Those engines are looking absolutely gorgeous!
That’s a great idea, I surely agree.
Your kit vs aftermarket pic makes me laugh at the kit engines I’ve painted to look pretty good, I thought. [:O]
Great detail work like this is something I enjoy, and it’s great fun to be able to follow along.
Excellent and meticulous work! I love your detailing.
Again, not much time in the shop, but I did get push rod tubes on another engine and about 1/2 on a third. This time I wised up (it’s that learning curve again). I airbrushed all them while on their resin block. I then broke them all off and put them in a plastic cup. Having that extra set included by Eduard really gives me confidence. It’s very thoughtful of them to include that since they are very fragile and get lost in an instant. I took a pic, but it was out of focus so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
I now realized that you really need to trim about 1/64th inch off of them so they fit without forcing. They actually seat in a indentation on the gear case and a cup on the rocker arm. As they come off the fret, they’re too long and you’ll probably break them snapping them in. If they’re a bit loose, the thin CA tightens them up and holds them. The tweezers scrap a bit of the semi-gloss black off so I’ll have to do some minor touch up when done.
I was mistaken… while there were five sprues of resin pushrod tubes in the Eduard B-17 Engine Set, they were all needed to produce four complete engines, besides the ones that I broke when stressing them too or just plain losing them. I was short about 11. 3 for the first engine that I built, and then 8 more that I needed to complete the last engine. It was a shock when I counted all the parts in my little plastic cup and found that even though it looked like a lot of them, it was far short of what was needed for the last engine. So it was time to make more out of 0.032" brass wire. I got pretty good at this once I got the distance finalized. I used a pin vise to hold the wire while I filed a rounded each end so they would more easily fit into the little divots on the gear case and under the rocker arms. When the length is right, they just pop into place. Even so, I used a tiny bit of CA to make sure they stay there.
Here’re the three remaining engines with all push rod tubes installed, but before touch up painting. I painted them with a very small brush, Tamiya Semi-gloss Black.
Just for your information, I used focus stacking software to take this kind of picture with very deep depth of field. I’m using ZereneStacker which is a paid program. Since I’m using Apple, I couldn’t find a free stacking program, whereas I did use one for Windows that was developed by an Australian entomologist. You take a series of exposures with a real camera that has precise focus controls while mounted rigidly on a tripod. Each exposure is taken with the focus moving backwards in the image until you’ve covered the entire frame. The program then combines the sharpest pieces of each separate image into one that’s in focus for the entire image. It’s very clever.
After prepainting the PE parts for the engines I began wiring my second engine. This time I routing the rear wires correctly over the cylinder head’s top through the notch and then to the rear plug. I’ve also modified the approach a bit by putting a sharp bend on the plug end of each “wire” which let me bend them around the tiny spark plugs that protrude from the heads. It gave much more surface area for the CA to grab. I got one half done before quitting time.
Next session will finish up this phase and I’ll install the magneto and accumulator (or at least that what I think that piece on the engine’s bottom. When the engines are done, it will be time to start back into the kit and install all those addition Verlinden pieces to jazz up the interior. I’m ordering a set of Eduard paint masks to facilitate doing all those windows.
Very nice. The grey is much better.
Thanks! Yes it is. It could even be a bit grayer, but I have seen variations in the gear case colors.
Today I got all the ignition wiring in place. As I did more of them I did get faster and more accurate. Anyone have a five-engined plane needing some engines? I had to scrape the primer off the backs of the ignition harness and scrape the paint off the tiny pads to which it adheres on the gear case to ensure that the CA would hold. I also pre-bent those tiny tabs at the wires’ tips which insert into the cups next to the spark plugs. It was very satisfying when the wires snapped into place and I didn’t have to hold them down with the tweezer tips in order to CA them. This didn’t happen that often.
The two ignition wires for the #1 cylinder are separate PE pieces. The long one to the back was pretty easy to install. The short one, however, proved frustrating. It’s very tiny and I lost one to the ether. I measured the width and it was about 0.028" so I figured that a piece of 0.021" brass wire would work. It did, but while the width of the PE was wider, the thickness is about 0.010" so the replacement wire looks a little fat. I annealed the brass wire so it would conform to the bends without putting to much stress on the CA holding it together.
