Marcel111 Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Guy, what a masterpiece of an undercarriage assembly... incredible work! Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dax Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 (edited) See you next time. Cheers. Guy, as always, simply unbelievable and marvelous craftsmanship. You are one of the few that truly bring this hobby to astronomically new levels and leave the rest of us speechless! A question though, in the above pic, the green pieces you are using for tube connections, what are you using there? I notice with your plumbing you have a variety of these (some black, some gray, if I'm seeing the picture clearly). Are they wire insulation trimmed, styrene tubing or something else entirely? Thanks in advance and keep up the fanatastic work! Edited November 29, 2010 by Dax Quote Link to post Share on other sites
viperbite Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 my eyes... the gear is amazing. sir you are my God Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted November 29, 2010 Author Share Posted November 29, 2010 (edited) Hello everyone. I'm floored by your very kind words and thoughts. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to post their feedback. What's still missing - I think - is a slight wash to add some depth in some places. I suppose you'll do that later?/Kristian Hi Kristian, good to see you. I think you are correct. A subtle wash would improve the look of parts of the gear leg. I'll be sure to add some before I install the assembly in the bay. Thanks for the suggestion. Hi Clif, how are things? Thanks for stopping by my friend. Your joviality and good humour is always most welcome. Hello Alexander, always a pleasure to see you here. Thank you for your generous words. I'm glad that you like the pictures but I suspect they make the gear leg look better than it actually is.....(all done with smoke and mirrors ) Brett, toniosky, Rom and Al, cheers guys. Your positive comments are a great boost and really help me along. Much appreciated. How did you get that front chrome piston so clean, smooth and shiny?Howdy Chuck, thanks. As you know, the F-14 front gear leg piston is quite prominent so I thought long and hard over what to use. In the end I wrapped aluminium kitchen foil around the plastic part, shiny side out. I cut a length that was the correct width, tacked one end to the plastic using CA adhesive then wrapped the remainder of the foil around before slicing it at the rear of the piston with a new Xacto blade so that the oleo scissors disguise the join. (More smoke and mirrors........). I then pulled the foil as tight as I dared before dabbing a tiny drop of CA to fix it in place.(Between you and I, although the photos might give the appearance of smooth foil, I managed to wrinkle it when I was handling the strut so some angles don't look quite so pristine. Can it be our little secret? ) Hi Jan, great to see you. Thanks for the kind words, much appreciated. Hey Jake, thanks man. It's been too long since we've seen you around these parts buddy. Work keeping you busy? Glad you stopped by my friend, cheers. Hello Mareku, thank you. How are things with you? Have you felt any urges to get back to your super sized 'Cat yet? Hi Chris, coming from you that means a great deal. Thanks. Hi Marcel, glad you like it. Many thanks for your positive encouragement. I hope things are going better with your house sale. My thoughts are with you. A question though, in the above pic, the green pieces you are using for tube connections, what are you using there? I notice with your plumbing you have a variety of these (some black, some gray, if I'm seeing the picture clearly). Are they wire insulation trimmed, styrene tubing or something else entirely?Thanks in advance and keep up the fanatastic work! Hi Dax, thank you. Yes, you are correct. The green bits are very short lengths of electrical insulation from some electronic device or old phone or something.... I think it was Zactoman who first pointed me in that direction so thanks again Chris. One tip if you are using this sort of stuff. If the plastic sheathing is too large in diameter, cut a small section out of the circle then glue it back together when you install it. Sounds simple I know but you would n't believe how many times I've forgotten to do that.... The grey parts are Grandt line bolt heads, the black specks are stretched sprue if I remember correctly. Hi Jin, you are making me blush. Such words from someone who turns out such beautiful models is high praise indeed. Many thanks and much appreciated. Apologies that I don't have anything to show you all just yet. I've begun work on the nose gear bay by scratch building a new front bulkhead but all I've got done up to now is the addition of some Archer rivets. My hobby room is sub-zero with the cold weather so I'm less inclined to dwell there for any length of time. I'll try to post something up before long. See you all then. Cheers. Edited November 29, 2010 by geedubelyer Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KRI76 Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 My hobby room is sub-zero with the cold weather so I'm less inclined to dwell there for any length of time. I'm in the same situation, but I "solved" it with a 2kW heating fan (usually they're sold too boost heating of i.e. bathrooms...like this one). It's cheap, it's portable and mine heats up my hobby room to a quite ok temperature in 15-30 minutes, depending on the outside temperature. I'm about to go out for a quick session right now, but since it's -11 Celsius tonight I left the fan doing its work for a little longer than half an hour... /Kristian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dax Posted November 29, 2010 Share Posted November 29, 2010 Thanks for the confirmation. After asking the question, I started toying with some insulation/sheathing and it worked great. Amazing how something so simple can add so much. Keep up the good work and keep these updates coming! