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Torbogdan

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Everything posted by Torbogdan

  1. Thanks a lot! After beginning to solder I realized that I could´ve have glued with superglue. That would probably look much better but not as sturdy. But half the fun is to learn new skills so I soldered!
  2. I´ll probably will have to scratch build the broken part for the middle wing and find replacement strips at the local hobby store. I bought the model from Cornwall ship model in the UK and that might be the answer why I get no reply from Model Expo. When I google Model air ways I´m basically rerouted to Model expo and I have been mailing model expo, as I though Model Airways was some kind of subsidiary to Model Expo. But since I did not buy the model directly from Model Expo it explains why the do not answer my mails or Facebook messages about replacement parts. So in a way problem solved.
  3. For being the first soldering done in my life (well excluding some done when I was about 10ys old) I´m satisfied. Some cleaning up to be done but still! I took the pliers and snapped of the end of the rod sticking out and almost done! then I checked the drawing and noticed a mistake I´ve made... The rod should be not at the end of the spar but much closer to the middle... Gaahh! the problem is of course as I had snapped off the end it would be too short if I wanted to join the two ends further down as that distance is a bit longer... I applied some heat and loosened the rod. Fortunately the rod was long enough to meet the spar further down! So I could fix it! The second picture shows how it ended up. Phew that was a bit of luck that the rod was long enough. Lesson learned: check the drawing very very carefully. Now some cleaning up of the excess soldering lead.
  4. Time to start soldering. Once again my ability to take good pictures failed but the results in real life turned out pretty good. I have gotten quite far on the first aileron and it looks good! What needs to be done when it is finished is to get a nice finish on it. Clean up "spills" of solder, magic marker pen markings and such. Tomorrow I´ll upload a much better picture with the progress so far. (Secretly I want the replacement parts from Model Expo so I can finish the wings... )
  5. Solid wood. This time I mailed to a different mail address. Hopefully that will help. I´m sure I can fin strips at the model hobby store but like you say, annoying. I have started on the ailerons instead, soldering. Going well so far. But I like to finish one subgroup before starting on the next one so it still bothers me bit, to have half and three quarter finished parts laying around.
  6. A bit of a shaky photo. I´m a bit annoyed for the moment. I have run out of 1/64 x1/16 strips to use on the ribs. It says in the instructions to have one on top and one on the bottom on each spar. I´ve followed the instructions but have no more strips... So after completing 4,5 out of 6 wings so to speak ( 3 left side wings and 3 right side wings) I´m out of strips. I always appreciate when there is enough material in the kit to finish the kit. I have not been wasteful with the strips either. In the middle you can see a small pile of leftovers, that is basically all the leftovers. So I have not wasted a lot of material which could be a reason for not having enough. There just was not enough 1/64x1/16 strip in the kit. I have mailed model shipways twice about a replacement part for the middle wing but have not received any part or reply yet. First mail was 3 jan, second mailed about 10 days ago. I´ll try a third time before I give up and scratch build a new part.
  7. Slowly getting there with the top wing! A gap between the two pieces where the plywood is supposed to have met. I´ll probably put a small strip of plywood there. I should have measured the two wings and checked with the length of the plywood strips before gluing the pieces together. Below the wing is the "jig" for bending the plywood. It was difficult to see where the bend should be. I tried to measure but you can see that the left wing front end plywood has more contact with the center beam than the right hand. If I were to rebuild I would photocopy the plywood strips and first use the paper part to check where it should bend. Then put the paper part on the plywood part and bend to make sure I get a correct shape/bend in the proper place so to speak. When this wing is done I´ll start on the ailerons. That will be fun but a challenge as it involves lots of soldering. I have not done any soldering the last 35 ys... All tips and advice is welcome
  8. Very nice build so far. Looks good! One way to avoid gaps between the planks is to bevel the edge a bit. So that the angle planks where they join are not 90 degrees but slightly less. That way you can get a nice tight fit. But don´t worry about that too much, a little filler and sanding goes along way and when you look at the model from a foot away a slight "gap" will hardly be noticeably. Keep up the good work!
  9. Just watched the video, great one. I never realized it was shot in Sweden. I live about an hours drive away from the airfield.
