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Post by mstokes on Dec 23, 2012 12:29:26 GMT 12
With that sharp scent derived from pure natural pacific guano, eau de Superphosphate is the perfect scent for the traditional kiwi 'real man'. With a hint of burnt high octane avgas sourced from the stubs of an IO720 on rich idle, Eau de Superphosphate is a unique kiwi scent with a distinctive and evocative smell which will make any man the envy of all others. Even if the day job is flying a mahogany topdresser, you will feel like your day has been highly productive spreading 200 ton rather than post 200 envelopes with just a quick 'dump' of the unique transland spray pump nozzle.
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Post by mstokes on Dec 21, 2012 23:03:16 GMT 12
More of an update, but I fear these may look repetitive and not that interesting. Having gone off the project for a while, I determined that the best way to refocus my efforts on moving this one along was to look at the construction stages and get them sorted. I had always worked on the theory that BOF would have the canopy hood attached after final painting at the very end of construction. However, looking at how the hood functions and the fact a rail needs to be added below the hood, I came to the conclusion that the hood needed to be added very soon if it is to function and have scale qualities. Add to this, I also I have etched a thin strap to go over the windshield part of the canopy which will provide strength and detail in this area and take care of the rubber seal that went over the front of the hood. This needs to be fitted over the closed hood to ensure clearance is ok and also needs to be done before the final paint. I am working on this also, so when I get around to posting any images of that it will be explained better. So I have digressed a bit there, but to add the canopy hood means that the cockpit has to be finished. There is limited room now to work in and this becomes very marginal after the hood is added. While I was happy with my original cockpit... it soon became not good enough! I had no data plates, labels or such detail in the cockpit and this was not accurate. When BOF had gone in for a rebuild in the late 70's, she had some more modern details fitted to the cockpit as in the then boom times, it looked like a 400hp motor would eventually go up front. Therefore my cockpit shared a lot more with a 400hp machine in terms of labels etc. The new and improved cockpit has: - New seatbelts as those fitted to contemporary 400hp Fletchers, made out of sewing iron on patch cut into strips, home made etch buckles and fuse wire harness adjusters. - Data labels for performance, warnings, fuel info and Ag Category details. Mixture of Mike Grant cockpit details and home made coloured decals. - Leather look alike self adhesive material to cover rear cockpit bulkhead. - New ignition and electrical panel. The new panel on the left of the cockpit I am very happy with. It is about a quarter of the size of your little finger nail and I decided to redo this as my first attempt was over scale, poorly painted and also not accurate. I thought I could live with this but when I had to do a second etch for the wing fuel tank straps, I thought I may as well do a few of these panels. One night I attacked the old panel with a plastic chisel, a pick and a flat blade. With a literally trembling hand I eventually managed to work most of it away. The old over size fuse wire switches were stuck fast into the panel and took a long time to work loose with a pair of needle nose pliers. Working blind I could hear the creaking of plastic and I worked away as patiently and calmly as I could hoping the fuse and CA adhesive was giving way and not the whole panel I had success! Probably the most risky thing I have done to a model ever and a few times I had to walk away, breathe and come back... but I had a clean space for a better panel Over all my rules on this self imposed saga and challenge of a build is that more than any other model I might do in my life... this one has to be the most accurate. I etched five panels and it took me three to get a result I was happy with. The simple 300hp ignition panel I made is a bit assumed but a far better representation. I only included a few circuit breakers (made from evergreen thin tube), a stall light (made from red painted clear stretched sprue), and a mixture of switches from my Archers rivets stock. The ignition is from aluminium punched with my Waldron punch and die set with a Waldron bezel from the stash attached over the top. I am very happy with the 3rd result and I put it in yesterday. You will see it as the buff coloured panel on the left of BOF's main instrument panel. I have rambled, I blame the endorphin's of a modelling victory, but now once I get the inside of the hood finished, I will be happy to seal up the 'office' forever. The only things that will go in later are a fire extinguisher behind the loadie's seat and a helmet. And here is the best photo I could get of the office with the much underwhelming but challenging ignition panel ;D Thanks for listening to the ramble!
