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The engine bottoms was completed today with the beginning of winging the beast. First up was the weathering of the baffle. I used Tamiya brown panel accent and then removed the excess with a Q-tip lightly dampened with low odor mineral spirits. Much to my dismay, the solvent removed some of the AK acrylic gray. It's not very noticeable and I'll retouch. I think I needed to seal the surface before applying the panel accent. After installing the baffle, which needed some enhanced gluing with some medium CA, I installed the induction pipe. If you're building this plane, apply glue to the induction pipe injector end before putting it in. It's almost impossible to get solvent cement to it afterwards.
Added to that are two coolant pipes that wend their way through the baffle and tie to the rectangular notch in the main wing spar on both sides. I needed needle nose pliers to twist the pipes after entering the baffle holes so it would orient correctly into the notches. It didn't go easily. I don't know where the back end of the pipes went after leaving the spar. Perpaps a cabin heater?
The radiator was partially glued together before putting it on the model. And then it's glued in place where you have to connect it to five points simultaneously: the two lugs on the front of the engine, the induction pipe, and then those two coolant pipes. It just took some patience to keep working it. I used solvent cement and then some CA to finish the job. The bottom and side panels went on with some light sanding so they fit between the radiator walls. When all was in place I went over all the ducting and radiator with AK Silver Buffing Cream that gave more of a metallic sheen to the surfaces. I then used Tamiya Black Panel Accent to pull out the details. Again, some paint got pulled and I had to touch it up. I did the same thing on the simulated grill surfaces on the radiators and after removing the excess I dry brushed it with the flat aluminum.
The arrow shows one of the most ridiculous pipes to install in the whole deal. These pipes (R & L) are the coolant inlets to the two water pumps put on many steps ago. The outside connection is a breeze being a squared off lug so it only connects in one orientation. The pipes had pins on their inboard ends that are supposed to drop into the holes in the pumps' center. The biggest problem was seeing inside. I had to keep maneuvering the model to get light to play inside so I could see where the pipes were in relation to the pumps. They seemed like they wouldn't fit, and then, like one of those crazy bent wire puzzles, they just dropped into place. That was after about 10 minutes of fussing with them.
Here's another view showing just how difficult it was to see if the pipes were actually entering the pump. I was concerned to get it there not just to be prototypically accurate (you really can't see the darn thing), but to make sure it was glued on both ends for security. It was just as hard to get a picture of it as it was to see it. When you see how inaccessible those innards are, it makes me wonder why I bothered painting it at all.
The last radiator pieces was the surge tank that sits in front of the engine. It too ties to the radiator and to the ends of the remaining two pipes. These tanks are found all all the merlin powered craft too. The radiator set up on the Typhoon is pretty compact and very intuitive and required less pipe runs than those in Mossies, Spitfires and other water-cooled craft.
So here's the entire engine installation. I don't think I'm going to add any smaller wires unless you guys talk me into it. Enough is enough.
The Saber weighed about 2300 pounds and then you add the cooling system and coolant. It explains why the wings are as far forward as they are. Center of Gravity would be far forward.
With the engine in it was time to start on the main wing. This was an exciting milestone. The bottom wing glues to three points under the fuselage (the firewall bottom and two large lugs reward) and then to the entire length of both wing spars. Before you glue it on you have to attach the upper mounting point for the main gear.
I went through the entire instruction sheet before starting to highlight every page having an optional step based on the version (D) that I'm building. My version has these variables: landing gear extended, engine and radiator exposed, late version with full invasion stripes, rockets and external fuel tanks. This choice required drilling specific holes in the wing for the rockets, tanks and i.d. lights specific to this plane.
I glued the fuselage connections first and clamped it so it set up. I used tube cement since I wanted to be sure that it bridged any gaps. You can't really get into there with CA after its together. I then clicked into place the spars. They do align pretty well... good engineering. I used tube cement to hold in the gear base and then solvent cement for the rest. I clamped it so it can dry properly overnight. The rubber band is applying pressure to the top half of the expansion tank. The piping was putting some negative bias on this while it was drying and it needed some help.
The next steps involve a lot of inside wing constructions before the top skin goes in: more ribs boxing in the two gun bays and the wheel wells, plus four Hispano 20mm cannons, ammo boxes and feeds, and fuel tanks. There are access hatches that can be open for the guns, but the fuel tanks will be forever hidden unless I cut over the wings just for fun. Without a doubt, this is the most complex plastic model aircraft I'll ever built. You absolutely have to pre-fit everything, and even then, you'll get a few wrong.