Hi Guys.
First of all I would like to apologise for a very long time without posting here :-[
I have some projects that are stoped like the F100, but started new ones.
Here is a F4F Wildcat that I'm working for a group build in a forum here in Brazil.
Bellow are some pictures of the work in progress:
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_05.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_06.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_09.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_12.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_15.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_18.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_20.jpg)
I hope post more updates soon.
Cheers,
Marcos.
Looks great Marcos. I hope to see more photos soon. Is your forum a solid model forum? Do you have an email address. I may not understand the language, but I love looking at the pictures these carry.
Lou
Hi Lou
I'm registered in some foruns, but all of them are dedicated to plastic modeling. I think that I'm the only one that likes to model in wood, although I've been modeling in plastic and resin too :)
Here are the links and my e-mail bellow.
Cheers,
Marcos.
http://www.plastimodelismo.org/bbs/index.php
http://cafemodelismoforum.livreforum.com/
Hello Marcos, your wildcat is looking great,how did you cut out the hole in the front for the engine?. If I were you I would remove your email address from the open forum as you may be subject to lots of spam emails, or be used by someone else for dodgy purposes.Regards Paul J.
Hi Paul,
Thanks!
I openned the front hole and the cockpit area with some tools like this one in the picture using a Dremel.
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_19.jpg)
Thanks for the advice about the e-mail address. I will remove it.
Cheers,
Marcos.
General information for all members:
When you are logged on to the forum, you can send personal messages to any member by clicking on the "My Messages" button. That's the best way to exchange e-mail addresses.
Garet
Marcos I think your Wildcat looks great, also keep up the good work in promoting solid modelling in your country,you may be the only one but represent our hobby non the less,you never know someone may come forward as another builder due to your own models ?
Barry.
Marcos your Wildcat is really neat (old expression well fitted to this hobby). It looks like you're preparing to fit it with a transparent cockpit canopy. If you have time perhaps you could tell us how you moulded such a canopy.
Cliff.
Thanks for the picture Marcos, Regards Paul J.
Hi Guys.
Cliff, I want to fit it with a transparent canopy that I hope to make with a simple vacuum form machine that I'm building (picture bellow). The master will be made in wood.
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/VF_033.jpg)
Balsabasher I really hope that some friends give a try in building solid models. I'm always posting some work here in the Brazilian foruns and linking to some impressive work from this forum and from solid model memories site.
Oceaneer, thanks for the information and bucfan for following the construction.
Cheers,
Marcos.
Marcos, that's a fine looking vacuum machine. Perhaps you might consider the plans for such a machine as a contribution to the Group. Incidentally, I've also experimented with transparent canopies and home- built vacuum machines. In fact, my P51D's canopy and the canopy for the larger of my two Mariners was built using that device. Also, when, or if, I get my F6F-5 painted it will also have a plastic canopy built in the same way. Of interest is my two observations resulting from this approach: the first is that as a result of having two Mariners I concluded that the more conventional way of applying dull black paint provided just as real a cockpit canopy as the one produced by vacuum forming. Secondly,when it comes to the actual interior of a fighter aircraft it appears impossible to adequately replicate such an interior as required by the existence of a transparency. An area - as much as I hate to admit - that is much more suited to the plastic alternative. In this sense a painted canopy removes the necessity of trying to carve all the details of the interior of a cockpit.
Cliff.
Hi Cliff.
I will do some plans for the vacuum machine e post it soon. There is a need to correct some issues that I notice in the first tests.
I understood what you say about the two options in the canopy area. I was figuring out how to work in the interior and in this scale I think that the only option is do something with styrene sheet. But let´s see how it will come.
Here are some pictures of the recent work in the tail. I used a wood stick for the rudder and elevator.
