F-18 AirToon Tutorial

[lastvautour]

The F-18 turned out to my liking so much so that I will do an additional five for good measure. All pieces required are in the fourth photo.

Step one is to draw out the template outline on 20mm wood. This works out to a 1" board by North American standards. Once done I cut out the pieces rough. Next step will be to remove as much wood as possible using my bandsaw. Jigsaws and scroll saws will do the same or just use a knife. More to come once I have gone this far.

Lou

[Balsabasher]

I love the way your staff lay things out in the hangar Lou ! they really are a dedicated crew.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Barry, if you look close two are laying on the job and will be disciplined. I can't let them go as I can't afford to loose the manpower.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lou

[lastvautour]

Everyone is back hard at work. All parts have been cut out close to the template lines and now await final cut using a blade and some sand paper. That new band saw was a time saver in that department. The fuselages are 20mm, outer engine nacelles 8mm and the remaining start of at 4mm. The stabilizers will be reduced to 2mm with sanding. The F-18 has a weird undercarriage, so some thought will have to be put to making that unless you want to place it on a stand.

[buccfan]

So that's what happened to Elvis!!!!!. A lot of mass production today. Regards Paul J.

[lastvautour]

The selection of plastic or wooden engine nozzle attachment will require to shorten the engine nacelle  as per the photos below. The pieces are then glued to the fuselage. Note the 1/8 inch underhang at the front lower end and a match with the top at the rear. If you wish to just carve the nozzle as part of the engine fuselage, don't cut it off and glue with the elnght of the nozzle extending beyond the fuselage.


Lou

[lastvautour]

Sand the wings and lex to 4mm thickness and square off the edges. I do mine on a sheet of medium grit paper that I have pinned to my bench.  At this point we are test fitting the wings to the fuselage and using a line 2mm below the wing we will bevel the nacelle to achieve the necessary anhedral. Next we will shape the wing to get that twist so the wing tip stores point downwards. It is a good idea to keep checking with the templates.

Lou

[lastvautour]

The wing area is bevelled (Photo 1) as well as the end of the wings (Photo 2)to provide a closer fit. Once bevelled the wing attachment area can be left for now.

Lou

[lastvautour]

 I could not find my intake guide so I had to make another. The grid is in cm.  I traced the outline of the intakes by laying the upper flat against the fuselage. The lower point is 5mm inboard. You will note that the intakes are slightly lower than the fuselage where the intake area meets the bottom fuselage. We will sort that out next time.

Lou

[Balsabasher]

Just love all of the hands on workshop pictures Lou,a scan of your workbench reveals a P-51N under construction as well as your Air Toons.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Mustang Mk I to be exact or P-51A in 1/144 scale using the USN ID model drawings from SMM. Just a little something to keep me active while I think about my next move on the AirToon.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Fill the area between the nacelles and cut a V notch in the forward end and round off to mate the intake trunks to the fuselage.

[buccfan]

Thanks for the update Lou, there's a lot to follow on this one.Regards Paul J.

[lastvautour]

No rush Paul. I will not delete any info.


You can also cut a V shape front to rear and enlarge the V shape at the rear. Place the engine nozzles and remove more material so that the centre of the fuselage will come close to the size of the nozzles. Since I had many spare plastic nozzles I used them. A second photo of nozzles shows using the top from a Testor glue tube to work quite as well. Look around the house and you will be surprised what will fit i.e. toothpaste tube cover, ointment tubes etc.

Lou

[lastvautour]

Mark off an area of the intake trunk 1cm from the front edge and place lines 5mm on the bottom and side of the forward fuselage. I always find it easier to mark off what materiel one wants to remove. Do a vertical cut at the intake face and remove the materiel between the side and bottom lines. Notch the inside of the intake to fuselage to make a smooth transition between the intake and fuselage. Remove the materiel from the intake trunk between the 1cm line and the face of the intake outline we did earlier.