The P.1121 get's it's feet wet

[Rick Lowe]

Of course all that only works if you've got a Dremel...

And grinding/sanding bits... 

[Weaver]

Of course all that only works if you've got a Dremel...

And grinding/sanding bits... 

I find that grinding bits get clogged too fast. I mostly use the rotary cutter bits, also sometimes called burrs, like this:



I'd use the two on the right for this job. The reverse-cone one has cutters on the front end as well as the sides.
They're dirt cheap: under a fiver for a set of six on ebay.

[Gondor]

I don't have a Dremel, but I do have something from Parkside, Lidels brand, that is similar, though I don't think it is as controllable at the lower end of the speed range. I have similar bits as well. What I don't want to do is a lot of grinding inside the flat; the dust is bad enough without resin dust being added to it, and it's also not so good for my lungs. I was in B & Q this afternoon and bought some face masks, tomorrow I will move my drill and bits along with the part and myself and the mast to the outside door and grind away there where the wind can take care of the majority of the dust.

[Pellson]

I don't have a Dremel, but I do have something from Parkside, Lidels brand, that is similar, though I don't think it is as controllable at the lower end of the speed range. I have similar bits as well. What I don't want to do is a lot of grinding inside the flat; the dust is bad enough without resin dust being added to it, and it's also not so good for my lungs. I was in B & Q this afternoon and bought some face masks, tomorrow I will move my drill and bits along with the part and myself and the mast to the outside door and grind away there where the wind can take care of the majority of the dust.

Good thinking! Resin dust is actually rather aggressively cancerogenic, so
- wet sanding over dry sanding at any time
- if not possible to wet sand -> sand outdoors, wear a face mask and clean yourself and your clothes thoroughly afterwards.

Yes, it's annoying, but I have too large a stash to take any chances.. 

[Gondor]

I spent a good half hour sat on a chair this morning at my front door getting my glasses all steamed up due to wearing a face mask while grinding away at the resin. The result is this...



I have used a file to finish the last little part, which allows the exhaust to sit in place.



All these parts are simply held in place by gravity, luck and good fortune, so modifications and adjustments can still take place.

Gondor's Modelling Rule Number Three: "Everything will fit perfectly until you apply glue..." will probably apply with this build. As I get each sub-assembly further on, I get the feeling that each will look great, but fit terribly when the final part of the fuselage goes together.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

Gondor's Modelling Rule Number Three: "Everything will fit perfectly until you apply glue..."

Ain't THAT the truth! 

[Gondor]

So I did a bit more, "constructive deconstruction" on the centre fuselage sections.



The flat part of the moulded wing root was removed. This is in part due to the way that the fuselage is constructed. Pictures in the Project Tech Profiles book, shown in the first post of this thread, show that the fuselage is built as one item with attachment points for the wings on certain fuselage ribs. The wings are attached to these ribs on the inboard ends of the wing spars, and the area between the two is then covered in contoured panels that form the wing root. As this aircraft is a Naval aircraft, you would not be surprised to find out that the wings fold. The simplest place to modify the aircraft to have folding wings is where there is a joint, such as where the wings meet the fuselage.
So, to replicate the above, I have removed the flat end of the wing root as that would be hollow, and I am backing the inside of the root with some .015" plastic card.



The strip of plastic is a little difficult to see in this picture; white on white is no help.



The blanking plate is far easier to see in the above picture. I will have to mark out where the ribs are that meet the wing spars, and then decide how exactly I will perform the engineering feet of fitting the wings at a fixed angle. Everything is going to have to be so precise so that the airframe is horizontal and that the wing mounting points are not only horizontal, but that each side is the same height from the deck as well!

Where I have cut the upper fuselage back and it meets the wing root is rather fragile. While filing the inside of the cutout, I accidentally caused the fuselage to break. I had to glue the two parts together and chose super glue to bond the joint as the contact surface is only 2mm long. Unfortunately, while I was holding the fuselage to help keep the two sides together, the glue ran a little and almost bonded my left hand to the fuselage. I found out and was able to peel myself away from this build, at least long enough to cook and eat my dinner.

Gondor

[Rick Lowe]

Good you were able to sort the grinding part out well. 

And progress is good!

There is such a thing as becoming too attached to you hobby - I know this now... 

[Gondor]

Not quite 2001, but this is to show that there is light at the end of the tunnel, as it were.



