popeye the sailor

I see you caught the fever too. I'm not done with my 1:72 Leopold.........I had to box it up due to the flooding at the apartment {2023}. recently, an opportunity to purchase a larger scale of Leopold was presented to me, and I got it. OMG!!!! the size is staggering! unfortunately, I can't see a lot of your pictures, but it might be on my end. what I see though looks really good, with a lot of cool detail. following with interest.

hello Andy...........thought I'd pop in and see what your doing while I keep telling myself I should invest in armor kits, I seem to keep buying war ships, cars and planes. I agree with your view of the molds that make these kits........some have been passed around so much. the 1:72 stuka dive bomber is a good example. I believe the molds started out with Fujimi {hope I spelt it right}, and through the years, past hands to at least four other model manufacturers. the amount of flash is a good indicator as to how old a mold is. too much and they get retooled. some are different subjects, but are the same kit. cars do it too..........look at the older models and you'll see it. great job so far............I'm keen to follow

hello to all! yea......I can't believe it happened again..........life grabbed me by the nethers again things started off with the same thing that got us here in the first place.........roof leaks! we had the roof done, along with a few other bumps along the way. the hobby room is still not where I want it, but the recent changes I made in there will make it more tempting to pull something out. I hope so..........I haven't been building, but I am still collecting new projects. big to do concerning Leopold........wait till you see what I have found my car stash has gone mental........a few of them I built as a young lad...........scavenger hunting down nostalgia road. so here I am...........now the hope is to get in the hobby room and create some plastic or wood dust. at this point, I don't care.........as long as I can get back into the fray. the admiral will be happy too I'm not sure if I have any pictures I haven't posted on this build, but if I do, I will post them for you. I still plan to add tissue to these planes, all I needed was an atomizer bottle. I have it, so now to see where I left off. I also started to play with the Tomcat, but so far, it's been just the frame. I'll be back!

I see your still building these wonderful works of art! very nice.......the Fokker planes are among my favorites. still working to figure out how to do the lozenge though........hard to figure out the pattern. I noticed you had the same problem I had when building these planes in the past.......the tail skid breaking. a remedy I came up with was to rest the tail on something while building the model, so there is no weight on it. then there is the old favorite idea of adding it toward the end of the build. F1's and Dr1's have the wing skids...........those were another thing that needed to be watched out for. super job though........you truly are the master of paper!

this will catch the progress up on the build so far. it's starting to look like a jet more to come. drat...........it's snowing this wet gunky stuff! might be a tough drive to work tomorrow

I've started on the starboard wing here........the main ribs are in place. the stringers were added, but I didn't box in the trailing end of the ribs until later {I hadn't thought of it at this time}. I only put in one of the wing tabs.........I used the harder wood for it and will use it for the others. I'll add the others later when the wings are complete. the reason behind it is ease of sanding, to eliminate stringer stubbles. the port side here's where I boxed in the trailing end of the ribs

hello Yves ........welcome! one reason why tissue is used, is weight. for planes that fly, the added weight might disable it, especially if it is rubber powered. if equipped with a gas engine, this might be enough thrust to give the plane the lift it needs. now..........there are other types of coverings that can be used. the plastic that is used for mylar balloons could likely be used. tissue is shrinkable........once the model is covered, a light spray of water will cause the tissue to shrink when dry, leaving a smooth appearance. most folks use a product called 'dope' to glue on the tissue. the stuff smells the high heavens, and if done in a closed room, can get you high as well. I don't like to use it.........instead, I use a 50/50 mix of white glue and water to start. I go 60/40 with the second and third coat {if it needs it}. now it can be sprayed with paint...........it may go limp again, but it will stiffen up when dry. I have a story on how I got turned on to this medium.........it involves an English teacher and a book report. Mr. Miller was a cool guy.........he was also the boys Basketball coach. in class, he gave us our assignment, a book report on a favorite book. a few days later, I guess he noticed that I wasn't engrossed in a book, cuz he wanted to see me after class. home life.........heck, I didn't have time to read........I was too busy doing chores and farm stuff. besides......someone else was reading the book I would have chosen. I don't know how he thought of it, but he told me to see him tomorrow. the next day, he handed me a brown paper bag. in it was a Comet Piper Cub plane kit, and a bottle of white glue. he wanted me to build it..........writing down every step to make it. I was to fly it and describe everything it did, how far it flew, along with any other aspect of the experience. well sir...........I did it.........I built it. it was blue and yellow tissue, and I actually had fun building it. it lasted for several flights..........of course there were the repairs and tissue patches. the day the book report was due, I brought him the report and the plane.......unflyable, but proof that I did it. I got a passing grade I built a few others but only achieved limited success. I didn't pick it back up till I moved to Florida. my best one was a Fokker D VIII. it seems I've picked it back up again, but I haven't flown one. we have quite a few open areas here at Medville..........I may try it one day.

these are the smaller parts for the leading edge of the wings. the small diagrams left and right of the rudder profiles, are the added parts of the rudder, and what areas need to be tapered. these are the additional parts for the rudder. once the rudder is dry, I can add them. with this drying, I can start on the wings.

