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TimJ · Posted: Fri 02 Jan 2009 16:48 pm Post subject:

This is proper conversion work like it was in the days when I were a lad. Great stuff so far.
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Heinkel51 · Posted: Sun 04 Jan 2009 11:58 am Post subject:

The gentleman who authored the article on which this conversion is based a Mr Alan Butler talks about having fun and that is exactly what I'm having. I'm certainly no Chris Ellis, Fred Henderson or Alan Hall, most of my work just passes the two foot rule i.e. it looks OK from two feet away.

The end of the weekend sees the tail plane and fin assembly glued on and a dry run of fitting the wings. I still need to fair in the fin section.

The up coming work week may prove to be a little busy with the likelihood of having to travel interstate

for some meetings, and I must really finish off my Canberra over in the 'Cold War jets GB' so I suspect no more installments till next weekend.

Heinkel51 · Posted: Sat 17 Jan 2009 05:01 am Post subject:

Time for the radiator. The article gives a template to cut out the sides and bottom.

Put togethor

Glued in place, needed to add some putty to fair in the sides. A suggestion for any one contemplating this conversion is to reduce the height of the template by about two thirds measuring from the bottom. This should be easier to get a nice fit and good transition.

Next step is the canopy

TimJ · Posted: Sat 17 Jan 2009 11:29 am Post subject:

Great work so far. Presumably you'll have to make your own canopy?
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Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Sat 17 Jan 2009 11:35 am Post subject:

My hat's off once again.....Masterful work Peter!

All the best
Sgt.S
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jhl1908 · Posted: Sat 17 Jan 2009 11:48 am Post subject:

I admire your willpower to do so much converting yourself, Heinkel51.

This is far beyond my normal cut’n’paste kit bash, if I make alterations at all.

I will be watching!

Jesper.
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Heinkel51 · Posted: Sat 17 Jan 2009 22:34 pm Post subject:

Thanks Guys,
I suspect that the photos are being far to kind to my effort, I’m very much a ‘two foot ruler’ modeler.

Yes TimJ I'll be making my own canopy. There are a couple of techniques I'll try for making the blank and the actual canopy.

For the making of the canopy I'll try plunge (sometimes called crash) moulding using clear sheet. For the medium I have several options.
1. Clear Styrene sheet ( thou I think this will go instantly cloudy when introduced to heat)
2. Clear acetate sheet left over from a box which once held Christmas bon bons ( or else I'll need to go out and buy a new business shirt)
3. Clear overhead transparency film.
For the Blank to use for the making the mould there are two options;
A. Make up a master out of balsa wood, carved to shape and then to obtain a smooth finish coat with a mixture of talc and dope until a nice smooth finish is obtained.
B. Make a blank out Milliput. I've started with trying this as I have never used Milliput before I thought this would a good opportunity to learn something new.

Once I have made the blank then plunge mould. There is some photos and a description on plunge moulding here.

http://gregers.7.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=2183

The other technique is to make a bank out of balsa wood as for plunge moulding but once shaped and shaded make smooth buy rubbing in butter. Then coat with about 15 layers of clear nail polish, allowing each coat to try before applying the next.

I'm more familiar with plunge moulding but my last canopy was made using the nail polish technique, but even then it has been many years since I have made my own canopy.

Heinkel51 · Posted: Tue 31 Mar 2009 14:05 pm Post subject:

Back in the harness and onto the canopy. Tried Milliput to make a blank and quickly realised I should stick with a familiar medium, so out with the balsa.

A more refined attempt using a template glued to the balsa sheet.

Having carved out the blank then cut an opening about 0.5 mm wider than the blank in a sheet of balsa and using clips held a sheet of acetate sheet over the opening. Placed under the griller waited a minute and then plunged in the blank.

And the flip side

One point do not try to use clear polystyrene sheet. The two misshaped pieces of plastic full of holes were an abortive attempt to use that medium. In the end settled for acetate sheet used as a cover for spiral bound documents.

I'll post a couple of better shots of the final canopy. I still want to have another go or two.

Next step will be to fit the wings and the wing fillets.

feanor · Posted: Tue 31 Mar 2009 14:15 pm Post subject:

Ayup Pete... !

Explosive Burny stuff !

Brilliant !
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Heinkel51 · Posted: Sat 18 Apr 2009 11:52 am Post subject:

Creeping along. Started on the interior, first of a coat of Model master zinc chromate and then some seats out of card and starting on some paint for the aircrew.

I've now given the whole exterior a coat of Hu1 primer and made a start on the undercart. More to follow.

Heinkel51 · Posted: Tue 21 Apr 2009 13:46 pm Post subject:

Just a word picture. After coating with Hu1 primer discovered a few patches which needed building up with a bit of putty around the sections where the Me110's engines used to be. Once sanded smooth the nice uniform grey coat was back to a very patchy finish.
Model is now sitting drying after another coat of Hu1.
have started on the undercart by taking the Me110's struts removing the angle section and also sanding back the boots .

XN923 · Bronze Star Joined: 16 May 2008 Posts: 1176

This is amazing stuff Peter, real modelling. Looking forward to more progress.

jhl1908 · Posted: Mon 27 Apr 2009 10:30 am Post subject:

Great to watch, Heinkel51

Nice to see your back to basic approach.
Model building as it once was.

All the best from Jesper.
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Heinkel51 · Posted: Thu 30 Apr 2009 03:02 am Post subject:

Hi Guy's
Thanks for the kind comments, alas not much progress. Have spent the time filling, sanding priming detecting blemishes and repeating the whole process. Makes mental note that for future projects which involve a major filling exercise to use Milliput.

daniel7891 · Posted: Thu 30 Apr 2009 06:54 am Post subject:

Looking great so far
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Heinkel51 · Posted: Fri 07 Aug 2009 23:00 pm Post subject:

Well this one is now back on the workbench.

Finished making the seats for the interior

Then added some deck which was looking a little bare so I added a radio

The radio I sourced from the left over rear deck from the Lightning conversion.

Next step is a coat of Hu47 on the undersides. I'm using Hu47 more as a matter of elimination. Most modelling references I have often refer to Humbrol colours for the the upper surfaces but then just have a descriptive 'blue' for the undersides. The MPM Danish Fokker has a call out for a Gunze but it was just too blue for me so I opted for HU47.

The bombs I sourced from the Airfix Hurricane and the prop from the spares box.

More soon.

jhl1908 · Posted: Fri 07 Aug 2009 23:07 pm Post subject:

It’s good to see you are back on the track again, Heinkel51.

Keep up the good work.

- Jesper.
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Sgt.Squarehead · Posted: Sat 08 Aug 2009 19:32 pm Post subject:

Awesome work as always Peter.....This crash forming business looks like a very useful skill to pick up!

Al the best
Sgt.S
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