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1/32 Resin T-28


ghodges

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Gil,

 

Remember that this beautiful cockpit began because you cut up your credit cards . . . or were they the wife's? See, building models is a great way to get out of debt. :smiley4:

 

Ed

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Hey Gill

 

I had to check it out. Great work on the interior and making the rest of it come together. I'll tell you what, if you can make this kit happen you can scratchbuild an entire model. I've always maintaned it's easier to scratchbuild something than to deal with a poorly engineered kit. I have no doubts you could pull it off. I'll look forward to seeing this in Columbus.

 

Cheers

Mike

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Got a lot of stuff done on the wings today....

100_2169.jpg

This shows why I needed to "skin" the floor and side walls of the gear bays- poor molded in detail, pin holes, and damage due to cracking when I reset the wing dehedral. You can see the one set of floors in place and the other two sitting on the wing. They'll be glued in place after detailing with some strip "ribbing". Also note that the speed brake bay and the rear of the nose gear bay are boxed in.

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View from the rear, showing the speed brake bay a bit better. Note the plastic skinning in the flap wells. This serves to cover all of the grinding marks and is much easier than filling and sanding! Also, you can see the "wedge" of plastic shimmed into the crack in the gear bay wall, which helped to fill and set the dehedral. The dehedral could not be corrected without heating the wing AND almost cracking it in two!

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A shot to show the spreed brake and it's actuators and details, as well as the flaps in position. I was going to fill and sand what remained of the kit resin flaps (with the addition of a LOT of Milliput); but luckily talked myself out of it! Instead I simply used some large half-round plastic tubing and sheet plastic to build new flaps. Much faster and much less labor intensive! By the way, if you need a LARGE piece of sheet plastic DO NOT go to the hobbyshop and buy theirs. Instead, go to Walmart or any hardware store and pick up a couple of plastic For Sale signs for about $1ea.; and you'll have plenty to work with at 1/4 the price!

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This shows the fit of the flaps and the speed brake from the front side. All of the gear bay side walls have been "skinned" and all of the ribbing added (before the walls and floors were glued in place). If you look closely you can see the 2 round access plates on the rear gear walls. That's where I drilled through while making the mounting holes for the speed brake pins! Hey! They're access plates, not blanking plates! Really...... :smiley2:

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This is sort of a boring shot, but it does show how the flaps look in position. Note that they extend under the wing filet, ala- N.A. P-51 Mustang! If you look really closely you can see the multi-colored rear edge of the wing where the "skinning" in the flap well helps even out the gap between the flaps and the wings.

 

That's it for tonight! Hope to have these wings on the fuselage in a day or so, and I'll post more then. Comments, critiques, and questions welcome! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Gil, this is fantastic! I've got the old ID Models 32 Vac kit and hope to build it even half as good as this. In fact.......

Oh look.....it's Hales Comet, (As the little thief distracts the un-suspecting Liquid Plastic Master long enough to reach over and steal all of his ideas)!!! :smiley15: Model on. :smiley4:

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What meds do you take to counteract the dreaded AMS disease? This project is proof that the pills work. Is there a doctor in the house? :smiley2:

 

Ed

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I pop no pills, though I have been known to hang a 2 liter bottle of Mt. Dew up for intraveinious intake! :smiley2: Honest, I can quit the Dew anytime, I swear I can, no really! :smiley5:

 

While this appears to be a case of AMS, it's really just all the stuff that has to be done to this kit to bring it up to competition standards. That doesn't mean it'll win anything, but I'm addressing the bad detail, lack of detail, and mis-molding. I'm only partially concerned with accuracy, with the rudder being the only item I worked just for that reason.

 

Ah yes, the old ID 1/32 vac of the Trojan. A very good friend of mine in our club has that; only because the CA resin Trojan is out of production with no rerelease plans that I know of. You might actually be just as well off with the vac kit since the thin plastic would be MUCH easier to cut and work on than the solid resin parts in this hog! You wouldn't even be worse off parts-wise as the majority of the resin details in the CA kit have to be replaced or reworked and ther white metal parts aren't any better either! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Got the wings on! Used 5min epoxy for strength and to allow some time to adjust alignment. I then back filled with my favorite filler; superglue mixed with babypowder (sb). A close inspection of the wingroot will show the "sb" easily visible at the rear and the clear epoxy filling the front end. The first rough sanding has been done (of course).