I don't have the build board any more........don't know what happened to it. it likely got thrown in the dumpster the guys were using for the apartment renovation. that's alright.........I still have this one once clamped to the table, the wing section instructions were laid down, and clear plastic wrap was laid over it. parts were punched out for the stabilizers and the rudder, and cemented in position over the templates. the next concern I had was the ribs in the wings. in most planes I've built, the ribs usually lap over the trailing edge, later to be tapered down with sanding. these do not.........they butt up against it and that's it. I will add short pieces of stripping to box in the ribs, giving them a stronger anchor. the stabilizers are done, and the rudder is laid down. the stabs are out of there. the wings were framed out at this point. the rudder stringers were added as well, with a small addition. the stringer near the base is an added part. there is a dotted line there that shows where the tops of the left and right bottom rudder root part go. they make the bottom of the rudder appear thicker........I'll show you what they look like. to not put this stringer in place, would leave a gap............it will fill it in and give it something to cement to. time to notch out the wing ribs.

once the rear part of the fuselage was framed out, the two plates that the stabilizers are attached to, were reinforced with the parts that will box them in. I saw a gap along the ends and the inner sides facing the thruster nozzle, so I filled them in with some cast off wood. I did some sanding in this area as well. the added strips can be seen here in this picture. it stiffened them up quite nicely the front and rear cockpit shims were added here. I did some sanding to smooth out the frame. I may need to do more to the forward wing root. better shot of the reinforcements for the wing plates. here's looking under the nose where the intake will be. I had cut out the intake, but I see it was one of the pictures I lost. here is an overall shot of the fuselage

there is more to go. I just loaded up more pictures from the camera, and I seem to have deleted some by accident. I also made a couple of changes to a few of the weaker areas. here is one last picture of the wing plates. the change I made to these plates, was to add short strips of strip to the inner surfaces of the front and rear sections. the strips are 1/16x1/16 and are of a harder wood, like beech or walnut. I will point them out in future pictures. I made sure that they will not interfere with the wing installation.

the stringers are 1/16x1/16.......I try to make them a tiny bit longer, by cutting off most of the uncut ends and separate them {the end cuts are uneven}. bulkhead #8 is made up of two bulkheads, glued together........the stringers make it easily to this junction. I started at the bottom from the intake, back. more were added...... it got a little confusing here..........the stringer notches were not lining up. the black squares on bulkhead #5 are termination points for those stringers so, that's what I did in that case. it can be seen where I ended that run and then continued it the rest of the way to the nose. the wing plates were added at the ends of #6, #7, and #8. later on, the more I handled the fuselage, the more fragile these wing plates seemed to be. for fear of breaking them, after knocking one loose, I began thinking of a solution to make them stronger. as I finally got a grasp on this, I found that this is where the cockpit will be. other parts are going to be added later. the wings are to have two 'tabs' that will go into these holes on the wing plates. from the backside of bulkhead #8, the tail section will be framed. more to come

thanks for the comment, OC. it's been a strange hiatus; I can tell ya that! while I wasn't in the position of posting or modeling, I was able to acquire a few more kits. never a dull moment thanks also for those who hit the like button punching out and cutting the notches is well under way at this time. as mentioned, a worn die cutter does not leave clean cuts. I used a new razor blade for this work. the instructions direct you to use an xactor knife, but take it from me.......the thinner the cutting blade, the better. still quite a few to do yet. I continued to do as I had mentioned earlier...........if a piece broke off, it was quickly glued back on, and another part was put into play. the bottom flaps of the bulkheads were evened out.........some fit tight and caused them to look crooked. the mis ship came next. soon, the rest of the bulkheads were in place. more to come.

yep.........the parts prep is slow and tedious. the trick is keeping an eye on the bits and edges that break off, and glue them back on before they get lost. it gets put aside till it dries........picking up another part for the time being, until it happens to that part. it just becomes a vicious circle until they are all trimmed out. while I'm doing this, here are what other aspects of the instruction sheets look like. the parts above are 1:1 in the event that a part gets damaged. a new one can be made from cast off wood or 1/16 flat stock that is included in the kit. Balsa modelers expect that sort of thing something that is different about the kit, is that the fuselage is a bulkhead frame. there is no need for a build board. it has a center keel, just like a plank on frame ship model. the stringer notches can clearly be seen in this last photo. with most Guillow's planes, the bulkheads are in halves and fitted on a flat framework...........port and starboard sides, later to be joined together to create the full fuselage. the only parts that will need a build board will be the wings, stabilizers, and rudder. should be ready for glue soon