  10. The upper wing a few steps closer to being finished. The building surface is not flat, the cutting mat is warped, that is way the wing looks very warped. (Seems like everything in my hobby corner is warped for the moment...) The wing itself is, most unfortunately, still slightly warped, but not much. It is more "if you know it you will see it warped". Thanks a lot for all the photos, links to other forums and misc information, it is greatly appreciated. I have no intention of starting a fight over at the aerodrome . I know my limitations when it comes to details What I will need though is a few close up pictures of the engine when I start to build it. The parts in the kit are a bit rough to say the least. I looked for the book but it was not available at either amazon.com or uk. Will continue to search for it!
  11. @Vossiewulf, thanks a lot for the info. I´ll look for that book! The pictures of the Fokker in your post are excellent, great build. Yes I would like to build the 1:4 scale model as this is my favorite aircraft. Finish this I will, one of my strongest traits is a mule like will finish things. I always finish
  12. Finally a real update! And a picture! I have started on the upper wing for real. It has caused me a lot o trouble as the parts have been very twisted. Also I had great difficulty building a left and right hand wing... Despite being careful and checking I screwed up more than once, It just felt cursed, no matter what I did, I did it wrong. And after correcting a mistake I immediately made a new one... But now that will be over Slowly it is actually starting to look like a wing. I also mailed Model expo about the broken piece for the middle wing, still waiting for a reply.
  13. Sometimes life gets in the way of hobbies, and these are the facts for me at the moment. Building will continue and so will the updates but maybe at a slower pace. I do not have all the time i want to pursue my hobby for the moment. So what i want to say is that I´m going to build the model but might not update or build as much/often as I have with my previous builds. So do not despair it will be finished! But have a bit of patience
  14. Once again slow progress but the center beam for the top wing is now finally done. I hade to add "braces" to the inside to keep them straight. Even after being soaked and put under pressure until dry the warped a bit. So I took a thicker piece of strip and glued it to the inside to "force it flat". It worked and now the center beam is usable. Next step is to add all the spars.
  15. The wood strips for the center beam for the top wing was all twisted and warped. I soaked them in water and put them on a flat surface with a heavy weight on them. Now they are nice and flat. Just to be sure they stay flat I think about adding a few ribs or wood strips on the inside to make them more sturdy and stiff so they won´t warp when glued together.
  16. Today I mailed Model airways and asked for a replacement part. I also finished the middle right wing! The left one will have to wait until I get the part. I tried to use some scrap plywood but it was not large enough. So until I get the part I´ll start with the upper wing(s). Lots of repetitive work, luckily I´m very good at doing the same thing over and over and over again... I think what I did wrong with the cracked part was that I soaked it well but used Luke warm water. The other parts I used really warm water and was more careful when bending. So next time hot water and more patience.
  17. After Christmas and New Years I´m back working on the Fokker. I´ll try to get a few pictures up tomorrow. Work continues on the middle wing. Constructing this is basically, as I´ve written before, same as the lower wing. It takes time for the same reason, set time for the glue. It is more or less glue 1-2 pieces in place, wait for 20 minutes for the glue to set, glue another 1-2 pieces in place, wait and so on. I hade a small mishap with the forward large plywood piece on the left wing. I was a bit to fast bending it and ended up with a few ugly cracks in it. I´m not sure if I should contact Model airways for a replacement or use this one or scratch build one from left overs. It was a stupid mistake. Classic, "I´ll do this fast no problem, it should work..." It did not work. Sometime speed is good, at other times it is not.
  18. A short update. Between the flu, Christmas and work not much have been done during these two weeks. But today I got some work done on the middle wing. No picture update? Nope, it won't show much and as the instructions are (almost exactly) "build second wing as first wing" not much new will be seen. There are of course some building differences but not yet, right now it is "same procedure as last wing..." When I get to a new process or problem I´ll include a picture. Anyway, it is going well. I´m sanding all the parts to remove the char so that the edges that will be glued together will get a better fix. I´m being careful thought to put all the pieces on the work table in a pattern how they shall be glued to make sure I make one left and one right wing. Nothing would be so embarrassing as thinking "Oh I´ve done this before, no problem" and realizing too late that I got two left wings...
