Hello Everyone:
Progress on my scratch-built 1/ 44th scale Corsair is coming along slowly, as I piddle around with it every few days or so. So far, I have both fuselage halves formed as well as the engine cowling and tail pieces.
I’m at the point of vacuum-forming the fuselage, and would like to know how much detail I can expect to pick up in this scale (which is noticibly bigger than the usual 1/48). In particular, like the typical kit there is a recessed area in front of the cockpit where the canopy will attach. Also, there is a slighlty protruding area where the tail-wings will attach.
Will these be picked up, or should I deal with smooth areas only?
As always, thanks.
Mark
Depend if you will be using a male or female mold, and how over-exagerated details are on the mold.
One downside to vac-forming is that depending on the mold type you will either detail on one side or the other, not on both.
Like with all molding your mold needs to exagerate details in orde to gather for the properties of your materials. A lot will also depend on how much suction you can generate under the sheet during the forming process.
Thanks Model Museum.
Well, I have a male form which is completely convex except for the slightly recessed area in where the canopy will go. This area is much more exaggerated than on the Tamiya 1/48 scale plane, so I may be able to vacuum-form it. And if not, no big deal… I’ll just fill with putty and re-vacuum-form.
I’m more concerned about the point where the tail attaches. I’m afraid the protrusion is quite subtle, so may have to sand this off.
I realize it’s difficult to know (from my description) how much detail can be captured. But, for example, is it possible to pick up detail as fine as the canopy frames typical of 1/48th scale aircraft? If so, I can leave the forms as they are.
Take care,
mark
Mark,
You CAN capture molded in detail like canopy frames, but the detail tends to either be soft (very round edges) or out of scale.
It’s usually more effective to have no canopy frame detail on the master and to apply decals or mask and paint the molded canopy to replicate the frames. Besides, if you really have a look at a full sized plane, you’ll notice that the thickness of the canopy framing is normally under 1/8th of an inch - often closer to 1/16th. This thickness is very difficult to replicate effectively in 1/48 or 1/44.
For the fuselage, a female mold is better for replicating surface detail - but they’re much harder to create. You need a bunch of tiny air evacuation holes drilled through the mold as well (those little pimples you see on most vac formed pieces) - you’re better off using a male mold and scribing your panel lines. The raised portion near the tail may need to be scratchbuilt and attached after you mold the fuselage sides.
Good luck and tell us how you went with the project.
You can reproduce scale looking canopy frames with Bare Metal Foil or decals material which can be prepainted. You can buy solid color decal sheets and cut the decal into strips to make the canopy frames. Other three dimensional details are often better represented by either scribing recessed detail, or building up raised detail with sheet stock and/or putty.
Mold your basic forms, and add the detail to them. You can get sheet stock in various thicknesses from .005 up to .060. You can also get molded shapes, such as “L”, “T”, square, rods, and tubes, in different sizes. Evergreen is one source of supply, and there are others that make various plastic shapes for arcitectual models.
K&S makes aluminum and brass tubing and rods in various sizes, which are handy for things like the landing gear, machine gun barrels, engine mounts, etc.
The problem I have run into is not the amount of vacuum but the temperature of the sheet plastic when you go to mold it. It takes a lot of trial and error, and a bit of luck. So, the best of luck with your project and don’t give up. rangerj
Leemitcheltree and Rangerj:
Thanks, guys. That answers my question. I am planning to post pics of the entire project, including the numerous mistakes made along the way.
So far, I’m happy with the results, but the real challenge is going to be the bent and foldable wings.
Take care,
Mark