Thought I would be clever and used a small instrument plane to shape the fuselage. However, I became carried away and destroyed the subtle contours at the tail end of the fuselage. So I have re-cut a new fuselage. I should have stayed tried and true and used files for more controlled material removal. But nothing ventured, nothing learned.

Images 14 and 15 show drilled holes for the stabilizer mortise and finished chiseled shape.  Whenever possible I prefer mortise and tenon joints rather than dowels or equivalent to fasten parts to the fuselage. The mortises are usually not too difficult to establish for 1/32 or in this case 1/48 scale models.

Images 16 & 17 show the tail mortise and tail / stabilizer fitted

Image 18 shows the fuselage in the carving clamp. Rear section to be rough shaped to allow correct placement of the fuselage strakes. By only shaping the rear portion of the fuselage, I was able to retain  the square cut surfaces of the fuselage mid section as a good clamping in the tilting vise (see photos 19 & 20)

Figures 19 & 20 show the fuselage in a tilting vise and the mortise for the fuselage strakes. I opted to use the tilting vise to chisel out the mortise due to the incident angle to the fuselage (42 degrees) and the narrow width of the strake. By tilting the vice appropriately, I was able to chisel the mortise outline simply by keeping the chisel in the vertical direction. Because the strakes are thin and project away from the fuselage, the were cut from hard maple.

Figure 21 shows the rear components fitted to the fuselage. Final fitting will be performed when the fuselage shaping is complete.

Very nice - love the Beaufighters!
Scott

F8-U crusader was coming along nicely until I realized I was over zealous with a mini plane. Scrapped that fuselage and started a new one. Hopefully will have more available time in the upcoming weeks to complete the model.

I am finally taking a break from house hunting. No results yet. My first three choices were sold before I could get here. At home, my collections are packed and waiting for the mover on 25 Sep so I had better find something soon.
The RCAF models are still admired at the Gander Museum and will be picked up on 19 Sep. The boxes I used to take them there are quite suitable for the next journey to my new home.

I expect to be at it again before the new year.

Lou

 Greetings All,

 Things have been a bit slow with me.

 Fairey Battle- nearly done picture to follow shortly.

 Miles Sparrowjet. -Some shaping and sanding done. Still more to do.

 Electric Ducted Fan EE Canberra - Couple of coats of primer done. Making mountains of dust sanding things down.

 Stay safe.

 Gordon
 

At the beginning of August, I had the opportunity for a long-overdue visit to see Ray. Ray showed me the inaugural P-40 Warkhawk model along with his progress on 3D printing Captain Nemo's Nautilus.  We enjoyed lunch at the nearby burger stand, in operation since 1961.

I didn't spend too much time in the workshop this month except to start a long-needed clean-out and add additional lighting. My new timber workbench is still doing well and holding up nicely.

I did receive a number of plans for Airway's 3-inch model airplanes, which all have 3-inch wingspans.  The tiny plans are dated 1940, though they appear to have been printed later during World War II - some of the balsa has been substituted by pressed-card as non-military supplies of balsa wood became scarce. I look forward to going through these plans and sharing them with the group.

Garet

We had no models reported completed in August, though a few gave updates on models in process. Forum views were 454,843 with 2 new topics and 13 new posts.

The gallery received 22,141 views for a total of 4,540,543.

Please let us know what you are working on!

Garet

Thank you Ken.

Louis

Lou - On behalf of my family and all the Solid Model Memory Viewers who are unable to post a note, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family on this tragic loss.

-ken

Thank you Gordon.

Louis