pastafarian Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Hey folks, I have a old 1/48 AM avenger that I'm about to ditch in my tank. Couple questions since I want to make it look like it's been there for a few decades. 1. are all of the control surfaces fabric covered? It looks like the elevator and rudder are, but what about the ailerons? 2. I would imagine that to keep the landing as smooth as possible, wouldn't you want to land with the gear up? I'd think that having the front gear down would be suicidal since they might dig into the water and flip the plane. 3. prop is going to curl when it hits the water right? Anything that I'm forgetting? John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aaronw Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 The fish might not like it much, I'd be worried about the various chemicals used to build the model. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted April 19, 2011 Share Posted April 19, 2011 Yeah, I'd stay clear of that. Unless it's just plain bare styrene, it's likely not to do good things for your fish. Styrene is pretty inert in fresh water (of normal to alkaline pH), but the paint, etc might not be. J Quote Link to post Share on other sites
LanceB Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 I'm gonna play contrarian and say "go for it, but don't use enamel paints or solvent glues". There are all sorts of little doohickey things for decorating fish tanks out there, and they are painted, right? And some of them have parts that are bonded together, right? Choose carefully and I don't see a problem. Superglue and Vallejo acryls, perhaps? If the above folks still made you nervous, ask yourself what kind of fish you've got. If it is some Amazonian whatchamacallit that costs a couple of hundred bucks each and lives for years, you might not want to take the risk. But if it's a bunch of 99 cent goldfish... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pastafarian Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 It's painted with an enamel but they're ok for fish as long as they are fully cured. I painted this kit over a year ago, so that isn't a concern. I looked around on some of the aquarium forums and some of those folks paint the filters and stuff so they blend in better. I didn't see anything on acrylics, so if any of you guys want to ditch a bird, I'd use enamels. Eventually you'll get some algae on there so don't worry too much about filling in panel lines or fine details with a rattle can. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wizard_rkt Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 It's painted with an enamel but they're ok for fish as long as they are fully cured. I painted this kit over a year ago, so that isn't a concern. I looked around on some of the aquarium forums and some of those folks paint the filters and stuff so they blend in better. I didn't see anything on acrylics, so if any of you guys want to ditch a bird, I'd use enamels. Eventually you'll get some algae on there so don't worry too much about filling in panel lines or fine details with a rattle can. John Don't the real ones get "growths" on them anyway.............it may look cool that way, no? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Rat Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 I can see it now - somebody asks "What scale?", and you reply "The guppies? They're 48/1!" Quote Link to post Share on other sites
G.R.Morrison Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 O.K., this isn't about paint or glue, but about ditching aircraft. My Dad was a Naval aviator during WW-II and saved a bunch of his manuals, pamphlets, booklets, etc. There were a number of these, such as "Prisoner Sense," "Gunnery Sense," and apropos here, "Dunking Sense," which was about ditching an aircraft and surviving at sea. These covered serious subject matter, but with cartoons and rhyming slogans. Before ditching you would dump any remaining ordnance, lock all canopies open, tighten all your straps and belts as much as possible, and "If I'm to live until I'm bald, I've got to land her fully stalled." So you should have your TBF (or TBM) gear-up, flaps down, and yes, the prop blades do usually fold back, but not as much as if landing gear-up alongside an airstrip (because the angle is flatter in that case). It sounds like a clever decoration for the bottom of your fish tank, GRM P.S. "Turn back before it's too late," everyone knows helicopters aren't meant to fly... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gundamhead Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 You'll need to weigh it down. Were your decals sealed? They might slowly get eaten away. It's a Dauntless, but it's in fresh water. http://xmb.stuffucanuse.com/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=6103 The moment before an Avenger slips under. http://home.earthlink.net/~richtor78/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/tbmwater.jpg And finally, just for ideas. http://www.warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=16089 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pastafarian Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 Those sound like some great books GRM, glad you've hung onto them. Thanks, I'll work on dropping the flaps on her too then. some aquarium gravel in the bomb bay should hold her down ok. Gundam, that's pretty much what I'm shooting for. In one of those I saw that the life raft compartment had been opened. I'll have to think on that one. The plane is painted up in the Flight 19 markings and none of those rafts were seen, sooooooo I guess that will stay closed. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
viking73 Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Sounds like a neat idea. Be sure to post some photos when she's at the bottom of your tank. -Derek Quote Link to post Share on other sites
B-17 guy Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Yeah, I wanna see the pics too. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
viking73 Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 Did you ever finish this one John?? -Derek Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurtd123 Posted June 3, 2012 Share Posted June 3, 2012 (edited) This is an F4F on display at the Naval Air museum. They set-up a display to look just as it did when it was under the water. (Fresh water wreck, I think Lake Michigan?) You can search the web for "underwater warbird wrecks" and probably get some good ideas. Any current photos from salt water will show quite a bit of decay but will provide you with the basic layout and areas of the airframe to distress. Sounds like you are on the right track. Probably not many pictures of fresh-water wrecks as the water is usually pretty murky. Edited June 3, 2012 by kurtd123 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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