Thanks John.... Your F-16 is really looking sweet. Look forward to seeing Hans play with that puppy.

Quick update......

On Monday I ordered a new rapid set plastic resin to make my radial engines with. I gallon for $57 shipped! So quite inexpensive. It says that I have a two minute handling time and a demold of fifteen minutes. This should be fun!

So I mixed up 50/50 part A and B and stirred for 30 seconds. Into the mold that was sitting in the pressure chamber. Lock down the lid and apply 20 PSI. Total time 1:30 min. Picked up the remaining resin in the mixing cup and getting quite hot. 3 mins and the mixing pot was rock hard and beginning to cool down. Gave it ten minutes then cracked to pot. Out popped a perfect radial engine in a total time of twelve minutes. Holy cow Batman!!. I made another five engines in an hour one after the other. I could go into production at this rate and the weight is only 48 grams so nice and light. It used to take 8 hrs plus with the older resin.

Also made up the engine firewall and front gear mount assembly and installed in to the fuselage. I made a set of templates to make future builds fast and easy. It takes a long time of fiddling and fitting for the first assembly. I made a total of three before getting it to fit perfect. With custom composites you have to think of servicing with ease. So everything is thought out ten steps ahead and you still screw things up. I can now easily service motor, ESC, servo steering and mechanism and adjust and or replace and remove retract unit.

Nice!!! You would probably make good money if you did produce these as I'm sure many would buy them...to include me

Originally Posted by acesimmer

Quick update......

On Monday I ordered a new rapid set plastic resin to make my radial engines with. I gallon for $57 shipped! So quite inexpensive. It says that I have a two minute handling time and a demold of fifteen minutes. This should be fun!

So I mixed up 50/50 part A and B and stirred for 30 seconds. Into the mold that was sitting in the pressure chamber. Lock down the lid and apply 20 PSI. Total time 1:30 min. Picked up the remaining resin in the mixing cup and getting quite hot. 3 mins and the mixing pot was rock hard and beginning to cool down. Gave it ten minutes then cracked to pot. Out popped a perfect radial engine in a total time of twelve minutes. Holy cow Batman!!. I made another five engines in an hour one after the other. I could go into production at this rate and the weight is only 48 grams so nice and light. It used to take 8 hrs plus with the older resin.

Also made up the engine firewall and front gear mount assembly and installed in to the fuselage. I made a set of templates to make future builds fast and easy. It takes a long time of fiddling and fitting for the first assembly. I made a total of three before getting it to fit perfect. With custom composites you have to think of servicing with ease. So everything is thought out ten steps ahead and you still screw things up. I can now easily service motor, ESC, servo steering and mechanism and adjust and or replace and remove retract unit.

Where did you get the molds from? Or if you made them, how did you do it?
It looks great


Cheers

Originally Posted by acesimmer

So I mixed up 50/50 part A and B and stirred for 30 seconds. Into the mold that was sitting in the pressure chamber. Lock down the lid and apply 20 PSI. Total time 1:30 min. Picked up the remaining resin in the mixing cup and getting quite hot. 3 mins and the mixing pot was rock hard and beginning to cool down. Gave it ten minutes then cracked to pot. Out popped a perfect radial engine in a total time of twelve minutes. Holy cow Batman!!. I made another five engines in an hour one after the other. I could go into production at this rate and the weight is only 48 grams so nice and light. It used to take 8 hrs plus with the older resin.

Some folks will brush aluminum powder into the mold and cast the PU behind to get more of a metal finish straight out of the mold. The engine can be weathered and detailed from there. Nice work!

Aluminium Bangles (4 min 49 sec)

Mold Making and Casting: Cold Casting resin with metal powders (11 min 25 sec)

You continue to amaze us Ace!

J

Troy...... Yes I also do this on some of my own models. However, some people want new looking engines to suit whatever scale detail they are planning. Powders can be used post production then flat Krylon applied to protect the finish.

