First Ever Official RPF Group Build - IT HAS BEGUN...

RustOleum Painter's Touch 2x UltraCover :cool.

Did we all finally decide that Glennis is somewhere between satin and flat, in sheen? What about the best shade of orange? RustOleum seems to have quite a few shades that look pretty close, as well.

-Fred
 
Great to hear, Jock :cool


And in my own personal, modeling news, the decals are on and set with Polly Scale Satin clear

decal1.jpg


Next up, finishing the bottom dive brakes and then on to weathing (which I started testing on the bottom in case I don't like the way it turns out :lol)

-Fred
 
Thanks, Jock. Trust me, she looks better in pictures ;) :lol

Funny enough, I'm starting the X-1, now. Mine's the tiny 1/32 though, not that 1/18 beast you and Rob did. I wanted to keep it in scale with the X-15.


Here's another picture.

Finished_5.jpg


-Fred
 
Fred, that is simpley amazing.

So one reason I havent started on mine is because I've been working on this project for school, designing and building an RC airplane from scratch. Well the competetion was this weekend... And we crashed the plane during it's test flight, and couldent compete. So instead, we went to this supposly good space museum nearby (Witchita)

Oh holy crap. I'm kind of bummed I didn't brig my good camera on this trip, but I got a ton of pictures, including the SR-71, parts from the X-15, and pics of a replica X-1 made for "The Right Stuff". Not sure if there is anythig useful, and they're not as good as they could be, but could be something.

I'll post a link here when I get them uploaded.
 
STUNing Fred! I think you were faster with the build than the craft is in the sky!

Thanks, Rob :cool. Hard to believe it's been only six weeks from start to finish - and that includes a complete do-over. Builds usually take me closer to 3 months. Maybe I rushed because I have 2 more builds I want to do for this project. Though, in retrospect, I wish I hadn't rushed so much. I was looking at the 15 head-on, yesterday and I noticed the dihedral of the elevators weren't the same :angry. One angles down 30*, the other, about 15*. I tried to reshape the 15*, but the glue is so strong, it just isn't happening. There's no way in hell I'm take a razor saw to it, so it'll just have to stay that way :cry :unsure

Rob, what reference did you use for the cockpit of the X-1? Everything I find is of the X-1B. Are they same except for the control yoke?



Fred, that is simpley amazing.

So one reason I havent started on mine is because I've been working on this project for school, designing and building an RC airplane from scratch. Well the competetion was this weekend... And we crashed the plane during it's test flight, and couldent compete. So instead, we went to this supposly good space museum nearby (Witchita)

Oh holy crap. I'm kind of bummed I didn't brig my good camera on this trip, but I got a ton of pictures, including the SR-71, parts from the X-15, and pics of a replica X-1 made for "The Right Stuff". Not sure if there is anythig useful, and they're not as good as they could be, but could be something.

I'll post a link here when I get them uploaded.

Hey liz, sorry to hear about the crash. I hope you still credit for the design and build, though. Have any pics of your bird (preferably before it's doomed flight ;)).

Any pics you have from the museum would be helpful. There's no such thing as too much reference material.

And now that you'll have time, I look forward to your build.




Fred, when using the rivit maker do you run it free hand or along a rule? Jock

Hey Jock, when I'm not being lazy, I use a small, flexible ruler. I have a verlinden scribing template set that comes in real handy for a lot of things

http://www.megahobby.com/scribingtemplate1-48verlinden.aspx

If it's a short run, over a flat service, I'll do it freehand. Just go slow because it's really easy to go all cockeyed.

When you get ready to build the 15, let me know. There are some serious pitfalls to watch out for and there's no sense in you re-inventing the wheel when I've already found all the problems.


-Fred
 
OK question time: The panel lines on black surfaces... are you hand brushing white? Light grey? Something else?

I see the technique where you paint them black before full paint, and they'll show subtly through, but you can't do that with black.

