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Haonn wrote:A whole decimeter! thats not good.

Not as bad as you might suspect, you can see I lengthened the aft hull about 6 centimeters and since the aft sheathing is not installed cutting out the midsection would be easiest. the final layer of sheathing and the armour will stiffen the structure once I am satisfied with the length.

But right now I have a kitchen remodeling project that requires doing.

Whew! had me worried for a minute!

Def Follow, watched Lucy on other forum and was wowed. Interested to see retractable landing pads. Will def emulate.

Hope the kitchen remodel went well.... I am looking forward to more progress on the THawk.

Looks like it is coming along nicely.

Whew, after a month of convalescing I'm back and finally feel like building models again. I don't recommend spending three weeks in a hospital.

Anyhow here is my first days labor on my long neglected project. I've decided to install the armour as I proceed back to the unfinished stern section. This is probably a mistake but I believe the hull is too long so once the armour in the front is done I'll be better able to trust my eye than actual measurements. As per usual I shall be doing this the hard way. No wonder I have ulcers.

Good to have you back, nice armour plating you got there.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Good to have you back, nice armour plating you got there.

Thanks,

It might be noted that there is a certain logic to how the armour size, angles and placement of the projected lines conforms perfectly to the dimensions and the placement of the cockpit, canard planes, and lateral line of the hull. This is no accident and is why the 3D rendering I'm working from seems so esthetically pleasing in form compared to the blocky FW offering which I feel was a compromise to produce a vehicle that would not be prohibitively expensive because of size. Of course you may feel as I do that $650 bucks is a hell of a lot of money for a chunk of resin and is one of the reasons I'm attempting this project.

Following this I amended the nose armour to a more satisfactory width now that I see how it related to the armour forward of the cockpit. This uncompromising attention served me in good stead in the building of 'Lucie' and I hope will allow me to achieve a similar result in this model.

Yesterday's amended work:

awesome work!!!
i have a FW 1 sitting downstairs awaiting my attention, you really need to start banging out the moulds so evryone can bask in your genius

Wow, that's looking awesome so far! Subscribed!

shakey787 wrote:awesome work!!!
i have a FW 1 sitting downstairs awaiting my attention, you really need to start banging out the moulds so evryone can bask in your genius

Genius, I think not! Witness the side by side comparison to see wherein the flaws lie.

Strangely I had forgotten I made this enlarged image on my photo editor to plot coordinating intersections (Some genius.). The actual model superimposes rather well on the 3D image with the exception of the most recent work which will be rectified. It appears that 6.0 mm is the proper thickness for the front cargo door and the aligning recesses in the side armour. The image has a two pixel margin of error due to the fuzziness of the enlargement. I can live with that.

BTW, What's a FW 1?

Regarding banging out moulds; there are certain copyright laws that must be considered. Making a scratch model for myself, (Er read my son,) is perfectly permissible. Posting a: 'how to', 'this is how I did it', 'materials', 'how I use tools demo', and 'work in progress' threads also marginally permissible; but distributing templates, plans, and god forbid selling moulds and models are definitely a no-no and so are subject to fines and legal action and I will not embark on such a venture. Please do not ask. I feel badly that I cannot and will not comply.

Besides the labor involved would make the cost prohibitive. Would anyone in their right mind be willing to pay thousands for a scratch built model???? That is what I would have to charge to make it worth my while. Plus I hate doing things twice.

Corrected a few mistakes and then added some armour. This ugly beast is starting to grow on me. I can't wait to start on the wings and engines.

The_Blackadder wrote:Corrected a few mistakes and then added some armour. This ugly beast is starting to grow on me. I can't wait to start on the wings and engines.

I guess "ugly" is a relative thing...

The_Blackadder wrote:

shakey787 wrote:awesome work!!!
i have a FW 1 sitting downstairs awaiting my attention, you really need to start banging out the moulds so evryone can bask in your genius

Genius, I think not! Witness the side by side comparison to see wherein the flaws lie.

Strangely I had forgotten I made this enlarged image on my photo editor to plot coordinating intersections (Some genius.). The actual model superimposes rather well on the 3D image with the exception of the most recent work which will be rectified. It appears that 6.0 mm is the proper thickness for the front cargo door and the aligning recesses in the side armour. The image has a two pixel margin of error due to the fuzziness of the enlargement. I can live with that.

BTW, What's a FW 1?

Regarding banging out moulds; there are certain copyright laws that must be considered. Making a scratch model for myself, (Er read my son,) is perfectly permissible. Posting a: 'how to', 'this is how I did it', 'materials', 'how I use tools demo', and 'work in progress' threads also marginally permissible; but distributing templates, plans, and god forbid selling moulds and models are definitely a no-no and so are subject to fines and legal action and I will not embark on such a venture. Please do not ask. I feel badly that I cannot and will not comply.

Besides the labor involved would make the cost prohibitive. Would anyone in their right mind be willing to pay thousands for a scratch built model???? That is what I would have to charge to make it worth my while. Plus I hate doing things twice.

Ah all very good points
FW 1 = Forge world one

"FW 1 = Forge world one"

Well Duh!............ I meant, "What is a 'Forge World One'?" It doesn't come up on google.

This reminds me of an incident I experienced when I was in Paris. I stopped in at a sidewalk Bistro (incidentally Russian for 'quickly'.**) When the waiter arrived I queried in my American secondary schooling French, "Quelle est la Potage du jour?"

He replied dryly, "It's the soup of the day."

**When the Russian soldiers were in Paris at the end of the Napoleonic war they were impatient with the slow service in the sidewalk restaurants so they would shout "Bistro, Bistro!" Special restaurants were created to serve the impatient Russes. It's one of the few occasions of the French actually adopted a foreign word into their language (That I can recall anyway.)