  19. The castings are generally "almost acceptable". They are not good considering this is year 2016. Some parts are ok but many, especially, engine parts are not good. In quality I would compare them to a metal wargaming figure cast in the -80 so to speak. some parts have quite a lot of flash and metal studs (where the metal was poured) that needs to be removed. Some parts for example the cooling jacket for the MG:s could have been made in photo etch instead of cast. Overall I´m not impressed. They will do but I would have preferred better, and expected it. But as with you I had read that the castings was not so good so I was prepared for what I got. So the grade for me on a scale from 1-5 with 5 being top notch and 3 ok this is a weak 3. Lower wing is done by the way! No picture as it basically is two wings from the post above. I´ve started with the middle wing.
  20. The lower right wing is done. Ended up quite well. I sanded a bit too much on the leading edge but overall I´m satisfied. I did learn a lot constructing this part of the aircraft so all the rest will be better. As usual I defend myself with the fact that at "normal viewing distance", maybe 1,5 feet, it looks good! Looking real close you will see all the small mistakes but thats the way it is. I must also note that the instructions are good, at first I thought them a bit unclear but as I have learned the "aircraft language" (what a root spar is for example) they are easy to follow. I did one small change though, the instructions says to have several small pieces at the back end of the wing between the spars (the 1x1mm) rod. Instead I cut notches in the spars and used one long piece. I felt that was an easier way to have a long straight line of rod/s. With several pieces the chance that it will look crooked is much larger I think. Just be very careful when you cut out the notches so they are in a straight line. I used a sanding disc in my Proxxon and just grinded the notches.
  21. I´ve built a little on the lower wings. The are getting close to being done. Some work remains but slowly getting there. So far the work have been slow because there are many small parts that need to glued and then have time to set before it is possible to move on. So in an evening it is not possible to work a lot, maybe 20 minutes of work and thats is the rest of the evening the glue needs to set. Also the model requires skill and patience, it is not an easy build. At least not if you want it to look good. It is not necessarily difficult per se but one have to be very careful and work slow and that is, at least for me, difficult
  22. No picture update. I´ve mounted the veneer leading edge and glued it in place. Looks good so far. This will take some time to dry so in the mean time I have started to clean up some of the metal parts. There is some flash and and such that needs to be removed. I like this model but it is difficult, I would not recommend it to someone without quite a lot of previous knowledge and skill. Working slowly and carefully is the way to go. I hope
  23. Did some work today on the lower wings. If you build this, this is my advice, study the instruction booklet carefully! It will help a lot. Read, understand what you read, think and then start working. Read a bit further than just the step you are currently at, also look at all available pictures and drawings before starting to assemble things. That said, it is going well. The thingamajing in the middle is the plywood leading edge piece. It is a thin piece of plywood that wraps around the leading edge of the wing. It says to soak it for at least 30 min, that is good advice. I used very warm water and let it soak for a while, I then began to bend it, testing the flexibility and back into the water for a while and did this back and forth until it was soft enough and could be bent around the jig. So, soak and bend a little, soak and bend some more, soak and bend yet some more and so on. Also listen carefully to quickly hear if the plywood starts to tear or break. If you hear "breaking/tearing" noise immediately stop bending and soak some more.
  24. @ERik W,that is very nice model of an iconic aircraft. Very good work! I have started to glue the stiffeners in place. Went well. I lightly sanded the side first to remove some char, ( I don´t know if it is really necessary but did it anyway, didn´t take long). Glued the stiffeners with white glue and used a brush to apply the glue. I was careful to have glue from top to the bottom of the spar so that it is not only a "blob" in the middle of the spar. Because the the stiffener might break loose when I sand it. Then I decided to cut one loose and dry fit it. I cut the stiffeners and the small tabs that hold the spar itself but it did not come loose… It took me a minute or two to realize there are stiffeners on the opposite side also… So flipped it over and cut those stiffeners and the spars popped loose! I sanded all the edges a bit to remove some char and dry fitted and it went well. ( the picture shows the spars but before I sanded them)
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