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_25.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_26.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_27.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_34.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_33.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_31.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/wildcat/wildcat_35.jpg)
Marcos, I think that the wood stick - which from here looks like a "doctor's tongue depressor" - looks like a good idea. But I'm really interested in finding out how you manage the interior. For myself, I generally approached an interior as an unoccupied one with a seat made from aluminum and a safety belt made from masking tape in place over the seat. This I guess worked OK but in aerial photos of course it was sadly inferior. Hence "the ghost ship" which is probably justified.
Cliff.
I used a tongue depressor for the tailplane on my bucc,they are ok if flat but they sometimes curl slightly.Regards Paul J,
Yes Marcos I for one would love to have details of how you made your vac machine,I keep hearing about these Mattell toys but have never seen one ? when it is perfected then show us all how to reproduce one like yours as it would be so useful.
Barry.
Hi Guys,
Thanks for viewing. I did some experiments today with the vacuum machine and the things get better.
Here are some pictures of a project that I'm working. It is the Embraer 121 Xingu in the 1:72 scale. I did the fuselage in wood and experimented to make some copies in plastic with the vacuum machine.
I will do some drawings and post here. There is a topic in the Brazilian forum "plastimodelismo.org" with the step by step construction until now.
The link is bellow and altough it is in portuguese, the pictures can say something.
http://www.plastimodelismo.org/bbs/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=6733
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/VF_041.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/VF_043.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/VF_042.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/VF_044.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/VF_045.jpg)
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/VF_046.jpg)
Cheers,
Marcos.
Marcos what wonderful craftsmanship you are showing us here,the complex shape of the Xingu is turning out great,and your vac forming machine is exciting.
Barry.
How do you heat your material.
Lou
I looked at the article and the question answered itself. However I could not find any reference to the temperature used to heat your plastic.
Lou
Marcos, it's a very neat vacuum forming machine. I think that given sufficient time I might figure out the answers to the questions I'll ask but if you will be so kind will you please advise as to the type of plastic you are using. Also could you confirm that you are heating the plastic in an oven and watching the behaviour of the plastic to determine it's suitability. Finally, if you will, it appears in your splendid photos that you have the use of a very powerful vacuum source and could you please tell us about what you are using in place of a conventional vacuum cleaner.
Thanks again.
Cliff.
There is a million questions that come to mind. Maybe later.
Hi guys!
Thanks Barry. I'm enjoying very much the experiences with vacuum form.
Lou, as you may have seen I'm using an common stove. I don't know how to check the temperature this way, but after searching some videos in the internet I see that the right moment is when the plastic begins to sag.
Cliff, I'm using styrene sheet. I don´t know exactly which type of plastic, but this one on the pictures works very well. I think that the styrene sheet that is sold for modelers in sites like Micromark will work well. The plastic is hold in a wood frame and heated over a stove nozzle. I think that heating it on a oven will bring better results because the sheet will be heated more uniformly.
I'm using a common vacuum cleaner that is used in my house. I have studied some topics from the book in the picture about a two stage design vacuum machines, but for now this one will do the job.
Please, feel free to ask what you want and I will be glad to help if I can.
(http://i733.photobucket.com/albums/ww337/Marcos_Borges/VF_027.jpg)
I am making some drawings to make another one correcting some problems and soon will post these drawings here.
Cheers,
Marcos.
Thanks Marcos. I would like to forward a small manual that I made up a couple of years ago. I've been prompted by the fact that I referred to, among others, the very same book that you've displayed! But I always had trouble getting enough vacuum and therefore I naturally thought you were using some type of "shop" vacuum. It would indeed be nice to be able to replicate in plastic what one has carved in wood so that it could last as long as . . . . . say . . me.
In one of my sources they advised that the art or trick to heating plastic - generally for smaller canopies and the like up to a length of approximately two inches - was to observe the "behaviour" of the clear plastic as it occurred in an oven. The degree of "droop" was the key.
Cliff.
In the UK the sheet is called 'Plastikard' manufactured by a company called Slaters,it comes in a variety of thicknesses.
Could you use a modellers heat shrink plastic covering gun ? the type used to shrink up those Solartex and Monokote type covering materials,just a thought.
Barry.