gjdale

Looks like the repairs are going well Kevin - well done.

Fantastic outcome on the paint job Bob! Good luck with the clear coat. After doing some research myself, I’m going to do some trials using Liquitex high gloss acrylic varnish. It can be thinned with the Liquitex Airbrush medium. It can also be dulled down by adding some of their Matte varnish, so you can make your own recipe for how much gloss you want. I’m also going to put it through the mini spray gun rather than the airbrush. Not sure how it will go, but if it works the Liquitex is a heck of lot cheaper than the standard model paints/varnishes. I’ll be very interested to see how your clear coat turns out. I’ll be cheering for you!

That looks to be a more than fair interpretation to me BE - well done!

If you haven't found them already Bob, there are some great little tutorials on airbrushing and airbrush equipment by Paul Budzik, who is also a member here at MSW. Occasionally he posts a link to one of his videos here, but they are easily found on YouTube. He covers a lot more modelling techniques than just Airbrushing, and his tutorials are really well done - his explanations are easy to follow and he knows what he is talking about (more than can be said for a lot of YouTube content out there!!!). Worth a look if you really want to understand airbrushing. I think he would probably say that for a hull the size of your Pen Duick, you really should be using a small spray gun, rather than an airbrush. Again, his videos do a great job of explaining why.

Yes I am Bob. Vallejo recommend using the gloss black primer for the Metal Colour range. I’ve had a few issues with the Vallejo primers generally in terms of finding the right “recipe” with thinner and/or flow improver, as well as air pressure to prevent the airbrush clogging. Reading on the internet, it seems I’m not the only one. A few people say they have no problems shooting it straight from the bottle, many more say they just can’t get it to spray properly at all. The gloss black primer seems to be more temperamental than the grey (which is my otherwise ‘go-to’ primer). I’m still experimenting....and have stripped and re-started on more than one occasion - including last night when I stripped the fuel tank back and started over.

Thanks for all the likes folks. Bob, to answer your questions: I’m using Vallejo Metal Colour paints, sprayed with my airbrush (Harder and Steenbeck Infinity with 0.4mm needle). I used Dull Aluminium for most of the engine and associated parts. I used Steel for the radiator and for the drive shaft and rear axle. And I use Gun Metal for hand painting the highlighted bolts where appropriate. I used thin CA for this. It forms a pretty much instant bond between brass and the rubber, so it needs to be done carefully. I applied a small amount in the mid section, then worked outwards a little at a time.

NIce to see you back at this one Kevin. I’m in!

The Rear Axle Once again, some test fitting, modification, disassembly and re-assembly are required. Another 88-page photo essay from Paul supplements the one-page Pocher diagram. Assembly commences with the drive shaft. It comprises two main components, two rear spacers, and an internal part that receives a screw for attaching the rear axle to the drive shaft. As the internal part did not require painting, it was set aside while other parts were painted. Of course, when I went to commence assembly, it was nowhere to be found! Fortunately, it is not a complicated part and I was able to manufacture a scratch-built replacement from a couple of pieces of 2mm styrene sheet. The photo below shows the new part glued in place in one half of the drive shaft. The other half of the drive shaft was then put in place (held in place by two screws) and the first half of the rear axle housing was screwed in place using the new part to receive the screw. The actual rear axle is then put in place with its two wheel hubs. The front half of the axle housing was then attached and the rear dampers assembled and added in much the same way as for the front axle. The rear brake linkages were also added at this stage. At this point the rear leaf springs are required. All of the leaf springs are made of a soft rubber compound rather than hard plastic. Paul notes that while these are okay for the front axle, they are too soft for the longer rear leaf springs and suggests modifying them. Although Model Motorcars does offer some very nice after-market photo-etch leaf spring assemblies, at USD $130 per set plus the exorbitant postage rates from US to Australia, plus the eight week plus current postal delay, this was not really an option. Paul’s second option is to modify the rear leaf springs by cutting them in half length-wise and inserting a piece of 1/32” x 1/4” brass strip to act as a stiffener. I chose to go with this option. The hardest part was cutting the original leaf springs in half. I did this using by Byrnes table saw and very dodgy holding jig. Here is the leaf spring cut in half and the pre-bent brass inserted. Matching notches were cut in the brass using a cut-off wheel in my Dremel-type tool. Then the top half was reattached and the entire assembly re-painted. The completed leaf spring was then attached to the rear axle. The wheel plates had the brake cams installed and these two were then attached to the rear axle. Brake shoes and springs were then inserted as per the front wheels. The entire assembly was then test fitted with only one of the two rear spacers fitted. The gap between this and the transmission was then measured and the second spacer sanded down to this thickness prior to final fitting. The brake linkages were then fitted between the brake connecting rods and the transmission levers. Another view. Final attachment of the rear axle requires the dampers to be attached to the chassis. However, a couple of extra parts need to be in place prior this. These parts are now in the paint shop and will be fitted during the next phase of construction.

