I was urged to do a Hudson MK III by my nephew who resides in Gander Newfoundland where a Mk III is on display. Before going to the museum, the Hudson was in the hangar where I worked so it is no stranger to me. The Hudson is currently about 50% complete. In follow up posts I will add details of the build.
Lou
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Nearly month's end. Some sanding on the engine nacelles and highlighting the side windows by indenting with a ball point pen. Motivation to complete at an all time low. Insufficient progress to warrant a new photo.
Feb 08 time expenditure - 4 hours
Man Lou,
I do love Hudsons, and all the other Lockheed similars like the Ventura and civil counterparts. Yours is looking wonderful.
Keep going and keep the photos coming. Your work is very insirational.
Kenny
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The left fin has been contoured and the small object with a pink stub is the start of the engines. Only 27 more cylinders to go.
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Sorry for poor photo quality.
Nice Hudson Lou. And like Kenny I 'm also a fan of Hudsons or rather the earlier TCA civilian versions such as the Lockheed 14's and 18's that used to pass over when I was a kid. All silver and modern. It really shouldn't be surprising, but I've approached building engines in the same manner that you have proceeded with your Hudson. Only I've only got seven cylinders. Presently I'm having a problem trying to simulate valve rockers at 1/72nd scale. If in fact I can't do it . . . .
Cliff
Rocker arm covers are a problem for me also so I bury them in the cowling. But an exposed engine would have no such luck.
i made a cylinder locator wheel.
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First make your various angles using your protractor and then cut out the hole the size of the crankcase. Insert crankcase and apply makings. Easy as pie.
Neat idea Lou.
Cliff
Another idea given to me by a flickr member is to use bolts for cylinders. The thread portion can be adjusted to any size and if you use round head common slot, you can shape them into reasonable heads and rocker covers.
First engine is arriving final stages of sanding and adding details like pushrods, sumps and wiring harness. A new approach was to use wood to fashion cylinder heads. Once placed inside a nacelle I hope for a satisfactory effect. Time will tell.
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A very nice engine Lou. I can certainly identify with the way you are proceeding as I'm also in basically the same stage of construction. It's much more true to reality than my effort. In fact I'm counting on the idea of "viewing distance" to counter the many deficiencies!! What scale is yours again? Mine is approximately 1/72nd or 3cm in diameter. I believe that I erred when I elected to try to carve the valve springs separately rather than carving the cylinders and the springs with rocker arms all together. This approach required that I then had to carve representative rocker arms separately in order to have something to attach the push rods to. Good grief!
The screw idea I had heard of before but the selected scale eliminated this approach.
Cliff
Further to: Correction. The diameter of my engine is more like 2cm at most. Three cm was the diameter of the propeller rotational circle.
The cylinders and crankcases are assembled and the sumps attached. Silver thread is attached to the base of the cylinder and passed through a drilled hole where the spark plug is located. The loose end of the thread is then brought back over top to simulate the second harness going over top to the rear spark plug. Another thread will be added to make the ignition harness connecting all the wires together at the base of the cylinders. The prop is ready for final sanding and paint. As I do not have the paint scheme finalized yet, the spinner will remain unpainted for now.
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Nacelles have been attached to the wings and the engine compartments hollowed out using drill and dremel motor tool.
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Well Lou your engines are certainly interesting and provide a challenge. I'm momentarily stalled in the construction of the Vidette engine. Owing to the early design of the rocker arms I've been forced to do them all over hoping to attain a more realistic version.
Cliff
Engines are ready for installation once the wings are attached to the fuselage. The props are painted but the hub have to wait until the final colour scheme is sorted out. Probably "Temperate Sea Scheme".
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Really nice engines Lou. But how do you leave a comment in the photo section?
Cliff.
Comments in the gallery sections needs for you to log on and then a box at the bottom will allow you to comment.
Lou
Beautiful work Lou....What´s the Scale?, looks large....
1/32 Scale. I should have placed that in the post title.
The tail feather controls have been engraved using the old ballpoint pen method. New interest has been sparked by joining a Yahoo group called "propplanes". They are a plastic group, but have shown mercy on a poor wood carver like me.
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Go get em' Lou... Show those kids how to do it! ;D
The tail feathers have been glued and the cockpit glass frame marked off with masking tape.
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I swallowed hard and applied lots of glue and fitted the wings. No turning back now. I had large gaps that I filled with wooden wedges to ensure a tight fit all around the wing joint. This is my first having carved a hole through the fuselage rather than taking a block out as ususal. I am hoping to eliminate cracking at the wing/fuselage joint. So far so good.
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Wings are glues and filets sanded. The paint booth is rather small for a model this size.
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Awesome job on this model!
I have just finished reading a book about a crew of Dutch guys who flew a Hudson, modified to a bomber back in WWII for the RAF (320 Sq).
I had never heard of this plane before.
Keep up the great work! ;)
Thanks, I have found out many new things from this site.
Progress is quite slow on the Hudson. The flap track hinges have been added as well as the wheels.
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The Hudson is finally in the paint shop. I am applying sky grey to the bottom, dark slate grey and extra dark sea grey to the top side. The glass will be home made decals as well as the RAF markings.
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Top side colour are on order as i cannot find them locally.
I've been following the updates on this project for the past year or so, hoping to see a finished Hudson. I can't wait to see the final paint scheme. *(Insert several applauding emoticon symbols here and a few with clinking beer steins)*
Wow, it looks good, I'm impressed!
Keep it up!
Hey Lou,
I suspect you've already covered this, but the green masking tape window frames.... Are they permanent and if so have there ever been any lifting off in your experience. Sorry if we've already covered this, but I couldn't find where.
Kenny
ps fabulous job on the Hudson, one of my favorite AC
I have had mixed results with the tape. Laying a solid coat of gloss either paint or future wax does keep the tape in place. The cover coat help to affix the tape solidly. I may switch to decal windows but that is still in the experimental stages right now.
Lou
Masking the bottom prior to panting the dark slate grey (looks green). I will be masking the canopy window frames and adding the side glass using decals. A mixture was deemed the way to go.
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Extra dark sea gray and dark slate grey forms the upper camouflage colours while Sky Grey is called for the bottom. I have some reservations on the sky grey as there is not other mention of using this colour except in the drawing I am using as reference.
Lou
Nice. These look like photos of Geppetto's workshop. Or St. Nick, not sure which.
Progressing.
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Lou
A long but very satisfying project. Several people at the Airshow asked if I was interested in selling it and of cource the answer was NO.
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Don't forget to post it for MOTY :P
Great work! It's probably going to scare U-boats away from the submarine cook-up.
A beauty, Lou. I think I'd like to build one some time.
At least they asked about buying it. Most people tell me they'd like to HAVE one. People love spending other people's money and other people's time. Keeps politicians in business.
Ken Pugh