Scratchbuilding a 1/32 1927 Ford AT-4 Trimotor

[karl h]

i have been missing your updates too, hope to see many more, this is one of my favorite builds!

condolences about your dad

[HOLMES]

Mike

I am sorry to hear the loss of your Father..MY sincerest sympathies to you and your Family.

I empathise with you..

May he Rest in Peace.

Take care.

HOLMES :wacko:

{ The updates can wait !}

[GreyGhost]

Mike, I'm so sorry for the passing of your Dad, you have my prayers and sympathies ...

I hope life settles down for you and your wife soon too, to many 'events' that all seem to snowball at once can be very stressing ...

The model will be there when things do calm down ...

All the Best,

-Gregg

[Skyking]

Thank you all for the comments, and for the expressions of condolances for my Dad, I really appreciate them. It's still hard to believe he's gone.

Last night I was bored and anxious to get started on this again, so I played around a little with the passenger door hinges just to get back into the swing of things. When I laid out the artwork I tried to keep the tolerances on these as tight as possible, but without being too tight so that they would bind. I made several extra sets to practice with and to also cover my backside if I should bugger one or two up.

Closed position

Open position.

They went together easier than I thought they would. I used a length of .010 steel rod for the hinge pin, and simply folded the legs over the pin and burnished them down. A dab of CA on the ends secures the pins in place and voilà, functional hinges for my passenger door. This is a first test shot, I will make another two and use some lessons learned from this one, and they should look even better than this one. Now if I can just figure out a way to miniaturize the latch, but I suspect I will use tiny magnets to hold the door closed.

Next up I'll begin cutting the windows and door, and start assembling the Fuselage. Stay tuned.

Cheers

Mike

[Kostucha]

Simply amazing! Working hinges! Stunning.

[HOLMES]

I concur whole heartedly ...PURE PERFECTION...

[Kostucha]

I'll be honest with you, I'm looking over your build time and time and time again as there is so much to learn here with regards to scratch building. Not that I'm throwing a plug out there for anything, but I started a thread in the props section, about the problems and solutions to dealing with scratch building in 1/24, and this really is an inspiration to the idea.

The quality of your work, and showing what a lot of common sense applied with a fair amount of imagination and "why not", is really turning out one amazing project. Wicker seats to working hinges, every little step of the way. You Sir, I tip my hat to you.

Cheers!

Mark.

[Blackcollar]

Outstanding work! You are one talented fellow

-Al

[Skyking]

Hi Mark, Al and Holmes,

Thank you as always for your comments. I appreciate them. I'll be getting some modeling time in this weekend and should be able to post some pictures. My planned work this weekend is cuting out the passenger windows on the fuselage and starting the interior work so I can get this buttoned up. Stay tuned.

Cheers

Mike

[HOLMES]

Mike,

I am glued to this thread..Look forward to the next episode.

[Old Man]

Great to see this up again, Sir!

A really fantastic effort.

I appreciate the hinges especially: I have a loose file of items under the heading "You think I'm insane, Honey? Here, look at this..." for showing the wife, and working hinges in 1/48 definitely make the grade....

[parche]

Holy shite... those engines are awesome...so are the nacelles...god, the whole thing is awesome...you have done amazing work, can't wait to see more.

Cheers,

Dave

[Prop Duster]

Mike

I too add my admiration to you and your project. I stopped everything, to go back to the beginning and catch up.

Your work ethic and detail orientation is superior.

At this point in my, resurrected modeling adventures, I am confident I can say I am your equal in,

sanding off the bottom of the tires- :unsure: everything else is way in the far future for me.

Thanks again for sharing your "how to's" and the photos, both go along way to let us appreciate what gos into a great scratch build and fuels the ideas of the possible.

[Kostucha]

Thanks again for sharing your "how to's" and the photos, both go along way to let us appreciate what gos into a great scratch build and fuels the ideas of the possible.

Couldn't have said it better - he's right Mike! I think a lot of us are not only watching this because we haven't seen anything like it, but there is so much good information and in a very logical fashion and flow that.. well.. ..can't help but sit back and enjoy what we're watching!

Cheers!

Mark.

[Skyking]

Hiya OM.

I appreciate the hinges especially: I have a loose file of items under the heading "You think I'm insane, Honey? Here, look at this..." for showing the wife, and working hinges in 1/48 definitely make the grade....

These are 32nd scale OM so at least I'm not certifiable..lol. Actually the PE process made them a snap.

Thanks again for sharing your "how to's" and the photos, both go along way to let us appreciate what gos into a great scratch build and fuels the ideas of the possible.

My pleasure PropDuster. If it wasn't for some Old School modelers that took me under their wing when I was learning I wouldn't be able to glue two sticks of wood together. Everything you see me do is certainly within the realm of anyone on this board. Like I've said before, I often find scratchbuilding a subject easier than messing around with a poorly engineered or ill-fitting kit.

Mark, Dave and Homes, thanks for following along. I do appreciate the support. Working on two subjects at once is new to me, so it helps to have enthusiastic supporters.

Well as suggested earlier, the windows are cut out. Rather than drone on with endless narrative, I'll let the pictures do the talking. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to ask.

As you saw on my earlier post, a couple of the items I had Photo Etched were the window frames for the outside, as well as a template to cut my windows. Here you see the template taped to the inside of the fuselage. I placed my interior tub in the fuselage half, and drew reference lines for my floor and fore and aft bulkhead. I then measured the distance from the rear bulkhead to the rear most window edge, and up from the floor, and that's where I placed the template. Because my template is about 2MM oversize all the way around, I had a bit of a fudge factor for getting it placed. The outside window frames will cover up the joint between the glass and the fuselage side. I roughed out the openings first...