John.... Thanks much. I guess we keep amazing each other!.

No pics just yet. I'm in the middle of installing the rear stab and elevators. I have it all figured on the prototype frame. I'm doing internal elevator controls so had to cut up the test proto model to figure it all out due to the way my stab slides in.


I have also been taking breaks and hand making a crap load of instrument gauges for the instrument panels. I have them in the pressure pot has I write this. Once the mold is made I can then cast multiple sets then use them to make a fairly decent looking scale panel. Once that is detailed up I'll cast the final mold and presto! panels every fifteen minutes.

Very cold day today so no layups. However, I did get my rear horizontal stab sorted ready to install tomorrow.

I had to cobble together a torsion arm for the elevator controls. I had run out of stock and had to place a big order this morning. It looks horrid but it works well and very solid. Good job its hidden inside the fuselage.

I've been casting engines and instrument gauges all day between fitting the rear tail. Just have to select the layout to use. I will need two different sets. One for the pilots office and then the RIO in the cheap seats. When I have test flown and have more time I'll make a set of side panels with all the goodies ready to go from the mold.

Tomorrow my friend is coming over and I'll teach him how to layup his kit. This way he can have pride in ownership. So the next few days will be laying up a complete model set. Finishing the instrument panels and more work on the fuse between wait times for resin to stiffen.

BTW.... ignore the red smears. Thats just my blood from another of many daily puncture wounds. Who said modeling was a safe hobby?

A kit isn't truly finished unless you've drawn blood at least once.

Your T-28 is really looking great.

X-acto blades, scalpels, scroll saws, band saws, soldering irons, drills, hot wire cutters, etc. We should get hazardous duty pay! Who said this was a safe hobby? I hurt myself all the time, keep plenty of Bandaids in the shop, if nothing else there are always paper towels and masking tape. It's really looking good Ace, love all that detail.

J

you forgot the all important Dremel tool. LOL.

Now that my wounds have healed up I can continue.... Finished the instrument mold and made a couple of test panels. The fit is nice and they look quite good. Currently laying out the dial graphics which are a pain to align. The dials shown in the pic are not what I'll be using and do not aligned. The dials will be printed on hires photo paper then laminated to the back of the panel. Then I drop a couple of blobs of super crystal clear resin over them to simulate glass and they should also magnify slightly for a better look.

Yesterday, I did a weight and balance check of the assembled airframe with all the components dry placed to get the locations for good CG. Total weight with batts ready to fly is 7lbs. I need to trim off a couple of ounces from the tail feathers on the next builds. This can easily be done has I built the model strong and heavy while experimenting with structures etc. I should easily drop half 1/4 lb off the rear from canopy rearwards.

Was shooting to do the test flight this week but my radio had to be sent in for service. Myself and my bud are planning on going out to the dry lake next week if weather permits. We plan on flying the first couple of trim flights as is. Then switch from 4 to 5 S battery. Then a couple more flights then begin adding weight until she flies no more. I need to know the exact max load it can take for future scale details. I have flown the original of this bird at 8 lbs plus with great results. That model had two GI Joe pilots with moving heads plus a sound system along with metal sprung oleo's and heavy wheels and tires. The motor in this test model is 100 KV larger so should have more power.

Enjoy..........

the dash looks incredible.

Yep, I like it!

J

Thanks guys.... Its a lot of extra work to make molds and stuff for engines, panels etc. However, what gives me the most satisfaction is when all the little detail bits come together and gives a model the realism of the real thing. The panel looks so nice that I'm going to make the side panel molds to fit along the avionics ledge where all the flight systems go.

Now does anyone have a real nice link to the EF Euro fighter Typhoon plans. I have a set but having problems getting them printed for an exact scale 6 ft model. I specifically need the wing root airfoil shape as my plans do not show that clear enough to use. The T-28 project will be finished except for the wing in a couple of weeks so need to move on. I want a nice Typhoon to compete along with John M in Vegas this year.