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  #11  
Old 03-02-2020, 05:29 AM
Erik Zwaan's Avatar
Erik Zwaan Erik Zwaan is offline
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Lex, given the inaccuracies which inevitably are part of the "old" models (designed before the computers kicked in), you are doing a great job. The petals of the nose came together very well.

The modern Orlik kits are very well designed and they have a preference for nose petals. I built the Mosquito a few years ago (building thread is on this site 2013-2014) and Mossie's nose looks quite similar.

Cheers,
Erik
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  #12  
Old 03-02-2020, 07:19 AM
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Nice job so far, Lex. The difficult petaled nose is particularly well done.
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  #13  
Old 03-05-2020, 07:21 PM
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Thanks. I realised perhaps this thread sounds too much like a lot of complaint. I was hoping to write this for future reference, so other builds can avoid some of the issues of this model.

Moving on, support structure for the wing comes in three parts, the wing box, and the two wings themselves. By design, the idea was that they slot together at the wing root after each have been fabricated with the skin attached. So, essentially, butt joining as plastic models would. But, I would not possibly do that, instead foregoing the joints and making it into one whole piece.

This is basically an entire sheet of formers and nothing else, and a lot of cutting. It looks very nice at a distance, but there are many area that still need to be reworked, sanded or cut away, once I prepare the wing skins and figure out exactly how much they are off. Make no mistake, grey card is difficult to cut. Three blade tips were harmed in the making of this part. The reason for picking grey card, as opposed to the much nicer white or black card, is because grey card is 'gentle', i.e., soft. There is plenty of room to work around any issues it may have, and much less likely to prop up a bump on the skin.

One thing I do like about this design, is the way the pieces interlock (you can see an uncovered 'tooth' outboard of the gear bay) and still provide some very reasonable strengths in all directions. Learned something new
Attached Thumbnails
Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200305_211342.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200305_211349.jpg  
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  #14  
Old 03-05-2020, 07:33 PM
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On another note, it seems this kit is not modelled after the prototype as it is displayed in the museum, but rather an earlier configuration. This explains some differences of the kit to the surviving/restored aircraft. The exhaust, nose, and dorsal fin are some areas where the difference is visible.
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Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-xp-55-flying.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-49166401458_685e960c32_c.jpg  
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  #15  
Old 03-21-2020, 06:00 PM
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Wings

The wing construction started from the wing root. The ventral side is used as a positioning guide as it has the wheel well openings that must be placed over the right locations. The entire wing is swept at a steeper angle than the internal supports warranted, so 2mm needed to be sliced off from the leading edge of the internal support structure.

Fillets at the wing root on the dorsal side is just a tiny bit too narrow and required some very aggressive persuasion to cover the white areas on the fuselage. This meant the outer edge of the wing root section does not sit where it should have belonged. But here it is easy to hide any mismatch using the joint between wing sections.

The outer portions are mostly free of fit issues. I closed the airbreaks as the support structure inside was not built to perfection and will be ugly if exposed.

In comparison, building the canards was an enjoyment. The only modification is closing off the inside surface of the canard, as they do not sit tightly around the nose and the inside area would be somewhat visible.

Parts for the vertical stabiliser comes as an entire piece between top and bottom halves. These do not follow the wing cross-section at all and had to be cut in half and constructed separately. Still, the end result though was much better than the construction technique warranted.

The propeller hub comes in two sections, which... did not match. Attempts to fix it left the entire piece pear-shaped......
Attached Thumbnails
Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200307_233638.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200314_003537.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200314_004755.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200314_115503.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200314_234519.jpg  

Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200315_125736.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200315_181558.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200316_222703.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200316_223105.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200318_021552.jpg  

Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200318_021600.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200318_021611.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200321_211136.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200321_211151.jpg   Curtiss XP-55 Ascender 1:33 [Orlik]-img_20200321_211220.jpg  

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  #16  
Old 03-21-2020, 06:36 PM
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As I move on to the control surfaces I noticed something. The control surfaces on the vertical fins are coloured completely as light grey, without the dark brown seen on the top half of the fuselage (and the tail fins themselves). Is there a specific reason for this, or shall I regard it as a slight mistake on Orlik's side and make the necessary modifications? I have seen photos where the entire tail fin is of a darker colour and the control surface is lighter, but not as the current arrangement where the fin is coloured top-bottom and the control surface is uniform...
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  #17  
Old 03-21-2020, 07:07 PM
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It looks like 845/846 were painted that way, while 847 had the split color.
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  #18  
Old 03-21-2020, 07:24 PM
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Wow thanks! So their control surfaces are painted this way even though the fuselage and wings are painted in a two-colour scheme? I'd be interested in any images or references/books for this. I couldn't find a lot of photos of the 845, and the ones I did find featured different paint schemes, persumably at difference stages of testing?

Say for example, this image here, although the control surface is lighter, has the fuselage painted in a uniform colour and not the two-colour scheme as depicted in the model
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis...-1234P-007.jpg
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  #19  
Old 03-21-2020, 09:21 PM
at6 at6 is offline
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Very well done. I like the way it's beginning to look.
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  #20  
Old 03-22-2020, 07:42 AM
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Lex,

If I understand your question correctly, perhaps this page will help. The video
does show both versions of the vertical stabilizer/rudder versions.
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