Next came the magnetos and that can-like thing on the other end. I don’t know what that is. It could be an accumulator for the hydraulic pitch mechanism on the prop. I don’t know. Any ideas? I used the E-Z Line for the belt that wraps around that pulley on the magneto running it through the two holes I drilled in the engine. This method worked nicely and was much easier and better than wrestling with that tiny strip of PE. Sometimes PE IS NOT THE ANSWER. I think this belt must have been some kind of spark advance mechanism since the mag was gear driven from the gear case it resides on. There’s a couple of lines that go to both of these parts and then the “steel” ring that surrounds the engine and then all four power plants will be done.
If you look closely, you’ll see those belts.
I need to clarify my terms. The long unit that facing downward in the front of the engine is the front of the oil sump. The rest would be behind that between the lower cylinders. The unit on top with the pulley IS NOT the magneto. It’s the properllor governor. The twin magnetos are driven of the gear case in back of the supercharger housing which are not detailed in the Eduard engine models. There are two mags one firing the front plugs and one firing the rear. My guess is that the belt drive is the control connection to the pilot’s properllor pitch setting. It took a lot of digging to find an R-1820 service manual that showed the details of these appurtencances. Thought you’d all like to know the real facts.
Finished all four engines today which included those PE “pipes” to the sump and prop governor, and then wrapped the PE band around the perimter. I had painted both sides of this thin strip, but decided that paint-to-paint CA’d joints aren’t worth very much. I also scraped the paint off the little pads that extend from every other valve box. This made for a better joint. I think my CA is aging since it was setting up awfully fast in the little puddle I make in an inverted Chobani Yogurt container (very convenient little cups for all kinds of things). Here’s a picture showing the actual pads where the strip gets adhered.
And here are four complete engines including the little tiny manufacturer’s data plate on the oil sump.
These engines are really little gems and not for the faint-hearted to create. They’re engineered well by Eduard, but like other Eduard projects can be trying to execute.
Next up was the cowl flap rings. I cut all cowl flat rings and cowls on the lathe and sanded the little bit remaining with fine grit paper. Onto the cowl flap ring goes a pair of PE circles with little tabs that forms the contact point for the engine-to-cowl joint. This was not an easy. I removed all primer from the PE’s back and scraped a bit of primer of the little tabs themselves. The plans show the positioning so the tabs will align with the engine’s lugs when the prop governor is at the 12:00 o’clock position.
Here’s the ring CA’d into position.
While this should have glued well, it didn’t. Again, it could be the aged CA. It just was letting go much to easily. Also, you have to glue them with the tabs more inward that first thought since the engine’s lugs didn’t actually touch all nine of them. I glued the remainder more inward in hopes that this won’t be a problem. Here’s how the engine is supposed to sit on the lugs.
I’m a little concerned about this detail since I have very little confidence in how the engine’s going to hold onto this AND the cowl itself which is glued to the cowl flap ring. I may have to do something else, for example, as brass pins to more positively join them, or use something more trustworthy than CA such as J-B Weld. As it stands now, this is how it goes together.
Lastly, the cowl assembly needs to be painted. I’d love to paint them before putting the engine inside, but I may have to if I expect the engines to be well afixed to the cowls before attaching them to the airframe. Once all glued, I would only have to protect the engine’s front for airbrushing so it may not be too bad. The engine itself is glued to the existing big peg on the model’s wings so that joint will be a secure one. It’s that cowl to engine joint that’s the worry.
Incredible detail youve put into those engines.
Thanks! My #1 grandson wanted to work on one of his WIP models in the basement. He’s building the Trumpeter USS Hornet. I had run a model clinic for him and his friends about 6 years ago and was given a bunch of really nice plastic kits by one of the parents. Included was this carrier model, plus the Trumpeter Essex, and a Trumpeter 1/32 TBM-3 Avenger. He just want to build the Hornet OOB to have some fun. He’s not super-detailing it. The Essex, however, is going to get the Missouri treatment with all the bells and whistles. I’m champing at the bitt to build that Avenger and ordered Eduard upgrade parts for it. I’m also building a 39’ X 15’ O’gauge model railroad so I’m a very busy retired person.
