WARBIRD MAN WAYNES CUSTOMISING HANG OUT

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Hi there
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[alan c]

New section, just for Wayne,  to show his future YT builds,   

[alan c]

WAYNES WORLD NOW OPEN FOR BUSINESS,   note,  this area is just for customing,  not for any online builds

[Warbird Man]

Cheers Al,...
Will be posting pics of the Dauntless and Typhoon later today along with ideas for the Ki84 and Hurricane which i will be starting soon.

Wayne

[Warbird Man]

Douglas Dauntless

Unfortunately due to the high hit rate on the Images on this thread which are held on my exterior website I have to remove the Images from this site. I have posted a few below but the whole build thread can be found on my website at...

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Builds and Customisations

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Wayne

[Warbird Man]

Yt Hurricane Detailing....

My latest commison is to do a job on the YT hurricane.... Change Squadron codes and as much detail as I can get in, keeping weight low and done by Christmas...

Started on Elevator..

Ok some pics of th Elevator assembly... Replaces the Mylar hinges with Robart ones as they look more scale...if you do this you will have to insert liners into the Fin and elevator as there is not much purchase here for the hinge...I used some cabon tube and then inserted the hinges into them..I also added an imitation hinge towards the end of the elevatoe to simulate that on the real thing.

This will be sprayed when the rest is done but has had an undercoat of Sky for now.
I have also cut out and re-glued in the trim tabs on each elevator... more detail will go on these later and be sprayed. Will try and add some stiching detail to the elevator later but want to keep weight down so may just airbrush on later.

[Army_Air_Force]

Just going back briefly to the SBD, do you know how much weight you added giving it the scale treatment? Looks fantastic, but wondered if it was going to push the weight to the upper end of the models limits.

Steve

[Warbird Man]

I can't remember now what she weighed in at ...was on the Forum somewhere...think it was about 15 1/2 Lb but I took a lot of weight out as the Glass was quite thick..

Wayne

[Warbird Man]

Retracts arrived today along with some plastic Tubing... Now I can make a start on the cockpit along with other detailing..

Cut the existing cockpit area out.Also part of the existing Servo try. i will be re-locating the servos later when I know how deep I need to make the 'Office'

I didn't discard the bulkhead I just cut out I have moved it fwd...without this the sides of the cockpit would be too flexable.

Will get cracking on the tubular construction for the cockpit now.

Meanwhile...Wing detailing
Had a look at the wings last night and sarted to line out ready to apply rivets.. am very happy with how it will look especially the gun access hatches.

................

[Paps]

can i ask you how you are going to do the rivets?

[Warbird Man]

Hi,

Yes no prob  I use a Cocktail stick and a pot of PVA glue and sit putting each individual one on... Takes bout 3-4 hrs for a wing panel... Did one last night.

I have a developed an eye for spacing...and when its all painted up and weathered no one is going to measure between each rivet ...if they are they are sad !

Wayne

[Warbird Man]

Cockpit Frame built and painted....

Started by making what will be the top fame. Then adding sections in pairs so that you can keep things straight and level. Frequest fittings into the Fuz and reference to the real thing is essential so that you can make sure its going in the right place. The initial top from has support from some larger tubing in the corners. I used a combination of Cyno and Epoxy to glue the frame together.

I looked at real size pics to see where the inside frome is in relation to the outside....
This seems to be about right.

Have also finshed riveting the outer wing panel I started so will post pics later...

Wayne

[Warbird Man]

Ok back to it now after a break cus of the shows and other committments...

Cut the wing tips to take the Nav lights and lined ready to cover with Ali tape The lights will be from   You are not allowed to view links.
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SM Services

...very bright and run off a spare channel that can be switched on and off....Will prob run them through one of SM Services Aux Battery Unit.

[Warbird Man]

Have also made a start on the Pilots seat..
This is being loosly bases on actual pics I have of a Hurricanes seat... although there is some builders licence here to make it look authentic enough and still passable for this size model.

