Fokker D.V, Special Hobby 1/48; Update 21.12.20 Finished

[RAGIII]

Sorry to hear about the clear coat issue Frank. I am sure you will get it sorted out eventually. On the plus side the Struts are Amazing to say the least!
RAGIII

[lcarroll]

Frank,
   Alclad Clear Coat is a wonderful product .......... when it works! Unfortunately I finally abandoned it as it did the same on some occasions for me, remaining "tacky" far too long, in one case for 3 years! I really like their metal color paints but have eliminated their clear coats from my techniques. I've found that the Tamiya Clear Coat products seals and protects their metal colors very nicely.
Cheers,
Lance

[Rookie]

Although my experience is limited, I'd like to share what I did.

I used B502 Mr. Top Coat semi gloss spray(can) and it gave very good results.

I put the planes of the tail of the V/1500 in the spray booth en let it run for 15 minutes or so to get the dust out of the air. Than sprayed, and left the suction of the booth on for another 15 minutes.

The planes dried beautifully. Quick, with a nice smooth surface, and without fluff or dust particles.

Willem

[Bughunter]

Thank you Rick, Lance and Willem for your support!
I go back to my good old trusty MicroScale clear coats (never change a running system!).

Biplane

The landing gear was prepared yesterday and later painted



One Ikea drawer with a lot of prepared parts for a long mounting session.



A check reminds me that the steps are needs to be done before! The four steps (one spare) should be bend and glued in place. I don't like that because they can bend easily completely or break off.
So I drilled 0.3mm holes for a brass wire.



The wire was soldered from below, here in comparison to the real step. The steps was mounted to the fuselage structure.



All four prepared:



After drilling holes and cut the wires I could mount the steps in a safe way.



Then I glued all the prepared parts in place.



After final mounting of the engine I added also the cowling



I annealed lightly and prebend a 0.2mm Nickel-Silver wire and glued it around the cowling as securing rope.



The wings are prepared for the rigging session.



At first I mounted the upper wing, the side struts and lower wing.



Now it is a biplane!



I wanted to mount the landing gear too, but the last of the four pins do not war to go in his hole. With bigger force I broke the complete gear off.



So I have to remade the gear in metal. Thought about that earlier but refused the work ...

Cheers,
Frank

[lone modeller]

Such a shame that the plastic u/c did not want to fit into the holes. However I am sure that a metal gear will be stronger, and knowing your metal working skill, it will be more refined too. The remainder of the model is truly stunning.

Stephen.

[Radarman]

Frank,
Thanks for sharing the lessons you have learned along the way with this build. This is going to turn out great.
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                               Kevin

[RAGIII]

Such a shame that the plastic u/c did not want to fit into the holes. However I am sure that a metal gear will be stronger, and knowing your metal working skill, it will be more refined too. The remainder of the model is truly stunning.

Stephen.

I completely agree and don't have much to add other than the Steps are Awesome work!
RAGIII

[Monty]

Awesome progress... sorry about the undercarriage ... but I know you will get it right! Regards, Marc.

[Alexis]

Well now that just sucks about the undercarriage , your new ones will turn out better  She does look good Frank as a bi-plane 


Terri

[Borsos]

That, again, is a fantastic progress on this very special model!
There’s just one thing, I don’t understand: Why did you build and paint the kit‘s landing gear struts first and then break them by force just before rebuilding it from metal? Wouldn’t it have been easier not to use the kit‘s undecarriage struts at all and to use metal instead just from the beginning? The more I think about it — not breaking the plastic parts, wouldn’t this also have been a good idea? I am confused 

Andreas (not far away, but far enough not to be beaten up)

[kensar]

An unfortunate incident, but it happens. 

[Bughunter]

Thank you Stephen, Kevin, Rick, Marc, Terri, Andreas and Ken for your kind and supportive words!

However I am sure that a metal gear will be stronger, and knowing your metal working skill, it will be more refined too.

Hmm, my main method seems to be (again) "Improvement by accident". This first happened when I put the airbrush booth on the workbench to paint the landing gear of a Fokker E.III strip down. Where the hell is the landing gear? You guessed it, it was folded up under the airbrush booth!

Andreas (not far away, but far enough not to be beaten up)

By the way, I forgot to mention (and a picture) that I have done the control wires on the tail before. If you look at the pictures of the last update you may note them.

Cheers,
Frank

[Bughunter]

New legs

I had and idea and must check it immediately ...
2 x 3 holes in 0.8mm brass micro tubing and soldered 0.5mm brass rod pieces into.



Struts are 0.7mm brass, plugged on the rods and soldered. The new axle below was already scratched some updates ago.



After tinning lugged as test fit the little Fokker, looks nice I think!



Earlier today I put oils to the linen of the wheels, which I forgot to do earlier.



I'm happy, that my quick fix worked!

Cheers,
Frank
PS: The soldering iron is still hot

[Alexis]

Nice come back so far with the struts Frank , looking forward on seeing them finished and installed 


Terri

[Fvdm]

I love what you did with the steps, such small parts. Your metal u/c looks real good. I bet this won't break when you glue it in place