AIRLINER ENGINES

[alien]

I find construction of the engines the most difficult part of building an airliner.

Do you paint part or all of the engine before assembly? If so, how do you get rid of the seam when putting the two haves together? How do you stop from ruining the paint job?

If you paint afterwards, in what order do you paint and how do you mask it? I find it especially hard to mask the aluminum ring on the interior on the front part of the engine.

Your input would be greatly appreciated.

Stephen

[PMG Offramp]

Hi,

I usually separate the intake from the nacelle, at the fan location. Then I glue both intake halves, finish the seam, paint the intake, glue the fan, then glue this assembly on the remainder of the nacelle.

It's a lot of work and I'm certain someone will come up with a much easier solution that will make me feel sooo incredibly silly ;-))).

Actually, I often read modellers having good results painting the fan, covering it with masking solution, assembling the whole nacelle and fan, finishing the seams, painting the intake, then unmasking the fan.

Quite interested reading other techniques.

Steven

[TheFlyingDutchman]

When the inlet consists of two halves I simply assemble it all without paint to remove the seams inside. Afterwards, I airbrush the inside with a basic colour and then do the rest with fine brushes. I sometimes paint white decal paper in another greyish colour and use it to simulate the paneling inside the inlet that you see sometimes.

If you have a reasonably steady hand you really don't have to mask for the aluminium rings, unless you want to use paint that absolutely can't be hand painted, like Alclad. But since most airliners have a very dull aluminium colour on those rings you don't really have to.

[alien]

I appreciate the responses and thank all of those who replied (2 members). Are we the only three that build civilian aircraft and put together engines or does everybody agree with the replies. I am not trying to be rude, only would like to know how most of you assemble engines.

Thanks again

Stephen

[inScale]

Only two members answered but you got 241 views as of this posting. That tells me that no one has the perfect answer to your question (I don't) but they are still looking for it like I am. If you want a suggestion with some visual, there is a fellow modeler from Finland who posts on airlinercafe under the name "Slowmodeler". You will find him under the Galleries section. His work is outstanding. He might be a member of this forum.

As always "Happy modeling!!!!"

Edited December 4, 2014 by inScale

[FokkerFan]

Only two members answered but you got 241 views as of this posting. That tells me that no one has the perfect answer to your question (I don't) but they are still looking for it like I am. If you want a suggestion with some visual, there is a fellow modeler from Finland who posts on airlinercafe under the name "Slowmodeler". You will find him under the Galleries section. His work is outstanding. He might be a member of this forum.

As always "Happy modeling!!!!"

I think that the two options mentioned by The Flying Dutchman and PMG offramp are the only possible ways to do what is being asked. I can't think of any others at least.

Personally I use both techniques, depending on the size of the engine. For A320 engines and smaller I usually take the part in front of the fanblades of as working in the inside is rather difficult due to the size.

[alien]

Hi,

I usually separate the intake from the nacelle, at the fan location. Then I glue both intake halves, finish the seam, paint the intake, glue the fan, then glue this assembly on the remainder of the nacelle.

It's a lot of work and I'm certain someone will come up with a much easier solution that will make me feel sooo incredibly silly ;-))).

Actually, I often read modellers having good results painting the fan, covering it with masking solution, assembling the whole nacelle and fan, finishing the seams, painting the intake, then unmasking the fan.

Quite interested reading other techniques.

Steven

With what tool do you separate the intake from the nacelle? Do you loose much plastic in the seperation?

Stephen

[PMG Offramp]

With what tool do you separate the intake from the nacelle? Do you loose much plastic in the seperation?

Stephen

Stephen, I tried Tamiya's photoetch razor saws but I found them too flexible to my taste so now I'm using CMK saws which are less flexible but still very thin, like 0.15mm or so.

With the sanding of the mating surfaces, the loss of material comes to 0.5mm and here comes the 0.5mm thick plastic sheet, handy ;-)

The 0.5mm thick plastic sheet glued and shaped at the back of the intake.

The bottom of the intake still needs to be blended with the intake lip. I was originally interested in casting these in resin because the sight of repeating this work is... brrr...