January 2010 - Ping

[lastvautour]

A new start, fresh ideas and lots of wood to carve up. What a life!

Currently on the bench are:
1/400(?) USS Preston requires props, drive shafts etc. and paint touch up. Currently under consideration for shipping stateside shipyard for completion (Dave)
1/144 Bonnie (still) currently working on island details.
1/48  Canadair Argus
1/32  Bolingbroke
1/32  Sabre (still)
1/24  BAe Hawk(refurbishment)

I downloaded quite a few high wing sports planes that I would like to tackle in the new year. Since learning how to mount the undercarriage they really appeal to me.

Plastic - 1/144 B-58 Hustler with many more to come.

Lou

[Joe]

Lou,

Plastics?  Have you been watching too many reruns of "The Graduate"? 

My project list continues to expand:

Strombecker Restorations:

F-86
F-94
DC-3
B-17--yep, another one, but this one will sport a camo paint scheme
Curtis A-18
P-61 Spotter Model

And, because all you talented gents build models from scratch, I decided to try my hand at a fairly simple one, a Japanese WWII Ooka, sometimes misnomered as a Baka.  "Ooka" means "Cherry Blossom" whilst "Baka" means "fool".  And though the young men who piloted these rocket planes may have been fools, their culture would not name their craft as such.

Prospero Ano Nuevo!

Joe

[lastvautour]

Start small and work your way up. Any assistance you may want is here for the asking. A lot of time you don't need to ask, we will gladly provide advice.

lou

[R.F.Bennett]

PING!


STATUS REPORTS! ALL HANDS REPORT!

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Sorry I'm late, Been sick..... 

[Balsabasher]

Well 2010 has started for me with two new solids already in the flesh and awaiting better weather to sanding seal them-

Colonial Skimmer
Stearman Hammond Y-1

Pictures in the raw wood are now up in the image section,both subjects were lurking as plans in our ever growing archive.

In the embryo stage are the following-

Sikorsky R-4
Consolidated A-1
Curtiss XP-55
Douglas XB-42
Fairchild Monoplane
Fleetwing Seabird
Lindberghs Lockheed Sirius
Luscombe 2A
Miles Mohawk
Anderson Greenwood 14
Fleetwing BT-12
Monsted Vincent MV-1
Vultee XP-54

The eagle eyed will notice that most of these types were recently introduced to our archive by those hard working individuals who provide this historic material,the mere sight of some of these drawings sends me into 'What wood stock do we have on the shelf' mode ?

Planned drawings are the following to make these as solids-

'Phoenix Flyer' from the film 'Flight of the Phoenix' this is from the first film and not the poor remake.
Heston Phoenix
Heston Napier Racer
Piper Cub Twin Fuselage version
Scottish Aviation Pioneer
Hawker Slipwing Hurricane biplane
Martin 4-0-4
Hiller Rotacycle
Hiller Hornet
Hiller UH-12E

Already in the cut out blanks box are the following that are awaiting carving-

Reid & Sigrist Snargasher
Reid & Sigrist Desford/Bobsleigh
Caudron C.460

It looks as if my last 'Ping' got lost as I cannot see it anywhere ? must have vanished into cyberspace.

Well thats it for the moment,must go and put the next load of shavings out for the dustmen to collect !

Balsabasher/Barry

[Will]

Hi all,

Just finished fourth coat of sanding sealer on the parts of my first solid model since I was 13 or so (ie 33 years).  Its an ID P-40 USN pattern.  Sorry its balsa, so would have been rejected by the program!  Last weekend I cut out the parts using my Christmas present scrollsaw, and refined the parts during the week.  I wasn't too convinced how it would turn out to start with, but it looks pretty P-40-like now.  I'll probably paint it in early wartime livery (with stripes on the tail) rather than all black.  I will post a photo sometime, though at present I'm not enabled to upload to the gallery.  I also have some old UK books with plans that some might like uploaded too.

Happy Sanding,
Will in sunny-today England

[Balsabasher]

Will,good for you ! rekindling your interest in solids is a great way to spend your time,just remember that you are keeping alive a tiny part of history by making that P-40.
I think the reason that they rejected balsa for those ID's was because of the rough handling that the models received.
Has anyone attempted to make any of those plastercast ID models yet ? you make a solid in wood,make an impression as a mould,then pour in plaster of paris,then you stick scrim ( medicinal bandage  ) around the casting this supposedly holds it together,the old examples that I have had were bursting open as the plaster swelled up including a Savoia Marchetti SM.84 Trimotor.
I did have a try but found the time consumed in casting and adding the scrim was more labour intensive than pure carving.
Barry.

