Lockheed Constellation a scratch build - Page 2

**C9B** · #11 02-24-2023, 08:32 PM

Keep going. That plane is a real beauty. Thanks for sharing your work.

**scon10** · #12 02-25-2023, 02:57 PM

Well Scissors, my magnifying glas broke, so I had to do with fake rivets. Next model, however,.....

**scon10** · #13 03-23-2023, 08:00 AM

Next step: the fuselage is now skinned, and I printed decals to depict the first Constellation delivered to KLM in 1946, the "Utrecht". Utrecht is a city in the middle of the Netherlands, ruled by a bisshop untill the 1500's, after which it became a province in the Republic of the United Provinces.
The skin is the silver cardboard, which the local art shop stocks, the backside is paper, so it is very easily applied in modelling (see my previous threads on the use of this material). I have started on the construction of the wing, consisting of a front and aft spar, connected by wing profiles, see pictures.

**Rata** · #14 03-23-2023, 08:58 PM

Amazing work on this Connie variant!

**T haf** · #15 03-26-2023, 03:02 PM

The seams you have between panels is pretty good. It's hard to get them to meet up as well as you've done. Do you use any kind of filler for small areas that don't quite cut it? The shape of the fuselage is very complex and you've done a great job replicating it. The formers for the wings are also pretty nice. I bet that took a long time to get all the measurements correct. When I was building my wing, it took a good 15 hours just to get the former shapes.

From one scratch builder to another, very nicely done. I'm excited to see how you do the engines and flight controls.

**scon10** · #16 03-27-2023, 02:03 PM

Thanks, T haf, for your remarks. The fuselage panels are relatively small for the curvature they need to bridge, so they are all straight cuts. The acccuracy lies in the angles that the panels have in their shape, these are not necessarily 90 degrees. That is where I need to fit a panel as closely as I can to the neighbouring one. But because of the curvature of the fuselage, there will allways be miniscule gaps between the panels. I fill them up with acrylic silverpaint (brand name Lascaux, a Swiss company), and I wipe the surplus away, so that only the gaps are filled.
The wing is built with two card board spars, and a root wing profile. On the wing plan, that I printed in the correct scale (1:50), I measured the location of the profiles next to the engines, and one between the outside engine and the wing tip. On the plan, I measure the cord, and on the twio spars, I measure the thickness of the profile at that location. Then I draw with my sharp eye

a nicely fitting profile, and glue that in place between and in front of the spars. I am now in the proces of skinning the wings. I'll put photo's as soon as I have them

**abhovi** · #17 03-28-2023, 01:50 AM

Very nice and interesting work. Scratch building a plane is what we see here too seldom. Nothing wrong with building a kit, but this shows an extra dimension.
My compliments.

**scon10** · #18 03-28-2023, 02:02 PM

And as luck will have it, there is a truly amazing scatch building going on, which is of course the Spitfire, see another thread. It is fascinating to look and follow this process, even if you don't wish to build it yourself. Superb detail. That is the advantage of a large scale, 1:13. My little Constellation is 1:50, because a model of 3 by 4 meters is impossiple in my appartmnent.

Scratch building is rare, and so are airliners, both jet and prop, unfortunately.

**Erik Zwaan** · #19 03-29-2023, 03:25 AM

It's very interesting to see how you build up your model, and the application of the skin elements. True mastership, scon!

Out of curiosity, I dug up an old "Luchtvaart" magazine of December 1986, remembering there was an article about the Dutch constellations, and noted that the Utrecht's call sign was actually PH-TAU instead of PH-TDU. There's also an actual picture of the Utrecht in the article and an overview of the Constellations in KLM service. If you're interested I'll be happy to send you a copy.

Regards,
Erik

**scon10** · #20 03-30-2023, 01:54 PM

Ah! Caught red-handed.

I have the same copy, and several books on the early Connies. You are right of course, it should have been tAu. I printed the decals myself on the printer using one of my last decal sheets, but my measurements of the size of the registration letters came out wrong, they were too big. The PH-TDU was a decal of another model I had in my scamble box, and they happened to be the correct size, so I decided to use them, instead prining new ones on a new sheet. Well spotted, Erik.