Will Aldridge's XP-72 Beta Build (also)

[Willja67]

I'm impressed Ron. Looks real good

Originally Posted by YankeeBoy

D13 and D13A go in the notch under the fuselage just behind the wing. The printed side of D13A glues to the inner (unprinted) surface of D13 and forms the cooler exits. Parts D13bL/R are a mystery to me - cannot find a place for them...

D13b are the adjustable oil cooler vent doors. I'll post a pic later since I just got home from Ohio and am tired. (we drove 29 hrs straight through stopping only for gas, food and relief breaks).

[YankeeBoy]

Since posting the last update I have finished up the front end and discovered some errors in my construction sequence. I'll explain more fully once I get my next post done Monday or Tuesday (busy with doctors and guests.) All in all, this is a superb design and the fit is (or could be) perfect if the builder (me) wasn't such a gorilla fist. More coming shortly...

[Don Boose]

will reserve judgment on any gorilla fistification, but the images you showed of the previous skinning look mighty fine to me.

Don

[YankeeBoy]

The skin above the wing presented a challenge. I did one side at a time starting at the rear lower corner trying to insure a good fit with the existing fuselage skins. No real problem there but I discovered that my previous (overly enthusiastic) attempts to insure the wing skins were snug to the wing frame had resulted in some "dishing" in the area where the fuselage skin meets (or was supposed to meet) the wing skin. Not too bad on the port side here, but see the next photo.



The starboard wing skin was "dished" more that the port side and the gap can be seen about halfway back. I still have couple things to try in terms of improving the fit but may have to wait until the Omega build when I will handle the model a bit more gently throughout construction.



Here it is with the "snoot" attached. The fit continues be a 10 on a scale of 10 - would that my construction matched it!



I thought I had taken photos of the cooling intake below the wing leading edge but apparently not. I'll get a couple shots and give an explanation of where I went astray there in my next update.

Will - do we have outer wing skins and tail feathers available yet?

[3Turner]

Looking good YB....I also had trouble with the integrated wing fairings. Your attempt looks better than mine .

As for the snoot, unless Will changed the design of it...I think your former is too far forward. See this post with my builds Will Aldridge's XP-72 Super T-bolt (2 frames)

The prop hub that I have from a previous version has a spacer that will go behind it so that the actual blades would clear the cowl. Looking at the cowl parts sheet, there is a strip up top...that is the inside of the cowl, printed side faces inside. The thin white line on it is where the nose former gets glued to.

[YankeeBoy]

Thanks, Robert - of course you are absolutely correct! I think I can fix it without too much collateral damage.

[Don Boose]

I see the slight gap and dishing you speak of, but the overall imppression is very good. I have photos of the P-47 at the Air Force Museum that has some similar dishing of the skin in various places, so you may have achieved a scale effect.

It's an impressive model of an impressive airplane.

Don

[YankeeBoy]

I guess the nose should look more like this, eh? Thanks again, Robert.



While it didn't turn out to be the horror show I make it seem, it was upsetting to discover that I had missed the fact that skin 8 should have been attached to the 10-11-12-13 assembly shown in an earlier photo. I think that would have made the transition smoother at the cooler intake. I'll get it right next time. The photo below shows the 8-10-11-12-13 skin sequence. Other pieces involved are a liner (7), vanes (6) and trim strip (9) that connects the line to the outer skin.



A closer view of the cooler. The flash kindly hid most of the bumps and wrinkles at the 8 to 10 join. Will's design is, as always, complex, precise and (once understood) completely logical. I am still thoroughly enjoying this build.

[Willja67]

Man you're fast. Wing tips and tail feathers are pretty much ready except for my desire to add the shading around the control surfaces (which I didn't do for the flaps on the inboard sections of wing that you have already installed, oh well). I also still need to tweak the fairings around the tail feathers some but you can have the tail feathers as soon as i shade them.

I'll try and get that done tonight.

I am wondering about making a connecting strip around A26 (inboard wing root rib) to counter the "dishing" tendencies. It might make positioning of the inboard wing skins more of a PITB than it already is though. I am open to suggestions.

One other thing I have noticed in your pictures and would like you to comment on is the panel line details in the gear bays. In your pictures I can hardly see them. I am trying for a scale effect in the detailing. Since the model is so small you really shouldn't be able to see every little detail so that's one of the reasons i left a lot of them out and didn't do dark bold lines for the rest. Have I gone too far in the other direction?

[YankeeBoy]

I think the wing/fuselage skin join design is OK as is with the caution that intemperate handling of the model may result in fit and appearance problems. I think I could do much better on a subsequent build now that I know where the "sensitive" areas and joins are. Take your time on the parts until you are satisfied with them. I can pass the time messing up a P/F-82 (or two.)

Query - on the inner surface of the main LG doors there are uncolored areas. Is something going to cover those?