Using progressively larger drill bits, I drilled out the locating holes for the main undercarriage legs. This is to help align the undercarriage bay horizontally. When I put a straight metal rod through the hole, I will be able to measure the angle that the undercarriage location point will be at relative to the horizontal. In turn, the undercarriage bay will be fitted to other internal components of the aircraft to form a keel of sorts. The keel can then be clad in the vac-form fuselage, knowing that the core of the model is sitting correctly in both the vertical and horizontal planes.



A slightly blurry auto-focus picture of the side of the undercarriage mounting holes, rather than just having a silhouette of the part. I have also been digging around for an afterburner ring for the exhaust. I remembered that I had an extensive eduard detail set for the TSR.2, which uses a developed version of the engine that was to power the aircraft I am modelling. Can I find it, can I heck! I did remember that I had a few spares from the Airfix kit, so I have an afterburner ring!



OK, it needs a little work, removal of the ejector pin marks to start with. After that, I may slice the ring off the disc so I can position it more freely in the exhaust. I do have a spare, possibly a couple more if I need them.

Gondor

[Gondor]

It took two attempts to remove one of the afterburner rings from the disc it is moulded onto. The first one was a complete mess, the second was far better, especially as I changed the tool I was using to cut the part into two. It has also been a bit fiddly to clean up. The picture in my previous post shows the three ejector pin marks at the junction between the ring and the radial supports; it now looks a little different.



At the moment, I have no idea if I will actually need to use it or not. I have an F-106 exhaust on order, which may work instead of my bodgeing the exhaust together, so the back end is not going to get much further at the moment. Saying that, the afterburner ring from the TSR.2 is a good match for what could have been used with the P.1121. The TSR.2 used an Olympus 22R, while the P.1121 was to use the Olympus 21R, so it's reasonable to assume that the two would have been similar. It's also going to be stuck up an exhaust pipe, so there will not be much to see.

Gondor

[Gondor]

I am now starting to get into the realms of engineering rather than model making. I decided that I needed a flat surface on the top of the resin main undercarriage bay, so I removed its pouring plug, and while I was at it, I removed the pouring plug from the nose undercarriage art as well.



Not exactly perfect, but it can be dealt with. A bit of superglue to hold the cat parts in place, then out with a flat surface and file to improve things.

Yesterday I received some new material, square-section brass tube. Two different sizes, the smaller one fits nicely just inside the larger one, great for what I have in mind. A bit of measuring today, followed by some cutting, and we now have a collection of parts which I hope will become the spine of the aircraft, and keep everything together.



On the left is the nose undercarriage bay, and on the right is the main undercarriage bay. The lengths of brass tube above and below the main undercarriage bay, I intend to have sitting on the main undercarriage bay, and run forward to the engine front face, shown towards the left and above the brass sections. There will be lengths of tube at right angles to these two tubes, which will match the position of the main spars, thus ensuring that the wings will be placed horizontally to the fuselage. The shorter length of brass is to be fitted between the front of the main undercarriage bay and the rear of the nose undercarriage bay. Square brass tube will be placed vertically from the lower tube and attached to the cross pieces where the spars are, thus forming a solid frame. Well, that's the hope.

Gondor

[Pellson]

I am following this closely. 

[Gondor]

On further inspection, I was unhappy with the recess I put in the main undercarriage resin block. The recess was offset to Port.



The recess also needed squared up a bit.



As you can see, I had marked the centre line on the upper and lower surfaces of the main undercarriage block. This is to help with alignment further in the build.

So with a bit more grinding, I am happier.





The planning for the internal framework is progressing. I know all the angles that the frame will have, all but two will be 90^o while the remaining two will be 92^o or 88^o depending on the direction you are viewing it from. The 2^o comes from the angle that the wings are at in relation to the central axis of the aircraft. The whole thing will be easier to see as I build it rather than having me trying to describe it.

Gondor

[Captain Canada]

Lots of work going into this one ! Nice !

[Gondor]

A couple of new items for the build, thanks to Reskit's recent sale.



The finished model will sit on the base, while I am thinking of using the F-106 exhaust rather than scratch-building one.

I also bought a set of tools to help.



The protractor has already helped me to determine where I need to open a pair of holes in the keel.



The keel has been rotated towards the viewer by 90^o so the markings that I have made can be seen. I am going to have to cut out some card templates so that I get the angle of 2^o from the vertical correct.

Gondor