Quote:
Originally Posted by Longbow
'Go your own way' reminds me of the time I was building the 'Zwarte zee' tug from Smit.
It was a wooden model, unfortunately unrepairably damaged when I moved to the caribbean ...
It brings fond memories of younger times  |
Thank you guys for your kind words. Klaas, I was 12 or something when "Rumours" was released and ever since I love this album. Although there's lots of great music, nothing beats this record. Sorry to hear about your model ship but moving and models don't make a good match, unfortunately. I remember the windmill I made when living in Malaysia and it got badly crushed in the box on the journey home. Luckily some others survived without a scratch.
Anyway, back to the D-XXI. Changed my working place as of last week and I need to travel much longer distances, which leaves lesser time available for modeling I'm afraid.
In general, the Modelik instruction drawings are clear but regarding parts 30 and 31, which are the main parts of the fuselage skin, they fail to indicate where these parts exactly have to join: Before, on or after former 7X (backside of the cockpit compartment), and this is crucial information.
The former is only 1mm thick so there’s not really a surface area to glue them to and to make a neat seam between the two parts if they are intended to meet on the former’s edge. Should they meet just before or after the former, there’s no joining strip provided in the model to make a seam “as invisible as possible”. It’s not so clear what the designer intended so I chose for what seemed to me the only correct way to go.
Thereto I started with part 31, being the front part of the fuselage (first picture), which I carefully wrapped around the inside cockpit lining and ensured that the slots at the bottom slid over the front and aft wing root spars. Both sides exactly join on keel former 1X and first I glued one side on the keel and then the other side to close the seam.
In the process I carefully aligned and glued part 31 on the edge of former 7, as can be seen in the pictures. Fitting was without problems but at the front side there seemed to be a small misfit. Not too dramatic I think.
Then I made two joining strips that will be used to attach the aft part of the fuselage skin (part 30) and glued them to the backside of 7X. Before turning to the aft part I glued the wing formers into place and added some reinforcements at the trailing edge of the wing.
It is very important to not glue the front side of the skin to former part 5X. There should be a small gap or slit in between to allow future installation of part 31a or b (or if you choose the other option for this section).
Although the last picture is not very clear, it shows the keel construction of the model. Part 30 will be fully wrapped around this keel. But that will be the next chapter of this saga.
A remark on part 31: The pair of pointed boots was in reality only painted on the left side, not on both sides, as were the three mice on the engine cover.
Erik