[chunky42monkey]

Hi Wayne

I am thinking of doing same thing as you of putting Nav lights in the wing tips of my Tigercat.
What is ali tape?
Also could you show the whole process of you putting the lights in with pictures please to give me some idea of what I have to do.

Thanks
John

[Warbird Man]

John,

Will do my best, but its quite straight forward.

Ali tape is an adhesive Aliminuim tape that I cover bare Balsa with then pain. Nothing special, Its used when installing air con ducting and heating ducts etc.

Wayne

[Warbird Man]

Modification of  Landing lights

The slot provided is ok but no where near wide enough compared to the original. I decided to widen it by about 7 mm.

I first maked out using Masking tape where I wanted to cut..I cut this out and then lined with a piece of fresh balsa, sanded to profile.

Then I drilled a large hole to take the wires and larger semi recessed hole so the lense would sit in nicely. You could just put one bit one all the way through. The  dummy lense was cribbed from a £1.99 torch.

NB: Make sure this is metal or tim because thes landing light throw out a lot of heat and a plastic one may melt.

Masked off and sprayed black it ready for the lights when they arrive and the plastic cover over the front.

Wiring was done the same as the Nav lights  twisted the threaded through the wing ready for when I join the outer and inner sections together.

[Warbird Man]

Nav lights

I lined the inside of the Nav light area with Ali tape as I mentioned above...


I then cut a slit in the corner to take the wires. I slit rather than a hole because the back of the Nav lights are heat shrunk to a convienientshape that suites a slit.

I twisted the wires and threaded them through the corner and then through the wing as you do Airleron Servo wires. These will later go through the centre section of the wing as well.

When pulled through and and the ali tape painted they will look ok. Add the plastic cover and cut to shape and jobs done.

[Warbird Man]

Hidden Flat Rods

This is another idea I cribbed from when I did my Dauntless.

There is plenty of room in this thick wing to have the servo the other way up in the cover and to have a rod inside thw ing not on the outside.
As you can see by the first pic below there is about 5mm gap when the flap is closed.

Ok First I mounted the servo on thecover in the usual way except the horn will point down into the wing rather than up through the slot in the cover provided.
I layed the rod connected to the servo on top of the wing so I could see where it would come out on the Trailing edge of the wing. Marked it.
Then cut a hole giving myself plenty of room either side.

Hunting about in the bits box I found two Servo horns that would do once cut down.
These were recessed into the Flap surface and connected to the end of the rod as normal via a clevis.
I had to create a channel in the wing to allow for the travel of the Servo horn but it works a treat.

[Warbird Man]

The first two pics below show how it looks when its all connected and the final pic showing the horn recessed into the inner flap surface, covered with some ali tape I will add some detail in here later.

I think you will aree it beats having the flap rods on the outside of the wing.

Pilots Seat

Most ref pics I have show a pilots seat that is made from presumably steel armoured plate with a curved back and rolled edge.
I hopefully have managed to duplicate this using Obechi Vaneer and some plastic tube.

I first cut the back rest out of Obechi with a slight taper. This is to aid the cuve at the top of the seat as per the original.
To achied this I glued two supports to the inside of the two side sections of the seat. The idea here being that when the Obechi is secured to the sides that it will start out flat, then aided by the taper will curve at the top.
I then trimmer the sidea to a more scale length and added some plastic tube round the edge to simulate rolled armoured plate as per the original.

This will all be covered with ali tape and painted / detailed and weathered.

Radiator  Scoop
On this kind of customisation you are always jumping from one area to another while u wait for bits to dry etc...so I took a look at the centre section today.

Installed the retracts are per standard... Not sure if I will use the plastic inserts yet for the wheel wells...but have put the air tank in the wing out of the way and secured with some silicone.

The radiator was the next thing to get some treatment.

Unlike most companies that give you cheap plastic mouldings for scoop etc this radiator scoop is Mouded Glass and a good one at that nice and thick. So I started by marking out the areas that I wanted to cut away.

