F-104c - gpm - 1/33

[Erik Zwaan]

Wow man, so clean. Luckily you bought the canopy, saves a lot of time. Is the central section already having the lobed sides for the air intake? Probably a "yes".

Cheers,
Erik

[ricleite]

@ Erik – thanks The availability of a plastic canopy has a strong influence in the buy/not buy decision. Regarding the central section, I hope that the pictures show how GPM did it

The wings to fuselage links are rather different from the usual. The front wing spar doesn’t cross the fuselage. It exists only in the air intake assemblies. By the way, the fuselage skin has no indication where to glue those card parts and I opted to assemble them together with the air intakes and apply the whole things to the fuselage sides. It is far from solid but, as the wings are extremely thin, this is hardly surprising…

[YOAVHOZMI]

great job.

your work is so clean...Looks like you're not using glue at all.

YOAV

[Isaac]

I would reinforce the wing spar by inserting a third one piece through the fuselage spar made of metal ( cut from a coat hanger ) in between the two card spars and then laminate them over with paper to provide a strong wing that will not bend or warp...


Isaac

[Texman]

Originally Posted by YOAVHOZMI

great job.

your work is so clean...Looks like you're not using glue at all.

YOAV

Yoav is right on. That is some of the best, if not the best, seam work I have ever seen. Astonishing.

[Erik Zwaan]

Aha, I see. That's also a way to do it, rather than a lobed central fuselage section. GPM's solution works for this purpose.How did you glue the central section on the internals? The skin has to be slid over. At the ends and at the landing gear bay reinforcement structure?

Cheers,
Erik

[ricleite]

@ Yoav – as little glue as possible and sometimes less

@ Isaac – if the landing gear was fixed to the wing, I would not hesitate to make a reinforcement like you suggest!

@ Texman – thanks

@ Erik – Well observed! The skin was slid over the structure and has to take the correct shape only when it overlaps the end tabs. I put a bit of glue inside the skin, only where it meets the tabs. Part of the glue may slide inside but that is not a problem. If the glue was put on the tabs, it might well slide outside. The skin fits tightly on the tabs. If it is not glued to the longitudinal formers, that’s ok. I did put some glue at the bottom in order to fix the thin skin strip to the holed “wall” in the centerline.

The pictures show several aspects of the wing assembly: structure, lower wing skin, pylon and tip tank’s fittings, upper skin and (not) movable that make up a large proportion of the wing surface.
The airbrakes are already applied.

[Isaac]

Really nice construction and good fit


Isaac

[ricleite]

Thanks Isaac

More pictures of the airbrakes, another of the refueling probe and one more that shows the front landing gear doors.

[busoramas]

Very clean work as always, what do you do when a section or piece doesnt match perfectly? do you unglue, test first...