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GraemeLeggett · Posted: Thu 14 May 2009 18:59 pm Post subject:

More work on the cockpit.

Lets see how the pilot fits - this will help determine if the control column is right.

Looks good enough. I'll use a dab of poly cement from the tube to fix both in place when the time comes.

There's another important job first - nose weight. If I remember from the instructions (which I've left someone) 8 grammes is recommended.

So to the kitchen after a visit to the garage.

And according to the scales, these five self-tappers will do the job.

Graeme

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Thu 14 May 2009 19:03 pm Post subject:

But......

this doesn't look right.

they ain't going to fit. One fits a treat; taking up the whole of the nose in front of the dash.

From the heft of one of these screws against that of the fuselage, I suspect the scales aren't to be trusted. I can check the weight on the postal scales at work tomorrow so I'll need to find something else to do tonight.

Graeme

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Thu 14 May 2009 19:10 pm Post subject:

So I will be doing some wing prep instead. I'll prime the wheelwells for taking aluminium/silver later.

As for the nosewell, Chaos Black. First coat - sloppy because a) I left some water on the brush and b) I didn't wash the surfaces first.
The second will sort it.

I'll be blacking out the entirety of the well, probably including bits that won't be seen, but best to be careful.

Holding the fuselage side in place I can see which bit of the fuselage will form part of the wheelwell.

I'll let this dry and add another coat or two as needed before building the engine fronts up. Then we could be close to sticking the wings together.

Graeme

Ratch · Posted: Thu 14 May 2009 20:02 pm Post subject:

The weight distribution looks like a bit of a poser

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and was Jerusalem, builded here
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dancho · Posted: Thu 14 May 2009 20:09 pm Post subject:

I always use lead fishing weights. The (American) football-shaped ones.
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“Build what YOU want, the way YOU want to, and above all, have fun.”
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GraemeLeggett · Posted: Thu 14 May 2009 21:11 pm Post subject:

There'll be some offcuts from some GW minatures in the loft if it comes to it - I think my dad got rid of his fishing weights many years ago. Or there's some heavy duty solder somewhere.

Graeme

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Sat 16 May 2009 14:26 pm Post subject:

Minor update,

I checked on the postal scales at work, and they were no more use than the kitchen ones. In the old days I'd have had access to laboratory scales - you don't miss these things til they're gone.

I'll probably settle on wrapping one of the screws with solder til it fits snuggly. Then go for a dry fit of wings and fuselage and see how the balance point looks.

Graeme

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Tue 19 May 2009 20:54 pm Post subject:

Painting the wing interiors continued.

Masked with ordinary masking tape and undercart sockets plugged with blue-tack.

We slap on from a spray can "Silver spray" - some art and craft brand.

And we can know see some ejector marks I ought to have dealt with first.

Ah, well. Press on regardless.

I've blacked in the inners of the engine intakes, assembled the blanking plate and the wing spar part in front of it. I've glued only the lower half into position and taped the upper wing on top to hold it in place while it dries.

Having now taken it apart I can see that painting the bit I've just put in will be awkward.
I'll be painting the other side before putting that together...

Graeme.

Lincolnlanc · Posted: Tue 19 May 2009 21:34 pm Post subject:

Could you not try having some weights along the inside the leading edge as well ??
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"Well Chaps ... my watch says time to go ..."

Ratch · Posted: Mon 01 Jun 2009 19:49 pm Post subject:

Have you solved the weighting dilemma Graeme

_________________
and was Jerusalem, builded here
The new No. 2
Airfix Club 500287
IPMS 10983

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Thu 11 Jun 2009 06:51 am Post subject:

Update time.
I've being making some progress, but lifes a bit disrupted at the moment so I'm behind with logging it.
(I think I've not been getting the new topic/posts emails which made it drop off the edge of my conciousness)

Balance

As i left it I'd identified what seemed to be a huge amount of screws needed to weight up the balance. But I think both sets of scales I was using just weren't accurate.

