1/48 CF-18 - The Jet Age.

Crimea_River · Jul 15, 2015

Probably the same one.

Wurger · Jul 16, 2015

Vic Balshaw · Jul 16, 2015

Nice bit of 'hands-on' input there Andy.

Catch22 · Jul 18, 2015

Do you guys have any tips for drilling out circular holes that end up having lights in them? I have a horrible time getting them to look tidy. I need to drill out the hole for the observation light in the side of the nose.

Crimea_River · Jul 18, 2015

Start with a small drill and go bigger in small increments. Fine tuning with a round file.

Vic Balshaw · Jul 19, 2015

As Andy says, start small and work your way up slowly, I use a pin vice and a lot of very fine drills. It is also important to mark the exact centre with some form of sharp point as a starting point for the drill.

fubar57 · Jul 19, 2015

Totally agree, that's how I made the camera port on my recce Spitfire. Go very easy with the round file.

Geo

Catch22 · Jul 19, 2015

Guess I have to buy a drill, since I normally just use a knife! That being said, I'm not sure there's a drill large enough to do this.

Crimea_River · Jul 19, 2015

Well, it's probably time you invested in a pin vice and bits Cory though it may not be necessary in this case. I'm not sure what the actual diameter of that light is but I'm guessing the lens is about 8 to 10 inches in diameter. At 1/48, that would call for a 3/16 or so bit which would be a common size in any regular twist drill set. If you have a drill set, you can actually try a starter hole using a 1/16" bit twisted between your fingers after having started the hole center point with a pressed pin. From the 1/16" bit, work your way up to the desired hole diameter through your drill set by twisting the bits between your fingers.

If that doesn't work, get yourself a good modeling drill set as it will always come in handy.

JKim · Jul 20, 2015

A pine vise and a set of micro drill bits has been invaluable to me since I bought them last year. Very handy! It's sometimes difficult to get a precise circular opening with a knife blade only.

Totalize · Jul 20, 2015

Yep, agree with all here. Pin vise and marking the area to drill. Make sure your bit goes into the pin vise nice and straight. I drop the bit in fairly deep into the vise to insure its pretty straight.

Crimea_River · Jul 20, 2015

Also minimizes chance of breaking.

Donivanp · Jul 20, 2015

I got to work with the Canadian Air Force guys up at Elmondorf back in 89-90 time frame when we did an exercise together. I was with AWACS and the Canadian ground crew were in the same barracks as us, them's some wild guys. Almost as bad as the Aussies but not quite.

Catch22 · Jul 21, 2015

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll try and grab one this week.

Don. Can't say I have personal experience, but I've heard some stories through a friend in the RCAF...

Donivanp · Jul 21, 2015

Don't get one Cory I have two different pin vices one does small and med and the other hits the large bits to include dremmel bits I can use in a hand controlled motion instead of 5000 RMP. A burl bit can be a useful tool in slow motion.

Crimea_River · Jul 22, 2015

You can get pin vices with multlple chucks that will cover you from anything form zero to 1/16 inch or more. I have this one. The one on the left is shown assembled and the one on the right shows all the individual bits. The chucks are dual-ended so you get 4 different size ranges. The spare chuck is stored inside the shaft.

rochie · Jul 22, 2015

Have exactly the same one Andy !

Donivanp · Jul 23, 2015

I have that one and another one, I cant find one or the other on my neat organized building bench most of the time.

Airframes · Jul 23, 2015

Got that one, and a cheap, but useful set of various sized ones, down to really tiny.

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