Scott R Wilson Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scott R Wilson Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted November 1, 2012 Author Share Posted November 1, 2012 Wow! Thanks Man! This reminds me of the "Good 'ol Days" only a year ago, when I would build a stage of my Phantom, you'd post several pics to confirm some areas were OK and others were dead wrong, then I would change a few bits and move on to the next stage. Other than the pulleys on the cross members mentioned above, I don't see any obvious errors yet, so all is good so far. I sure wish I was with you taking all those fantastic pics. What a Mustang Gold Mine! Getting back to Guy's suggestion that the "oval" on the Eduard PE part within the tail wheel assembly might be totally open, I couldn't find any pics of this internal area, but after looking at it a little bit longer, I think that oval was a cut-out to accommodate the rear tire since it's just the right size and location as you can see from the pic below. Consider this cut-out done- and it gets rid of a glue mark at the same time! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Sid de Koning Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 I dropped in a bit late for this build but what a build it is.. this is how modelling is meant to be.. awesome and inspiring! Great photos of the MLG as well. Sid Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 ould be there, please let me know. For the "gaiter" on the tail wheel leg, I'll check that out. My gut tells me I just might leave this detail alone, unless it's easy to alter and/or fatal to leave it off for accuracy. Hi Chuck, I hear you. From my build I know very little is visible in that area once the model is shiny side up but, if you ever build another, Jerry Rutman mastered a replacement part for Grey Matter figures which deals with the gaiter. See >> here << HTH Cheers. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scvrobeson Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Hey there Chuck. This build is just simply amazing, I've read all of your builds trying to pick up some of your secrets. Also, love the avatar picture. Uncle Buck is a great, great movie. I miss John Candy, he was such a funny man. If you need more pictures of the main wheel wells, I should have some on my home computer taken at the Planes of Fame Museum in Southern California. I was there over the summer, and they let me take some shots of the underside of the Mustang. I'd be happy to post them on here to help you out. Please, keep up the amazing work. Matt Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kurnass77 Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Wow Chuck, your high quality standard left me always without words!!!!!! Gianni Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 (edited) Thanks Guys! Hey there Chuck. This build is just simply amazing, I've read all of your builds trying to pick up some of your secrets. Also, love the avatar picture. Uncle Buck is a great, great movie. I miss John Candy, he was such a funny man. If you need more pictures of the main wheel wells, I should have some on my home computer taken at the Planes of Fame Museum in Southern California. I was there over the summer, and they let me take some shots of the underside of the Mustang. I'd be happy to post them on here to help you out. Please, keep up the amazing work. Matt I really loved John Candy too, hence the sig pic of my favorite Canadian actor- with a drill ready to modify a model kit! :P I think I'm good for main landing gear pics, but I'll keep your kind offer in mind when I get to that stage. You never know what angle I might need. I'm going to show the beginning of the wiring and plumbing stage, rather than when it's all done. This is because I need many, many more hours to complete this stage and I'm scheduled for sinus surgery early next week, so I'm not sure how much I'll be able to accomplish in the next few weeks. From what I've heard from others about this operation, I'm NOT looking forward to it! :( I'm trying to think of the bright side of having a hundred yards of packing up my nose so I don't bleed to death. Maybe I might feel good enough to model while I stay home from work? :unsure: We'll see. I'm starting with the big stuff like the main electrical wiring bundle and the larger plumbing lines. Here's the minor progress so far, although this alone took me about 4 hours... All wiring and plumbing is with lead wire, which I'm trying for the first time. So far, I LOVE the stuff! It bends easily and conforms to any surface, unlike copper wire which can be tough to work with in tight spaces. This pic shows what I've started a little closer- and it also shows the new, correct position of the pulleys on Part J-6 (both sides), which is the opposite of what the Eduard instructions asked for- and the new location of the brass uplock hooks, which should be attached to that square box behind the coolant hoses. They should be placed on the inboard side of the division within the box, facing towards the front. This hook is just placed in position because I'm afraid of knocking it off with the plumbing, but when I cement them in they should be painted green. I can see I still have some silver painting to do on some of those gizmo's.... Another angle. All those drilled out holes on the side wall at the back will soon have finer plumbing lines attached to it, but I still need to be able to remove the gear door and wall assembly later, so they will be glued in during final assembly and cleaned up then. How do you like my hose and wiring connectors? :P Thanks to Guy's suggestion that the big oval within the rear gear well might be hollow, I cut it out because there was an ugly seam that showed and I think that tire might well fit against this hole when retracted.... Also, thanks to the "Gaiter" idea Guy. I just might go with that modification on my next build of this kit, but I like all the internal detail now and I don't want to hide anything. Cheers, Chuck Edited November 2, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
