Testors 1/48 P-47D-5 Thunderbolt

[B-17engineer]

Glenn, whenever you get the chance if you could explain I could do it tomorrow. i need to go take care of a few things.

Thanks very much!

 

[T Bolt]

Ok, The first thing to do is like I said before, to clean up those fuselage joints before the super glue gets too hard. When there reasonable, glue the spine on in as good a alignment as you can. That second to last picture didn't look to bad. Tack it in a number of places and don't worry if there's is still a gap like in that picture. When the glue has set fill in the gaps with slivers of plastic card wedged in and then run in some liquid cement. give it a good day to set then carefully trim off the excess card with a curved xacto. Don't worry about getting too close as next you will be filing it flush with a needle file. I would use the one thats curved on one side and flat on the other and tapered to a point. use the curved side holding the file at about a 20 degree angle tothe joint kinda rolling it as you work the joint. you might have to take down the plastic on one side or the other quite a bit depending how well things line up. May take some time. When its reasonably flush, fill in dips and holes with filler and file again. Its going to be a lot of work and there won't be much surface detail in the area when your done, but that can be scribed back later.

 

[B-17engineer]

Sounds good....cleaning joints now and will begin work tomorrow!!

Thanks a bunch!

 

[T Bolt]

Sounds good!

 

[Airframes]

Glenn's got you on the right track there H, no problem. The gap between the bulkhead and the razorback can be corrected without too much problem, but you'll need to be patient, and take your time with it. We'll cover that part when the time comes. First, get the jobs done that Glenn described.

 

[B-17engineer]

Will do T! Cheers

 

[Aaron Brooks Wolters]

Harrison, your stepping it up man!!! That's looking sharp. Keep up the good work and kudos to all the guys helping out here.

 

[B-17engineer]

Thanks Aaron Appreciate it!

 

[Wayne Little]

Some real good challenges there Harrison....dont rush it....once you start the filing work do it carefully and keep checking your progress...

 

[109ROAMING]

Good work H , you've got some great guys here helping you with this one. Good luck , look forward to more

 

[T Bolt]

Harrison, I'm leaving on vacation in the morning and will be gone for a week and a half. I hate to leave you hanging like this, but I'm sure Terry is willing to help you all he can. I'll have a laptop along with me but probably won't be able to check in too often. Good luck with it, and I'm sure it's going to turn out just fine, just take your time with it!

 

[B-17engineer]

Will do Glenn! Really appreciate the help!

 

[Crimea_River]

Should still be filling and filing when you get back Glenn!

 

[B-17engineer]

Is this the jist?

 

[Wurger]

I would say a putty might have been a better solution.

 

[Airframes]

Yep. I think Glennmant put the plastic card into the big gaps, cut off flush, and then use putty or other filler. No problems though, just have a go at filing and sanding until it's near smooth with the joint. Then you can use some putty. It looks rough at the moment, but there's no reason why it can't be virtually perfect when finished.

 

[B-17engineer]

Yeah I'm in the process of sanding and what not. Will work later!

 

[B-17engineer]

I would say a putty might have been a better solution.

That's a helluva lot of putty mate....some of the gaps are huge and it has to be shaped to keep the curvature of the spine.

 

[Wurger]

That's true Harry. Therefore you should have fitted the part before you glued it to the fuselage. Keeping its line and symmetry of the part you could avoid these gaps.As a result , not too much of a putty could be used.

 

[B-17engineer]

One of the parts was warped and Terry said it would straighten out when it was fitted, it didn't.