Thanks John (@JohnB) and Spiros (fiveten).
Today was one of those days that you take one step forward, and two steps back. Except I took about 56 steps back.
First thing I did today was do the final work on the filler and sanding, then I reconstructed the panel lines lost to sanding. The next part was to construct the cowlings, whose multipart construction I thought would give me trouble. It turns out the pieces all went together nicely. The only problem I had was I assumed (you know what they say about assuming) both cowlings were the same, but it turns out that there were some subtle differences between the port and starboard cowlings. Unfortunately I had already separated them from their sprues, so I have no idea which cowling was which. Well, that can be a problem for another day.
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1. Five parts per cowling
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1. Most of the cowling parts
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1. Cowling assembly started. Two plates that close off the ducts still need to be added.
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1. Fit of the parts was good
After that, I bundled all my courage and added the starboard wing. This was the wing that seemed to fit best. My plan was to get this wing set, and then make the other wing's dihedral match. I expected a lot of problems here, but it seemed to work fine. I have the wings blocked into position and I will let them dry overnight.
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1. Big plane. About the size of an A-20 Havoc.
I wanted to start work on the resin engines, which are very detailed and appear to be a complex build. The engine consists of the central crankcase of the engine, to which you attach all of the individual cylinders. The cylinders are very detailed, but each requires a ton of cleanup. After seeing how long it would take to clean one cylinder, I began to search for something easier. I looked through my box of resin parts and found some engines for a C-47. I discovered that they fit almost exactly into the cowling, and they look exactly like the kit engines. One of these days I will research and find out it the two planes had the same engines, but for now the C-47 engines will save me about 2 hours of cleanup time.
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1. C-47 engine fits almost perfectly.
Things were going so well that I thought I might take a shot at adjusting the fit of my bombardier's canopy that is too wide. My plan was to use some boiling water to soften the clear plastic and then use a clamp to hold the canopy in position until it cooled. In my mind I figured it would take 20 or 30 seconds in the water to soften the plastic, but I wanted to be careful, so I decided to start with 10 seconds and see what happened. So, I held the canopy in the boiling water for 10 seconds using some long tongs, and then I pulled it out of the water, and ...disaster. My canopy had shriveled up like a raisin. The canopies were the parts that I figured I couldn't fix if I messed them up, and I messed one of them up. Hindsight is always 20/20, and I suspect that the plastic used in limited run kits is probably a low temp plastic. I knew the plastic was thin and flexible, which should have led me to be more cautious. My plan is to keep moving forward with the build while I try to source a replacement canopy. I have emailed Special Hobby to see if there is any way to get another canopy. This kit is out of production, so I am not too optimistic about getting something from Special Hobby, but stranger things have happened. While I am waiting for a reply, I plan to explore some other options. I really hope I can find a source, because this plane is really looking cool, and I don't want to build the convertible version.
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1. I wanted to keep track of how much I was able to narrow the canopy.
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1. Looks sort of cool, but still an oops.
Everyone stay safe.