Hi Damian, Today is your lucky day! I happen to have a spare copy of the lithograph wing plan that I’m happy to send you. If you’d like to PM me with your postal details, I’ll get it in the post for you on Monday.

Dave, If you want to see how the Spar varnish comes up over woodgrain and a painted bottom, have a look at post #280 on page 10 of my Chriscraft Runabout log: I finished that build almost 3 years ago now and it looks as fresh today as it did then.

That’s looking great Dave. If you are going to maintain an option for RC, then you might want to consider Spar Marine Varnish as it has UV protection built in to protect the finish from yellowing over time.

Ingenious modification BE, but that shouldn’t really surprise us now should it? 👏👏👏

Bob, I’ve sent you a PM with Paul Koo’s direct email address. I suggest contacting him if you want to know a fair price for any of these Pocher kits.

Next up are the front wheel plates. These get fitted with the rotating axle hubs and a strange looking metal piece that I have no idea of the name. I forgot to take a pre-assembly picture, but here is what these look like assembled together: The front brake cams then need to be fitted to the wheel plates. Here are the components and pre and post assembly: On the other side of the wheel plates, the front brakes themselves are fitted: If you look closely you will see the spring joining the two brake shoes running over the top of the brake cam. The brakes are supposed to be fully functioning, but the springs are a little too strong and the cam a little too weak. It is supposedly possible to fix this issue, but it is not easy and I’m not going there! The wheel plates are then fitted to the front axle: And here is what the front axle looks like so far: The tie rods, brake linkages and front axle braces are fitted next, with some judicial additional bending of the front axle braces and some extra threading added to them as well: The front axle brake linkages are then added back to the transmission brake levers: And finally, the steering control rod is added back to the control arm on the steering gear box. Again, this needed to have some judicial bending imparted and in this case was inserted from the opposite direction at both ends to that shown in the Pocher manual in order to provide a better fit: The rear axle assembly is next...

Some progress was made last weekend, but I didn't get to update the log until now... The Front Axle The approach to the front axle is the same as for previous sections – ie test fit and adjust where necessary the plastic parts, then disassemble, paint and re-assemble. This is a quite complex assembly. The Pocher instructions are nothing more than an exploded parts view – with no information about the order of assembly. A second page deals with the leaf springs, both front and rear, but these need to be addressed in conjunction with the front and rear axles respectively. In contrast, Paul’s photo essay on the front axle is 96 pages long, with detailed explanations for both parts fit and sequence of assembly, as well as offering alternative methods for some parts to make the fit better and/or easier. Assembly commences with the front dampers. Here are the initial components (there are two lots of these of course): And assembled: They then need to be affixed to the front axle: The front leaf springs are next. Part of the leaf spring shackles were fitted to the main frame in the previous step. Here are the components for one of the rear shackles: And the front leaf springs attached to the front axle: Continued next post...