Using John Bell's excellent drawings a 1/72 DC-3 has been laid on the bench. I hope to finish by 27 Oct as it will be a birthday gift for a friend.
Lou
Wings and tail feathers are block cut and the fuselage block has been laminated using "Gorilla" glue. Cutting and shaping will be started shortly. The engine nacelle halves are currently being clamped waiting for the "G" glue to dry as the wood needed to be just one mm thicker than what was available in my shop.
Lou
John's drawings show a three piece wing. I prefer a one piece with carved dihedral.
Lou
Nice Dak so far Lou. While for any number of reasons I'm unable to get fully involved in Solid Scale, I can not help but admire you guys who are able to build something and then give it away. A very remarkable gesture. The 3views are great also.
Cliff
This gift is for my friend's 75th and my 64th is the same day so for a number of years we have shared a cake at the RCAFA Wing lounge. John was a Radio Operator and trained on the Dakota. On the home front, things are moving along.
Post
That's coming on a treat Lou,and fast!!. Just over a year to official retirement Lou, then the honey do lists will have to stop. I assume you have the same retirement set up as us? Except they just added another year to mine!!!!. Regards Paul J.
2% pay for every year of service to a max of 70%. Regardless, the honey do list will only get longer.
Lou
Trying something new by adding filets as a structural piece of the fuselage. I borrowed the idea from Paul's DC-2 article where he replaced the wing center section and carved the filet from a solid piece rather than an add on.
Paul's Drawing(http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/albums/userpics/normal_DC2_fus.jpg)
My drawing follows as an attachment.
Lou
The filet arrangement is dry and straight after much fiddling with the Gorilla Glue.
This is my first clothespin type nacelle attachment. I normally notch the wing to accept a wedge nacelle fitting.
Lou
The fuselage and main wing have been mated and carving of the filet will follow tomorrow.
Lou
Great work Lou, I see you are trying a couple of new methods on this build, with the fillet and the engine nacelles. Regards Paul J.
I had to tweek the nacelles a bit as they did not aling properly so add a bit here take off a bit there. I am attaching scoops and such to the nacelles and have glued the horizontal stab in place. Later today the vertical and maybe the main wing and then some sanding to level all the matching surfaces. It is a fun project.
Lou
How are you going to finish it off Lou? Civil Airline or military?
Peter
Don't quite know yet. I would like to do Maritime central Airways that flew around here in the 50s but that may not have any significance to my friend. The other scheme is the RCAF version circa late 1950s.
Lou
How about Buffalo Airways if he's a fan of the Ice Pilots show. They have a 1/72 decal sheet
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/Rev6/5401-5500/rev5495-Leading-Edge-7282/00.shtm
Peter
I will have to get his misses alone and find out. Thanks for the tip.
lou
Filet is carved and bits and pieces attached to the nacelles. I still need exhaust stacks.
Lou
filet blends in well Lou, and I think the engines look great. I see you have done spinning props. I did mine last night but with mixed results. The sanding didn't turn out too bad, but the painting of the warning circles didn't work. The paint wouldn't spread evenly when spinning,and ended up blotchy. Also the edges of the frog tape left a sticky residue behind which doesn't want to come off easily. I may have another go. Regards Paul J.
I also tried the warning stripe as can be seen in the above photo. I decided to go with just the plain edge for now. There is some paint at the shop that is see through in various colours. I will look into that later next week. As for now I took comparison shots of other RCAF transport aircraft and one with an Airfix 1/72 Dak.
It would look great in the same livery as the other transports Lou, and looks excellent next to its relation. Regards Paul J.
Dakota # 2 is well on her way with all parts rough cut and the fuselage carving having a good start. I purchased some clear polyurethane and have began experimenting with it. If it works out, the gift Dak will be coated clear over pine and decals will be affixed as per RCAF fashion.
Lou
The gloss poly did not work out for me as I could not hide the putty marks I made. I may still try on Dakota # 2 as I am being careful to have the pieces fit tightly.
Progress shots of Dak # 2 attached.
Lou
Looking good Lou, that was the only reservation I had when Barry said I should try it on one of mine because of the wood grain, I don't think I am good enough with the joints to try it, who knows maybe one day. Regards Paul J.
I have one that really worked out well and that is my Spitfire. I had another a Cessna 310 (Gave away to Pete).
(http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1418/539553735_fd153ef40b_b.jpg)
(http://farm2.staticflickr.com/1421/719393907_34d808f45e_b.jpg)
Lou
I must admit they do look great when the grain is showing, I do like tht Spitfire Lou. Regards Paul J.
John's Dak is about ready for decals. Old fashion shellac is being used to some success. I like the look of old. I hope the decals work out. My personal Dak is currently in the paint shop having a few coats of primer applied.
Lou
I like the shellac Lou. I assume model is pine?
Peter
Pine is all I can find and afford and it has served me well since the early 1950s but then I would not want to date myself.
Lou
Hi Lou. On your Dak "the look of old" is really neat. The whole model is very nicely done. But "the look of old" is - well something that is not generally admired. Stick around awhile - you'll know what I mean. ;)
Cliff.
No need to wait Cliff. Cracks are already starting to show and I don't mean model. Here are some shots of my home made decals. I thought of using some spare box plastic model decals for the flash, but I did not think it would fit in so I need to buy a new printer cartridge and do my own where the white will become clear and the wood will show through like the roundels.
