Before I can do an cladding, I have to have an airframe to put it on. Last night I began creating some very high quality saw dust and shavings, and at the end I hope to have a high quality master to vacuform my fuselage halves from. Here's a brief step by step on how I whack out a master.

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This is where it starts. A 5 x 5 x 19 inch hunk of Renshape. Somewhere in there is a Fuselage. It's my job to find it.

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First thing I do is rough cut the blank to general dimensions of width, hieght and length,leaving about 1/4 inch extra all the way around. I use my table saw for this, cutting a little more than halfway through on the first pass, flipping it over and parting it on the second. Normally I would have a featherboard and ripstop in place for safety, but this stuff cuts like a hot knife through butter. I used a piece of scrap and tried to force a kickback, and all it did was cut a wider kerf.

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This is the results. The block on the right will be the Fuselage, the scrap on the left will become another project some day.

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Here the laying out is started. I made extra copies of my drawings for the single purpose of cutting them apart to use as patterns. Here I have the side view stuck on with two sided tape. I have reference lines squared off and drawn on the block to have a constant starting point. Because my drawings did not have a top view, I had to map them out by hand. I drew a centerline down the top, from front to rear. I then measure off the bulkhead stations from my drawings and marked those points on the line. I then measured the widths of the bulkhead from the plans, and drew them with a square at each bulkhead station. After I connected them with lines to mark the outside, and presto.. my top profile.

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Off to the bandsaw. I cut off the bottom first, keeping my blade just a smidge away from my pattern. I'll final sand the profile on my bench sander. I keep the bottom cutoff for the next step...

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...the shaping of the sides. I no longer have a flat bottom to keep my cut square, so I reattached my bottom cutoff with a single screw from the bottom. This insures that my side cuts will remain square. Back to the bandsaw, same technique... keeping the blade just a hair from my lines.

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Semi finished rough cut. I removed the bottom cutoff, put the side cutoff with my pattern back on, then cut the forward top profile. After I dressed up the sides, bottom and top on my disk sander, sanding right to the pattern and my lines on the top. My master is now to final dimension. All I have to do is shape the corners, windscreen and nose area.

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First step is to lay out my wing location, based on my constant reference point, which is now the very front firewall bulkhead for the front engine. It's easier to mark it out and cut it now, while my sides are still flat, then after when I radius the top of the fuselage. My wing center section will pass through the fuselage, so that my wing will be one piece from tip to tip. Also marked out is the "ridge" where the top radius begins. I will lay a piece of tape along this to protect the sides, and use a sanding block to round over the top, sanding to the line.

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A quick initial hole on the drill press with a 1/2 inch Forstner bit, then some more bandsaw work and the cutout is open. The opening does not have to be exact at this point, as I want to be able to adjust for alignment in the jigs to be built later. Once the fuselage is vacuformed, I will cut up the master in the interior areas, and epoxy the wing center section to it, fill the joint with epoxy and then clad it with the aluminum. I've also shaped the windscreen areas and rounded off the nose to the profiles indicated on the bulkhead plans, using pencil lines drawn on as guides.

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OK all you eagle eyed steely nerved people, take a look at this head on view and tell me if you notice anything out of sorts, or not quite "right". After 4 hours of work to get this far, my eyes were beginning to cross and I couldn't see straight. Now is the time to fix things before I get too much further.

The next step will be to sand the radius on the aft portion of the master and mark out the cabin windows, do some filling and sanding of a couple of minor boo boo's, and I can set this aside and start the wings.

Thanks for following along. As always I'm open to suggestions or ideas on how to make things easier.

Cheers
Mike













What, me worry?

I know you asked, but I hate doing this.......looking straight on the airplane as we are..........the roof blends into the side nicely on the left, but hits it a little harder on the right.
The nose has a more gentle curve on the left, but has a tighter radius on the right.

This is simply awesome too bud. Projects like this really amaze me. Vacuforming will allow an interior.......

Your model is coming along beautifully. Please post many many pics.

Kindest regards
Ben

It was midnight when I finished last night, and after 4 hours straight I wasn't sure what I was looking at anymore...lol. These will be easy to correct.

Thanks for the input.

Cheers
Mike


What, me worry?

That thing is going to be too cool!

I think this thing is in 1/32. Gonna be a fun one to watch.

Andy

What scale is this? My very first multi-engine time was done in a Ford Tri-motor.

It's 1/32nd scale, and I'm jealous. You got your first multi engine time in a Tri? That's like loosing your virginity to Sandra Bullock.

Cheers
Mike


What, me worry?

.....That's what Michelangelo said about the block of marble in which David was "hiding". Bravo! Really inspirational work! Thanks for sharing, and looking forward to the progress....and learning from it.

Michael

Do I recognize the old Cleavland drawings?
Some radius differences in the nose but not a deal breaker. I was a tech illustrator and draftsman for an aerospace firm for years so creating the missing view was done often.
Your having great fun with this and it shows, do post often and I would suggest links to your previous post in your signature block so we can click on a start to finish.

Thanks,
Allan



Fathers Day A6M2: Intro Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Finish

Airfix Stuka 1/72: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Finish

Airfix Hurricane 1/72: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Finish

Airfix Orion III: Build Tutorial Finish

They were the only ones I cold find of a 4-AT. There's a couple of others out there of 5-AT's but it's a bigger airplane, and my subject matter is a 4-AT.

That's a great idea about linking past articles. I'll have to get out my HTML for Dummies and give it a try.

Cheers
Mike


What, me worry?

Bet you would have been pissed if you found a DC-3 fuselage in that block of wood!

I probably would have shifted gears and ran with it too. Thanks for following along.

Cheers
Mike

What, me worry?

A set of plans and a log!

Nice work, Mike.

John



"YOU, you're good, YOU..."

"no no, YOU, you're GOOD"

Cheers
Mike


What, me worry?

Mike, This is making me so nostalgic for stick-and-tissue modeling- wow!

Cheers-
chuk

great stuff!

I've got to give this renshape a go.

GD