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This is the other side, showing the same work. However, you can also see some of the Squadron green putty (thinned with Testors cement) that I used for some nicks and on the right stabilizer. Note the GOUGES in the cockpit that are hiden by the "skinned" cockpit sidewalls! (see pics above).

 

 

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This shows all of the fill work on the bottom. Still a LONG way to go, but at least it's starting to resemble an airplane! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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Amazing work with a whole arsenal of techniques. This is the kind of stuff one expects to find while trolling through a model forum. Outstanding craftsmanship and all the how-to that it took to get there.

 

I cant for the life of me see how you are going to have this finised in two weeks. I'd have spent two weeks on one wheel well alone.

 

Love it, thanks for sharing.

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Jay said: "I cant for the life of me see how you are going to have this finised in two weeks. I'd have spent two weeks on one wheel well alone. "

 

Easy! It won't be up to the superb standard that you build to! In my mind, it'll have better gear wells and details than it came with; but I'm making NO attempt to "get it 100% right"! I'm much more the gizmologist than a replicator, but it'll be reasonably close. I'll be happy as long as the Admiral approves!. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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It stands on its gear!

Kit gear legs, yet to be cleaned up and detailed. Cobbled together wheels/tires from the spares box.

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In the above overview you can see the THIRD application of Mr. Surfacer 1000 as I continue killing pinholes. The white is Tamiya Fine White Primer right from the rattle can.

 

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This close up shows the outer sides of the tires wheels. The hubs are from the spares box, ground down to fit inside the ground out wheels of the tires. And yes, there's a LOT of sanding left to be done to clean these puppies up!

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This shows the interior side of the tires. Note the sleeves to adapt to the kit gear axles. The interior wheel/disc brake combo is built up from sheet plastic and punched discs. Note that the wheels, inside and out, can be added after painting.

 

The nose tire is also from the spares box with sheet plastic wheels. These were detailed with plastic rings made by punching concentric holes. The "bolt" details are sliced rod and the center hub is made up from punched discs and sliced tubing.

 

It was necessary to replace the tires because the kit resin ones are a bit too "balooned" in shape and the nose tire is the larger type more representative of the T-28B instead of the C.

 

I think I'm most pround of the fact that it actually balances on its gear and sits level! There a box in the nose (the engine mount) that's absolutely filled with lead fishing sinkers and then screwed onto the firewall. This was the "moment of truth"; and now that I know it'll sit on the gear in a proper attitude I can proceed with detailing, painting, and finishing the model. The last major assemblies that need to be built are the gear doors. I'll post those in a day or two! Comments welcome! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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It's still lookin awesome Gil. Thanks for posting more update pics. Can hardly wait to see it painted and then finished. Best of luck to finish it in time for the Nats. Model on, Liquid Plastic Master. :smiley20:

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The closer to complete the more impressive it becomes. But oddly as is the case with many WIP treads, comments become fewer & fewer the closer to complete you get. Maybe everything has already been said.

 

So Mr surfacer 1000 appears to be a paint/dab on filler? If correct, I will have to get ahold of some. There was talk recently that this was available at a new local hobby shop???

 

Still cant believe this is going to get done in two weeks.

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Yes, I got the Mr Surfacer at the Comic shop on Blanding/103rd (by Jagmania). They also have Mr. Color and Valejo paints too. It is (essentially) thick gloss paint. But, it dries fast, fills well, and sands easily without clogging the stick. I think they have #1500 too, which I would guess is thinner, or has finer pigment as its base? In any case, it seems to work well!

 

As for coments, they are what they are. I can see people yawning at my posting a pic of a model sitting on its gear (BIG deal!). But, in this case,it was a big deal to me, as there were no gaurentees that it would sit level or in a 3pt stance! Then of course, I strutted around the house after replacing my commode last year (me man, me redo bathroom!). Some things just make ya feel warm and fuzzy! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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...people yawning at my posting a pic of a model sitting on its gear (BIG deal!). But, in this case,it was a big deal to me, as there were no gaurentees that it would sit level or in a 3pt stance!... (me man, me redo bathroom!). Some things just make ya feel warm and fuzzy!

 

Concur on the warm & fuzzy. A significant benchmark, for sure.

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  • 2 weeks later...

