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1/32 Resin T-28


ghodges

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This is the out-of-production Collectaire resin 1/32 T-28 Trojan. Why? Because being married just isn't demeaning enough, I have to be masochistic in my hobby as well! :smiley2:

 

The BIGGEST problem in the kit is the solid resin wing. It's too flat, as the Trojan should have 8dg's of dehedral in the wing. Th kit has about 1dg!

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Solution? Remove a LOT of resin by removing the flaps, grinding out above the gear bays, and opening up the speed brake well; and then boil the heck out of it! Not an easy task considering its size....

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Moving to the cowl, you can see it's a bit "clunky" and everything is molded closed.

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The first step is to grind everything to thin down edges and open up the cowl flaps, the exhaust wells, the carborator intake and the oil cooler intake. Then cut up a soda can and use sheet aluminum to build up the cowl structures as needed. Why aluminum? It's easier to bend those sides and curve to shape than sheet plastic. The oil cooler was made by smushing a piece of brass tubing, adding screening to the front and rear, and then finishing it with an oval lip.

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The cowl flaps and oil cooler flap are made from sheet aluminum and their actuator rods added.

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The next stop: the engine. The only usable parts of the resin engine were the crank case cover and the wiring harness. The cylinders and the push rods came from the spares box. The baffles between the cylinders were made by sanding and carving thick strip plastic to fit (easier than it sounds; about 5mins. each). The exhaust collector ring and the triple exhaust stacks are plastic tubing. I was able to test fit this ONCE into the cowling as I had a devil of a time getting it back out with all of the interior structures in the way! The wiring harness has been detailed with plastic tubing leads and wire solder ignition wires (uncut to length as of yet). A new oil sump and prop govenor have also been constructed to complete the engine.

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There's still a LONG way to go on this baby, as a full interior still need to be scratchbuilt (mostly), the flaps rebuilt, the gear wells detailed, the landing gear detailed, new gear doors and actuators.......well, you get the picture. I'll post updates as I make progress. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Here's a neat T-28 I saw at our local air show last fall

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Owned by the then current CO of VAW-77, CAPT Serrato, in the proper unit markings if the aircraft were the real unit hack!

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great WIP. One of those 'no one will know what effort went into it unless you document it' kind of things.

I'm tuned in and sure to pick up a couple of building tips along the way.

 

 

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Hey Gil

 

Never done a full resin model before this should be fun to watch. I'll just continue the punishment with short run injection, resin accessories and PE parts thanks.

 

Chris

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  • 3 weeks later...

OK, got the rudder 99% done. The T-28 is unique in that you can see the lightening holes in the rudder post when you stand behind the plane, even when the rudder is in the neutral position. That meant the rudder had to be chopped off, the hinges and acuators built up, and the "holey" rudder post installed.

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Yep....a LOT of grinding was needed (and it won't be the last time for that!) :smiley19:

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It's a tight enough fit that you can't see through it from the side view....

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But you can see the rudder post quite easily. Also note the rear position light and the trim tab actuator have been added. I'm really hoping that a lot of the "roughness" will fade once it all gets primered and painted....Almost ready to tackle that big gaping hole in the fuselage where the cockpit goes! Maybe this weekend over the holiday.....Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Got some major interior work done....

100_2129.jpg

Made new seats from soda can aluminum. They still need seat pads, which will be made from Milliput.

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These are all of the major components to the cockpit, designed to drop fit into the cavern in the fuselage. They all still need detailing and some need a bit more modification. But, this way, they can all be worked on individually and then added towards the end of the build.

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This shows how it all fits togther (more or less). Note that the fuselage is already glued together at this point! All of this work took about 4hrs off and on today (between other chores).

 

I'll post more as I make more progress. Questions, comments, and critiques welcome, as always! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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I'll never complain about FM models aircraft again. Thats a lot of work. Looks great so far.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got a lot of work done on the side consoles....

 

Going from this

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To this...

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If you look closely, you can see the slots on the sides of the consoles for the rudder pedals. The pedals are also done, but they tend to flop around (unglued) so I left them out of the pic. I still have to make all of the throttle quad handles, add a couple more electrical panels, add the aux hand pump to the front left console, build the sticks, finish the main panels, and tweak everything.......(and the list goes on and on and on....so it seems!)

