SPA Modeler

There's not been much to update here because I've been waiting for the replacement boom parts, so in the meantime, I've completed the boom I have and built the camera unit.

All gluing is with slow cure epoxy, and when cured, I needed to scribe right down the upper and lower boom joints. This is to insert a full length strip that represents the rivet joint of the real thing. It's also quite a neat way of hiding a joint.....without actually hiding a joint! For scribing, I used the Mr Paint tool, run along Dymo tape.

For the camera unit, all connections were drilled out and then connected with plastic rod. The result is nice and sturdy.

Even small progress is happy progress.

And when we are at happiness: Happy Birthday, James!

mostrich wrote:Happy Birthday, James!

Thank you. Another year older, but still none the wiser.

Really lovely work to date; so clean! I'm looking forward to your progress. Also, best wishes for your birthday!

Cheers,

Bruce / speedgraflex

The battle continues, and believe me, this has been a battle in places. 

My replacement boom arrived from HpH and allowed me to continue this bird. Again, the booms seams were sanded flat. A couple of spots where the resin dipped in a little required filling. As this would later be scribed along the joint, I opted to do this with epoxy glue instead of putty, as this would be more stable and less likely to break away under the scriber. Undercarriage bulkheads are now installed within the booms, ready for paint. 

There is a problem with the curvature of the wing panels and that that is cast onto the boom wing root fairings. On the outboard side, the wing root simply sits a little high and the joint needs sanding down to match the wing panels. However, on the inboard fairing, the wing profile of the inboard panel is almost FLAT!! As the fairing is curved and site far higher than the wing, this had to be significantly reduced to match the wing along the joint. Sounds bad, but only took about 30 mins to fix, prior to re-scribing lost details. 

This is where I am at the moment. As you can see, she's finally coming together. The upper fuse section is only temporarily sat in position here, and the model is only held together with tape, prior to the gear bays being painted. 

I'm not going to say the hard work is done, as the canopies need to be fitted, but I do feel like I'm getting somewhere now.

Very interesting!

Twin boom kits are always a nightmare in terms of alignment. Plus resin in this case.
But hey, until now you've mastered all the challenges. Not much more and the fun part begins: Painting!

Great Progress!

This last week or two has been slow due to the nature of this build. Most work has been done with 24hr epoxy. I have cleaned up a few other parts for future assembly, such as undercarriage and bombs etc. but I but post those yet or things will get confusing. The current state of play here shows the basic airframe complete, and the brass PE straps added to the booms. The forward upper ones hide the boom to wing joint nicely. Also added is the lower rear part for the crew nacelle. A small shim of plasticard was added here to create a solid underside edge into the area where the landing flaps will fit.

Control surfaces are fitted with 0.9mm copper wire and CA.

My next post will show the engines installed and cockpit floor sections in situ. Things are now really starting to roll!

I think this is one of those kite that look great in the box but need a lot of work to realise their potential.