SPA Modeler

speedgraflex wrote:Hi, Kari—looks great... I am curious which areas did not fit because the end results look like a great fit. Although this is entirely based upon your hour long struggle—are there size or shape issues or both...

It was a shape issue, the L-shaped piece for the backpart of the canopy was angled too much to follow the canopy frame smoothly. The vinyl material itself is pretty flexible, so you can pull it quite much in different directions without breaking it.But that it did not help in this case, as the by reducing the angle, the vinyl material got an extra fold, sort of a bubble. I could flatten it, but if that is enough I'll see when I have removed it.

As a last job yesterday, I primed the canopy. I must say, not so easy to prime a transparent piece, masked mainly with black masking tape and spraying black primer.. Afterwards, should have primed with another, lighter color for sure! Might need to add some primer here and there still..



- Kari

"Moment of thruth"

A milestone has been reached... The mighty BMW engine has been attached to the fuselage, was very tight due to the exhaustepipes that were not 100% aligned correctly.. (lessons learned)

I am a little bit anxious, how the engine panels will actually fit... This I can try when the glue has settled well.. But I have a fear the engine is not really perfectly aligned.... so let's see....



- Kari

Kari,

I think it looks great. You did a beautiful job on that engine. And I hope everything goes well when you get those panels on! Hopefully the alignment is okay.

Ah, the marriage between a radial engine and the fuselage. They both combine to a deadly fighter, and what a good looking that is!

Black primer always looks so ominous! A note about the vinyl canopy masks. I don't know if it is a similar material but I have had issues with Montex vinyl masks lifting after application, especially on curved surfaces. When you mentioned that you've had to re-position some of the masks, it made me think of the Montex masks losing their adhesiveness.

jkim wrote:Black primer always looks so ominous! A note about the vinyl canopy masks. I don't know if it is a similar material but I have had issues with Montex vinyl masks lifting after application, especially on curved surfaces. When you mentioned that you've had to re-position some of the masks, it made me think of the Montex masks losing their adhesiveness.

I like the photo Kari posted specifically for that. The starkness of it makes everything about that engine pop out. I’m glad he took this photo before the painting starts. It’s a lovey engine. I’m digging th color of the exhausts, too.

Thank you guys!

Kenny: I will still tonight try to attach some panels, let's see how it goes!

Torben: Indeed! :-)

John: I have used once before Montex vinyl masks, but cannot remember that the glue was this "sticky" as with Pmasks. Causing possible issues while trying to remove it ...


- Kari

Everything is looking fantastic so far. I never would have known you had any issues without you telling me. Way to go Kari! That engine looks like it will fire right up! Bring on the rest.

Tight squeeze — no raised panel bumps although I have seen two assemblies by other modelers with raised cowling top and bottom —

Yellow 1 looks smooth and well fitted —

Yup, very smooth....

The reference pictures of my red one shows also (annoyingly) smooth panels...

If difficult to "panelize" everything, there is always an option to...




- Kari