with thalo blue , then adding red to the blue wash for the purple tones . Finally adding yellow to create some straw and brown tones on the stacks. I may still very lightly dry brush the stacks with MM jet exhaust .

You may want to go back and review how I made the blade blanks earlier in this build. Now for next step in 'how to sctratch prop blades'(I hope).

Notice my notes and markings on the blades to keep things right and left .

The starboard side blades have already been filed and sanded to a crude airfoil, the port blade with the pencil markings has also had the first shaping.

 I've printed copies of the Taichi drawings of Tsunami's head on view, flipping the copy for the starboard side props. I'll cut out the scimitar blades and use them as patterns to cut the profile of the blades, then work on refining the airfoil shape till I have ten finished prop blades. I hope they turn out ,because these props will really give Tantrum extra attitude.

Howard

Daddy1 the exhaust stacks couldn't look any better, I think all that effort really paid off big time. What size tubing did you use ?  In your first set of pictures I have to complain a bit about them. Couldnt see the nose art all that well, now in the second picture of your last post I can see it very well. And I gotta tell ya ITS FANTASTIC !!!!!!!!!!!! I couldnt see the Tantrum kid in the first pictures. Talk about a racer with attitude, Tantrum has a bunch of it and more.

Now I have been looking at Tantrum and have been thinking about how fast she might be. Maybe 1.75 times the parasite drag of Strega and a bit less than that of Rare Bear, but twice the HP of Strega, and half again as much more than Rare bear.  And if shes a bottle baby a bit more than that.   A course or lap speed of maybe 512 mph to 518 mph ya think ???? An interesting thought aint it.

I used 1/16th x .045 RD brass tubing with the inside diameter reamed out a skosh for the exhaust stacks.

I read an article recently why the racers had gone back to the Merlin over the trend toward the bigger Griffon in the 70s and 80s. Seems the engine builders had figured out how to get more power out of the lighter weight Merlin .

My thought is , what if someone applied the technology and skill in todays race Merlins and came up with a lighter, more powerful Griffon. Sort of like todays NASCAR 358 cu.in. race engines. Can you imagine applying the same tecnology to the big 427s and 429s of the early 1970s?. And, of course, Tantrum would have nitrous injection. Probably have to be very accurate with the delivery system to boost both engines at about the same rate. Wouldn't want assemetrical thrust pushing you into the ground. I do think ( if somebody really built something like this ) it could give Rare Bears speed record a run for its money.

 Now for another build -a - prop installment.

In this first pic ,I've marked the center of each blade.

Then I cut out the patterns and using Elmers , glued them to the blanks making sure my centerlines were good to go.

After the Elmers had dried, I've cut off the excess blade material. Currently fine tuning the shape of the edges so all five on each side are the same.

 These are going to be so cool if they turn out. So far, so good.

Howard

A few more update pics of the props . Got on a roll with them today will home tending a sick spouse. She spent most of the day in bed, and I needed to stay close by. So, after dropping the little princess off at school. I had some free model time ,YEAAAAA.

 Anyway, I couldn't resist mocking up one of the props.

These are going to look wicked.

One blade is well underway to being finished. I used some Testors liquid cement to soften up the edges to pinch them down a bit.

It worked , but upon sanding down this first blade discovered it to still be a tad too soft along the edges.

 Let them dry till tomorrow and work more om them then.

Had to remove the gear doors ,kept getting in the way and I didn't want to damage them. just tacked on with super glue . They popped off easy enough without harm.

 TTFN ,Howard

Had some remodeling work going on the house plus a heavy work load at the job so modeling time or forum time ,for that matter has been a tad harder to come by past couple weeks. Things are settling down though so I can get Tantrum finished.

 I was looking at the prop blades dry fitted and felt they looked a touch short . I've lengthened them about 3/16 inch by overlaying them with strips of  printer paper super glued to the core blades. Then trimmed to the same profile only longer. I'll give them a coat of super glue to  stiffen the paper to a sand-able strength. 

After sanding , paint them aluminum with a chrome silver leading edge and mount them. And then Tantrum will be complete. 

Howard

Many apologies for the lateness of the completion of Tantrum, but she's almost there.

After some extended developmental delays , close work between Daddy1 racing and Hamilton Sundstrand LOL the props are installed . Here's the pics.

Notice my jig for spacing and setting angle , just printer paper slid between fuse. and spinner.  

These things were very tedious getting ten of them to look alike with five rotating in the opposite direction. Worth the effort though, they look wicked and they do spin.

All that's left is some clean up work on the blades and reattach the gear doors and canopy . 

Howard

Daddy1 no apologies are necessary, this build has been has been more that worth waiting for. The props came out great they really make the nose of Tantrum live up to her name. Mean, fast, with the teeth for a big knarly bite.

To be honest, with all the scratch building I've been up the past couple years between Tantrum and my Witchcraft build, I needed a little OOB break. 

So part of the delay was an online contest at uberhobby.com, where I built up AM's 1/48th P-400. Was just the change of pace I needed to get back on track with the prop blades.

BTW - Emma gets a kick out of making the props spin but she hasn't quite got the proper blowing technique down. Comes out more like a pppppppt .... She's a trip!

Howard

TA,DAAAAAA!!! Tantrum is complete! 

 Hope she's worth the wait. So without further ado, here's the pics.

 Presenting,The Daddy 1 race team.

This was a fun yet challenging build. I'm with Randy , what ifs are a lot of fun. Really tested and pushed the imagination and my scratch building skills. Those prop blades were tedious trying to get them to look accurately possible, and I had to make two sets of five . Each set going in the opposite directions. I like how it turned out. 

Now on to the other GBs im involved in. 

Howard

Daddy1 what can I say about Tantrum, to be honest I am left speechless. Man I will tell you this build has been one very much worth the wait Tantrum is no less than STUNNING !!!!!!!!!!! Beautiful graphics and mods that were pulled off to perfection. If I can build my Hobby Craft F-82 a tenth as well as yours came out I will be a happy camper. Now I will go and say it, Daddy1 Racing belongs in the readers gallery, it really does, and I hope that you will submit them, I mean it sincerely sir. 

Howard thank you for sharing this build with us.

Well guys I think this closes the group, if anyone wants to join up for round 2 Scorpiomikey has kindly started it. I will also be showing off all the builds in the aircraft section. I am honored to have had such a fun and talented group of builders join my group. And ya know the best part of hosting a group like this one  I have pictures of all the fine builds on my hard drive