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted December 19, 2010 Author Share Posted December 19, 2010 (edited) Hi guys, I'm in the same situation, but I "solved" it with a 2kW heating fan (usually they're sold too boost heating of i.e. bathrooms...like this one). It's cheap, it's portable and mine heats up my hobby room to a quite ok temperature in 15-30 minutes, depending on the outside temperature. I'm about to go out for a quick session right now, but since it's -11 Celsius tonight I left the fan doing its work for a little longer than half an hour... /Kristian I use an oil filled radiator Kristian and that works ok though it does take a while to heat up but it's probably my fingers that feel coldest,......not good for alot of fiddly work Thanks for the confirmation. After asking the question, I started toying with some insulation/sheathing and it worked great. Amazing how something so simple can add so much. Glad it worked for you Dax. Your gear legs are looking great. Working long hours and getting home late plays havoc with my modelling schedule. That and the low temperatures in my hobby room (I left my lads' digital clock/thermometer up there for about 15 mins today and the readout dropped to 7.9C. It was still going down! ) mean I have n't done much modelling these last few weeks. However, I did receive a package from Hannants today and wanted to share some observations and thoughts with you all. I read a number of articles regarding the Wheeliant range of resin by Aires and loved the look of their F-14 wheels so decided to order a set for the F-14A. Here are my findings. First up, what you get..... As you'd imagine, you get two main wheels and two nose gear wheels plus a length of copper wire for making some plumbing. There is a rudimentary diagram of how to install the wire but a check on references will be just as useful. The detail on the hubs is nothing short of outstanding. Mains. Nose gear. The tyres have a very realistic weighted bulge molded in and plenty of raised writing. A comparison with the kit parts shows the differences. (Interesting that the main tyres are GoodYear and the nose tyres are Michelin) Also of note is the kit wheels are for a prototype airframe style according to the Daco reference book whereas the Wheeliant wheels are F-14A. The nose gear tyres are similar in dimension to the kit parts. The main gear tyres differ considerably. They are smaller in diameter and thicker in cross section than the kit parts. Ok, with most of the photos out of the way, here are my un-biased thoughts on these resin accessories. Firstly, the detail is very fine. The rims of the wheels are particularly fragile. In order to remove them from the casting blocks it is necessary to grip the wheels at some point. I found this pressure sufficient to break the rim on both the nose and main gear rims so extreme care must be taken. Secondly, I found the raised and recessed writing on the tyre wall to be exaggerated. This is obviously a personal preference but to my eyes the detail stands too proud and would probably scale up to about 1/2inch deep. On my set I aim to gently sand this raised detail back a bit. Next up is the profile of the tyres. As I mentioned above, the weighted bulge is very well done but comparison with references shows both the nose gear tyre and the main tyre to be too square shouldered. This might prove difficult to rectify satisfactorily. In addition, the main gear tyre looks to be too thick when compared to photos of the real deal. At this stage I'm unsure of how to proceed but I'm leaning towards cutting the tyre in half, sanding away some thickness then glueing it back together The wheel hubs are a loose fit in the tyres and it easy to push the hub all of the way into the tyre so care will be necessary to fit them correctly. The hubs are also too thick if simply removed from the casting blocks. It will be necessary to make them thinner to fit within the tyres properly but that will inevitably remove the tiny alignment nub molded onto each side. (Not the end of the world since it is impossible to see both sides of the wheel at the same time without a mirror). I have mixed feelings about this set. On the one hand the detail on the wheel hubs is exemplary and looks almost exactly like the real deal. On the other hand, the tyres are a way off perfect in my eyes :( Understand that these are my personal considerations so I hope the photos above allow you to form your own opinions about this set. I'll let everyone know how they work out when I get around to using them. Cheers for now. Edited December 19, 2010 by geedubelyer Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted December 19, 2010 Share Posted December 19, 2010 (edited) Magnificent!!! tyres ol' bean......Goodyear would be proud!!!... :) Edited December 19, 2010 by Angels49 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted January 16, 2011 Author Share Posted January 16, 2011 Thanks Clif, Michelin too I hope since the nose gear tyres are supplied by the French company. Modelling has been sporadic over the last few weeks but I have at least managed to work on the Wheeliant resin wheels. I chose to reduce the width of the main gear tyres a touch. I've no particular reason for doing this apart from the fact that they appeared out of proportion when compared to reference photos so please don't do this yourself unless you feel the same. ;) I cut the tyres in half vertically along their front/rear axis, sanded them flat and re-joined the two halves. This reduced the width by the thickness of the saw cut (more or less.... ) After the hacking I took a sanding stick to the sidewall lettering. Guys like me must drive the artisans at companies like Aires nuts! I can hear them now......."what is he doing? It took me weeks to get that lettering so crisp, even and sharp!" :( In truth, I checked dozens of on-line photos in addition to all of the books I have and none of the actual aircraft tyres had writing so bold so I felt the need to pare them back a bit. For a modeller that sort of crisp relief is perfect to allow for highlights, washes and dry-brushing but it is n't particularly realistic. :( After I was finished I daubed some paint on the resin. The tyres are basically Chaos Black primer by Games Workshop. I did stipple on some other shades of black and give them a wash of black ink but it did n't make much difference. The wheels are Skull White spray can primer (again from Games Workshop) with details picked out (crudely ) by brush using Citadel and Valejo acrylics. Here is another comparison shot showing the kit and aftermarket parts. Mains Fronts. Thinning the main gear tyres created an issue with the thickness of the wheel