Modelik P-35

[shrike]

Firs pic shows the proper layout of USAAC/USAAF markings from May 1919 to June 1942. Nitpicking I know, but so often wrong.

The second pic shows 3 things. 1) a misfit of approx 1mm at the joint of the fuselage and trailing edge fillet, 2) how well the silver Sharpie matches the original ink, and 3) how the silver colour confuses the autofocus routine of the camera<G> Took me three tries to get a shot as good as that!

Next up fairings and fillets and fiddly bits

[Leif Ohlsson]

shrike, about the autofocus problem, try using the self-exposure option, a tripod, existing lighting (not flash), plus shove in something solid like your finger where you want the camera to focus.

Then press the trigger, remove your finger, make any small rearrangement you need in the ten seconds or so you have, and just wait. Works (almost) every time.

Very nice model, and thanks for the cockade! -L.

[DrBill]

Shrike and I seem to be using the same method, down to the fiddly details, a good example of independent invention as regards the butt joined method. (I use 3M double-sided removable tape rather than glue to hold the adjacent formers together, though not much of a difference.) I'm not working on anything that uses the butt-joined method at present (though I wish I was!), but I'll try to pull together a tutorial with some photos of the process and some verbiage to describe the procedure and the critical dryfitting stage. I hope I can steal some examples from the real experts.... (Please?)

[shrike]

Just a little more progress to report. The wing fillet fairings were uneventful.

The guns rolled up a bit thick (where is that crappy delaminating MM paper when you need it?) but they are kinda fun this way.

I don't know what the little scoop on the side feeds, but it is only on P-35's not P-35A's . I was distracted while putting the carb intake scoop and centerline hardpoint together, so they are a little lumpy and I'm not showing them yet.

The landing gear fairings are the thing that makes a P-35 a P-35 (or a J-9 or an EP106...) A Spitfire with straight wings would be wrong. A Corsair with straight wings (the other way) would be wrong and a P-35 without landing gear fairings, well, it would be an XP-41.

Anyway the fairings are going together well so far. The proof will be getting them tight on the wheels when I do the landing gear.

You can also see the engine picture on the leadmost bulkhead in one of the pictures. and a vast expanse of white inside the cowling too. I may have to do something about that before I'm done. Probably a simple dark grey cone tucked inside the cowling.

[shrike]

On to rest of the fairings and the landing gear.

I just got a sample of Taskboard (www.taskboard.com) in the mail, so I decided to try it for the wheels. It comes in two sizes 1/16in (.0625" or 1.6mm) and 3/32in (.09375" or 2.4mm). The surface is rather rough with one side noticeably smoother than the other. The smooth side is about the same as cold-press illustration board. It cuts very easily, the thicker stuff cutting with less effort than 1mm chipboard.
It's very porous and takes white glue well. I laminated up some discs and turned them in the Dremel to make the wheels. It's sands very easily, but does make a lot of dust. It also accepts ink well - greedily sucking up india ink like a sponge.



First picture shows the rear landing gear fairings in place and also, unfortunately, the lumpiness of the carb scoop and centerline hardpoint.

Pic #2&3 show the gear going together.

As I said in a previous post the landing gear and fairings are the truly distinctive features of this airplane. The fairings hug the wheels closely (which would have caused no end of trouble on a muddy field) so that set the goal.
To get the support wires to fit without throwing off the overall appearance I had to cut notches in the wheels. Turning wheels and spinning props have never been big points for me anyway and this solved the problem rather well. But it did leave the struts off center, which required moving the mounting points. No big deal but...

[shrike]

Oh woe! Alas and Alack!

[Willja67]

Who was culprit? They should be strung up flayed and roasted for that!

[cjwalas]

WHAT HAPPENED???????
Chris

[shrike]

I'm not really in favour of the flaying and the roasting and the stringing, since it was my own clumsiness that caused it.

I was relocating the landing gear strut mounting holes (ie. poking new ones with a sharp thing) and something somewhere slipped.

Part of the failure appears to be the lamination of the paper parts to the heavy card in the wing structure. I think my can of 3M 77 has finally reached the end of it's shelf life - after all it's only about 10 years old. Time to get a new one.

Repairs were much easier than the pile of wreckage would imply. Things broke at existing butt joints and nothing tore, nor did I poke a hole completely through the wing (or my thumb!) As a side note it's interesting how much more a broken paper model looks like a broken original than a p*****c one would.


All fixed and on the gear. The instructions show a small wire bracing the main strut, but a heavier strut is closer to prototype and more secure.

[birder]

spectacular crash, but nice recovery!!