SPA Modeler

Welcome back to the circus, John!
I had to smile while reading your lines about all the hassle between the oh so tidy pictures. That names the biggest trouble I have with most of the modeling books out there. Only galeries of before and after pics. There are exceptions, but not many. I count your wip-threads into this line of exceptions. Lots of step-by-step instructions one can pull so much information out from.

Duke Maddog wrote:I finally had a chance to post here. Stunning work on those wings John. Everything does look amazing. I also hope you have a great Thanksgiving. I'll be spending it with in-laws in Alhambra, but if you pass by Rowland Heights/Diamond Bar area on your way to Irvine, then you would be passing close to my house.

Have fun with family, I'm looking forward to seeing more when you get to it.

Thanks Duke! I'll be driving north from SD to Irvine so I don't think I'll be passing Alhambra/Rowland Heights/Diamond Bar but I'll think of you as my family convoy (two cars) travels north.

mostrich wrote:Welcome back to the circus, John!
I had to smile while reading your lines about all the hassle between the oh so tidy pictures. That names the biggest trouble I have with most of the modeling books out there. Only galeries of before and after pics. There are exceptions, but not many. I count your wip-threads into this line of exceptions. Lots of step-by-step instructions one can pull so much information out from.

Good to back Torben. I try to show those middle steps whenever possible but I do hate the sanding dust that gets on my fingers and the camera so I usually forgo the in-progress pics when I'm doing heavy sanding.

Just a few pics in between family obligations. The bottom wing insert panels have been glued in and the thin gaps have been filled with White Milliput.


The tail unit has been riveted as well. Due to the breakage at the tail of Black 1 during shipment, I am going to attach the tail unit differently. Instead of assembling the tail halves and gluing the complete tail unit into the forward fuselage, I will glue the left tail unit onto the left fuselage half and the right tail unit onto the right fuselage half. This should give me access to more surface area to facilitate a stronger glue joint.

Thanks Bruce!

I got replacement clamps for my desk lamp so I was able to do a bit more work on Red 1. Plowed through some more riveting as I want to clear a major construction milestone soon and that would be buttoning up the fuselage halves.


After riveting, a round of dry-fitting to remind myself of the Dora's beautiful lines, which have always caught my eye. I stopped the fuselage riveting short of the fuselage seams and will fill those in later after the fuselage is assembled. This will reduce any mismatched rivet lines and also reduce the amount of rivet repair to to the seam work.





The tail unit was also checked for fit. I'll need to complete the engine plug painting and assembly and also paint the tail landing gear before I can glue the fuselage together so I expect those to be imminent steps.

Welcome back John,

Good to see this back on the centre stage.

Regards,

I’m happy to see you back at the bench, working on Red One.

You mentioned the lines... I’ll tell you, I wasn’t one to really give the appreciation to a Fw190 that it deserves. Not because I dislike them, more like I’d always just paid so much attention to ME 109’s. But I gotta say, watching what you do with this Dora really made me appreciate the 190D. It’s a damn sexy aircraft, and this thread in particular makes me want to build one some day. So happy you’re back at it right along with me, buddy!!

ALSO, this cockpit:





...is just some seriously masterful work. I mean it. It just totally does it for me. You did some seriously kickass work here, the kind of thing I’m aspiring to.

And this is just my subjective opinion, but- you know I like the ME109 cockpit. The Emil’s, most especially. In my mind, that was THE cockpit to build and enjoy. But after seeing these pics, I am inclined to think that the Dora’s cockpit is even better, especially in this case. Solid work, brother. Solid. Looks beautiful.

Welcome back John and Kenny!! Glad to see you're building again. Excellent work!!

Back to work on Monday after some extended time off last week. I was expecting to make some paint progress on the Dora but found my compressor malfunctioning after the long layoff. The storage tanks don't hold air after the motor fills them up. I THINK I've isolated the issue to a release valve. My brother-in-law, who is more mechanically inclined than I, was able to find a replacement valve online so I'm waiting for that part to arrive.

In the meantime, I did some more riveting work on the Dora. This time, it was the upper wings. The main work in riveting is the drawing of the guide lines.


After one wing is riveted and the pencil marks removed, you can see the raised effect that the rivet wheel makes on the surface of the wing.


Both wings riveted.


I've reduced the raised effect by using fine sand paper on the wings. I still need to put a row of circular fasteners on the leading edge of the wings but that requires a different tool.

Wouh!

- Kari