Tutorial Novice - Curtiss P-40E/Tomahawk Mk I

[lastvautour]

The first blocks are for the fuselage and should measure 5cm X 19cm X 1.2cm. You will need two.

Lou

[lastvautour]

I decided to redo my templates as the WWII ID drawings are acceptable however the others are better. I used the top fuselage and bottom wing drawings from the P-40B The side is the P-40E that we are making. The parts breakdown are the same as the WWII ID drawing. I will show in great details how to transfer the wing cutout section on the B-40E drawing.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Once the block is reduced to 22mm, the fuselage template can be used or a copy of the drawing. Whichever you favour. I usually place the drawing or make the template outline on both sides. Ensure the templates/drawings are aligned properly. Second photo is the template method

Lou

[lastvautour]

Mark off 11mm on either side of center. Trace the template outline. Note the upper nose scoop and lower body pan have been removed and will be done as parts. Once one side is traced, draw a line from the tip of the spinner to the upper edge area of the stab. Draw perpendicular lines on the edge of the block and transfer the line to the other side. When you trace the back side, take care to align the template for and aft.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Remove the excess wood with a saw or blade. The windscreen area requires care in removing the excess. I illustrate several blades for your consideration. The blade edge should be rock side to side with very little wood removed at a time. Large cut will very often remove too much wood.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Blades cut. Keep body part out of the path of the blade. This my leg seconds ago. Use a bench hook if you need to hold the piece on your leg.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Rock the blade vertically to cut out the stab knotch. Once again a bit at a time.  When a sharp angle is required, the tip of the blade is more useful. Your fuselage should look something like the last photo.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Let's remove the remaining excess wood with a blade. Care must be taken not to take too much. The green lines indicate the running of the grain. The center arrow is the highest point on the grain. Always cut down through the garin as indicated. The last photo shows a cross cut. Extra care to ensure the blade does not take too much wood.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Let's start the final cutting using coarse sandpaper. Left to right, 120, 220, 320, 400 grit. Block are need to ensure sanding does not create high/low spots.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Next is marking the vertical cut lines on the fuselage. Not that if you lay the template directly on a curve surface it will come up short. Align the aft template with the block. Trace the rear half of the fuselage. Looking straight down from the top, draw the forward fuselage shape. It is tricky as you can not put the template directly on the wood. Note the second photos shows I failed to properly align the template. The last photo show the correction. I must have moved my template after drawing the right fuselage half.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Using your blade of preference, remove the excess wood from the sides of the fuselage. I frequently use a paring knife. That was my only tool in the early days. I also use a planner on occasion. Place the wood slightly higher that the lip of the bench hook when using the planner.

A friendly reminder, clean up frequently. Brush yourself of before leaving the work area including your footwear. This will keep the sawdust/wood chips in the work area and keep you in good graces with the misses/spouse/friend etc....

Lou

[lastvautour]

This is what things should look like at this point. Once both sides were carved I sanded all sides with 120 grit paper just to clean things up. A P-40 is starting to come out of the wood. This is it for the fuselage so far. We will move on to other parts and bring them to the block shape the same as the fuselage.

[lastvautour]

The last thing today is starting the tail feathers. I glued template to the stab and tail fin and did a template approach as well as I am doing a P-40B on the side. It is easier to cut vertically on the tips. Again, small steps. The last thing today is marking the thickness of the parts. I use the finger method of holding the pencil over the part with the finger as a guide, run the point of the pencil around the part. in this case 2.5mm is in order. Also make reference lines for the center point of the front and rear stab. SWe will remove excess wood tomorro.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Carrying on with the tail feathers. Once the part is cut out, thinning it down to 2.5mm requires care as the cuts are shallow and taking too much away is ever present. Check the grain and always cut down through the grain. There are many ways to remove the excess wood as seen in the second photo group. The last photo in this group shows taking away approx. 5mm strips at a time if a wide chisel is not available. Photo group three shows the direction I should have taken (green) and the direction I took (red) resulting in a gouged out part. I used wood filler to fill the hole and sanded it smooth. I use masking tape as a handle for smaller parts.

Lou

[lastvautour]

The vertical fin gets the same treatment as the stab. I ran the grain fore/aft direction which make the bottom part weaker than the top. If you run the grain vertically the weak part would be the forward part of the fin. Care is to taken when slimming down the part as the photo shows. Lots of glue fixes the broken part