While he was in the shop I did a little work on the 17, and got all four engines connected to all four cowls. He helped me CA the first cowl flap ring to the engine. I held it still with the lugs on both the engine and ring in contact while he applied the CA. It actually held better than I expected so I glued on the cowl to the ring also with CA (it’s resin, so no solvent cement). I then found that I could put a dot of medium CA on each tab and then very gingerly place the engine on them. When it set, I went back and added some more CA from behind. This worked and I didn’t need two people involved. There are three different types of cowl rings. The two outer engines share the same rings with the bulge at the bottom to accommodate the exhaust header running to the turbo. But the inner engines each have their own ring since the clearance is now at the side for the pipe that exits the engines and runs down the side around the wheel well and then turns inward to tie into the turbo inlet. You need to keep the closed flap position at TDC. When installing on the plane you need to keep this straight.
All four engines are now away for safe keeping until I’m ready to paint the aircraft. I then started working on the PE bomb bay doors. I annealed all the PE. In retrospect, it might not have been such a good idea since it makes it very pliable, almost too pliable. You have to pre-shape the doors on the plastic model’s bomb bay before cutting them out of the model. You then have to glue 6 reinforcing ribs to the insides. These have to follow the door’s contours. I’m planning on having the bomb bay open so this detail will be seen. Pictures will follow next session. I again scraped all primer from any area to receive CA. I actually toyed with the idea of soldering these parts on, but couldn’t conceive of a good way to hold them still. I have an American Beauty Resistance Soldering Unit which can do some amazing small soldering jobs, but this might be too small even for it. I may give it a try since using the CA was sub-par. If soldered, it would never come apart.
Speaking of the Missouri, I posted some pics of this four years ago, but wanted to re-post for those that missed it. It’s the 1:350 Tamiya kit which I had first built before the age of the aftermarket details, and then re-bought it in 2011 to work on while grandson 1 built models in my workshop. This time I wanted to totally blow it out. I did so with Scale Decks laser-cut wood decks, Eduard PE, Aber 16" guns, brass props, steel prop shafts, hand built brass masting, some scratch-build parts including running lights, whale boat winch, aft flag bags. Drilled out and glazed searchlights, and all overhanging decks received proper stanchions to hold them up. The build took 13 months.
The boat depicts the “Big Mo” between the signing of the surrender in Tokyo Bay in Sept. 1945 and leaving Pearl for NYC Harbor in Oct of the same year. During this time, the deck blue paint was holy stoned back to original teak, and the 20mm gun tubs were removed flanking #2 turret. I had Scale Decks blank that area so I could leave those guns off. It was also a time when all the other late WWII equipment was present including the big search radar dish. I wanted to show off the teak decks and this was the only point in time when all those above conditions were met.
I suppose these pics should be on the boat forum so maybe I’ll post them there… or maybe not.
This close up shows a lot of the little stuff like those added stanchions. You can’t see it here, but even the radio antenna bushings are modeled after pictures I found of them. The model’s originals were just little nubs.
Radio rigging and flag halyards are fine E-Z Line. I wouldn’t use anything else for this. I tried stretched sprue and it was a disaster. E-Z Line bonds instantly with thin CA so making those line-to-line connections are a piece of cake to not only make an invisible joint, but also applying sufficient tension as would be seen on the real thing. Prop shafts are white because that’s there real color, as seen in this pic with Dick Langraff, the Long Beach Superintendent standing on Missouri’s prop strut. It’s a white lead anti-fouling compound.
Next post willl be back to the B-17G
Back to the B-17. I cobbled together the Verlinden PE bomb bay doors. I decided against trying to solder on these little ribs and wrestled with CA. The results are so-so. I don’t like gluing metal to metal with CA when the edge I’m gluing is less than 0.010". I’m hoping that paint will hide some of the uglyness.
