Halinski Curtiss Tomahawk IIB: A slow but steady build

[smithdr]

Great News, Erik. I now have a stash of these lovely things and find myself looking at them often and planning my future build. It's nice since now I know they will turn out I'm precise! The Val is really tempting along with the Me-110.



Here is part of the oleo strut saga. My only deviation was delaminating the oleos themselves. I then rolled them, super-glued one rolled edge to the wire skeleton and then slowly added white glue and rolled. I did this slowly otherwise things literally went pear-shaped. I also licked the paper a bit which also seemed to help. Each scissors unit has 9 parts...which is crazy to me...but then I see Igor or Anne's tanks and I realize I am not worthy!


Looks really cool and busy down there. I still need to to the paint touch-up and a couple more braces. Then I'll add a brake line (I assume it would be visible) and start the little doors etc. I may do the tail wheel now that it's on it's own legs! More soon and keep snipping...Dan

[ashevilleangler]

In addition to Erik's suggestion:

For the wings, may I suggest you add two or three drops of glue (let it dry in between) to the wing tip navigation lights. It's a details, but adds up to the realism of this magnificent model. Also goes for any other light on the back or belly-side.

I'm thinking that if you have some thick UV resin glue, it might work really well for that purpose. This stuff adds dimension and sets crytal clear. Just be sure to test it first. I would hate to be suggesting something that ruins your wonderful work.

Curt

[smithdr]

Thanks, Curt...and another good idea. I'll play with those to make them look like actual navigation lights.


Tonight I got the tail wheel assembly installed sans doors. That'll be for tomorrow.


Almost on it's wheels! It's nice to get the tail off the ground, I must say.


Onward,
Dan

[Erik Zwaan]

Hi Dan, Excellent landing gear. Indeed, when you have reached this stage of the build, it feels like having reached a true milestone. The landing gear looks very sturdy with its paperclip core. But you still got the canopy challenge....

Cheers,
Erik

[MacSongLi]

Nice work Dan. The landing gear do look amazing. She's a bird of beauty.


Gary

[Olo]

Originally Posted by ashevilleangler

In addition to Erik's suggestion: I'm thinking that if you have some thick UV resin glue, it might work really well for that purpose. This stuff adds dimension and sets crytal clear. Just be sure to test it first. I would hate to be suggesting something that ruins your wonderful work.

Curt

For navigation lights I use tiny ball head pin, warm it up and than thermoform lights from a piece of PET thin plastic and color them acordingly to the model needs...

[Beachead]

Awesome detail and info. Great looking build.

[smithdr]

Thank you Erik, Gary, Olo and Greg. And thanks for looking and all the great suggestions.


I got the tail wheel doors completed and installed. One more thing checked off!


Then I spent some time finding all the cowl flap parts shown. It will take some head-scritching to figure how those all go. Good will triumph in the end...


Dan

[smithdr]

Starting the wheel area. It's kind of a 3-D jigsaw puzzle that only really makes sense when you throw caution to the wind and start test fitting things. Slowly, very slowly in my case, things become clearer! The pictures show the tiny former shapers installed and the step-wise addition of the "showy" pieces that folks will see. There is one out-of-focus shot showing the rather torturous shaping needed on one piece to get them in...but in they get! This is all raw without any edges addressed but it is coming along. Oh yeah...you can also see I added the cowl cooling flaps...that was LAST night!


Cheers and thanks for looking,
Dan

[smithdr]

Here it is all touched up. Looks nice and busy with all the strut actuators etc. I really like the multi-piece gear door with the lightening holes. That part looks real.
Now I'm struggling with the rest of this diabolical area including the petal piece that gives the prominent convex portion on the wing leading edge which is so P-40-ish. There is another part that is...I don't know...designed by a masochist...that fits just behind the petals on the underside. Holy Hannah and a Half. I'll get it, but it's a brain tickler.


More soon...Dan