Another week, another update. I finished up the bodywork (actually there are two spots that are bothering me that i need to fix later), so I moved on to riveting. This will be my first attempt and I will be learning as I go. I sprayed the model in grey primer (Mr Surfacer 1500) to better see the rivets and to allow me to mark up the plane with pencil. I am using my friend's method of cutting out small sections of plans and placing them on the model and marking the various rivet lines in pencil and then connecting them with the aid of some tape or curve templates.
Then, using my Rosie the Riveter 0.75mm tool, following the lines and riveting the model.
I started off with the fuselage, and it has been quite the challenge due to the curvature of it, especially trying to draw vertical lines that are straight and parallel is quite the challenge. I use a mixture of the plans and my eyeball to apply the electrical tape, and then roll the plane along its long axis to make sure the tape is straight. I have some curve templates from MadWorks, but they are tricky to hold to the surface while tracing the line, although they do work well along the belly of the plane. The fuselage is about 60% completed (2 nights) and should require one more night's work before it's done. Since the wings are a flatter surface, they should be finished in one night.
I have a few ideas about how i can improve my technique, especially on the fuselage. one is to use the curve templates to cut the tape in a curve similar to the fuselage (although it has a varying shape/curve from top to bottom) to allow me to apply it to surface easier. another, and it's not my idea, is to use my Cameo to cut some masks along all the panel lines (2 sets, 1 along each axis) for the wings to speed up the work and to make sure the lines are parallel.
5 attached images. Click to enlarge.