zaxos345 Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 (edited) Chuck, good morning my friend (it is daylight here), wish you the best with the surgery, hope that you dont stay away too long!!! Your work is, as always, awesome, i have to start coping the photos for my future build. Looking forward to seeing more!! John P.S. the white cables, are they lead wire too? Edited November 2, 2012 by zaxos345 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Santtu Pikkarainen Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 This is becoming another amazing build! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted November 2, 2012 Author Share Posted November 2, 2012 (edited) John P.S. the white cables, are they lead wire too? John Thanks guys. I should have explained how I did the wiring harness for those who might be interested. This bundle of wires probably has 20 strands in real life and it is usually white in color, with lots of black connectors holding the bundle together and to the roof of the wheel well. To replicate this look, I tried a number of things including white thread twisted together, which wound up looking like white thread twisted together, so I went with 0.2 mm lead wire instead. Here's the drill: 1) With 4 strands of 0.2 mm lead wire, twist them into a rope so that there are no gaps between the wires. Edit: See Post below from Scott Wilson, because these wires should be straight for accuracy. 2) Paint the rope with white lacquer. Other white paint can work too, but lacquer is super thin, it dries fast and it won't crack when you bend it. 3) Loop the rope through the holes in the cross members, roughly as shown below. These holes were pre-drilled before installation and painted black within, to replicate the black cushioned surface on the real deal. This is where lead wire really works well, because you can easily bend it and make it conform to the ribs on the roof in place, rather than yanking it out and bending it elsewhere like harder copper wire. 4) With a fine brush, touch up any scratch marks with more white lacquer so that no lead wire shows through. 5) Using fine strips of wine bottle foil, cut small wire straps and wrap them around the wire at various locations that look like they could either be holding the wires together or suspending them from the roof of the wheel well. I found some foil that was already black, so no painting was required. 6) Using thin CA glue, carefully spread it along all wire surfaces, including the black wire straps. This achieves three things: Wire rigidity, filling of gaps between the wires and adhesion of the straps to the wire, with some possible adhesion to the surface below the wire bundle as the glue leaks through. Don't overdo it, otherwise you will have glue marks! 7) With CA glue on everything, the wire will look too glossy, so paint on some dull coat with a fine brush to knock down the shine. I recommend avoiding the black straps, because they tend to blend into the wire rather than stand out, which is the look you want (I had to repaint many of them black again). With the CA glue filled gaps, you get a look of many bundled wires rather than just the original 4, and the new rigidity eliminates the need to glue the wires to any surfaces. For the larger plumbing lines that have black hose connectors above, I found some very fine black telephone wires, stripped the insulating coating off, cut them into small tubes, then slipped them on to the lead wire plumbing and glued them in place. I will be using many smaller ones on the other plumbing lines as straps and connectors, which I think will look really good. I also have another surprise coming to complete some of the other plumbing lines which are multi-colored: Model Car spark plug wires with car hose clamps. I can hardly wait to get going! Edited November 3, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gervais8 Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 (edited) Awesome work on the Mustang. Can't wait to see it finished. RG Edited November 2, 2012 by Gervais8 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Scott R Wilson Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 (edited) Chuck, I so hate to have to tell you this. Wires in wire bundles in aircraft are never, ever twisted. The wires are run straight, parallel to each other. There is even a special tool called a wire comb for combing the strands out straight as you tie up the wire bundles. As a former avionics installer and avionics tech I can tell you the