Jim Gausman DGA 1/48 U.S. Army 54th UAC U-1A Otter

[eatcrow2]

Wonderful clean work, that will be fun to follow. Great clear photos!!!

[Jimr]

Another Excellent model, Don. I look forward to the finished model.

Jim

[bob martin]

Don always posts on my threads I would be admiss if I didn't follow this one. Great start Don Looking forward to your progress, and hope to see it in real--October!!!

{:o)

[Don Boose]

First, thanks to all the friends who stopped by to make kind comments.
To scyeige out in Singapore: my desk is at least neat when I take the photos!
Flyboy: It is always a pleasure for this Dogface to have a visit by you. A spray of Krylon UV helps with glue, sweat, and tears, but even that won’t help with bloodstains.
Bob: I wish you good fortune with your 1/72nd Otter build and hope that we can have both models on display next October.
John: By the time I get to the end of the build, I am sure my Army bird will be well weathered with thumbprints and other smudges from handling.
Wyvern: Thanks for stopping by.
Peter: This won’t compare with your B4Y and SPAD builds, but we each does what we can.
Jim, Old Boy: We have been looking over each others’ shoulders while model building for nearly 50 years and I always am happy when you stop by.
Bob Martin: I appreciate your stopping by and look forward to seeing you and Mary in October.

After my gaff of gluing a former in upside down, I started again from the beginning. To instill the curve in the rear fuselage sections, I used Bengt Fredén’s method of clamping the part for a day so that it would hold the shape. Free Sopwith Tabloid Model from FG!

Image 1 shows the tightly-rolled part.

Images 2, 3, and 4 show how I slide each new fuselage segment over the previous one. I then use a needle inserted in the end of a doweling to pry each former tab down and then to insert a dab of glue.

Image 5 shows how I use the other (wedge-shaped) end of the dowel to press down the former tabs to set the glue.

Images 6 and 7 show the scoring of the former tabs and the lamination of a second former to provide some anti-bending strength. Obscured by my thumb is a hole in the former that Jim has added to accommodate the end of the propeller shaft to assure proper alignment of the nose and prevent droop snoots.

Image 8 shows the latest problem: inaccurate cutting of the third fuselage section = gaps in the fuselage. More proof that I am NRFHY (Not Ready for Halinski Yet).

I have printed out another copy of Sheet 1 and sprayed it. Tomorrow I will try again.

Don

[The Orange]

Now now Don, you are certainly more than ready for Halinski - and I do hope you decide to tackle one in the very near future.


One thing I find is helpful to remember: shape the formers to the skins, and not vice versa. I learned the hard way that one
shouldn't focus on cutting formers to exact shape (unless of course when building the high-end kits with no margin for error -
but even then this holds true). Instead, dry fit the skins, and make adjustments on the former piece and seldom the skins.

This may hurt the structural integrity of the kit, but certainly the skins, and not
the formers, are what is seen.

But then again, you probably already knew this

Regardless, excellent job so far - I enjoy reading the narrations!

[Don Boose]

That's good advice, The Orange. In the case of this model, I have found that the formers and the skins match almost exactly so that I can form the skins, push the formers inside the end of the fuselage segment, and then slide the next fuselage segment over the previous one and pull it until the skin clicks into place over the former tabs.

The problem with the third fuselage segment is that where the skin bends at the top at each corner, I sliced the edge a little too deep so that there is a gap. The situation is not quite as dire as it looks in the photo: I can push the fuselage segments closer together, but I can't quite erase the little gaps, so I will do that segment over tomorrow.

Don

[jagolden01]

Interesting and unique method, Don.

[-Jim G]

Originally Posted by Don Boose

The problem with the third fuselage segment is that where the skin bends at the top at each corner, I sliced the edge a little too deep so that there is a gap. The situation is not quite as dire as it looks in the photo: I can push the fuselage segments closer together, but I can't quite erase the little gaps, so I will do that segment over tomorrow.

Don

Hi Don!
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will look into it tomorrow. I thought I had used the same pieces as previous otters, but sometimes gremlins sneak into my computer and change things...

[birder]

Nice Don! You know that is the way I do the skins generally, focus just on shaping and joining the skins and push the formers in after. As long as it isnt too tight the former wont be noticed at all, but still give the shape correctly....the US Army logo figures very prominantly in your pics I see

[Don Boose]

Hi Glen. Thanks for stopping by. I’m glad to know you are out there as I struggle with this model. I generally use the same method that you describe (and that The Orange also mentioned). In this case, I have had no difficulty with the skin-to-former fit at all. And Jim’s method of providing formers with tabs, thus combining the joining strip and former method, makes it easy to make little adjustments to the formers.

However, while the formers fit the skins perfectly, my shaky hand and eye coordination has resulted in problems with the join between the fuselage segments, as previously noted.

After two more attempts to cut out the third fuselage section, and with the same gap occurring each time, I came up with a solution of sorts, which is to cut the part along a line drawn from the second to the ninth rivets on each side of the top center line (Image 21). This fills the gap, but leaves a small white area (Image 2), which I have filled in with my trusty olive-brown Caran D’Ache Neocolor II water-soluble wax crayon 7500.039 (Image 3). Image 4 shows the test run (the white area forward is because I only trimmed the read edge of this test-shot fuselage segment).

I thought I had solved the problem, and was all ready to fire for record, when I took another look at the fuselage and discovered the dreaded bananafication (Image 5). And that rear fuselage is awfully lumpy – even for a well-used Army bird.

So I have printed out a couple more sheets and sprayed them. I must spend the rest of the day running an on-line forum, grading papers, and copyediting, but this evening I will begin the third attempt (I have also sent up a red flare to Jim Gausman).

More later,

Don

Added later: Hi Jim. You popped up just as I hit the "send" button. I'm sure glad to have you here. Up to now, the fit of the parts has been perfect, and I know that you, Mike, and Kevin have built perfect Otters, so I am prepared to believe the fault lies with me. I await your further guidance and am determined to get this model built! dwb