Lloyd C.V 1/32 Scratch Build Project

[rhallinger]

Thanks for all of your helpful suggestions guys!  I appreciate it.  The vacbox lumber will be cut tomorrow and assembled by the end of the weekend.  I guess I'd better check my supply of Evergreen sheet styrene. 

Regards,

Bob

[rhallinger]

Since some of you asked, here are some pictures of the vac-u-box I have constructed to make the Lloyd fuselage from a wooden master.

This is the basic box (13" x 8" x 4") of 1/2" poplar, with a birch ply bottom:



A 1.5 inch hole was drilled in the side to accept a plastic plumbing fitting for the vacuum hose connection.  The top is birch ply with an opening cut out and the vacuum deck (a steel mesh grid taken from an old pet tank lid!) attached.  All parts of the box are screwed and glued.  Forgive the rough construction--carpentry is not my forte, and I'm in a hurry to get on with the model. 



The twin sheets with matching center openings below are the holder which sandwiches the sheet styrene for heating and forming.  The process is described well with photos in the Vac-U-Box link in an earlier post.



Finally, the brackets are shown with a piece of sheet styrene inserted, held firmly in place with wingnuts.



I figure that all of the materials cost me about $25.  A friend with a table saw helps, too!

All that's left is to test it out.  I hope it works.    Once I'm comfortable with the forming process I will proceed with the fuselage.   

Regards, helps

Bob

[Chris Johnson]

Lookin' forward to seeing that vac-u-box in action Bob.

Cheers,

Chris

[coyotemagic]

Outstanding work on the vac box, Bob.  I'm looking forward to seeing it in use.
Cheers,
Bud

[pepperman42]

Your vac box sucks.....tee hee .......good stuff and am watching for the first pulls!!!

Steve

[rhallinger]

Just a quick update in lieu of actual progress.

Since I've never done this before, I'm practicing with the vacbox using blank masters.  Steve, the vacbox didn't suck enough the first time, and I got an incompletely formed part.    Consulted an online tutorial and found out I didn't heat the plastic enough.  Made some modifications, cranked the oven to 425, let the plastic droop and man that baby sucked!  The second pull was great, except I elevated the part off the deck too far and left the vacuum cleaner on a bit too long, and the plastic wrapped underneath in spots!    No worries.  The tutorial advised against frustration, suggesting that 8 or 9 crummy pulls are not unusual when first learning.  That put things in perspective, and I think I'll have it figured out in a couple of more trys. I hope to actually mold the fuselage halves this weekend.  I have a good feeling about this.

I also now have all of the parts I need to assemble the airfoil jig for the wings.  Crawling forward! 

Regards,

Bob

 

[pepperman42]

Your trial and error is appreciated by all. Thanks for keeping us warned of the various traps in vacuforming. Glad your persevering

Steve

[Whiteknuckles]

Interesting update Bob, thanks and looking forward to your first 'good' product.

Andrew

[rhallinger]

For those among you wishing to learn more about home vacuforming materials and technique, I found this site to be very informative and helpful.  Good pictures too.  It's nice to see someone putting their kitchen to good non-culinary use. 

http://www.studiocreations.com/howto/vacuumforming/index.html

Still hoping to get the fuselage molded this weekend. 

Regards,

Bob

[GAJouette]

  Bob,
Now that's some outstanding craftsmanship my friend. As a long time vacuformer and builder of vac kit it's a joy to follow your progress. It's always great to see some old school modeling techniques in play. Looking forward to seeing your first pulls on the fuselage halves.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[rhallinger]

Here are the fuselage pulls from the vacuform, after several trial runs with plain wood blocks to get the hang of it:


IMG_5616 by rhallinger, on Flickr


IMG_5617 by rhallinger, on Flickr

The vacuforming went well.  Good thing, because my masters were destroyed in the process!    I guess the Krylon paint I used to seal the balsa must have melted and fused with the plastic during molding, and the masters would not release.  I ended up having to chisel the out , but the plastic shells look pretty good.  Basswood and auto primer next time. 

Here is what the inside of the moldings look like.  I'll have to scrape off the black paint residue to do the interior.


IMG_5618 by rhallinger, on Flickr

I'll cut these out and sand them flush tomorrow.  More pix to come.

Regards,

Bob

[coyotemagic]

Nicely done, Bob!  Those fuselage halves look fantastic.  Really looking forward to seeing what you do with them.
Cheers,
Bud

[pepperman42]

I would consider those a success. Too bad about the masters but another lesson learned. Thanx!!!

Steve

[Ronkootje]

I use Thin Ca glue to seal the wood, for the masters is use baswood it carfs and sands great! When you have complete your molds glue 2mm wood on both sides of the inside of the mold since you have to take in account the rounding off of the styreen when you are vacuforming.
When you sand this off to join the two half together the fuselage will be to small.

Ron

[rhallinger]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.  This is indeed a learning experience. 

Here are the fuselage halves cut out and sanded flush. I have opened the cockpit, but still have to do the engine compartment cover opening.


IMG_5619 by rhallinger, on Flickr

...and, of course, the obligatory and reflexive "test fit."    The haves mate fairly well without any tabs yet.  Still a little tweaking to do though.


IMG_5620 by rhallinger, on Flickr

Isn't it interesting how the scraped up black paint on the interior gives the cockpit a very busy look at this distance?  Complete illusion. 

Speaking of the cockpit, I can now begin that, among other things, and then there are the wings . . .another new adventure for me.    First though, I will finish up some detailing on the fuselage like scribing panel lines and nail heads.

I am relying on two primary build logs for the 1/48 Special Hobbies kit, since they have lots of protoype photos along with great detailed work and some techniques I can use to duplicate some unique parts of the Lloyd.  One site is the Aerodrome build by Wotek Fajtah, previously linked in this thread.  The other is at this link:

http://www.swannysmodels.com/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1335224480/0

Both build logs show lots of detail which will be helpful (and both are stunning and gorgeous builds!).  I noticed that many of the metal fittings, access covers and latches on the fuselage of the Lloyd look very similar to those used on Albatros fuselages, so I ordered a PE Albatros DIII set for those parts and some others which are pretty generic.

Gotta finish up the Pup for my daughter, so I may take a brief break from this one over the Thanksgiving holidays, with the family all home for a few days.  Blessings to you all.  Among the many things I am thankful for this year is this wonderful and enriching group of modelers who share so much knowledge and cameraderie.  Thank you all, and a special thanks to Des for getting it starting and making it possible.  Well done!

Regards,

Bob