[Boomerang]

Greetings all,

                Miles M20/2 - 1/48th - Started

                Miles Hawk Speed Six - Started

                Stearman Hammod Y1 - Started

                Curtis XP- 55  -  progressing

                Supermarine Type 224 - on hold at the moment.

All the best to all for the New Year

Cheers

Gordon

[Ken Pugh]

My main project is the Fireball XL-5.  I have been toying with building a launch rail to mount it on.

Meanwhile, I am giving a lot of thought to my next project.  The decision mainly goes between building something complex or simple.  A tough one to noodle on.

Ken Pugh

[lastvautour]

Mid month report shows my work bench is a complete mess with drawings, bits and pieces of HMCS Bonaventure all over the place. The mast alone is 130 pieces and the secondary mast holding a radar array is half way completed. On the other bench(2 boxes and a piece of plywood) has the Bolingbroke and the Sabre. The Sabre is untouched, but the Bolingbroke wing and nacelles have shown good progress.

[Balsabasher]

Mess or not it looks good to me Lou,that Bolingbroke is coming along nicely.
Barry.

[Oceaneer99]

What a lot of nice work from your gentlemen!  I keep promising Ray that I'll mark the first of the month on the calendar, but I still haven't opened the packaging on my 2010 calendar, so the month has gotten away from me.

I'm still trying to finish some of my older models, so I'll provide a full update on each started model:

1/48 Speed Spitfire: fuselage shaped, wing roughed out
1/72 Bristol LRQ-1 Seaplane glider: parts cut out, kitted up
1/72 Bristol Spaceplanes Ascender: primed, some final paint on
1/72 VKA-23 Spaceplane (USSR): white paint finished (it finally worked!) need to paint orange next, then black

1/500 (why did I pick 1/500?) USS Preston: finally decided to just go with my second superstructure.   Need to cut some cabin pieces, and lifeboats, but most parts are ready
1/350 waterline PT-10 "Model Navy" plans: finished last month!
Comet plans full-hull PT-9: needs cabin-top detailing.  Other parts are primed and ready to install
1/600 USS Hartford: Civil War sailing/steam vessel: parts laid out; I may switch to 1/1200 scale, though.  Need to solder up the masts and yards
1/1200 USS Monitor versus CSS Virginia (ex Merrimac): Dave T. pointed out these wonderful plans in Popular Science: parts laid out, ready for cutting

Restoring two metal 1/1200 ID models built during WW II (I'll add the names, but I've forgotten them at the moment)

Plans considering:
SIPA S.70 (1/72 scale)
SS Ancon 1939 civilian version (1/1200 scale)
Also considering doing some airplane in 1/144 scale

Workshop:

sizing things for a Solid Model Making cabinet, which would be semi-portable and keep my smaller tools together.  I plan to have an upright cabinet that hinges open in two parts so that it can stand up on its own if not opened all the way.  One side will be deeper for drawers, etc., while the other is shallower and used for larger tools such as saws and cutting mats.  I've been evaluating some saws sized between razor saws and my large backsaw to see what will go in the cabinet.  Although I hadn't planned to put finishing supplies in at first, I only use a handful of paints at a time, so I'll probably have a drawer for "in-use" colors, with my current large box of paints for the rest.

House projects, etc:

Did some finishing of the basement stairwell; need to get up new lamps and finish the trim work
Need to finish a balcony railing by summer
Working on two wall shelf units for the study
Fixed a nice wood-cabinet mini-stereo which I may use at the basement workbench if it doesn't get claimed for somewhere else in the house
Designing general-purpose wall cabinets (similar to ones I made for the garage) to install in the basement workshop; may modify a few of these for model display!
The (formerly green) wood for my basement workbench is dry and ready for use; but I need to finish the design first
Considering building another 1:1 scale kayak

Garet

[lastvautour]

Real busy schedule there Garet. Good luck. Let me know what 1/144 scale airplanes you may be doing. Maybe we can do a group thingy.

Lou

[dave_t]

Garet, I think that USS Preston plan was for making an 8-inch model, so it was some odd scale like 1/430. Maybe you just rounded-out a bit.

[dave_t]

I like Garet's project updates because they usually involve building screened-in porches and kayaks and stuff. Sorta like full-scale solid models I guess.