WB-57F Oddball-1:48 build

[Swampfox]

Originally Posted by whulsey

Just finally got around to going through this thread. Doing a great job and lots of valuable information. One of my favorite planes down at Pima. Just the last time I was there it was sitting in the back looking very forlorn.

I've only seen pictures of the PIMA plane and it does really look bad. Hopefully they have plans to bring it back into displayable condition.

SFX

[Swampfox]

At this point I have carefully glued the remaining wing spar boxes into place and it looks very strange with short stubby wings.

The most important part of this step is to make sure that the fuselage is on a level, flat surface.

I place my flat magnetic plate onto my work table and carefully set the fuselage on the flat surface. Using magnets I place them around the landing gear to hold the model in place.


Now I can place the wings onto the fuselage and measure the angle of the wing droop, using more magnets, B-B filled bags and anything else I can use to keep them from moving while drying.

I'd like the wings to droop at the maximum allowable on the real aircraft, 18" scale inches = 9mm.

After doing some dry fit tests it looks like its close, but a little too close to the 'ground', ~10 scale inches. So, I'll raise it by adding the right amount of mm thick shims onto the top of the outer end of the wing spar. After a couple of tries, I find the thickness I need for each wing..and glue these pieces in place.


One more test fit, and one more small wedge up near the engine.


After sliding the wing over its wing spar


I place several magnets at the tip of each wing to hold it exactly where it should be to give me the 9mm ground to wing tip distance I'm shooting for. Using an artist camels hair brush, I carefully use white glue to set the wings into place.
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After drying overnight, I very carefully turn the whole thing over and glue the underside of the wing-engine contact in place. This time I allow ~6hrs drying time.


Its taken a while to get to the point that all those parts are starting to look like an aircraft. Funny how wings can do that.


SFX

[whulsey]

This is the photo I shot the last time I was at Pima in May of last year.

[Swampfox]

Originally Posted by whulsey

This is the photo I shot the last time I was at Pima in May of last year.

Thanks for the picture, it looks like it's in a large field. Can you get any closer to it or is the public kept away from it?
SFX

[Swampfox]

Because of my clumsiness in the past, when moving my card models, I have a tendency to break off the vertical stabilizer......

A couple of models back, I started using a piece of double ply corrugated cardboard stock cut to a similar but smaller shape as the finished piece.
The thickness of this piece allows more accurate alignment and better sticking power to the fuselage.


After drying well, I just hang the finished piece over the top of the corrugated stock, pushing it into place but not gluing it in place.
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I just lift it off if I'm going to take the model to show it, or play with it!!

It works, as I haven't broken a tail off since I started doing this!;-)
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After everything else is on the model, I begin adding the weights to the inside of the cone until it is heavy enough to counteract the planes tail-heaviness. I try several different materials in the nose, depends what's on hand at the time.
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and I've added a couple of sensors and probes to the nose cone.
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I glue it on to the model.

First piece cutout and last piece attached...

Finally, I'm finished.



HA, HA you thought You would have to wait for another post!!

More to be posted soon.


Thanks to everybody for sticking around,

Swampfox/AGSanchez

[Don Boose]

It's really beautiful, and it was most enjoyable and enlightening to watch it take shape and to learn more about building methods.

Looking forward to the next SFX project.

Don

[Vermin_King]

Thanks. It looks great and I learned a lot.

[nikischutt]

POTW, has to be a contender.

Awesome build.

Niki

[kahoody]

Excellent build thread and a fantastic result! Well done, AG! Compliments to those who contributed to the thread!

[umtutsut]

I'll just add my thanks for the build. Hopefully, some of your techniques will help me get a decent-looking model of the NASA bird.

Of course, it might help if I actually finished an airplane model at some point! Rockets and satellites I do fine; still struggling with aircraft.

Les (The Voice of Authority)