Hobbycraft Spad XIII- wing fit issues.

[Ernie]

Very nice work on the cockpit area, Dal.  The instrument panel is
first-rate. You're making great progress on the SPAD.  I look forward
to the next updates.

Cheers,
Ernie

[IFF1418]

Hello Dal,

This is a typical Dal interior, so nicely done. Your bracing wires are magnificent as is the instrument panel. This will be another great build to follow!

Kind regards
Patrick

[Dal Gavan]

Happy Saturday, everyone.

Thanks for the kind words.  Up to now there haven't been any real problems.  And the cockpit opening is big enough to llow the instrument deck and panel to be easily seen, so it needed a bit of dressing up.  It's come out pretty well, so far.

But the fit of the bottom wing was another matter.  As moulded, the rear wing-to-fuselage joint is a shocker.  The wing sits nearly 0.5mm too low and the sand it down to fit would mean losing a lot of detail.  So what I did was to shim the rear of the lower wing with strips of 0.5mm styrene, to lift the rear of the bottom wing up to match the fuselage contour.  I also shimmed the bottom of the fuselage where it meets the top of the lower wing, to close the gap caused by the other shims.  A bit of sanding is needed to get everything sitting correctly, but in all it took less than 1/2 and hour.









There's some small gaps to fill but things look a lot tidier than they did.  The red circle shows that the bottom wing now sits level with the bottom of the fuselage.  Being lazy and averse to sanding, I'm happy this worked. 



Cheers.

Dal.

[IFF1418]

Hi Dal,

Now this is an outstanding correction you made. I'm beginning to see that styrene is quite indispensable for modeling work. You did a great job here Dal. Congratulations.

Kind regards
Patrick

[Ernie]

Nice fix, Dal.  I'm a great believer in styrene shims...they save a ton of filling and
sanding...not one of my favourite pass-times.
 I look forward to more on your build.  Good stuff!

Cheers,
Ernie

[RAGIII]

That was a terrific correction! That being said I just looked at my very old build of the Hobbycraft kit and everytjing was fine . Actually better than my norm. I don't remember any difficulties in the fit or correcting and sanding. Could it be the Molds have deteriated over the years?
RAGIII

[ALBATROS1234]

oddly enuff i dont remember any wing issues either, i have to check later, plus i have aonther i got in the stash unbiuilt

[davecww1]

Strange, I also built one of these a few months ago and had a nicely fitting lowe wing that needed no filler or shims.  Just goes to show, plastic being plastic you may have gotten one that warped or coolde differently when they pulled it out of the mold.
Dave

[Dal Gavan]

G'day.

Just back from a trip up to the Snowy Mountains (Berridale), to visit a mate and saw your responses.

Rags, Dave and Scott, the wing didn't look badly moulded, warped nor short-shot.  In fact there's been very little flash and the detail on the parts has been nice and crisp.  But as you can see, that join would have given a fairly nasty step without the shims.

Perhaps the wing and fuselage were at opposite ends of the tolerances you can get in injection moulder kits? 

Cheers.

Dal.   

PS  Patrick, styrene strip, rod and card in various thicknesses is a must, mate.  You'll be surprised at how many taks you use it for.  And as Ernie says, using it to make shims so you can fill gaps saves a lot of work.

[Des]

Very nicely rectified Dal, I'm now looking forward to seeing your next update.

Des.