On reading finescale modellers book “building and detailing model aircraft” a 1/48 sbd dauntless is built in the ‘in flight’ position with wheels up. On seeing this i immedeatly thought wow. i want to build a model in that position
I ordered an academy p47 thunderbolt and when it arrived i discovered that a pilot wasnt included and you couldnt position the wheels in the up position. severely dissapointed.
Dont really know my question but if anybodhy has anything to say about building models in the in flight position or has any advice for me all will be appreciated.
Also in the book a walkthrough of hoe to build the stand is included. problem is it isnt very detailed. if any body has advice on this or has any links avalible that would be great.
Search the online vendors like Squadron or Sprue Bothers for “pilot 1/48” and you should find several options to choose from. I don’t quite understand you statement that you don’t have an option to position the landing gear retracted. Can you simply not install the gear and position the gear doors in the closed position? Or just scratch build the gear doors from plastic stock.
Ditto… It’s about one of the easiest scratch-building projects that you can do, next to stretching sprue for antennas…
As for crew, I got a couple Monogram pilot figures I’d part with… Actually, I got LOT of seated pilot figures… Lemme know if you want 'em… I’ll dig out a couple of the better Monogram Navy/Marine guys…
That is, if you’re in the US or Canada… Can’t tell from your (non)profile… (Kinda helps folks if you have that info in your profile, guys… Quit being lazy…)
Well, looks like your gear and pilot problems are solved, so I’ll cover the stand.
These can be very simple. I use precut plaques as a base, avaliable at almost any craft store. You can then use brass/aluminum rod or thin wodden dowel. You will have to [:O] drill a hole in your plane, but that don’t bother me none!!!
Here’s a couple examples.
This one has a picture hanger on the back, so I can hang it on the wall
In the latest issue of FSM there is a picture of a Mustang with the propeller painted as it is in motion. [:O]
I believe the creator was still working on perfecting it…but looking at the prop that was stationary it look at the camera took the picture of the aircraft in flight. Thats one skill I would like to learn.
I think mounting them or even hanging them by the fishing line from the ceiling is cool, but who has the most convincing spinning prop application? I want to come up with a method of building an in motion prop that just doesn’t look like a plastic disc stuck on the front of the bird. It probably will just take some time and practice with acrylic discs and the old airbrush. I just prefer the look of a spinning prop when the aircraft is put up there. Rick.
Bicycle spokes make excellent posts for in-flight displays. They are strong and the brass nipples are threaded in the wheel end. Pick up a few next time you are around a cycle shop, get various lengths & gauges with the fasteners. The hub end can be bent and secured in the base with Millputty or even a channel carved to hold it secure.
That f16 is exactly what im talking about. absolutly beautiful. question about where you drill the hole in the bottom of the plane and but a rod into it is how do you get it to stop in the position you want. does it not just fall in a direction unless you have it balanced so you have 50/50 weight distribution. sorry for all the questions. Any more pictures for me to drool over would be great. Thank you for the offer of pilots by hans. your generosity is much appreciated but i will go without for this model and buy kits with the pilot included from now on.
I drilled the hole roughly in the center (lengthwise) and off toward one side, to get the angle, and I drilled the hole at an angle as well. I used the same size bit as the rod, so the fit is TIGHT. Tight enough that I had to twist the model back and forth to work it down on the rod. It’ll hold in any position.
I have had nice results with 3/16 clear acrylic stands. You can cut a patten from paper and then transfere it to the plastic. Cut and polish the edges and your good to go. No offense to other ideas but I’m not a huge fan of sticks or rods up into exhaust cans. The clear acrylic is lost and becomes a non issue when done.
I typically notch the bottom of the A/C and the base to insert and glue with epoxy.
That being said I guess you won’t care for my Me-262 display. All good it was something I though up building the tiny beast when I fitted a wood dowel into the jet motor while building. The original idea was to model just one engine with black ‘smoke’ pouring out like it had been damaged. Anyhow here it is:
Sorry if I offened anyone stating my lack of admiration for models displayed on sticks. For me, they just distort the view of the aircraft. My method is by far not the only one or best just another option to consider.
As far as the your display, that is how I would handle the stick or rod. You do great job on hiding the support and it works great.