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Post by mstokes on Dec 21, 2012 22:25:32 GMT 12
Mate, I am glad to see you back on this project. I just wish I could work as 'clean' as you do! Everything always looks clean, crisp and uncluttered. I wish I could get primer on the way you do, I always seem to lose detail or I add some, like scratches, thumb nails etc... I would be keen to hear about your tools as well, in fact I thought you might be one of the modellers who has tried those teflon tools that apparently resist CA and super glue? Anyway, I am very keen to see this one finished, I would love to do a skyhawk myself but would probably have to do a WIF to avoid screwing up the finer details. Maybe a skyhawk representing the type that would have made up one of the RNZAF's topdressing units had they continued after trials!
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Post by mstokes on Dec 16, 2012 12:36:52 GMT 12
Old seatbelts out, new ones in. I have also added real leather to the cockpit/hopper bulkhead. I will have more pictures in a few days, but have also fitted some Mike Grant decals in places where data plates would be and have printed some of my own decals to add as warning labels etc. I have also ripped out the old panel with the ignition, circuit breakers and switches out as I was not happy with its appearance and etched a new one which reflects the 300hp one. Airbrushed it buff this morning and once dry will add breakers, switches and ignition.
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Post by mstokes on Dec 16, 2012 12:25:55 GMT 12
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Pawnees
Dec 16, 2012 12:21:16 GMT 12
Post by mstokes on Dec 16, 2012 12:21:16 GMT 12
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Post by mstokes on Dec 16, 2012 12:14:20 GMT 12
Thankyou Dave for your kind words and thankyou Errol for that information. We know very little about his wartime career so any information is greatly appreciated. We have already found the AFU unit he was flying at in Weston on Green in Oxford so my mum plans to visit it when she is in the UK next year.
Dave, my grandfather was only ever on Catalinas, but some of his colleagues who came to the service were pilots on Hurricanes and Mosquitos. I wish I could have had a bit of time to gather some more stories or information from them but it was a bit of a hectic occasion. They might have already been some of the veterans that you had present.
It would have been nice to have Granddad pass on some of his stories, however he was quite reserved on those matters and only really passed on any information after a few whiskeys!
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Post by mstokes on Dec 11, 2012 20:30:22 GMT 12
Clifford Herbert Thoms (Pilot Officer RNZAF 4215105)
My grandfather, passed away peacefully on the 27th November. A World War Two Catalina pilot, my grandfather had enlisted in 1941 and arrived in Canada for training just after his 19th birthday. After training he was put onto Catalinas and served in the RAF Coastal Command.
Not one to talk about the war fondly, there were the odd occasions where he would talk about some of his service. Some of his wartime colleagues were able to make the funeral which was nice and pass on their experiences training in Canada before going onto Mosquitos and Hurricanes. Although keen to keep flying, his close friend Fred Sawyer tried to get him to try topdressing, however he did not take up this offer and remained on the family farm which was located in Papakura/Drury where the Parkhaven estate is now.
A great grandfather and I was very lucky to enjoy his company for some of his 89 years here. I had the privilege of reading John Magee Jrs poem High Flight at the service which I think summarised the fact he always had one eye on the sky.
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Post by mstokes on Dec 11, 2012 19:59:19 GMT 12
My deepest condolences to Sam's fiancée and his family. He sounded like a neat guy and a good pilot.
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Post by mstokes on Dec 11, 2012 19:56:12 GMT 12
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Post by mstokes on Dec 11, 2012 19:55:31 GMT 12
Stuff reporting that Cresco has crashed in Taumurunui. From the description it was Kevin Erni which is a bit of a shock to me as I stayed at his house last Tuesday. It seems to be a bit of a dark week for topdressing. Keep safe guys. Mike
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Post by mstokes on Nov 7, 2012 21:27:59 GMT 12
The real BDS is unfortunately stored at Super Air after an accident circa 2003 Dave. The 'BDS' in Classic Flyers is the old Mid-Northern Aerial Work 300 and was retrieved from Maungatoroto and restored for static display by Super Air. The rego escapes me at the moment but I think it was the first CRY rego fletcher. Deane, the extra lever is a mystery but I imagine it wasn't electric auto trim
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Post by mstokes on Nov 7, 2012 19:39:02 GMT 12
A very interesting thread, I certainly hope that these images are put into print one day as they are a nice tribute to the top dressing industry in it's infancy. I wonder where the 1:1 scale Fletcher Utility FU-24 is still available in original box?
