[Kartonowy Arsenał] 1/2008 Brewster B-239 Buffalo 1:33 (Halinski)

  • I choose the next model that I like to work on.

    Still I might need a few more weeks for the current work on P-47.

    The weather is so good today for coating and spray-gluing parts.


     


    I could use the coming weeks to make my assembly plans more feasible.

    Unlike other Halinski's WWII models, the cockpit has only bone-structures

    (I would guess that the designer reflected pre-WWII fighter designs)

    The cockpit is also connected to landing gear bays, which would make the cockpit insertion difficult.


     


    Even the fairings for the main wings are almost none.

    I expect that reducing any gaps between the main wings and fuselage would be very critical.



    Definitely, I will stick to my skin-works first and skeleton insertion later.

    But I need more time to plan my move. I have a couple of immature ideas.

    I will keep you posted how they would develop.

    Thanks.


    Seo by the Bay

  • Continuing the work of the fuselage



    All the focus on how to look seamless


     


    The work for the back side frames


     


    The vertical frames are a bit bigger than expected. I could not put the frames all the way back in the right position



    After more or a lot sanding works


     

  • Hello Seo,


    this is a very challenging model, as you mentioned, the cockpit frame is as realistic as they will come (a shame to put the fuselage over it). I´ve once seen this model being built on a polish forum - really amazing what Halinski put in it.


    Kind regards


    Zaphod

  • Zaphod,


    I had spent a whole day (yesterday) to be amazed at the cockpit frame and will continue to be. I totally agree with you. Almost everything would be finally hidden but somehow still the designer put so much detail. The rip cage style frame had been difficult to cut. My stubborn plan of skin work priority needs to divide the cockpit frame to three separate parts for easy insertion later, adding more difficulty. To make things worse, I chose the wrong paper with a little more thick for frames (0.65mm not 0.5mm). I realized it only after I spayed to glue it. I could manage '*' thick parts but '**' parts are adding to much height...Troublesome...


    Seo by the Bay

  • The work for the frames of the cockpit


    The original design is one body frames (rib-cage-like).



    The body is so big that I would not be able to insert it into the fuselage after outer skin work.

    I decided to divide it to three sections.


    Here comes the back section


     


    and the front section.


     


    And a bit of the middle section.


  • Hello Seo,


    wow, a quick start and very fine results with the frame and the instruments so far.

    Kind regards

    Zaphod

    Zaphod


    Thank you so much for your kind encouragement. The last Monday was a national holiday in US. After finishing an instrument panel, the inner surface of the cockpit would follow during this week. We will see how it would work out. The risk is that it would be difficult to put pressure on the rip cage frames while I am putting the inner surface on the frames.


    Seo by the Bay

  • Zaphod


    They are made of styrene rods for scale models. 'Evergreen scale models' is their brand name. I know it produces rods, strips, hollow rods, I-beams etc. I guess they are mostly used in train models like O, HO scales. Someone else would have better ideas than me. Originally, I used to use paper clips for rods but they took too much time for cutting and coloring. I came across these rods through web searching. Bingo. They worked great for all the needs for rods in my model building. Markers are enough to color rods and it is very easy to cut or shape or sand them.

    Please feel free to ask more questions.


    Seo by the Bay


  • Hello Seo,


    might have guessed it, love to use them myself, but your work is exceptionelly precise so for a moment I thought you were doing some wizardry with wire and a soldering iron.

    Kind regards


    zaphod

  • Hello Seo,


    might have guessed it, love to use them myself, but your work is exceptionelly precise so for a moment I thought you were doing some wizardry with wire and a soldering iron.

    Kind regards


    zaphod

    Zaphod


    Thank you so much for your kind encouragements. I have used mostly 0.5 and 0.75 mm diameter rods but 1.6mm rod works come out nice this time. I tried miter joints for the first time. I am glad that it worked.


    Seo by the Bay

  • Still working on the cockpit


    A couple of parts were assembled in the landing gear bays.



    And then inner surfaces were installed.


        


    The inner surfaces for the back part of the cockpit were also cut.



    There are three cylinders inside of the back cockpit part.

    Instead of using original parts, rolled paper cylinders were shaped and colored.



    Here comes the result.


       


    These cylinders are difficult to be seen after assembled as common in other Halinski models.

    All the efforts to make these hidden parts, I guess, is for self-satisfaction.


    Edited once, last by Seo ().

  • Still continuing the works for the cockpit.

    They are the inner surface of the middle section cockpit.


    After putting several bone frames on the surface,



    the right side of the inner surfaces got all the parts.


     

  • Now it is time to assemble the middle section of the cockpit.

    For ease of assembly, the frame of the middle section is divided to three parts.



    After the right inner surface is assembled,



    Control stick and after installed,


       


    Seat support struts are assembled.


  • Hello Seo,


    just like the real thing. An incredibly detailed and fragile cockpit masterfully assembled.


    Wonder how a pilot applied in-flight-first-aid to himself in such a tight cockpit.


    Kind regards


    Zaphod

  • The works for a seat and an instrumental panel.


    First for the seat,


          


    The left inner wall was assembled and here are three secions.


       


    For the instrumental panel,


      


    Finally all are done for the cockpit for now.

  • Moving back to the works for the fuselage


    These are the parts for outer surface of the fuselage



    After one more part was added,



    and magnified images for glued areas.


     



    Fitting between the back section of the cockpit and the fuselage was checked.

