1/48 scratchbuilding project; Martin T4M

[ghodges]

Part of scratchbuilding is having to rework and rebuild things along the way. I wasn't satisfied with the original nose I built for the 1/48 T4M-1; so I started over from "scratch" and built what I think is a better one.

The back plate matches the front of the vac fuselage, The front octagonal plate establishes the end of each section as well as gives the front measurement for each. Note the engine with tubing glued to its back that will fit into the nose when done.

Shot of test fitting the engine.... there's some room to move the engine in or out to allow for the exhaust manifolding on the back to be built up later.

As you can see, the original nose had a top panel that was much too wide and each of the other panels weren't as well defined. By building the new nose using flat panels cut to shape I could get the top center panel the correct size and make each one's "match" on the other side of the nose the same size until it was filled in all the way around. Note all of the air louvers on the drawing that will need to be added before I can call the nose "finished".

Test fitting the nose to the fuselage. Although it is slightly larger in diameter where they meet, there's a thin "proud" strip that wraps around the nose just in front of the front cockpit that will help even out that difference. It can't be added until after the fuselage has been glued together.

With some luck this will be the last major "build" job of this project and I can get the vacuform fuselage halves glued together and the nose added to complete the fuselage. Hopefully, after that, the rest will be simply a matter of normal parts detailing, gluing and aligning, and other such "mundane" work as done to complete any other model. We'll see!

 

Gil 

Edited April 24 by ghodges

[ghodges]

3 very mundane pics......

But they show a very MAJOR step forward in that the fuselage halves are together and the first coat of primer applied! It even sort of resembles an aircraft fuselage!

The next steps are to finish applying most of the features that still need to be added to the fuselage, or at least get their areas ready. These are things like the the platform between the pilot and gunner's cockpits, tail plane brace brackets, elevator and rudder control wire holes, the reinforcing strip around the nose, making the windshields, tail wheel socket, etc.

It doesn't look like much, but you can see how much work was needed JUST to make this step possible if you glance back to the beginning. Hopefully I'll make progress at a little better rate from here to the end. 

 

Gil 

[ghodges]

The fuselage is now mostly complete since the nose has finally been added!

The main thing that jumps out in the pic is the bracing strip in front of the first cockpit. I used multiple layers of tape wrapped around the nose to do it. You can also see one of the masks for one of the window openings has come off during handling.

Note the crawl platform that's been added between the pilot and gunner's cockpit. It's just a plastic sheet bordered by upside down "L" shaped strip.

In addition to the nose reinforcing strip, note that I repaired the forward access panel and also added a wire grab handle near the crawl pad.

This view shows the scratchbuilt tail wheel and a closer look at the rear sides shows the reinforcing strips added around the areas for the control wire holes and the tail plane underside brace points.

Next up is another round of filling and sanding imperfections, but it feels good to seemingly be making faster progress!

Comments, questions, and critiques welcome, as always!

 

Gil 

[Jmarc]

NNNNNNNNeat !

[ghodges]

I got 2 more important steps completed today.... I added the vent louvers to the nose and also vacked and built up the engine crankcase cooling cover.

I cut 1/4 round strip plastic pieces to as consistent a size as I could and then placed each one individually.

There's more than 50 louvers on 7 of the nose panels.

Note the the very top nose panel is the only one with a slightly different pattern to its louvers.

I made the form for the cooler cover by sawing off the front of a 1/32 engine crankcase and then vacking over it on my Mattel machine.. The cooling slots were added by drilling and trimming each one.

Here you can see how it fits to the engine, as well as the partially closed cooling slots. The slot doors were made by cutting thin triangular pieces of white plastic tape and pressing them into position on the inside. Each one was then superglued in place permanently.

I've since also primered the louvers on the nose. Getting close to gluing the fuselage to the wings. More pics after it starts resembling an actual model airplane!

 

Gil 

[ghodges]

Piddly, but necessary work continues......

This pic shows the 3D printed Scarf rings bought for this project, the completed engine oil cooler cover (now with back plate). the scratchbuilt tail hook, and though hard to see the 3 windshields made and the tape pattern used to make them.

Here's a test "sitting" of the windshields and Scarf ring. Note that 2 vertical posts have been added to the rear cockpit sides to support it.

Test fitting the tail hook, which has a small wire post on the underside to serve as a locating pin.

Still have a good amount of engine detailing to do too..... but I may just go ahead and get the fuselage glued to the bottom wing just so I can take something resembling an airplane to our model meeting Saturday! More pics then!

 

Gil 

[ghodges]

BIG STEP FORWARD..... the bottom wing and fuselage have been joined together!

I've done the initial filling and sanding, but will wait to do the priming until after my model meeting today. The landing gear and wheels and empennage are all just sitting in position for the pics.

I still have 4 major struts to add that attach to the fuselage and wings, but have finally reached the stage where they CAN be added. There's no turning back now!

 

Gil