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Post by mstokes on Oct 6, 2012 11:23:02 GMT 12
I have made some new seatbelts for BOF (the last ones were made out of foil and the paint was appearing to flake off). I also had a few overscale issues with the last belts and when I did my last etch I made some buckles for improved ones. The belt material comes from a mending 'iron on' patch that I picked up at the supermarket. It has a cloth surface on one side and a plastic surface on the other. This was perfect for balancing strength, scale thickness and durability. The adjuster buckles were made out of fuse wire bent around a small rectangular plastic rod. once you have slipped the buckle onto the belt, you then put a small length of straight fuse wire between the buckle and the belt to kick it out a bit and make it look like it is spooled. I found this tip online and found it very realistic.
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Post by mstokes on Oct 6, 2012 11:15:40 GMT 12
Been working on this one on the side and have now completed adding the fibreglass reinforcement in the bums of the Airtruks. This is a progress shot to show what I mean in a 'before and after' style. Really enjoying this one, it doesn't fight you which is wonderful (scratchbuilding seems to continually roll out new problems as you go!). The palsticard hopper inserts were my own and were probably the hardest thing to line up as I wanted to have minimal seam lines left when I close her up.
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Post by mstokes on Oct 1, 2012 20:25:41 GMT 12
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Post by mstokes on Oct 1, 2012 20:17:41 GMT 12
Terrible news but the beautifully restored VH-UXG is currently missing in Queensland. At the moment the aircraft is overdue but there have been no reports of it turning up away from it's base in Caboolture. 5pax and pilot on board, hopefully they are found safe. Only brief reports at moment.
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Post by mstokes on Sept 29, 2012 23:11:17 GMT 12
On te avengers Baz, there were 3 attached to the RNZAF trials and one suffered a collapsed undercarriage very early on and was WFU after the accident. That probably accounts for the scheme differences you see in the footage.
I can't remember if there were any austers in that footage... That would certainly be neat to see.
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Post by mstokes on Sept 29, 2012 15:00:05 GMT 12
Small update, mainly just showing the more to scale etch flap actuators that I have added onto BOF to replace the over scale and low detailed plastic card ones. Each actuator is made up of 5 parts which were bloody annoying to fold, glue and attach to the model. Each one was quite weak on its own until the final stage where I added plastic rod to tie both ends of the actuators together. I have also been working a lot on the hood. It looked to short because it was really too high. I took out triangle slivers of the canopy and slowly 'encouraged it into a new shape. This was a very long process as it had to snugly fit the fuselage and it is always better to cut off too little than too much. It looks slightly better, but I am at the extreme of the cutting I can do in this now, so it will have to do.
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Post by mstokes on Sept 29, 2012 14:42:56 GMT 12
After only 6 working days, the Airtruks arrived this week. Very nicely cast, you would almost swear it was injection moulded. The trailing edges are ridiculously to scale and the bottom wing is such a snug fit it was hard to get out once I placed it there to check the fit. I am looking forward to this as it should be a quick build and easy to squeeze in around my other projects. There will be some adjustments required to this as the basic design is based on images from the medevac config of the airtruk at Bankstown. Therefore the hopper wall between the rear cabin and the hopper is not included.Also the hopper outlet is not present which I would expect. The model is a late version of the Airtruk, therefore I will do one as my old mans' crash mount VH-JSO and the other as Hamish Ross' Rotorua machine from the late 80's. This is the kit breakdown below. Plan to clean up some flash now.
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