Really great work you're doing, Ritchie. Scrambling up the scratchbuilding learning curve is what happens on every scratchbuild - they're all a different experience.
You'll be really proud of the final result, and rightly so.
Many thanks Ken. I'm actually happy that every scratchbuild is a different experience. I'm finding that new problems lead to new solutions and a more rewarding experience overall. Even if it can be hugely frustrating at times!
I have been pondering how to make the wheels, particularly the wheel covers all week.
I faffed about a good deal with experiments involving styrene circles, wire and deep fill car primer but results were not pretty to say the least.
After much experimentation I cut circles with my new toy (DSPIAE circle cutter) and made a sandwhich of 3 discs. The inner disc is 17mm and the outers 18mm, this enables the tyre to be seated on the wheel. The great thing about this tool is that you can cut concentric circles but you can also use it to mark the centre of a circle.
20230317_125131 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
The tyre is just a rubber O ring.
For the conical wheel covers I cut discs from 0.2mm styrene with the centre marked. I calculated the circumference of the discs, divided by 19 and marked segments round the edge.
20230317_125617 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
With the centre marked it is easy to drill a 0.5mm hole (the same width as my pencil lead) and mark out the 'spokes' all starting from dead centre. The spokes don't show through to the edge of the wheel cover so a limiting line was marked on each. If I knew where my compass was this would have been much simpler.
20230317_132414 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
Cutting out one slice gives a 36 spoke wheel (18 each side)
20230317_212541 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
Continuity errors are down to the photos being from many failed attempts.
The spokes are the embossed with a ball point pen. Using a steel ruler the wheel cover is gently folded along each line to give a conical shape. The edges are then CA'd together and the join reinforced with tissue paper soaked in more CA glue.
After gluing to the main wheel body, a shot of primer and matt black we have wheels.
20230318_142424 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
Work continues on the fuselage, the engine bearers were a little splayed so the nose is clamped in a vice until the araldite I glued a cross brace to goes off. Hopefully you can just about see the tiny brass punched rivets representing screw heads along the wood strip at the bottom of the fuselage. They should run around the outside of the lower surface too but I'm not entirely sure I can be bothered as they will never be seen. The tail fin is just sitting in place and will be glued once the serial number has been added.
20230318_145848 by
Richard Williams, on Flickr
That about sums it up, many hours spent but most of it on failed attempts to make wheel covers. For me at least that would seem to sum up scratchbuilding. Many hours of experimentation, many failed attempts and finally a useable part. I could just have used wheels from a WNW kit to vac form the wheel covers but that just would not have been as rewarding!
Many thanks for reading, hopefully a more significant update soon.
Richie
