SPA Modeler

Another MiG-3 post.... I admit guilt, I am a bit obsessed by the MiG-3. Unfortunately it is a bit of a niche aircraft and there was is not a lot of AM available. One of the items I would like to have is the gun pod the mid series where delivered with.
So I am making my own masters to make some resin copies.

To be clear, I have never done any resin casting! This is one big experiment and I thought that the simple shape of a gun pod would be good for a first try. This experiment will probably take a lot of time (like most of my projects).

First thing: scale plans, I used the ones I found on Massimo's MiG-3 website. And down scaled these to 1/72.
Second thing: wood. I decided to try wood carving to make the masters (3D printing would be "the way of the future" but that would mean having two learning curves in one project). My brother in law had some basswood (he does a lot of woodworking) and supplied me with a few scraps.
Using a pocketknife, exacto saws and rat files I have made a first master:



The tip is not yet correct but I need some stuff for that which I do not have at hand.

This will be truly interesting and exciting!



- Kari

Oh I'm gonna follow this one! As of late, I've been attracted to WW2 Russian aircrafts - especially the Mig-3. I didn't know they were equipped with gun pods later in the war. Interesting.

The MiG-3 was indeed lightly armed, one .50 and two .30's. So the Russians did several experiments to increase armament. One was to add a .50 in a gunpod under each wing. It worked but because of weight and drag performance decreased and it was not a populair option. Other variant where arming them with two 0.50's and (in the last build series) two 20mm canon.

Interesting project! I guess you will have to use some filler on the wood master to get it perfectly smooth?

Thomas_M wrote:Interesting project! I guess you will have to use some filler on the wood master to get it perfectly smooth?

That is right. I wil use mr surfacer to smooth it al out. That wil take some putty, sanding and repeating.

This is a long term project for me, first time that I want to do resin casting. I still have a lot learn and marterials to gather.

I finally did some more work on the gunpods. I got some silicone rubber and resin for my birthday so I need to finish these masters.



Some putty to improve the shape.

Aren´t you afraid that using these wooden masters would show the woodgrain later on the copies?

I am curious my self as to how you will remove that issue. A coat of Mr. Surfacer perhaps?