Scratch building missing engine parts for Wright R-1820 Cyclone

[Silver wings1]

From my previous post on a missing part I ended up buying an Aires Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine for the Accurate miniatures SBD-1 but after 3 hours work I discovered that it was built for the B-17 and was not compatible with the SBD-1, not even having all the parts that the kit engine had. Part H14 was missing on my model which was crucial for being able to install the propeller so I decided to scratch build it. Fortunately I was able to download a picture of the actual engine from the Internet and had a picture of the missing part from the kit sent to me by Wurger.
I Had to do some serious thinking for several days and finally came up with an answer. I cut out 2 circular bases. from .025 plastic card. to match the bottom part of the shaft and drilled an opening to accommodate the lowest section of it. It was then sanded down to fit the widest height of the shaft at the bottom level. Then I cut a circular piece of .010 card and drilled out a hole to accommodate the next level of the shaft. This would act as a stop for the shaft preventing it from moving up when the propeller is spun .Unfortunately I forgot the capillary action of plastic glue and had the shaft on when I glued them together. However I discovered it fast enough to remove it but I still had to sand the shaft when dry and clear the holes. I then added another .025 piece glued everything together without the shaft and shaped it to match. You will note in the picture that the shaft is askew. This happened when I took it out of the box to photograph it since the whole thing is still not glued down to the engine. When I glue it down Gator glue will be used, hopefully without locking in the shaft.. I still need to make a pipe running down from the bottom and a square thing-a-ma-jig at the 2 o'clock position. Does anyone know the name of these parts and their purpose. The propeller can now spin WOW!.

 

[Robert Porter]

Nice!

 

[Wurger]

Yep.

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[fubar57]

Nicely done

 

[Silver wings1]

Unfortunately the engine Quickboost 48 070 for the SBD-3 is no longer available anywhere. I accidently broke off the shaft of the kit engine I was working on and it disappeared into oblivion. It was working beautifully. I could replace it and add the other parts but I think that the Aires engine I bought could be used. The back part could be left off and the attachment part from the kit engine glued to the Aires engine, or else a similar part could be made.. I think that I will just make a similar part first to see if that works so the don't ruin the kit engine completely. Boy!. This has become a mind boggling project that I would just as well scrap and go on to another project. Talk about a curse.
As a matter of fact I gust bought the Eduard F6F-3 with all the extra parts, a beautiful engine, Big Ed photo etch and others. This could keep me busy for a long time. Then again the Revell PT17 wit Caracal RCAF decals came in today.

 

[Wurger]

So ... you may use the one for the Hasegawa kit. There can be some of working on its fitting to your mode but it is better than nothing, IMHO. Have you asked these guys of the UMM-USA about the set?

UMM-USA

UMM-USA

 

[Silver wings1]

Yes I talked to them, they showed it as being in stock but tried to order tr. Anyway they are refunding my money. Meanwhile I am tired of scratch building everything and put the kit aside. I was able to find an original AC SBD-2 at Sprue brothers and ordered it, difference is minor. The SBD-2 had increased fuel capacity and different armament. Still had no self sealing tanks. Even though I've bought an F6F-3 and a PT17. I am bound and determined to build an SBD from the box. Strange I built most of these models in the 70's, in fact I have a box of details and sprues stored in a Monogram 1/48 TBD-1 which sits in my shed. I don't think I could go bach to producing a model weekly ad finitum, In those days I only used Floquil paints which gave you all the mixtures for each country. Life was so simple than Today. I have all Vallejo, Model Master,, Humbrol, and Gunze Sangyo, how could I forget all of Tamiya acrylics and really have no idea what to do with them , when you do use them it is in tiny amounts and the shelf life on these is limited. Floquil has no shelf life limit. If I was smart I would go back to using Floquil , I also have all of Scale Coat paints.. Big deal you have to wait a week for them to dry but the paints are permanent on the model, although they can be stripped with a product I have called Chameleon which works like a charm.
Cheers,

Alec

 

[Wurger]

I see.

