I do fly at Bald mountain with Skymasters.Infact I was the CD for the event for the past few years.Where do you fly?The Bellanca is on the back burner while I work out some design issues with the Caudron C561.Then I will get back to it.Joe

Originally Posted by sarkantyu

I do fly at Bald mountain with Skymasters.Infact I was the CD for the event for the past few years.Where do you fly?The Bellanca is on the back burner while I work out some design issues with the Caudron C561.Then I will get back to it.Joe

I do most of my flying off a local ball diamond. Have been thinking of letting my Skymasters membership go, since I joined the Romeo Skyhawks, and have been flying there. Though it's a little further to drive, The Skyhawks have a very nice field.

Looking forward to the aluminum clad nose...
From time to time I must stop doing the swirls to insert an awl into the center of the brush to splay it out a little. This seems to help with the dark circles. Keeping the dremel perpendicular to the table is important as well. I'm thinking that the individual wires in the brush must be able to move as it turns. It may be, that the wires become fixed amongst themselves, not moving. This may be the cause of the dark circles. Then again, I'm just guessing.

It could be that the wire ends become sharp or irregular with use. I ran the brush on 600 grit emery paper in a circular motion, tilting the dremel from side to side. A portion of the sheet was re-sanded. The line above the thumb is after the 600 grit dressing. We may have found the trick.

Have you tried a pencil eraser? Chock a pencil in an electric drill eraser side down and you can make swirls that way. A drill press is great if you have access to one. I have also glued small swatches of Scotchbrite pads to the end of a dowel with epoxy and had decent results.
-Scott

Originally Posted by skcope

Have you tried a pencil eraser? Chock a pencil in an electric drill eraser side down and you can make swirls that way. A drill press is great if you have access to one. I have also glued small swatches of Scotchbrite pads to the end of a dowel with epoxy and had decent results.
-Scott

Perhaps I should look into getting a press stand for the dremel. I really like the look the brush makes when it is working right. If I change tooling in mid stream, the result may not match up with the cowl.

This one isn't so bad...

That panel looks good! I'm sure in reality, the real Spirit of St. Louis had some irregularities in the swirl pattern. I believe the burnishing of the cowl was done with the cowl in place on the aircraft to hide dents and tool marks. Undoubtedly it wasn't perfect. Yours looks very authentic!
-Scott

Thanks Scott, In the Jimmy Stewart film, during the manufacturing scene, a worker is seen on a drill press doing the "engine turning" on a sheet of aluminum. The process intending to conceal irregularities. No doubt, the sheet had to be hammered in places.

Must let the dremel cool off... lots of other things to do.

Photo is showing a fair amount of erm... building/covering issues.

Since there is no hurry, I'm going to keep on making these skins, I need 6 all together. Just keep making them until there are 6 good ones, they don't take that long, really....

...

Originally Posted by Bare

Photo is showing a fair amount of erm... building/covering issues.

Feedback is always useful, but it is only of any value if it is specific.
How about a little explanation Bare!

Finish fitting uc support struts...