Hi Everyone,

I have the sidewalls done for the cockpit complete with the canopy release handles.  This first picture is the right sidewall:

And the next picture shows the left side wall:

The next step is to epoxy them onto the cockpit tub.

Ken

Nice work Ken, the handles look great!

They sure do! Beautiful job, Ken!

Russ

Gamera

Nice work Ken, the handles look great!

Thank you Cliff!

Ken

Striker8241

They sure do! Beautiful job, Ken!

Russ

Thank you Russ!  And I did find pictures where you can see the handles through the canopy glass, so I am glad I did go through the trouble of double siding them.

Ken

WOW!!

This has been a long hard week!  I had to work way too much this week.  I am glad it is Friday and I don't have to work until Monday!

I found a link to a video of the show about the C-5M that you can watch on your computer if you are not lucky enough to have the Smithsonian Channel:

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

WOW!!

This has been a long hard week!  I had to work way too much this week.  I am glad it is Friday and I don't have to work until Monday!

I found a link to a video of the show about the C-5M that you can watch on your computer if you are not lucky enough to have the Smithsonian Channel:

Ken

Let's try that again.  I will just paste a link to the web page where you can watch it:

http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/military-aircraft/dc-mighty-planes-c-5m-1/1706470070001/ 

Ken

Theyre an impressive aircraft. Get to see them occasionally during operation deep freeze.

Christchurch international airport (Harewood) is their home base during that time.

Son Of Medicine Man

WOW!!

This has been a long hard week!  I had to work way too much this week.  I am glad it is Friday and I don't have to work until Monday!

I found a link to a video of the show about the C-5M that you can watch on your computer if you are not lucky enough to have the Smithsonian Channel:

Ken

That is some big airplane! I've flown in them a few times - but once inside, it's like any other airliner - except you're facing backwards and the stewardesses wear pants! .

Thanks for the link, Ken!

Russ

Packed up my skyhawk. Someone cast a spell on it and now whenever i look at it i develop a strong urge to walk away from the desk. So now im trying to figure out what iw ant to finish next.

Scorpiomikey

Packed up my skyhawk. Someone cast a spell on it and now whenever i look at it i develop a strong urge to walk away from the desk. So now im trying to figure out what iw ant to finish next.

Understandable.  You have to want to work on the model to build it.  This is supposed to be a hobby for fun, not a chore.  Take your time and look for something that really peeks your interest.

Ken

I just had 2 that pique my interested arrive the other day. But im waiting.

Eduard 1:48 BF-109E-1 Profipack

Eduard 1:48 BF-110G-2 Profipack

Im holding off till i get an airbrush.

Scorpiomikey

I just had 2 that pique my interested arrive the other day. But im waiting.

Eduard 1:48 BF-109E-1 Profipack

Eduard 1:48 BF-110G-2 Profipack

Im holding off till i get an airbrush.

Which of course means you will need an air compressor, filter, and regulator.  If you can, get one with a holding tank, it will give you much better performance.

Ken

Yup, ive got my eye on a $200 set. Just a matter of putting the money together now.

Striker, you're so right about the load smashers being glorified stewardesses and boy do they hate that! I understand that the reason the seats face backwards is for increased survivability during a crash. Not sure how true that is but seems logical.

Everything ive been told (loadmasters, armourers, greasmonkeys etc) have all agreed. Facing backwards reduces chance of serious injury. Particularly back injuries.

Our hueys had the seating in sideways and dad always said he hated riding those seats because it screws up your balance.

What a day! Went to leave today to run errands, but it seems that a tree rat (aka squirrel) had gotten into my engine and chewed up the wiring! Fortunately, I was able to do the repairs myself for less that $50, and I am glad it didn't happen on a work day! I have no great love for these creatures as this isn't the only damage they have caused! I ended up power washing the engine, and sprinkled peppermint  oil all over the engine compartment as someone recommended. I am also told to try cayenne pepper and even lithium grease to keep them away! Personally, at the risk of offending some animal lovers out there I would prefer to.... I better not say it.

On the other hand, I ended up paging through the February issue of FSM and see that I am famous! Well, sort of.... In readers tips, my submission was posted about my using Silly Putty to fill and mask wheel wells and other bays during painting! Woooo!

Otherwise, I have only been getting a little time in on the project, painting and assembling the landing gear. Between extra hours and days at work, (Saturdays) and not liking to stay at home on my time off, (too much time to think about things) and pesky rodents, I find it hard to find the time for leisure.

I'll try to post some photos soon.

Jim

Jim, sorry to hear about the squirrel, I complain about the neighbors cats tracking dirt all over my car when I wash her but so far they haven't chewed anything up. And I'll look for your tip in the Feb issue- congrads!  

jimbot58

What a day! Went to leave today to run errands, but it seems that a tree rat (aka squirrel) had gotten into my engine and chewed up the wiring! Fortunately, I was able to do the repairs myself for less that $50, and I am glad it didn't happen on a work day! I have no great love for these creatures as this isn't the only damage they have caused! I ended up power washing the engine, and sprinkled peppermint  oil all over the engine compartment as someone recommended. I am also told to try cayenne pepper and even lithium grease to keep them away! Personally, at the risk of offending some animal lovers out there I would prefer to.... I better not say it.

