McDonnall F2H-3 Banshee Canadian Navy 1:48 - Early Jets

[Gearup]

Thanks. I had a breakthrough with decals thanks to Lou! I appreciate the sample roundels you provided. It did allow me to figure out what I should be looking for in the quality and application of the roundels. Firstly I like the white background vs clear. I initially painted the white circles with intention of masking. Problem was the fine detail on the maple leaf would might have been an issue. So i discovered that the exact size of the decal placed over an exact sized white area was not that easy to accurately place. Next time I will leave the white area slightly undersize to ensure the decals fit cleanly. Learning was achieved....

So now I have completed several small detail items and am installing them on the model. The aircraft did carry sidewinder missiles so I thought it would be cool to add those. I made the body from 1/8 dowels and the fins from the transparency material cut on the silhouette. Both the forward and aft fins were cut out with slots to assemble them together in sets. The cutter will allow you to cut the mating slots to the required .005" width fit nicely together. The material allows for such precision.

To mount the fins, I cross cut either end of the body with a scroll saw with a fine (fin...) blade. to ensure an accurate 90 degree cross as close to the centreline as possible, I made a small holder / jig. Basically a 1/2" cube block with a 1/8" hole drilled through the centre of one side. The hole should be a nice fit to the dowel.  I set up a guide clamped to the saw table to slide the block against. Insert the dowel and cut along the length of the dowel until the end of the slot locates the position of the aft edge of the forward fin or the forward edge of the aft fins (makes sense, right?) Rotate the block and cut the second slots 90 degrees to the first cuts.  You now have a body with slots to fit the fins.  I assembled the fins and slide them into the slots. When the fins are in the right position, a drop of CA glue will allow you to bond the joints together. 

I airbrushed the missiles white. Looking through as many photos of the period missiles, I could not get a good sense of the markings. I did read that standard markings for inert misses were blue bands. So I mounted the missiles in a dowel to hold them in a lathe chuck. My lathe will turn 50 rpm and this is the slowest Ive seen a small lathe be able to turn as most are 250rpm at their lowest setting. Then i simply applied the blue paint with a brush by hand.

The weapons racks are popsicle sticks cut and shaped to fit. I used self clamping tweezers with a heavy base to install the racks to the wing. The tweezers work great to position a part, rotate or angle it to the surface. I was able to position the part, swing it up and apply glue to the bottom of the rack then swing it back down into place.

So almost done... I'll post more soon.
Fraser

[lastvautour]

Nice work on the Sidewinders and pylons.

Lou

[Gearup]

Thanks Gordon and Lou.

Here is a picture of the sidewinder before assembly. The forward fin set is only showing one half as I did not find the other one. As you can see, it has a fairly long extension slightly narrower than the body diameter to give the fin assembly a bit more rigidity and glue area. Also what look like lines on the fin halves are actually .005" wide slots.  if they are too narrow, the fins will not fit together very well.

All for now.
Fraser

[Gearup]

Another late night here on the west coast playing catchup with a few projects around the house.

I have been aware of and used UV cured liquid "Bondic" brand adhesive for some time now. Dentists use a similar material for filling work and its very expensive for the quantity you get. A recent chance discussion with my woodturning group revealed that it is available at the local Micheals craft store for cheap as a crafting resin. Of course! its used in 3d uv cured liquid printers too which probably drove the price down.

It is available in flexible and hard curing. A small UV flashlight is required, to cure it.  I used tiny drops to secure the gear doors and other parts on the Banshee. It cures in a few seconds at the thicknesses we use for modelling. The adhesive must be able to see the uv light to cure, so it won't work if you try to bond large surfaces together. Perfect for building small parts, rigging, casting windows etc. The nice thing is that it won't cure until you shine the UV light on it so it remains reposition-able and removable until you want it to cure.

Here is are links to micheals and amazon for the material.

https://canada.michaels.com/en/blue-moon-studio-uv-resin-craft-hard-type-resin-0.85oz/10627464.html

https://www.amazon.ca/Ultraviolet-Non-Toxic-Sunlight-Activated-Decoration/dp/B088K1M89K/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=uv+cure+resin&qid=1634023523&sr=8-7

UV flashlight link
https://canada.michaels.com/en/blue-moon-studio-uv-resin-craft-12-led-uv-flashlight/10665684.html

I've included a picture of bonding the hook onto the arrestor hook bar. Count to five with the light shining on it and you can sand or paint it right away. BTW this is the prototype hook and I had to modify it to look right. The red "V" is wrong.

Fraser

[lastvautour]

Great way to make Sidewinder missiles. I have never tried the UV Resin approach. Thanks for the tips.

Lou

[Gearup]

Hello All,

The Banshee has been completed!

I always learn so much about the aircraft just from researching the pictures and drawings. I found the placement of the pitot probe and mast quite odd. It is the perfect position to provide a foot hold for crew or ground personnel....no wonder it was so well striped. The tail hook was also an interesting small piece to make as I could not find good photos of the installation. There did not seem to be a standard stripe coloration. I suspect it may have been up to the ground crew to pick one. 

A photo online showed two members of the deck crew hooking up the cable bridals to the nubbins between the engines. They did have that furrowed forehead look of concern as they were holding the cables in place waiting for the cat to pull some tension. It must have been a leap of faith for the pilot that one would not fall off during the shot.

It has been a long run on this model, but I am happy with how it turned out. The carving was the most challenging I have done to date with all of the compound curves on the wing. I also still have to learn better on how to use decals to up my game for the next model.  I wonder what it will be......

Thanks for the feedback from the SMM community. I hope you enjoyed the building process as well and I look forward to seeing your builds in the future.

Regards,
Fraser

[lastvautour]

Magnificent RCN Banshee. You outdid yourself on this one. I love the intake and engine treatments.

Lou

[Boomerang]

Well done Fraser. Excellent workmanship. I like the finish you achieved.

Looking forward to your next project.

Cheers

Gordon