reason why is that if a wire is damaged enough that it must be replaced it would be near impossible to pull it out of the bundle if the wires were twisted together. Also occasionally a new wire must be installed for a modification or repair and having the wires parallel makes this a lot simpler. You just thread it through the ties and Adel clamps and pull it straight. Go back and look at the photos I posted and you'll see no twisting in the wire bundles. Other than that your wheel wells are looking spectacular. I can't wait to see what else you do with them. Good luck with the surgery, hope it isn't as bad as you've heard. Scott Edited November 3, 2012 by Scott R Wilson Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JohnS Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Good luck with the surgery, Chuck. Here's hoping you're recovery is really fast and you're back at the workbench soon. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted November 3, 2012 Author Share Posted November 3, 2012 (edited) Chuck, I so hate to have to tell you this. Wires in wire bundles in aircraft are never, ever twisted. The wires are run straight, parallel to each other. There is even a special tool called a wire comb for combing the strands out straight as you tie up the wire bundles. As a former avionics installer and avionics tech I can tell you the reason why is that if a wire is damaged enough that it must be replaced it would be near impossible to pull it out of the bundle if the wires were twisted together. Also occasionally a new wire must be installed for a modification or repair and having the wires parallel makes this a lot simpler. You just thread it through the ties and Adel clamps and pull it straight. Go back and look at the photos I posted and you'll see no twisting in the wire bundles. Other than that your wheel wells are looking spectacular. I can't wait to see what else you do with them. Good luck with the surgery, hope it isn't as bad as you've heard. Scott Maybe my "wire comb" was crooked? Well, there you go, another screw-up, but one I may have done anyway due to scale. As you know there are dozens of wires in this bundle, so how do you replicate this by keeping the diameter correct and the wires straight? Maybe 20 strands of human hair might work. I didn't like the gaps between the twisted wires because they looked too thick, so I applied CA glue to smooth things out, so maybe the "twisted look" won't be noticed as much. I have noticed, however, that in Brett Green's book and every other build of this kit I have seen, everybody else twisted their wires, so I'm in good company! :P As always Scott, chime in whenever you find something wrong, because we all learn something every time you do. Good luck with the surgery, Chuck. Here's hoping you're recovery is really fast and you're back at the workbench soon. Thanks John. Like any man, I'll probably be a bigger baby than necessary (according to my wife), but I WILL survive! Almost 3 years of a sinus infection is getting old, so it's time to get the "Roto Rooter" treatment. Edited November 3, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
PietertenNapel Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Hi chuck, I was checking the wheel bay and it seems to me that a lot of those pinmarks are under the ribs so i puttied only the big marks and leave the rest as it is. PtN Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Budman Posted November 3, 2012 Share Posted November 3, 2012 Hello my friend, It has been a while since I posted here but I have been watching!! Your work is, as always, way over the top. I am sure you will agree when I say it is really humbling to see so much imput by other modelers to help someone with their build. I hope they realize they are not only helping the build in question, but everyone following the build as well. My 'Stang is really being helped along not only by you (thanks), but by all of those helping you with research, pictures, drawings and so forth. Thank you so much guys. I have had a great deal of experience with sinus infections and I feel your pain. After 3 years I can't help but think that a little "down time" to fix the problem will be too bad. I surely hope not. Let us know how it goes and keep us informed! Bud Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted November 4, 2012 Share Posted November 4, 2012 All wiring and plumbing is with lead wire, which I'm trying for the first time. So far, I LOVE the stuff! It bends easily and conforms to any surface, unlike copper wire which can be tough to work with in tight spaces. Hi Chuck, Great info on using lead wire. This has always been a major pain in the A for me. Neither sprue nor copper was easy to work with, can't wait to try this stuff. Where do you get it? Good luck on the surgery, hope it goes well. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted November 4, 2012 Author Share Posted November 4, 2012 Hi Chuck, Great info on using lead wire. This has always been a major pain in the A for me. Neither sprue nor copper was easy to work with, can't wait to try this stuff. Where do you get it? John Hi John, You can get it at UMM for only $2.95/pack, so I bought 10 different sizes... Catalog is here: http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/index.php?cPath=21_102 I find that John Vojtech's service and shipping is excellent! