1/72 McDonnell-Douglas A-4K Skyhawk - Your Favourite Aircraft of All Time GB

[Wayne Little]

it's overweight put it on a diet!

 

[A4K]

Yep, one fat hawk!

 

[meatloaf109]

Ok Spock. Has a similar problem with that big Cat I built and managed to fix it by a jerry built rig to add up or down pressure where needed and then sat for a couple of hours with the hair dryer gently warming, letting it cool, warming more and so on. Left in the jug with more heat treatment over a couple of days and the wing was fixed. The wing in question had a twist and a curl on one wing the jug was made up of cups, tins, hammers (for weight) and tissue paper to protect the plastic and I dis also glue in a stiff metal rod to help take out some of the warping.

And sometimes the hammer comes in handy for other things too!

 

[parsifal]

this is way more complicated than anything I have ever seen or tried. Would separating the two wing halves, cleaning out the excess glue and then applying your heat treatment be an advantage?

 

[A4K]

Wing halves are already seperated Mike, I just placed them together for the pic to show the extent of the warp.
My mate had used alot of glue to cement her, but it's not in a mass on the inside - rather the fumes from the excess glue affected the plastic and formed the bulge (though only on one side strangely).

And yeah, I'm thinking it would be easier just to cut the entire section out and make a new one from plastic sheet, but I like trying new techniques!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

And yeah, I'm thinking it would be easier just to cut the entire section out and make a new one from plastic sheet, but I like trying new techniques!

Second suggestion………….HAMMER

 

[A4K]

Yep, the FBH works every time! *


*FBH: F***'n Big Hammer!

 

[Airframes]

The Liverpudlian Precise Adjustment Tool !

 

[A4K]

 

[Crimea_River]

As Vic says, warps can be fixed with gentle pressure and heat but what you have there looks like deformation. If the plastic has expanded or shrunk, it would be very difficult to get it back to the correct shape.

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

I was thinking the same thing Andy but wasn't sure since I'm not there. I'm not sure the Universal Fixall (aka, Hammer) would work to well.

 

[parsifal]

I call it a knockometer

 

[Rogi]

That one piece needs a jack hammer imediatley. I'd mail you mine but the shiping would be a @@#ch.

 

[A4K]

Guys...

Yep, Andy and Aaron are right: 'warp' was understatement of the century; she looks more like a pregnant goldfish than a Skyhawk wing.
Think I will just chop it clean out and make a new wing section from plastic card (thank God it's the lower wing with less curve and no vortex generators to reproduce!)

Have been amassing as much info as I can find on our Squawks recently, there were more than a few variations over the 31 years they served. Will most likely model her in what I call the 'second configuration': (empty) avionics hump still attached, but airborne sensors repositioned.

 

[T Bolt]

Looks like you have your work cut out for you Evan.

 

[A4K]

Yep, I do Glenn. Kinda daunting to be honest.

 

[Wayne Little]

C'mon Jump in Evan!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

You can do it Even, you're the master plasticatorer.

 

[Crimea_River]

Looking forward to see how it goes. Are you going ot bend a single piece or will you build one up of layers then sand to shape?

 

[Wurger]

One wing is a Star Trek fan and thought it would like to try warping aswell...

But seriously...one wing is warped (or deformed/ buckled), in a hump, probably due to the amount of glue previously used to cement it. I want to straighten her if possible, otherwise I'll have to chop out most of it and make a new one from sheet styrene.

As it is...:

Aha... it's bloated... I see.