hubs. They were already slightly too wide for the tyres but thinning the tyres made matters worse. However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I sanded back both hub halves to get them to fit and in so doing removed all of the material behind the wheel spokes. This meant that the "brake disc" became visible (basically the back of the other wheel hub half painted very dark grey) giving a neat and crisp result. One thing I noticed on studying the references is the two solid partitions between the spokes at the point of the valve and directly opposite the tyre valve. These had to be replaced (#1 in the pic below). I'll have to add some dust to the tread before I mount the finished wheel/tyre combo to the gear legs......they look too new right now. Thanks for stopping by. Cheers for now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eastern Posted January 16, 2011 Share Posted January 16, 2011 Hey Guy! Very nice job on the hubs and tyres! The wheels look magnificent! :D B) Cheers and happy modeling! Alexander. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marcel111 Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 Guy, good to see you back in the thick of it! I'm a little overwhelmed by the level you are taking your gear-building too... just awesome stuff! Marcel Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pantani Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Amazing job on the gears like the other guys are saing, nice topic to follow Verry nice result so far, looking forward to next update Quote Link to post Share on other sites
karl h Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 your attention to detail is second to non, guy! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 As usual, every little detail is a model in itself. I can hardly imagine what this baby will look like when all the parts come together as one. Stunning work as always! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dax Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 Guy, I just noticed the index you added and wanted to say THANK YOU! I'm sure that took a bit of effort and time, but it is so greatly appreciated and was an exceptional idea! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KRI76 Posted January 19, 2011 Share Posted January 19, 2011 Those wheel look more real than the real thing! Your skills never fail to amaze me geedubelyer! /Kristian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anders_Isaksson Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Just had another look at your latest update, and removing a little material from the main tyres to reduce their width really made a lot of difference compared to the slightlly 'boxy' looking originals. Well done, Guy! As I have these wheels myself I might go for something similar - when the time comes. Cheers, Anders Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Hello everyone, Alexander, Marcel, great to see you guys, many thanks for the kind words. Hi pantani, welcome aboard, thanks for stopping by. Glad you like things so far. Hi Karl, Chuck and Kristian, thanks for the generous comments guys. Always a pleasure to see you here. Hello Dax, you're welcome. The index should make navigating such a long thread less laborious. Hi Anders, smashing to see you again. I'm thrilled that you approve of the wheel mods. Remember though that this was n't a scientific modification. The Wheeliant wheels just "felt" too broad. It will be interesting to see how the proportions of these modded versions compare to reference photos when the gear legs are attached to the assembled airframe. So this week has seen a bit of work to the nose gear bay. The rear bulkhead had a few tweeks way back in the dim and distant past. This time it was the turn of the front bulkhead. Tamiya do give a suggestion of detail to the front bulkhead but it can be added to. In fact, I chose to re-model the bulkhead and remove the large box at the bottom of the panel. Here are a couple of photos to show what I mean. The first shows the scratch built components using various wires, capilliary tubing and plastic extrusion plus some Archer transfer rivets. The second photo has paint applied but no weathering yet. I think I may use an oil paint wash when I've assembled the complete bay. I'll begin work on one of the sidewalls next so see you all in a while. ;) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
janman Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Great - as usual! The bulkhead looks terrific! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
KRI76 Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 The difference between the stock and the reworked piece is astonishing! I hope you'll put some mirrors under the finished Cat so that this masterful work of yours will be visible! /Kristian Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eastern Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Oh my! This thingy is at least three times smaller than what the pic shows and it looks very crisp and neat! Great job! Keep it up and keep us posted! Cheers and happy modeling! Alexander Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dkobayashi Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Sensational build..and if you don't mind..I'll be taking notes for my own build in the future Those aires wheels sure look great! Good luck! David Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JohnS Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 Nice to you back at the F-14. The excellent work continues ... Can't wait to see future updates. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EX_Birdgunner Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Your attention to detail is amazing. I can only hope to do as well when I finally tackle my large scale Tomcats. I can't wait to see more. Keep up the great work. Denis Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Qian Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 WOW! How more awesome can this get! I really love your attention to the details and this has been the inspiration in keeping me going in my builds! The colours in the wheel bays looks good too! Sharp finish on the wheels as well. So sharp that I think it could cut my fingers. :lol: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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