I then cut these out in the usual way. Then I looked at how I could imitate the grill. In the spirit of re-cycling I used a lid off a milk carton for the centre oil cooler and simply cut the middle out, glued it to the back of the balsa former that was to form the rest of the radiator grill and glued some ali mesh to the front, sparyed black and worn a little it looks ok. I will also be adding a working flap vent at the rear of the radiator. I've already glued the hinges in and will put a mini servo in the Radiator connected to Channel 5.

[Warbird Man]

Instrument Panel and Control Column

I know there are commercial 1/5 scale intruments available but at about £15-£20 a shot I opted for the simpler and just as effective version. Using hand drawn instruments on a backing sheet, a layer of clear plastic sheet and a top layer of play with the holes cut out.
Then weathered and detail added. Switches are made from a slither of plastic tube with a small piece of brass tube crimped and glued in place. Lettering if there is any is done via printer and glued in place...these were usually metal plates screwed on the original anyway so it looks ok.

Rudder Pedal detail
These were made from Lytho plate bent and cut into shape.

[Paps]

Absolutley fantastic Wayne!
keep up the great work 

[Warbird Man]

After much fiddling with wheel well inserts and them splitting a number of times I have ditched them and have painted and protected the insides of the wheel wells as they are and fitted Retracts and covers. I might reduce the gaps round the wheel covers. I might even cut and bend them so they lie flatter to the underside of the wing.

I have also now finished the radiator and retract air actuator installation.
I have used one strong small servo here and located it in the radiator scoop. You should just be able to see the two arms off the servo.One to the Air actuator and one to the horn on the radiator flap. Work a treat  Just need to feed the air lines through the wing to the air tank. The air filler valve will go round here somewhere too.

[Warbird Man]

Latest on the Hurricane is that the engine is now installed along with throttle servo...Hole cut in cowl and silencer located where it will eventually go.

Just need to cut holes for throttle trim and choke.

All rivet and panel line detail on centre and outer sections complete. Waiting to Glue these together once all major work is complete.

[Warbird Man]

Ok a little more progress now... Elevator Servo secured in place and the run of the closed loop cables cleared of any obstruction. Having the cables running across the floor of the cockpit also adds extra realistic detail.
Will do the same with the rudder on the other side.

Also added remaining cockpit detail dials switches, map stowage etc. Just the Gun sight to make tonight.

Completed the remaining rivet detailing now on the cowl and fwd section of the fuz. Non aft as it was wood and canvas.

[Jimb]

Coming on very nicely Wayne.  How did you fit the cockpit to the fus, specifically, the chair framing?

[Warbird Man]

I haven't fixed it yet..but what I did last night was to epoxy a bearer to the fuz across the rear of the frame. The front of the frame where the Instrument panel is, has a lip where the frame locates right under the panel.

I toyed with the idea of fixing the structure permanently in but if there is ever a need to get to the servos etc then its easier if you could take it out.  So what I will do is make 4 lytho plate straps that will be secured to the rear bearer and the Instrument panel that can be  wrapped round the frame and securing it in place. The pilot will weigh next to nothing so no weight will be stressing the frame. Will get some detailed pics of this later and post if that helps.

Wayne

[Warbird Man]

Some more pics sowing how the Cockpit Framework is secured to the inside of the Fuz.

The Front of the Frame locates itself on the underside of the Intrument panel and sits it a sliton top of the tubes. As illustrated in the first pic, and in place the right way up on the second.

The rear is held in by being secured to a Beam running across the fuz. The tubing is just held tight to this beam by two Lytho Plate Ties.

[Warbird Man]

Progress on Gun sight...

A few pics I found for ref and a few odds and sods I found in my bits box.

Just need to attach the Sides and Reflector Glass later.

[Warbird Man]

Completed Gun Sight

[Warbird Man]

Canopy progress:-

Have cut the canopy now and added Frame work. Will frame the whole canopy next with Ali tape and then respray, add canopy screw details etc and wear as with the dauntless.

Wayne