Although I haven't been able to spend the kind of time that I would like on the P-40 project lately, I do try to take a couple of minutes each day to make a little headway. It's slow going, but I'm closer than I've ever been! lol

Bored today.

How To Apply a Fiberglass Finish To Your Scale RC Airplane (7 min 45 sec)

The work on panel lines has begun. Warning - if you are not a patient individual then this is not a technique for you to try on a wing that you've just made nice and shiny
Better to tape off 5 or 10 linear feet on scrap board stock to develop your technique first.
Epoxy is thinned to 50% with Methyl Hydrate (denatured alcohol)
Microballoons are suspended in thinned epoxy
150, 220, 400, 600, 1500 grits with a block (1"X3/4"X3/8")

Why thin and then add microballoons?
The thinning is so that the epoxy lays down like water. This will make it easier blend towards the inside of the panel. The microballoons will migrate toward the edge of the tape as the surface tension in the curing epoxy causes it to hump up and over the edge of the tape. Because the epoxy has been thinned, you must continue stir the microballoons into the epoxy as you dip your brush into the mixture. The microballoons tend to fall out of suspension and float to the surface much more quickly with the reduced viscosity. Apply initially with the wing laying flat and then after about an hour of a 6hr cure lift the wing up and allow gravity to help the microballoons migrate over the tape edge. (you can see some of this effect in the pics but I actually fell asleep and waited too long this time - just more care required when blending later)

Good pictures are difficult because of the glare, and there is still some work to be done on this seam but hopefully some of the effect can be seen.
How long will this take you? I spent 5hrs sanding along this length of seam for a quick picture.

Is it worth it? In a word - YES, so please no insults about my sanity. I know I have issues. lol

...just a few quick pics of progress on the panel lines tonight - still some work to be done on these ones, but I wanted to make sure that I get regular pictures.

A wing or fuselage that turns out good and flat, and shiny is something to behold to be certain, and other craftsmen will often comment because they have a respect for the amount of work that went into it. But once you start adding panel lines and that perfect form becomes interesting, well then to me it becomes something else. This is where regular Joe's begin to stare and they aren't really sure why. There's just something about giving the eye something to bounce around on.

This brings up a question that I often ponder on whilst sanding away in my own little zone...is this art? What do you think Ladies and Gentlemen? Not my work in particular but is what we do art? I really don't have an answer - I guess that's what keeps me asking it. My gut feeling is that once you start detailing a machine that is capable of flying without any of the drama that we cross a line. I really don't know and art is not something that I can say I've studied formally. What do you think? To be honest I kinda think that artists might be a little offended by my query - oh well!

Panel Lines - End Round One

I know that at first glance this can look a little ugly but these are not intended to be the typical chart tape and built-up primer panel lines. There are many planes that I might still take that approach with, but a 1940's P-40 is not one of them.

There's a little bit of artistic license to this, in that the roughly blended leading edge of the seam falls off abruptly into a crisp clean trailing edge where it met the tape. This makes it difficult to focus the eye in the detail and so it moves quickly down the seam and finally falls into the flat centre of the panel. It's actually not overly realistic if you take a good look at the real thing, but this is a model that is viewed from several feet away and so I find that impression is more important than a perfectly scale detail that wouldn't be seen anyway. Perceived realism if you like. It takes some effort, but I can almost guarantee that you'll be the only one at the field with anything like it. Flite Metal or other foil approaches are good too, but I like the look of this for some reason. And hey - so far it's probably cost me about $3 in finishing epoxy and sandpaper - that always make me smile.

Beautiful work.

Thanks - always good to hear someone's still following along with all of my blathering. lol
Nice handle. I'm surprised that wasn't censored.

Gun bay access panels this week.

One of the things that I was taught to respect at an early age, was the legacy of character to be found behind the flying machines that we are captivated by, but are unfortunately all too often overlooked. With this in mind, I've decided to share the following, as it was inspired as a result of my present modeling project. If you are not familiar with the story of Major George E. Preddy I would urge you to quickly google his name a few times because I believe that the story he left behind is worthy of recognition of leading by example.