So I resolved to test the balance.

Here's the two screws I'm going to use for the test. One in the nose and one behind the pilot seat. I then taped the fuselage together with the minimum of masking tape. And fitted it to the wings.
The latter was a good fit and only a little bit more masking tape needed to hold the two together.

Flipping the whole over I determined the likely balance point across the underside of the wings.

This takes account of the distance from the undercart strut to the centre of the wheel (I hope).

Graeme

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Thu 11 Jun 2009 06:57 am Post subject:

Now for something to balance it on.

I could have pulled the wheels off the sprue cleaned them up and used them fitted in their locating holes. But for the moment I'm keeping as much as possible still on the sprue.

So I built something.

A bent cocktail stick held with blobs of blue tack on a lump of mdf.
It'll do.

Then I tried to position the plane on the points of the cocktail stick as close to the line I'd determined earlier. This should approximate to as if it was sitting on its wheels.

If the nose drops it's heavy enough; if the nose rises I need more weight.

I think we'll be alright. I'm having to support it here, there's no tendency for it to go tail heavy.

Graeme.

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Thu 11 Jun 2009 09:13 am Post subject:

Clashcityrocker · Posted: Thu 11 Jun 2009 09:36 am Post subject:

Love the method for determining whether you have enough weight in the nose. Very clever, keep up the good work.

Nigel

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Thu 11 Jun 2009 12:48 pm Post subject:

It's not a completely foolproof method.

I hadn't added the tailplanes when testing it. Fortunately these are fairly small and light and when I was holding it on the balance my feel of it was that there was more force down at the front than the tailplanes could overcome.

Neither have I allowed for the weight of the undercarriage doors. these are quite close to the centre and shouldn't contribute much to a rearward tendency.

Before I fit the wings permanently to the fuselage I can still add weight.

My next update will be on joining the fuselage halves, and then perhaps the wing fitting.

But I can't help thinking there's still a way to go and the planned end of the group build is closer....

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Mon 15 Jun 2009 15:54 pm Post subject:

No pics this time.

I stuck the two screws in place with a dab of hot melt glue.
The plastic is rather thick at the Meteors nose and the other was stick to the plate I added to the back of the seat bulkhead so distortion didn't worry me.

However having stuck the two fuselage halves together, I'm having to get the seams nice and even. Although i thought I had them lined up properly I got a significant step all the way round.

I think I may lose a fair bit of rivet detail along the way. Not necessarily a bad thing. But it will take me a while to fill and then wet and dry the step out.

Graeme

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Thu 02 Jul 2009 13:02 pm Post subject:

I'm well behind on this one.

Not helped is that I'm on holiday away from the house.

Its warm down here near Winchester, and its all boats really so far as museums are concerned. Not a plane to be seen.

Off topic - but why do Revell do so many models of submarines. Is there another class of models with so little features?

Perhaps this weekend some aggression with the wet and dry will get us somewhere.....

Ratch · Posted: Fri 03 Jul 2009 09:05 am Post subject:

GraemeLeggett · Posted: Sat 18 Jul 2009 07:57 am Post subject:

Painting is now in the offing.

Having given it a coat all over of car grey primer - I'll be adding the u/c later - I'm testing the paints that came with the kit. These are the tiny pots with the press in lid.

The light grey is runny compared to the (thick) dark grey, but both are usable. The light goes on well but its not much lighter when wet than the basecoat. The dark grey is almost the same shade as the undercoat. The finish is different - smoother - to the primer when painted on so i will be sticking with it.

I've sketched on the line of the camouflage pattern with a soft pencil. Having painted the underside and a block on one wing, I think that no more than two coats of paint handbrushed are going to be needed.
Unlike my previous models there is no clear demarcation in terms of a panel line to mark the border of the underside grey with the camo scheme so I may be looking to tape up rather than trust freehand.

pictures to follow
Graeme