    As expected, huge mismatching happened.



    After one hour long trial&error and courageous decision :D


     

  • Zaphod


    Thank you so much for your kind encouragement. Cutting was not that difficult but right shaping parts was a bit tricky. After one hour long modification of the back section of the cockpit to fit into the fuselage, I have a concern for the middle section and front section. They might have very tight fit.


    The Brewster is, I guess, an early design in WWII. As common in other WWII fighter, the cockpit must be very tight. I don't think a pilot could use a first aid kit during flight. I guess it would be for after landing. I don't remember any first-aid-kit in the movies of 'Midway' or "Red Tails'


    The real cockpit of the Brewster


  • Before the works for the outer layer, the fit of the front section was checked.


    After correction,


    The fit of the middle section was also checked...

    As expected, ~1 mm gap was shown.

    The misfit would be corrected when permanently assembled.


    Edited once, last by Seo ().

  • Now continuing the works for the outer layer of the fuselage,

    The original part is a ring but cut into three parts.


      


    and then the top part is glued to the front and back section.


     


     

  • The works for the cockpit insertion into the fuselage

    (Hmmm~ I changed the method of blurring the mark. Do you think it would be acceptable?)


    Starting from here,



    Final temporary fit check on the back side,



    and the front



    and the MIDDLE, Oh...my... I don't know what I am doing...

    After long correction,I could finally put the middle section in.

    I am losing my confidence, though.


     


    This trial is temporary and I will figure out more.


    Edited 3 times, last by Seo ().

  • Hello Seo,


    with the exception of the small gap everything looks fine to me. Where is the problem in the middle?


    Kind regards


    Zaphod

  • Zaphod


    There was a typo in my thread #26. The third picture in the #26 shows the middle section fit between an outer layer and frame. The frame is a bit big. That is, the out layer is 1 mm short. When this misfit is converted to the diameter, the frame is 0.3~0.4 mm bigger than the outer layer. Next time when I cut the frames, I should cut them along the inner line.


    The last picture in #28 is just for temporary assembly and parts are not glued yet, showing gaps. I hope I could remove gaps in the final assembly.

  • René Pinos


    René,


    Not completely false yet.

    The cockpit sections were temporarily inserted into the fuselage and I found that the middle section of the cockpit might be a bit bigger than the outer layer.

    Tonight or tomorrow, after I glue the sections into the fuselage, I will cover up the belly of the middle section (White parts on the 4th and 5th photos of #28) with two sky-blue parts (two left ad right parts on the second photo of #27).

    The last outer layer on the belly would be a bit short and I need to make difficult correction. I hope not.

  • Hi Seo!

    Congratulations for Your very fine fighter! Having never built a plane myself, I still feel competent in cover-ups, so - If I read Your thread #27 right, You devided the middle section of the skin into three. Glueing and centering the lower parts of the skin to the surrounding parts should mean, that Your gap is not in the middle, but devides into two minor gaps at the wingbases, right? Aren´t there some parts to come to soften that area, anyway? And even if there are not - is there any reserve to do them Yourself? A fine pencil might provide some rivets there, and I´d be confident, that the problem is virtually invisible;)

    I´m enjoying Your built very much, You show excellent craftmanship!

    "Ich glaube nicht, dass der Shitstorm die Weiterentwicklung der Demokratie ist." (Wolfgang Schäuble)

    Wer "Remigration" wählt, wird "Endlösung" ernten.

    Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar. (Artikel 1 Grundgesetz)

  • Before the cockpit insertion,

    A few more parts were added to the front section.


     


    Now starting the final cockpit insertion

    The front section,



    and the middle and back section (before permanently gluing)


     


    The outer layer parts for the belly


     

  • The cockpit insertion is finally done.

    As Zaphod pointed out in #29, I couldn't overcome the gap between the middle and back sections.

    During the final fitting check, it seemed that I could reduce the gap

    But in the final assembly, I made a mistake with instant glue.... ;(

    Except that, other look OK.


     


     


     


     

  • Glueing and centering the lower parts of the skin to the surrounding parts should mean, that Your gap is not in the middle, but devides into two minor gaps at the wingbases, right? Aren´t there some parts to come to soften that area, anyway? And even if there are not - is there any reserve to do them Yourself? A fine pencil might provide some rivets there, and I´d be confident, that the problem is virtually invisible;)

    I´m enjoying Your built very much, You show excellent craftmanship!

    Heiner


    Thank you very much for your kind encouragement. As you expected, I put two bottom skin parts together.



    If any gap happens, it would be in the wing connection areas.


     


    Now the skin connection seams are inside the main wing connection areas.

    The seams would be hidden after the main wing assembly.

    Due to very simple pairing parts for the main wings,

    I should be very careful when I shape the main wings and connect them to the fuselage.

  • Zaphod


    Exactly, that was my plan. :thumbsup:

    Now is the time to think about how to make a canopy

    Edited once, last by Seo ().

  • Zaphod


    Thank you very much for the information.

    It is really good to have a reliable shop in our own border.


    Anyway, after ordering and using commercial canopies, finally I decided to find out a solution for myself.

    I used to make canopies with film and a heat gun. It was kinds of a heat pressing type.

    It worked but it was difficult to form a 'blown canopy' that might be used for Spitfire.



    I am still on my drawing board but thinking about a DIY vacuum forming tool.

    My budget is under $20 and I hope to use my Dyson.

    I will keep you posted. :D