...and then used a new #11 blade and slowly trimmed to the template. The template worked like a charm. Even though these didn't have to be dead on and perfect, they turned out pretty good. Once the outside frame is placed over the opening, it'll all be nice and uniform.

Here's the right side, with the windows cut out. I used the rearmost window as a guide for the placement of the door. I overlaid the door over the window so they lined up, and taped it into position temporarily. You'll see why in a bit.

Here's a view of the left side, with the outside window frame taped in place to check for correct clearance and alignment. You can see the uniformity of the PE frames are much superior to anything I could have done by hand. I have about MM to play with all around my window glass.

The reason the door was taped temporarily in place was so that I could put the door template in place. This I also taped in place, and did the same process for this as I did the windows, except this time I left about 2MM all the way around the inside of the template. The template will serve double duty as the door frame, and the lip will provide a place for the door to rest against in the closed position. The door I also taped in place to check for alignment with the frame, and how it rested in the opening. It's right on the money.

I was a bit anxious to see how visible the interior is after the windows were cut out. This picture shows that there will be quite a bit of it visible, which makes me feel a bit better, especially after all the work the wicker seats will be...lol

And to put to rest perhaps the greatest question of this entire build... will the commode be visible once everything is buttoned up? I am happy to report that yes, you will be able to see most of the toilet once it's together..lol

Next steps will be building and detailing the interior walls, putting the wicker seats together and placing everything in the cabin. Once that is done I can commence with assembling the major airframe components and make it look like an airplane.

Stay tuned.

Cheers

Mike

[AnthonyWan]

Looks great Mike!

Will you be bringing this to club meetings later in the fall? I really look forward to seeing it in person when I'm back in Rochester!

-Awan

[Skyking]

Hey Awan. Yep I'll be bringing it along. Will you be back in town for ROCON in Septemeber? It'll be at the Radison in front of RIT again this year. The date is the 19th.

Cheers

Mike

[AnthonyWan]

Hey Awan. Yep I'll be bringing it along. Will you be back in town for ROCON in Septemeber? It'll be at the Radison in front of RIT again this year. The date is the 19th.

Cheers

Mike

Oh yes I will be..Not gonna miss it again this year! I'll be back in Rochester on Aug 27th. School starts Sept 1st. So I'll be settled in hopefully by the time ROCON comes around. (I get to meet Pete? :D)

[Kostucha]

Beautiful, crisp, and inspiring work as always.

Cheers!

Mark

[Shawn M]

stellar work!

[Skyking]

Mark, Shawn, thanks for stopping by. Glad to have you following along.

The last few days of modeling time have been spent on getting the wicker seats together for the Ford. In one of the previous posts I showed a picture of the PE set with the seats still on the carrier. In this update I'll show the steps I am using to make the raw seats before any paint work is done with them. The example you see here took me the better part of 3 hours to do, so they are pretty labor intensive, and I have four more to go... Yeehaw. Not.

This first picture shows the PE blank before any folding was done. I included a ruler to give an idea of the size of the seats.

Here in this picture we have the first seat with folding and soldering of the corner done. I didn't need to anneal these as I wanted them to stay somewhat rigid for handling purposes. I was afraid if they got too soft I'd mangle them before I ever got them mounted in the model.

For the seat cushions I used Ren-Shape, cut into a 1/4" thick slab, then cut to length and width to fit the seats. These will be filled and painted dark blue as the pilot/co-pilot seats. After cutting to size I rounded off the edges with a sanding stick for a softer look.

To give the seats some more rigidity, I CA'ed .032" solder along the top of the seat, and also around the base. It really stiffened them up and made them easier to handle. I will use Mr. Surfacer to blend the solder to the wicker brass, then paint them. If anyone has any suggestions on how to pick out the wicker with paint so it has more of a 3-D look to it I am all ears Chukw. :huh:

As always thanks for stopping by. Comments and Critiques welcome.

Cheers

Mike

[Kostucha]

Mike,

Simply stunning work good Sir! Stunning! Not only is this one going to be in a class of it's own because of the unique scale and subject you've chosen, but also the amazing quality of work and attention to detail. I was concerned these chairs would come out very 'flat' being PE parts, but your addition of the solder to the framework to add dimension... well... WOW!

I tip my hat to you good Sir! Lovely, lovely work.

Cheers!

Mark.

[Prop Duster]

Well thats just fine - you create a spectacular PE wicker chair, fold it and reinforce it and you ASKING US how t paint it !?!?

Seriously Just fabulous work ... and I'm sure you'll get all the help you deserve.

Cheers

[Prop Duster]

sorry dubl post

Edited August 9, 2010 by Prop Duster

[geedubelyer]

Neat work Mike. ;)

Looking at the amount of work you're putting in to each chair, it's a good job you're not building an A380 or similar :blink:

I've been thinking about your painting conundrum. Trying to make 2D etch look 3D is quite a challenge huh?

Short of painting every strand of "wicker", I think I'd experiment by first painting the structure with your chosen finished shade (or one shade lighter) like some sort of tan. I'd wash the assembly with a dark brown ink so that the inner edges of each opening was left darker then I'd dry brush a lighter (buff or similar perhaps?) colour from the top down to highlight the upper edges of the openings where the light would catch it.......

If you have any spare chairs it would be worth practising before you dive in of course. I tend to use acrylic paints from Citadel Miniatures. To give an idea of the colours I'd use have a look at this chart: Citadel Miniatures Colour swatches

Wicker base colour : Bubonic Brown,

Wash: Brown Ink. (Sadly no longer available from Games Workshop but art stores do sell inks of different colours)

Highlight colour: Bleached Bone.

I'm sure you'll come up with a solution but hope this gives some food for thought. ;)

Keep up the good work, it's all looking great ;)