 

By the way, the PE panels are from an old set of Hodgepodge generic cockpit items, as are the rudder pedals. The knobs on the panels are thinly sliced rod. As always, questions, comments, and critiques are welcome! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Got the main panels and the center consoles done today (so far)...

100_2139.jpg

Sheet plastic, punched plastic that's cut apart to make the bezels, some spare PE and sliced rod make up the panels. The slot on the left is for the landing gear handle. I planned on using some Waldron printed instruments for the panels, but my hole punch is so old that the #5 punch isn't sharp enough to punch cleanly through the tough instrument film plastic! :smiley19: I'll have resort to the age-old method of painting the rear panel flat black and then scratching off the markings inside each hole. That and some cigarette pack wrapper for the "glass" usaully does the trick! I'm taking a break now after the 3+ hours it took to manufacture what you see above. Tedious work like that makes me gaga! :wacko: Think I'll take a dip in the pool to relax! Cheers, and happy 4th of July to all!

 

GIL

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The markings will be the same as the one on the cover of the "Trojan in Action" book; USN orange/white training scheme with the VF-111 style sunburst rudder and sharkmouth cowling.

 

I did get some interior sidewall work done the other day; making and installing the cockpit air inlets. No pics yet, as I still have to make and install the canopy control housings/handles, ash trays (gotta love the old days!), and the flight plan/paperwork holders. Almost ready to do some painting! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Thanks for all of the kind words so far! Some more "fiddly bits" have added and built:

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From the top, moving clockwise: the rudder pedals (Hodgepodge generic pe); the main throttle handles, Canopy mechanism levers (w/flat metal), the pitch levers (look like golf clubs), the main gear levers (lollipop looking thingys), and the control sticks. In the center is the rear/top bulkhead with the an/arn-6 radio compass loop antenna and the cross brace for the rear shoulder straps.

 

Note the free use of spare resin, wire, punched discs, and even good ol' tape to cobble parts together! The handles on the canopy levers and the pitch levers were built up with thick superglue and sprayed with accelerator. The pitch lever handles were "flattened" using needle nose pliers. The compass loop clear section is cut from some kit's clear tail support! It'll be painted clear orange in the end when it's finally glued in place. The "boots" at the bottom of the sticks were made using Milliput epoxy putty.

 

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These are the interior lights, one for each side of each cockpit. Plastic rod and coiled solder wire do the trick.

 

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These are the two finished side panels The top one is the right side, with two air flow controls and two storage folders. The left side (bottom) has two air flow controls and the canopy control lever housings. The small holes are where the lights will be "plugged" in place. The short vertical plastic pieces provide alignment slots for the center cross bulkhead behind the pilot's seat.

 

I actually have the first coat of paint on all of the interior stuff now. I'll try to post pics of the painted interior soon! Questions and comments welcome, as always! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Finally, some painting has been done!

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The main panels have the "instruments" drawn on by scratching off the black paint to reveal the white plastic. The dark black splotches on the one panel are actually glue marks; there's a piece of clear cigarette wrapper glued over it to replicate the glass faces. This stuff is so thin and clear that you have to tilt the panel just right to catch the light and reflect the glass! This is the typical "sandwich" style scratchbuilding method for panels and it works pretty well in 1/32.

 

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These are the 4 side consoles. The details have been picked out and drybrushed, but the wash hasn't been added yet, nor have the throttle and pitch handles. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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And, this is the result of the theory under which I labor....

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Everything is in place, but 90% of everything is just "set" in its place, with only about 10% tack glued in position. Thus, I can take it all out, build and paint 80-90% of the airframe and then reassemble all of the cockpit components near the end. That should help avoid breakage and loss (I hope). I'll probably do a bit more "tweaking" to a few parts to try and make everything look a bit smoother and more "finished"; but for the most part the cockpit is complete. The exception to that are the seats, which still need the seat pads (epoxy putty) and belts/harnesses. Now, on to the airframe! As always, critiques, comments, and questions are most welcome. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Gil, it's great seeing this come together. It is looking swEET, so far. Model on Brother of the once liquid, now solid plastic.

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