 

[Silver wings1]

Now that all that rambling is behind me, and I hope that I haven't irritated anyone with it, I have returned to repairing the damaged shaft.. I removed the part I built from the engine and will proceed to repair the shaft. As an aside that part was glued with acrylic gator glue and surprised me with it's holding power, however it came off cleanly by cutting all around with a scalpel.. I am glad that I ordered the SBD-2 because it will give me a better perspective of how the missing part was made, so I can duplicate it.
By the way, I determined that the Aires engine could be reconfigured to fit the SBD-1. The rear section could be left off and the back of the engine would require making an attachment to accommodate the connection to the cowling. However. it still needs additional parts made to match the engine for the SBD-1 . A thought but not at this time. I would rather rebuild the one that is being worked on now.

Cheers,

 

[Silver wings1]

Update to shaft repair. I didn't have the right size plastic rod so I cut off a piece of sprue and twirled it between my fingers , filing and sanding until it got to the proper size and attached it to the broken shaft.

 

[fubar57]

Always good to step back and pause for reflection instead of reaching for the 88mm Flak-hammer Alec. I have a few....10...20...30 kits where I've hit a stumbling block and placed on the shelf of doom. Every now and then I'll take one down, fiddle around a bit and then replace it to the shelf though I have crossed 3 off the list by completing them. One thing I've learned about modelling.....carry on or move on, plastic isn't worth the stress. Looking forward the the end result either way you go

 

[Wurger]

Glad you fixed that..

 

[Silver wings1]

Thank you for your kind comments. The other problem with this kit is the design to fit the wings to the fuselage. a large gap is left on both sides and the rear ends by the ailerons requiring lots of putty to fill the gaps and gluing and clamping by the ailerons. Frankly I also have several kits put aside, but mostly I got tired of working on them. A Zukai mura P-51 with all the extra details, a Tamiya Spitfire with over 160 hours of work. both in 1/32 scale. Many more for one reason or another. At this point I like working on 1/48 kits. I was involved in building Wingnut wings kits of WWl but moved on to 1/48. I sure have a lot of those in the stash. .Basically I enjoy working on the intricate details of a kit and some time don't even care if it gets finished.

 

[Silver wings1]

When I was finish sanding the completed shaft it separated at the glue joint. For some reason the plastic cement didn't work, so I drilled out a .016 hole on each piece, inserted a .015 brass wire and glued them together with cyanoacrylate . It worked like a charm with the shaft rotating nicely. Now , since I got involved in this I am thinking of detailing the engine further.. Making a magneto and tubing of course but also adding NBW's around the crank case and distributer housing area, inter ear drain pipes between the cylinders and other details around the engine.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Silver wings1]

I bit the bullet and drilled out holes around the perimeter of the crank case/ and inserted nut bolt washers from Grandt Line" 0" scale #8. The wings to fuselage gaps were puttied and sanded . If anyone minds these updates and does not want to see them, please let me know and I will desist. As you can see I suffer with AMS ( Advanced modelers syndrome.) Every kit gets the most detailed treatment and then some, but I don't mind.as building dozens of kits now is not of interest even though I have them and still buying more...

Cheers!

 

[Robert Porter]

Mind? Heck no, it is what we are members for! Keep em coming!

 

[Wurger]

Yep.. also a couple of shots of the progress would be nice to see here.

 

[Silver wings1]

The Accurate miniatures SBD-2 arrived today and I'll tell it is an exact duplicate of the SBD-1. The instructions by Academy were reworked but put into a fold out instead of the book type from AC. I also received the SBD Dauntless in Detail and Scale and found a good picture of the Wright R 1820 Cyclone . The kit engine has only the front part and I am very displeased with the H14 part' it resembles nothing of the actual engine part.. The Quickboost. engine is also falling short of the actual engine since it seems they duplicated the kit engine with just the front of it. The Aires engine on the other hand does justice to the proper copy and has the back of the engine included. This is what I am going to build and forget about the partial copies. It will require reconfiguring the cowling of course. I don't know what to do with the SBD-2 at this point but I'm sure I will figure it out. Since I got involved with this old kit I , in my usual way want to build the various variants. That said I am trying to locate an SBD-5 From Eduard, which is a rebox of the AC with extra details and have already ordered the Wright R 1820-60 1200 HP for it from Ultracast. Meanwhile I have a hankering for a jet which I've never considered before and have one coming from Zukiea Mura in 1/48.
I can't leave this planet. I have too much to do LOL