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Hi John, You can get it at UMM for only $2.95/pack, so I bought 10 different sizes... Catalog is here: http://umm-usa.com/onlinestore/index.php?cPath=21_102 I find that John Vojtech's service and shipping is excellent! Thanks for the info. These builds of yours are great for numerous reasons. It's always fascinating watching such high level work but I also am learning so many new tricks. Only problem is going through a 50 page thread to track down the info after the fact. ARC needs to start a new pinned thread titled something like "Chuck's Cool Modeling Tips" or something similar and make it a repository for all of this info. Great work on the Mustang. I'm not a huge fan of the P-51 because it has been so overdone in the past but I am a fan of realistic NFM finishes (something I have struggled to recreate) and I am really looking forward to seeing how you approach this aspect of your build. John Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted November 5, 2012 Author Share Posted November 5, 2012 (edited) Great work on the Mustang. I'm not a huge fan of the P-51 because it has been so overdone in the past but I am a fan of realistic NFM finishes (something I have struggled to recreate) and I am really looking forward to seeing how you approach this aspect of your build. John Thanks John. I used to have trouble creating a good looking NMF too, so when I painted the rear titanium area of my last F-4E build, I did a lot of research. One big problem I had with Alclad was that it rubbed off easily and I had to be careful handling it with my greasy hands and using masking tape. That was until I read in the Tools n' Tips Forum about the merits of using a LACQUER base for the Alclad lacquer to stick to. Unlike an enamel base, which might craze due to the lacquer thinners within the Alclad paints, a lacquer undercoat is thinner and smoother than both enamels and acrylics, which is critical for a smooth metal look finish. Further, the Alclad bonds to the lacquer, so that you can handle it and use masking tape without fear of it rubbing or pulling off. Of course you should let it dry for about a week before you do, but after that it is tough as nails. This Mustang project will have a variety of aluminum, duraluminum, white aluminum, dark aluminum, gun metal, steel, stainless steel and even chrome to give a multi-shaded and weathered metal finish. This will require lots of masking of individual panels and a new trick I just learned to get that weathered look without without using a wash: Light sanding over a black undercoat. Here's my first experiment behind the engine area, where I used Krylon gloss black lacquer as a base, then I sprayed a combination of chrome and aluminum. After it dried for a day or two, I lightly sanded the finish with 2000 grit sandpaper, achieving a very smooth finish and some black "dirt" underneath. Since I will also be using some washes, I like to overdo the shiny look with a bit of chrome, because after weathering, things will dull up substantially. If I started with regular aluminum, by the time I'm finished getting the NMF weathered, things will likely look like ordinary grey paint rather than metal. For those areas on the wings that were puttied and painted, this dull look should look just right, but for other areas like the main fuselage that were bare metal, I want a slightly shiny look so that it screams real metal! :P I'll also be using salt as a mask on many panels, to get that mottled look that you could never replicate using free-hand air brushing. I really like how this turned out on the F-4E, so please excuse me as I post these pics again. I think I really nailed the look, which you rarely see on the rear of a Phantom model- if I do say so myself. Dang! As I look at these pics I really need to get back to building jets again.... Edited November 5, 2012 by chuck540z3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
flarpen Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Hi Chuck. I love your work, your attention to detail is second to none. I've started a Mustang build of my own (Tamiya 1/48) and i will be using this thread as referens. Hope your surgery goes well. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Chuck, Firstly I hope you are not bleeding too harshly. Do get well soon and be well. Secondly your build is absolutely AMAZING. Your detailed attention is exemplary and as I ADORE Mustangs. This has been a joy to follow. Those that try to emulate your build will be in awe of your brilliance. :wub: Bye for now. HOLMES Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tourist Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 It's always a pleasure to see this build. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dsahling Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Hi Chuck, I know this is a little off topic, but I know you did a 1/32nd F-14B a ways back with the grim reapers decals. I'm going to do a 1/32nd F-14D and cant seem to find the decals anywhere, I was hoping you might still have them with the low-viz aircraft number 165 still on them? Thanks Dan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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