100_2210.jpg

 

Well, I did NOT get this puppy done in time to go to Columbus... :smiley19: I figured that out around last Tuesday and decided not to try to rush it and screw it up. There's enough chance of that at my regular pace! :smiley2:

 

I did get the gear doors done. I usd the kit resin main outer doors, routing some recesses into the lower doors with a motor tool. I built the inner main gear doors with sheet plastic and rod. The nose gear doors are also laminated sheet plastic. Their pe hinges are from an old Hodgepodge set that I never got around to releasing.

 

The kit metal gear have had their first round of cleanup to erase a lot of flash and seams, and their main actuators have been added. The main gear also have both of the gear door connectors in place. None of the brake lines have been added yet, and they'll also need some more sanding to get them to look better!

 

Well, we're off to Columbus tomorrow, so it'll be a couple of weeks before I can make some more progress. However, I expect to come home inspired by all of the great models at the show! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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  • 1 month later...

Well it turned out to be a month before making any progress worth showing, but got a couple of major steps out of the way. First, the engine is done.

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I also got the engine installed and the cowling onto the fuselage. You can also see the oil cooler screening in its intake on the side.

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This was a major step, at least in my mind, and it didn't happen without "incident"....

 

I attached the engine support "box", which is chock full of lead sinkers for nose weight. I designed it to screw into place and that worked well EXCEPT I'd never fully tighted the screw before during test fitting. So, when I did screw it all the way in, it cracked the upper fuselage seam. :smiley15: No matter, ream out the hole and re-tighten it and move on!

 

Next, I attached the engine to the box using super glue. Although I'd test fit the engine ONCE before, I hadn't done so since because the cowl was such a tight fit that removing it could break things. As Murphy's Law would have it, when I test fit the cowl this time, the engine was OFF CENTER! :smiley15: So, I carefully removed the cowl and then had to PRY the engine off of the box, causing some minor damage to some fiddly bits (of course).

 

Repaired the fiddly bits and this time set the engine in place and used 5min. epoxy, slipping the cowl onto the fuselage and then adjusting the engine til it was centered. This worked like a charm, EXCEPT that the engine sump pump was a bit too big. I quickly pulled it off before the engine "set", and centered the engine one last time. After the pump was modified to fit, it was re-attached and the cowling finally glued into place.

 

I've also started work on the canopies, cutting them into their respective sections.

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They've been dipped in Future twice, and think they'll work well as long as I watch my fat fingers!

 

The stage is now set for the finishing body work and then on to the paint shop!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got the orange on today, but it took 3hrs of masking for 20 minutes of painting!

Started with the wing insignia...

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Started by choosing the decal size that would be used. Measured it and then used a circle guide and straight edge to make a mask slightly larger. The yellow tape is Shurtape from Sherwin Williams paint store. It's close to the same as Tamiya tape, lowtack, but not quite as pliable or translucent. Still, as it comes in much larger rolls it's MUCH cheaper. In my experience it's one step up from the low tack 3M Blue Masking tape.

 

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Here you can see the resulting 1/16" border that will be left around the decal when applied. A copy of this mask was also used for the Star on the right bottom wing. A simple rectangle mask was also needed to be made for the "NAVY" on the bottom of the wing on the other side.

 

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You may note that the Star mask has ben repositioned more centrally, and had to be cut to do so. Also note the masking of the rudder for the sun-burst design. Decals are provided for it, but they're a bit too large to fit! Last of all, the thin red tape at the base of the fin is 3M plastic tape. It was used in order to fit the curve at the bottom of the fin without wrinkling or binding.

 

A lot of masking for a little bit of painting. Still have to unmask and remask to apply the black, and then all of the major painting will be done. Questions and comments still welcome! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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And here is the outcome after today's masking/painting session...

100_2368.jpg

All of the colors are finally in place! The paints used were MM Gloss Insignia White (with a coat of Future over it), MM Gloss International Orange, and Floquil Engine Black. The gloss colors were cut with lacquer thinner to speed drying and aid paint adhesion. There are a few spots to be touched up, but overall I got the result I wanted (for now). Note that the rudder is done too, but it's not glued into place yet. The red is Testors gloss Red (small bottle), also cut with lacquer thinner. There will be a bit of sanding/filling/repainting around the windshield deck when the windscreen is attached, but that will be minor in comparison to the rest of the finishing job. By the way, the kit supplies decals for the wingwalks so I plan to use those. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

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