On the other hand, I ended up paging through the February issue of FSM and see that I am famous! Well, sort of.... In readers tips, my submission was posted about my using Silly Putty to fill and mask wheel wells and other bays during painting! Woooo!

Otherwise, I have only been getting a little time in on the project, painting and assembling the landing gear. Between extra hours and days at work, (Saturdays) and not liking to stay at home on my time off, (too much time to think about things) and pesky rodents, I find it hard to find the time for leisure.

I'll try to post some photos soon.

Jim

Pretty cool Jim!  So we have a super star in our group build!  Can I have your autograph?      That is awesome!  Have you turned in any of your finished projects?  They should earn a page in the spotlight as well!  Congratulations!

Darn those squirrels!  They are cute as long as they stay on the outside of your house, car, bird feeder, shed, etc.    I have no love for any rodents.  They can be very destructive when they get inside of any structure.

Again congratulations JIm, you deserve it!

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I thought that epoxying those cockpit side walls was going to be a piece of cake.  WRONG!  The forward end on each side wall did not want to conform to the shape of the cockpit.  The canopy release handle (the ones that I spent all that time making) popped off of each side in the front cockpit from the stress of me flexing the side wall to make them fit.  I lost one of them.

I was using rubber bands to hold them in place but it was not working for the front end.  I had to use a clamp, but there was only room to clamp one side at a time.  And since I had already put epoxy on both sides (5 minute), I had to do surgery on the other side tonight and cut it loose so I could redo it.

I have it clamped right now and it is curing.  I think it will end up looking okay.  We will see when I release the clamp tomorrow.

Ken

Ahh, bummer, Ken! After all that work you did on those handles. Did you try running a magnet around on the floor - maybe you can find it that way - or is that metal magnetic?

Hope everything works out ok,

Russ

Striker8241

Ahh, bummer, Ken! After all that work you did on those handles. Did you try running a magnet around on the floor - maybe you can find it that way - or is that metal magnetic?

Hope everything works out ok,

Russ

Hi Russ,

Very good idea.  I will have to find a good sized magnet and give that a try.  I already looked around for a good hour with no luck.  But I have no idea where it went since I did not even notice it gone right away.

Ken

Hi Everyone!

I wish I took some pictures before I started the repair on the cockpit so I could better show what it was I had to fix.  Oh well.  Here is a picture with the clamp in place after the second batch of epoxy was applied to fix the side wall:

Here it is from another angle:

 Here is the finished repair in the next picture.  To try and describe what exactly was happening, the bottom seam of the cockpit wall was not true to the seam of the cockpit tub.  It wanted to raise up towards the front.

 Here are some pictures showing the side walls in place:

Next is filing down those ridges off the exterior of the side walls to make room for the cockpit to fit into the fuselage.

Ken 

Wow, Ken, that's looking great! You don't even need the rest of the plane - just finish the tub and display it!

Russ

I agree with Mr. Striker on the cockpit tub; you have so much going on there it's hard to imagine how you could top that one! Your patience and dedication to recreating that is very impressive. About that pesky squirrel, yes they can be a pain but what I really hate are what I call flying rats, that is any pigeon, gull, or any other common variety bird that uses my car as a toilet.

On another note, finished my side project and have one pic, more to follow. Nothing fancy just a small diversion which allowed me to improve airbrush skills. 

Ken: I know what you mean, I hate it when parts seem like they aren't even designed for the same friggin' kit. Still, nice work there, looks like you beat 'er into shape!

MikeM: Looks good, I like her!

Striker8241

Wow, Ken, that's looking great! You don't even need the rest of the plane - just finish the tub and display it!

Russ

  Thank you Russ!  I am beginning to think I will want to put this in a sealed case once it is finished so it doesn't collect dust.  It would be impossible to clean!

Ken

mikeymize

I agree with Mr. Striker on the cockpit tub; you have so much going on there it's hard to imagine how you could top that one! Your patience and dedication to recreating that is very impressive. About that pesky squirrel, yes they can be a pain but what I really hate are what I call flying rats, that is any pigeon, gull, or any other common variety bird that uses my car as a toilet.

On another note, finished my side project and have one pic, more to follow. Nothing fancy just a small diversion which allowed me to improve airbrush skills. 

Thank you for the compliments Mike, I really appreciate it.

It looks like you have that new airbrush pretty well mastered!  Nice smooth finish on that MiG-21 Mike!

Ken

Gamera

Ken: I know what you mean, I hate it when parts seem like they aren't even designed for the same friggin' kit. Still, nice work there, looks like you beat 'er into shape!

MikeM: Looks good, I like her!

Thank you Cliff, it did take some persuading but I won!

Ken

Really nice intricate work on that cockpit, Ken.  Looks great!!     

Kbuzz