Tarheel's Lament

This is who I am.
You say that I'm alone.
But all the words that live with me
are voices in my home.

I see through someone else's eyes
who sits upon a hill.
He watches over all of you,
with only time to kill.

He sees you rushing to and fro
in your effort to keep up.
A valiant struggle made in vain.
So tragic you're tied up.

The ropes are made of fear and greed.
It's no longer about the things we need.
Your fathers won that long before
so that you would have no need for war.

But you deserve to have the things
they tell you that you want.
Self-righteous indignation
now fuels their evil plot.

I wonder what the ghosts would say
of those who gave their lives.
To see you sell your freedom
for a burger and some fries.

And now you see I'm not alone.
Their ghosts now live with me.
Sitting on a hilltop;
Words, Ghosts, and Me.

- b1heqh54

...back to sanding...

My apologies to all of my modelling friends out there who’ve been thoughtful enough to enquire as the status of my P-40 project over the course of the last 6 months or so. Not to worry – b1heqh54 is back with a vengeance! Lol Anyone who’s been at this longer than a season or two will be well aware that at times, life sometimes requires a shift in focus that will put a build project on the back burner. But the lesson for the younger folks is that this not the end of the road, but merely an opportunity to work on your persistence skills!

It would seem that old Father Time came by to collect a few debts for the thirty years that I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid most of the limitations often associated with my physical disability. Luckily, this hobby is a place where I’ve made many friends over the years with others whose challenges are far greater than mine, and so I’ve been blessed with yet another treasure that our hobby has to offer. Well, enough said there.

As one gets older, one’s world gets smaller. And so, it was that life necessitated a change in setting. Now without a work area, we have a great opportunity to demonstrate that a wing mould can be built in the space between your recliner and the blathering boob tube! So no more excuses! lol

Before I post a few pics of my progress with applying panel lines to the underside of the wing, I need to take care of a little business. On hearing of my change in scenery, a dear friend stopped by unannounced not long ago to wish old Slow & Low well. With her, she brought along a bag of unused sandpaper left behind by a dear friend who recently passed on. So, now armed again with sheet abrasive of varying grits, the build continues. Her only request was that I set her computer up so that she could watch along. How sweet is that! Not one for charity, I can only offer heart felt and humble words in exchange. This one’s for you Lizzy, I hope you enjoy following along with Ted and I.

An angel crossed my path today.
An open heart: she couldn't stay.
Down a staircase, she came to me.
She brought me hope I couldn't see.

Her beauty was light; clean and true.
I hope she never comes to you.
Not because you don't deserve her love.
But what came first. The push; the shove.

If ever you should live in a hole,
Where the sun won't shine on your tired soul.
Put pride aside and hold up your cup.
The clouds will part if you just look up.

And now for some pics….I’ll apologize in advance for the blur…better next time.

Underside of wing is coming along. As is always good advice in a build project; when you do something to one side, you should immediately move to the other side. This will keep things symmetrical and balanced. So I mark one line on one side and then the next line on the opposing side while the scaled measurement is still in front of me. All measurements are scaled relative to a detailed three view drawing. After that, I finish one side of the wing, and then the other. If you get too much unsanded epoxy in front of you, it can become intimidating and you will unconsciously begin to rush toward the end - this is not a good state of mind to achieve your best; hence finish sanding one side and then starting the other. This, for me, leads to an internal competition. I find myself trying to make the second side better than the first, and then sometimes it'll force me back to the first side - and so on, and so on....LOL Coming along though.

...just some quick pics to document progress...
the laser level is how I got the nice curves across the bellypan - in fact the panels were cut curved to form straight seams when applied, but I liked the look and so I allowed myself a little secret....lol

I promised some reference pics a while back. Here are a few that I'm using to detail the wing. Please don't use them to critique my work - I've looked at each of them in great detail, many, many times, and some of them are not even of an E model. Interest only.

Panel ends are done with resin that has been thinned down considerably. I've found over time that this gives depth next to the more pronounced spanwise seams. Coming along....

Cosmo Kramer said it was all about levels: I say it's all about layers. Access hatches, and landing light bezel today.