Now for the entrée; I was wondering how to do the intricate double layered top of the hull armour without a seam in the finished skin. Part of the beauty of the 3D rendering is that seamless broad expanse of armour with all the cutouts in the edge and compound angles and vent fan cutout, set. Cutting this piece out of 2.5 mm styrene would be very difficult to get perfectly straight cuts and 90° vertical edges.



My solution (if it works) is to make the substrate of 1.5 mm sheeting with 6.3 X 1.5 mm edging strips using all together 5 pieces and then after all is cut out in the substrate tracing the pattern onto the 1.0 mm single piece top armour plate. Then cutting out the square vent fan hatch in the 1.5 mm sheet and the edge cutouts will be easy. Then gluing the top and substrate together and gluing the whole assembly to the top of the hull should give me the complex piece I want without the seams and knife nicked edges. (I hope)

WOW! Great thread! Glad I found it!

Loving the level of detail you're planning. So many get made with flat, smooth sides. Projects like yours are always inspirational!

subbed!

lol soz i meant a FW thunderhawk

shakey787 wrote:lol soz i meant a FW thunderhawk

Kee-rist It's a wonder I can walk and chew gum at the same time!



Would you believe I had to look up 'soz' maybe that's why I don't chew gum.

This is looking extremely cool, Mr B. I Loved Lucie and am getting the same buzz from watching this come together.

FWIW, I always assumed the T-hawk carried a Rhino in its nose - I mean, the side-on view is a pretty good match.

I know you said you hated doing things twice but ... any chance at all of doing a T-hawk transporter once this is done?

Necroagogo wrote:This is looking extremely cool, Mr B. I Loved Lucie and am getting the same buzz from watching this come together.

FWIW, I always assumed the T-hawk carried a Rhino in its nose - I mean, the side-on view is a pretty good match.

I know you said you hated doing things twice but ... any chance at all of doing a T-hawk transporter once this is done?

Wow a T-hawk transporter! How big would that have to be???

Just kidding.

But I do have that Warlord Titan to do as well.

Wow this is getting complex! how long has this project taken so far?

I started it at the end of May, 2011 and I lost a month and a half due to an unplanned illness so I'd say about six weeks of sporadic building interspersed with remodeling a kitchen and moving into my new digs.

Wow, thats quite a construction schedual.

The_Blackadder wrote:

shakey787 wrote:lol soz i meant a FW thunderhawk

Kee-rist It's a wonder I can walk and chew gum at the same time!



Would you believe I had to look up 'soz' maybe that's why I don't chew gum.

lol my fault for using slang

There is a lot of confusion as to what I am trying to achieve regarding the top armour plating.

Well it's clear as mud to me and I wrote it. The thing is there are two layers to the armour; a 1.5 mm thick layer I call the substrate i.e. that which lies beneath the top layer and the 1.0 mm thick top sheet that I call the top layer. I want the top layer to be in one piece so I cut the substrate layer out of 5 pieces of 1.5 mm thick sheet styrene to be exactly the size of the top of the hull. Then I cut out the 1.0 mm armour sheet's side notches and the center opening for the fans because the 1.0 mm styrene is easier to cut exactly. Then I glued the five substrate pieces to the top armour sheet to make the requisite thickness of 2.5 mm. Now all that is left is to trim the remaining edges of the top sheet to the exact size of the completed substrate that is glued to the back of the 1.0 mm top sheet.

Mebe I should take a picture?

It's hard to describe the procedure but suffice it to say here is the result.


The underside of the 1.0 mm top armour with the two 1.5 mm edge pieces installed and the three pieces of the base armour.


The topside of the 1.0 mm top armour showing the end of the edge pieces.


The assembled top and base armour 2.5 mm thick with detail cutouts and edges dressed.


Top view of the armour assembly.


Edge on view of the top armour assembly.

--
E. Blackadder

Talk about dedication... Splendid as usual!

I think I see where you're going here, and it's looking great!

The moment of truth, does it fit?


Seems like a good fit but too much flash.


Less flash more detail.


The front edge needs trimming.

--
E. Blackadder

Not much to show for yesterday's work. The secondary layer of armour is attached, the cut outs on the side 90° corners have been dressed out with file and knife and sanded clean with fine sandpaper and file so the seams barely show. This is a downfall of many of the scratch built models I see, that the corners are not clean and crisp. No amount of greenstuff or filler will give that precise intersection and it is relatively easy to achieve with the proper knife and a good clean new 'single cut file'. I use a 'Nicholson' single cut with a coarse side and a fine side that also has one of the edges capable of cutting for a nice crisp interior 90° angle cut. Invest in a file card wire cleaner and clean your file regularly to keep the file teeth from clogging.

In all, the whole of the secondary armour is out of true by less than a quarter of a millimeter which is satisfactory to me and once it is rounded in the finally dressing that discrepancy will blend in I'm sure.


The right side is the master side I do all the planning on. Always use the same side for sketching and fitting pieces and don't shift your on model plan lines from right to left sides if you can help it or you will build in discrepancies that will make your work look lopsided.


The left side pieces I cut using the right side pieces for a guide making allowances for penciled or scribed lines and dressing the two pieces to insure they precisely match one another. It's easier to do this before thy are glued on than trying to correct them after they are installed.


The front view appears satisfactorily symmetrical.

Now for the front cargo door.

--
E. Blackadder

Your attention to detail is has always amazed me. I, for one, would like to know how you do the comparison of the actual model with the pictures, as it looks darn useful for those who want to build in the little details that make or break most scratch-builds. Would it be possible to do a mini-tutorial on that process?