Also, for mine, should I stick to hand painting the black, or get some cheap flat black in a rattle can and spray it? (Remember its itty bitty, 1/72)


Here are some before/after pics. Its defiantly fixable, but we busted it Sat. night, and had to have to completely done by 7am Sun. morning, and we didn't pack any extra parts. So we couldn't fix the landing gear w/o some stuff from the hobby store that wasn't open on Sunday. It will fly for real though!
 
That's definitely an interesting design - certainly one I wouldn't have imagined. How was the stability of the flow over the airfoil? Do you guys get to run computer sims or at least get some time in a wind tunnel? I'd be interested in see how the concave sections of the leading edge scallops affected air flow.


Anyway, back to modeling. The panel line wash is done with a product called Pro-Modeller wash. It comes in light and dark, for obvious reasons :lol. You need, at least, a satin finish for it to work (but gloss is better). Brush it on, let it dry overnight and wipe off with a damp paper towel. If it worked correctly, it will have stayed behind in the panel lines.

The problem with black is that you can't pre-shade. If you're really ambitious, you can post-shade by taking your base coat, adding a few drops of white to lighten it up and spraying the center of each panel. You might be better off, making a shade of dark grey, brushing it on a few select panels, masking over them when they're dry and then painting the top coat. When that's dry, remove the mask and you'll at least get some panel variation. It's hard to see on mine, but subtlety is the point. You want to make it look like they may have replaced a panel, not purposely re-painted one.

Even in 1/72, you'll get a much better finish by using something in a rattle can. Find the lightest shade of primer you can (white, if you can find it) and then mist on coats of black. To make scale black look correct, it needs to be lightened up a bit. Somehow, I managed to pull it off without lightening the color any. Call it a serious stroke of luck :lol.

-Fred
 
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We didn't do any CFD, but we did do wind tunnel tests, and our stall angle increased about 7* (IIRC, I wasn't on that part of the project). I'll probably start a thread about it once I get all my pics and video uploaded, and explain it more, but its one of those things that works at low Re, so for RC its fine, but probably not for a full-size plane. It works for these guys though:
humpback-whale-2.jpg


So sweet, looks like I can use my favorite paint (the $1 flat black from Lowe's), but I'll take a look at that Pro-Modeller stuff... I've used that method on stuff before
 
Thanks for those pics, Liz. Even if they help only one person, they're useful :cool.


And in my own modeling news, here's my X-1 in progress. Sorry I didn't take more WIP pictures, but it kind of just fell together before I knew what was happening.

Overall

WIP1.jpg



Cockpit

WIP2.jpg



Cockpit again

WIP3.jpg



This is mostly an OOB build. I fixed the front oleo so it looked like something more than a lump of plastic. I also built a styrene box that sits between the cockpit and wheelwell. I filled it with pennies and superglued them in place. Otherwise, she'd be an ass-dragger, unless I used the stupid clear rod.

Now I need to decide on a final color for it...

-Fred
 
That orange actually looks pretty close!

Man, Fred - you'd have a field day with the larger 1:18 cockpit!


Too bad every single piece was molded in this orange. Plus the top and bottom seams meant a lot of sanding. And when it's a revell kit, that means raised detail, which goes bye-bye during the sanding process :cry.

I've since rescribed the obliterated detail and added masking tape seat belts (really hated the painted on delaies) and wiring to the backside of the IP. I'll take new pics before I attach the canopy (which took an hour to mask :angry)

I would have loved to work on a pit that large. Just too bad I'd have no place to display the thing.

So, Rob, thinking of doing any other builds for this GB? There are a lot of 1/72 X planes that would fit the build requirements, go together really easily and make for an interesting display.

-Fred
 
I'll take new pics before I attach the canopy (which took an hour to mask :angry)

I've been thinking on this...

So that I don't go mad masking off tons of squares, I was thinking I'd mask all the horizontal lines first, then do all the verticals second (using terms "horizontal" and "vertical" loosely).
 
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