Lou
Pete Morro who always finishes his model in varnish of some sort is coming for a visit tomorrow afternoon. Should be some interesting discussions on the subject.
Lou, those decals are really neat. Especially the RCAF along the fuselage.Do they have an intentional appearance of "shadow" or black lines behind the actual lettering? It gives it a pleasing look of depth. In fact as I'm currently in the process of trying to make decals perhaps you could tell us how this affect was accomplished.
Cliff.
I used Word Art from Office 97 with AmerilloUSAF font and the shadow feature from MS Word.
Works pretty good.
Lou
Looks awesome Lou! Are the windows and door decals as well?
Peter
That's great Lou, it's got a real vintage look to it, well done.Regards Paul J.
Thank you all. The windows and door are decals as well as the top of the stand decoration. The stand is also fitted with felt on the bottom to prevent any scratches to whatever surface the model is placed. All that is needed is a light coat of future to seal the decals and the project is done. I tried taking pictures with the old camera but that is not working out. The new camera will be used to photograph it tomorrow and hopefully the sun will shine so it can be done outdoors.
Lou
A coat of future has been applied to seal the decals and the gift is ready for presentation in two weeks.
Lou
Very nice Lou!
Great model with a real vintage look, I'm sure your friend will be well pleased to receive it. do you spray or brush your Future coats Lou ?, I have used it for dipping canopies but never for brushing because I thought it was a bit runny. Best regards Paul J.
I use a sponge. Actually it is a sponge materiel from floor underlay that I cut up into whatever size I need. Make sure you squeeze most of the wax out before applying due to the problem you describe. It runs like crazy if applied even just a bit to much.
Lou
PS, I have just over 100 sq ft of the stuff.
Thanks for the info Lou, you won't be looking for a new supply any time soon then!!!. Regards Paul J.
My friend John was very pleased with his birthday gift. It came as a complete surprise. We had cake and talked airplanes(what else??) a bit. If you look close you can see a teary eye.
Lou
Happy belated birthday Lou, you will have to do a bit more carving to work off the cake!!. I am sure your friend was pleased with his gift, it was an excellent job. Regards Paul J.
The second C-47 in Canadian Armed Forces colours has been rolled out.
Lou
Additional views with a look at the Air Transport Command fleet.
Lou
Very remarkable models. Are they all to the same scale, Lou? And what scale are they? Decals really make a model but perhaps you've elected an entirely different method to paint your fleet. I look forward to any hints you may offer.
Cliff.
Thanks Cliff. They are all 1/72 scale. The paint jobs are Krylon white primer with gloss white sprayed on after and then the top is masked with Tamiya/Green Masking tape. I then spray the red areas and then mask those. The leading edge de-icer booths were masked over primer and painted by hand after the silver was sprayed. The control surfaces are Testor brushed aluminum outlined with decal lines made on my PC. The windows are all decals. The lightning stripe on the Dak is from my spare box and everything else is home made decals.
Lou
Thanks Lou. Your description is about as informative as you can get. But any time you feel like imparting further info concerning decal production I for one will be greatly appreciative. I've finally got a laptop and printer and with a Printshop Elements programme and, of course with a lot of help, hope to attempt some decals myself.
Cliff.
Cliff, have a look at this post http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/SMF/index.php?topic=725.0 There are other posts in the technique section so look at those also.
Lou
Another cracking build Lou, it looks great. They look excellent together as a group. I am just experimenting with decal production for lettering by using the rub off letters on a clear decal film sealed with acrylic varnish, that way you don't have to apply the individual letters to the build,and the ink doesn't run, also just in case they don't stick properly.Regards Paul J.
Thank you Paul. I have used those rub on decals before. They need to be used with a somewhat sorter timeframe than normal decals as they do dry out somewhat. I purchased all my rub on decals around 1970 and they are nice to look at but useless to use. I have also used the lettering sheets to good effect before inkjet decals became available.
Lou
Thanks Lou. This will be a preliminary response to your suggestion. I've looked again at your well described tutorial regarding making decals. In fact I've even taken to printing out the posting - albeit without the diagrams. (So this should at least be of interest to other members even though it may show a certain degree of denseness on my part.) The individual, who incidentally is a computer whiz, made one decal for me. But has so far explained the process in terms of "layers". That is, to accommodate a "bottom layer" and the need for transparency he speaks of layers. As you seem to have not spoken of this approach and as I'm still in the process of setting up my computer stuff I hope to get back to you later on this very intriguing matter.
Cliff
What your friend speaks of, is actually constructing an image using layers of colour to attain the desire image. I don't do that at all. I just copy an image from on line and place that image in my MS word program, scale it to the size I want and print it. I wish I could do the layer thing because you can attain some fancy art with it. You will notice that the majority of my models do not have nose art unless it can be duplicated from an image on line.
Regardless good luck on your decal making project.
Lou
Thanks Lou. If nothing else I don't feel quite so dumb. But with everything else I've got lots to do. Anyway tomorrow they're forecasting a doozer of a snowstorm so between what I should do and at least thinking of decals if I don't spend the day sleeping I should get something done . . .
Cliff.