Jump to content

Monogram A-6E TRAM 1/48


Recommended Posts

More exquisite work from the Jedi Master...just phenomenal. I'll bet if you applied electrical power to it, lights would come on and needles would start to turn. It's that realistic!

Congratulations on turning another corner and thanks for sharing your incredibleness!

Rich

Edited by RichB63
Link to post
Share on other sites

Gentlemen,

Thank you all very much for looking and your kind comments. I typically don't express my gratitude for members comments until my next update but I know that method can sometimes be misconstrued as me being unappreciative which is definitely not the case. That said, I wanted to give a quick shout-out to all that have taken the time to post....Thank you.

Also, coneheadff and Incaroad, nice to hear from you!

crackerjazz,

Thanks for your post and honesty. There are many threads that I have not opened either because I don't have the time or the subject matter doesn't peak my interest. I know I'm missing out on a lot of awesome work but as little disposable time as I have these days, I usually use my(free)time to build as opposed to reading the threads.

You bring up a lot of great questions and I'll do my best to answer them.

You are correct about the CRT screen bars, that's exactly what they are. I was not sure what they were up until a few months ago when RichB63 commented on them. BTW, Rich is a modeler that I consider being at the top of his game and one who I've learned a lot from. Check out his EA-6A build on LSP if you want to improve your game too.

Q1) The progress shots of the empty instrument panels with just holes and panel lines -- are those panel lines scribed? I'm thinking you used either a pinhead or the xacto blade to scribe them but those tools and too wide and wouldn't create such fine lines. Also the panels look so thin to be scribed successfully -- how is it done?

A1) The panel is scribed with my go-to scribing tool, a sharp needle in a pin vise. I hold the needle a little higher than 45 degrees when scribing to use more of the needle point. Avoid 90 degrees as you will probably get some chatter. In this case I started with .005 styrene and then used a highly sharpened lead pencil and a scale to draw lines where I would be scribing. I then followed those lines with the scriber and a scale. For intersecting lines, I always start the line at the intersecting point and scribe away as this way I don't have to worry about crossing past the intersecting lines. As scribing always leaves ridges, careful sanding with 4000 grit sandpaper followed by going over the lines again with the tool and sanding again will leave a nice surface. The panel will receive holes that will eventually need sanding too so all the sanding eventually thins the panel down an extra 1 to 2 thousands leaving what you see in the pics. Although you didn't ask, I wanted to explain how most of the holes were laid out. As trying to perform the task of spacing buttons precisely by hand or even with the use of a scale is extremely frustrating, I resorted to an alternate method. The Monogram IP has all the button detail/spacing as raised detail so I cut off the sections I wanted from the IP and sanded them down to about .010 thick. I then used a needle to prick a hole in the center of the raised detail followed by drilling all the way through with tiny drills. I then sanded the sections down to about .005 thick followed by temporarily placing each small section onto my panel and transferring the hole locations with a needle in a pin vise.

DSCN8563_zps4k0at02l.jpg

DSCN8575_zpsvstpchxg.jpg

Q2)what material are the buttons and switches -- they look like white styrene but the thinnest I've come across is 0.5mm (.020 in.) and these look way thinner.

A2)The buttons are made from styrene rod that has been stretched as even .010 rod is too large in diameter for some buttons. The rod is made by Plastruct. The problem of cutting rod with perfectly flat ends frustrated me so much that I resorted to the method I explained in answer 1.

Q3) How did you trim down the buttons and switches -- the ends are perfectly square.

A3) By drilling holes into the IP itself, I don't have to worry about flat rod ends or glue residue from attaching the buttons. You also eliminate trying to line up all the buttons....a major headache in itself. Some of the buttons/switches on the A-6 have a step which would be very hard to reproduce by hand using styrene rod. I have a huge assortment of mechanical movement watch gears which have ends that fit the look of the button steps good enough. Since the steps are machine made they are also concentric to the larger part of the shaft. I cut off a bunch from their stems and used them where appropriate.

DSCN8565_zpsjsjjc5zb.jpg

DSCN8687_zps1anezfud.jpg

DSCN8688_zpssly4nk35.jpg

Q4) The ridges around the bomb sight knob -- how are those created; If it were a bigger knob maybe a round file can produce those -- but this is a micro-miniature knob and still those ridges are so fine and even

A4) The ridges are from a piece from a Waldron photo etch set for German gun sights. The set has 2 different diameters as shown in the pic. I first punched out a styrene disk, drilled a small hole in the center of the disk and then glued the photo etch piece on top. Not sure what the kit item number is but a quick internet search should do the trick.

DSCN8689_zpsggcnskhk.jpg

Hope this helps and thanks for looking.

E.

Edited by wardog
Link to post
Share on other sites

You're losing it, Aigore :) but understandably so. I think I'm going bonkers too. My head is still spinning from the dizzying amount of detail in that IP. Thanks, wardog, really appreciate your very thorough reply. It's like a magic trick revelation, really. Very, very cool.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Even after the crystal clear explanation I still find it unbelievable! you are such a source of inspiration (and a bit of frustration) everytime I think about doing something I remember what you've told me and most of the time I change the approach, not always succelfully but in the right direction! THANK YOU Elmo!

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

OK mate... if you're gonna post your work on these forums, you need to make the effort to improve the quality of you detail work. Shhhesh, some people will just post anything in here!  ;-)

 

Tracy

Link to post
Share on other sites

Insanely good work Wardog.

 

Not just the scratching, but your painting and weathering is perfect on those tiny details.  Beats me how you weather so finely in 1/48 scale?

 

I'm adding some scratch wiring etc. to my 1/48 AMK Fouga (which is a very detailed kit OOB) bu it will be nothing as good as yours what with all the little hex nuts etc on the tubing.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks to all for your replies. Been wanting to make an update or two recently but since I'm technology challenged I couldn't figure out how to re-size pics as is required now. Anyway, I think I figured it out so here are a few. Gonna skip on most of the description due to lack of time and I figure the pics will do the talking. Not a ton of progress since last time but some is better than none. However, Maybe someone here can give me a few pointers on uploading multiple pics at once???  Most of the pics I take with my camera are in the neighborhood of 600+KB, the max size allowed now is 0.1MB. That is essentially 100KB if I did the math correctly. I figured out how to resize the pics.....finally, however I was under the impression I could load multiple pics so long as they are all under the max size required. The one I loaded is 97KB so I'm good. I tried loading up another pic but I got the over limit warning. So my question is, how do I load multiple pics into a single update. I figure I can load a single pic, click the "submit reply" button and then go back and load another one and do it all over again, however homie ain't got time for all that..........and this is why I only uploaded one pic........Enjoy!

 

 

E.

 

 

 

 

DSCN8693.JPG

Link to post
Share on other sites

After seeing what Elmo did with that Hex rod, I just ordered some in 0.5 & 1mm (plus a bunch other stuff I couldn't resist) on Ebay from Spain (could not get the hex here in Oz).

 

I'll have to wait for a few weeks for it to arrive, but it should enhance the tubing work I'm doing on my 1/48 Fouga Magister.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...