Fiddlers Green

Thanks guys, it was as time consuming build. 02jmpr I don't know what to tell you, it may be a antivirus thing, all of these images are in Photobucket.

Beard

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It was just my browser. Beard, all your stuff is just amazing!!! I would sure like to be able just sit and watch you complete a whole build. The toy train looks like it might be pushing the boundaries of fun to more of a pure maniacal building frenzy just to complete it. Awesome stuff and thanks for sharing it!

When I first started building I would rush stuff and that makes it difficult. Now I just work on a few parts a day instead to trying to finish things quickly, with the exception of the little Zoom-Zoom planes that I will build in an evening. I have also built some birds pretty quickly, I think i have made five hummingbirds for Christmas Tree ornaments, and can crank those out pretty quickly, but they have few parts and the only difficult part of them is cutting them out.

On something like the Toy train, there are a lot of laminated parts (usually three layers) and have found that they are easier to work with when completely dry. Another trick with the skinny little parts is to paint them with super glue (I usually paint the back side because it dries shiny) and that make them like plastic and are easier to handle, you can also bend them after they dry.

It is a fun hobby and I find it relaxing. You just have to take your time to get good results.

Thanks for the comments,
Beard

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I'm pretty much the same way. I cut like a surgeon and really take my time. This hobby is slowly teaching me the patience I need.

I thought we could start this one out with a little guessing game. This off of a total repaint of a FG model resized to 1/48. It is now painted in a (totally made up) D-Day scheme, though the plane was never used there and indeed did not fly in Europe at all.



This part was not on the original model, though is sorely needed it.

Any wild guesses?

I'll post pictures of the finished model in a couple of days.

Beard

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I have a question for all you smart guys out there. How do you get those thumb nail pictures that enlarge when you park your mouse over them? I'm usually pretty computer savy but this has me buffaloed.

Beard

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You can try attaching the photo to you post. The forum started allowing that a while back. But, it has to be under a certain file size, and that escapes me at the moment. Below the main reply typing box, there is another section that allows you to choose attachments and add them to your post.

I guess I didn't have any takers on that nose piece..... Anyhoo, it is off a Grumman Skyrocket, I figured a comic book could repaint it, I could too. I originally was going to build this at 1/33, but it turned out to be a lot larger than I thought so the finished model is 1/48.

I put off building this for a long time because of the front of the fuselage, because I didn't want to fool with all those petals and then I didn't want to try to cut the wing area out after I built it. I turned out that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I kinda pre-rolled the petals and then glued them together using bond paper joining strips from the back. I would joint two together, skip over a couple then join another two, then once that was done I would glue larger sections together. I did find there was a holiday in the front, no matter how carefully I cut and joined, that was the reason for the nose cap.

As you can see, I also build some wheel wells under the nacelles and put some wing fillets on the top and back of the wings. I did not cut out the area for the stabilizers and glued them on the surface of the tail section. I used tubes for the landing gear, to strengthen it. and also built up the engines (which aren't very visible because of the spinners I added) The props are counter-rotating and spin freely. I added guns to the nose cap and a pitot tube and radio mast.











Beard

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That is the best looking Skyrocket I have ever seen. That paint job really makes look mean and the skill with the canon barrels sticking through makes it a killer for sure. Super nice job my friend. Now here comes the big question. Will it be up for down loading? You know I really want this one. Right? wc

That's pretty awesome! I love the recolor work.

Thanks guys, it was a fun little project. Waddy, I hadn't planned on releasing it, I suppose if there is enough interest in it I could. All Scott has to do is request it.

Beard

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So what is the next step here Beard? If there is a list for the recoloring beautiful plane please put me donw on it would you? Thank you. wc

I am building the San Diego Maritime Museum model of the San Salvador as we speak. I'm building this for my wife, it is the first sailing ship I have attempted. So far it seems to be very well designed and everything fits pretty nicely. I am building the "difficult" version of it, which actually seems like it would be easier to build because it is stronger.

After that I'm thinking of converting the FG Lockheed Sirus to an Altair which appears to be pretty much the same plane with retractable landing gear. Either that or the Lockheed Vega, which I have almost finished repainting into a racer with the bird feather pattern on the wings and fuselage.

Beard

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I can't wait to see this one Beard. Is there anything any of us can do to have your Black Beast in the D/L section? Thank you, wc

There's a download section?

Anyhoo, I decided to take a little break from the San Salvador and built one of my all time favorite little airplanes. Drum role please..... The Flying Flea. I actually started this the week before it was released as a model of the week, I think I purchased it when I first subscribed to Fiddlers Green, and now I finally got around to building it.

I converted it to 1/33 which makes it kinda itsy bitsy, but it all went together well. I put on a custom propeller (Lief Ohlson's design which I altered for my Fokker EV) this was really tiny but it worked, I also rigged it to spin freely. I cut the top of the wing sections completely apart and put them together with joining strips which makes the curve form easily. The bottoms of the wings are laminated with a second piece of card stock with a spar to line up with each section on the top. I pre-curved the bottom of the wings. I also altered the rudder by making the hinge post separate from the stabilizer and the fuselage. I laminated a couple extra pieces of card stock to build up the rear wheels, these apparently are quite thin on the actual plane. I put hub caps on the outsides of the front wheels and put a shaped layers on the outsides of the tires. The fuselage also has a laminated layer on the sides and bottom (I glad I did this because I ended up handling this thing a lot, and that kept me from collapsing it when doing the wires). The engine mounts are tubes with thin floral wires in the centers, which made them easier to glue in place and shape. The wiring was quite a feat, the pictures show them but not clearly, but luckily I took pictures of an actual flea when I was in Denmark for a Rotary Convention which helped me figure it out. The actual wires on a flea are connected like "Y's" to a single wire to the tie locations, I was going to try to do this with thread, but the top wing was a little to difficult for me to work with, so all flying wires are simplified with thin floral wire. And last but not least I put in a scale pilot so you can get a feel for the actual size of the plane. I really haven't figured out how the pilot gets in there, but I am sure at 6'3" I wouldn't fit, lol.

Here it is.....


From the bottom.....


A size comparison with two different FG planes (A12 Shrike and the PT16)...


Another cause I like the way the Shrike's engine looks....


This one shows off the rudder...


That's all folks, lol.
Beard

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