The front crew door is also in the Verlinden set. It too will have some parts CA’d to it. Both of these will be very delicate regarding holding them onto the model. I suspect, I’m install them very late in the construction; possibly after the decals go on since you need to handle the model a lot during that process.
Fine work on the Mighty Mo.
Although I do use EZ Line for all my 1/350 WWI & WWII ship rigging, I still find I have to be careful about the proper tension so as not to have the lines sag too much. You’ve gotten the rigging just right.
Following along with interest on the 17 build.
Builder, that’s not a belt on the prop governor, it’s a cable which rotates the pulley. The cable is locked in postion on the pulley, the other end of the cable circuit is the throttle quadrant, of course.
First of all, thanks for all the nice comments and especially on the Mo.
E-Z Line would have worked also for just a push-pull connection to the top of the pulley. Eduard had the PE wrapping the pulley and belaying in those indentations on the baffle.
These will not be really visible unless someone picks up the model and peers into those cowls. I don’t believe anyone should do that. I will probably mount the model on a scenicked base since it will be easier to transport in one piece from L’ville to Philly. I’m worried about the Bomb Bay and Crew’s Door being held open by some flimsy PE “hinges”.
Looking good…
Thank You!
My grandson’s been building the very fine Hasegawa F-22 (1:48) kit for several years. He bogged down on the decals. He likes building, he hates decals. I happen to really like decals and as a kid I used to buy kits based on how many decals they had. Finally he asked me to finish it up. He’s in 10th grade and doesn’t get much model-building time these days. I got all the decals done and decided to paint the canopy. The kit had two; a clear and a smoked version. I started with the smoked version. First I tried using Parafilm M, but it wasn’t working as it should (probably since I don’t know how to use it properly), then I thought of Press-n-Seal.
This post is about the results of that test.
The Press-n-Seal (hereafter known as PnS) leaves gooey residue behind on styrene. It was a mess. And it leaked. I attempted to removed the PnS residue with alcohol and it didn’t get it off. Then I used Goo Gone which removed the sticky stuff and also attacked the paint. To make matters worse, I had hand brushed the light grey paint and I had touched it before it was completely dry. This pulled some up and made more of a mess.
I turned to the clear canopy. This time I went with my tried and true Tamiya masking tape and air brush. The results are dramatically different as seen here.
The picture shows some of the residue after I already tried to remove some. When I saw what my methods were doing to the paint, I realized that my efforts were useless. I could remove all of it and start over. If the clear canopy hadn’t come out so good, I might have done that. There was no leakage with the Tamiya tape. It was able to bend successfully around the shallow curve at the bottom. Even where the tape overlapped at the end points, there was no leakage.
Verdict: PnS doesn’t work well in this application. Stick with Tamiya masking tape.
Fabulous work! Spent a very pleasant 6 mos of my life a number of years ago working on the National Warplane Museums B-17 “Fuddy Duddy.” I’m guessing your son took his ride on Yankee Lady at WWII Weekend in Reading where she’s always one of the main attractions along with FIFI and Diamond Lil (CAF’s B-29 and B-24). WWII Weekend is now the largest WWII event in the country with aircraft, vehicles, and over 60 reenacting groups.
Thank you. I need to correct your impression. The B-17 plane is not for my son, but for a boy (now 50) who spent time in the summers watching me build models in my garage in the late 70s and early 80s. He grew up liking modeling and getting the “Yankee Lady” ride was on his bucket list.
A couple more notes on the F-22. I finished the model today for my grandson. The model had been sitting around so long that some parts were missing, one being the port inner gear door. Also missing were some of the little door hinges to hold the nose gear doors. For them, I just glued the doors to the airframe directly and you really can’t see that inner main gear door position unless you really try.
After gluing all the stuff on except for the canopy, I took it outside and gave it a shot of Dullcoat. I forgot to mask the HUD so it’s no longer clear. The front landing gear, like real USAF modern fighters, is very fragile and can barely support the plane’s weight. It should probably be die cast. It’s one reason why I’m a big fan of 1:32 scale. Speaking of 1:32, boy, would I like to see an F-35B in that scale.
Next, I’ll be back on the 17.