Built up framework for scale model cockpits.

[wonwinglo]

They say a picture is better than a thousand words,confronted with making the canopies and gun turrets for my Avro Lancaster project I opted to just build them up from ply and good old balsa,then simple vac-formed transparancies slip over the internal work,just like the real thing really except the framing is normally rivetted in place.You can use dowel,tinplate and scrap materials to simulate all of the details,this is the fun of model building just use your imagination,once painted up they look really realistic.

[Glider Guider]

Nice workmanship Barry, said as one 'balsa & ply man' to another.

Will you be making the transparent coverings from a Coke bottle as you described in another tutorial? I had great difficulty in moulding the gun turret for a Boulton Paul Defiant I made a few years back using moulding plastic from my model shop and heating it under the grill until it started to sag, unfortunately it got too thin on the top and holed. I finished up just moulding the curved top.

[wonwinglo]

Nice workmanship Barry, said as one 'balsa & ply man' to another.Will you be making the transparent coverings from a Coke bottle as you described in another tutorial? I had great difficulty in moulding the gun turret for a Boulton Paul Defiant I made a few years back using moulding plastic from my model shop and heating it under the grill until it started to sag, unfortunately it got too thin on the top and holed. I finished up just moulding the curved top.

*** Thankyou Dave,much appreciated,I must admit that the mouldings are so large that they will be probably produced by a local school design technology department,I just do not have the space or facilities to produce them,a vac form machine would be very nice but to purchase they are quite expensive,I know that they can be made but once again I just do not have the space for one ! I did try making the parts in sections covering with some framework,it does work but tedious and needs lots of individual male & female moulds.As you can probably see all of my model building is fairly low tech,much prefer hand carved basic materials,my lathe is the electric drill chuck and my best friend is the bandsaw purchased at a car boot for £20,but this does not stop me getting the maximum fun from building,far from it as it brings out the ingenuity and you can still get results.

Regarding the pop bottle cockpits which do work well,one of the problems was getting bottles large enough,at Christmas Woolworths had some monster money box plastic bottles which are ideal for bigger cockpits on models.

[Guest]

Nice work Barry,

Vac Form Moulding machines are not as expensive as you think, I bought one many years ago from the Model Plans service (Now Nexus) as a kit for about £11.....it is basically a wooden box that you build up with the frame on top to hold the plastic...the suction device is nothing more than your average domestic Vacuum cleaner......Plugged into a standard vac end nozzle glued and sealed into the base.

Heat your plastic on the wood frame, lower down over your plug/mould on the base and switch vac on to suck air down and pull plastic down over your plug....dead easy and dead cheap..........and it works !!!

Regards.........Mark.

[wonwinglo]

Nice work Barry,Vac Form Moulding machines are not as expensive as you think, I bought one many years ago from the Model Plans service (Now Nexus) as a kit for about £11.....it is basically a wooden box that you build up with the frame on top to hold the plastic...the suction device is nothing more than your average domestic Vacuum cleaner......Plugged into a standard vac end nozzle glued and sealed into the base.

Heat your plastic on the wood frame, lower down over your plug/mould on the base and switch vac on to suck air down and pull plastic down over your plug....dead easy and dead cheap..........and it works !!!

Regards.........Mark.

*** Thanks Mark,worth looking into,will do. :tropthy:

[Guest]

No problem Barry,

If you can't find anything on this let me know, because it is so easy to build and you can probably do most of it from offcuts from your shed or the local hardware/builders shop making it even cheaper....the only extra purchase really is a plastic hoover nozzle to glue permanently into the base of the box.

Most nozzles fit any make vacuum cleaner these days, so it doesn't really matter what make you have at the end of the day, it should still fit and do the job.

Regards........Mark.

[Glider Guider]

Is there any chance of posting a photo or a sketch of your homemade vacuum forming machine Mark?

I can visualise the box with the sucky end of a vacuum cleaner stuck in it and the frame on the top to hold the plastic but not how the plug would be held in position unless it’s held on dowels from the bottom of the box, I presume the bottom of the plug is fixed level with the plastic sheet.

[wonwinglo]

Thanks Mark,I have a spare vacuum cleaner following the purchase of one of those whizz-bang super Dysons ! if you can perhaps do a sketch to show the general construction and I will build one,the plastic clear sheet is available from educational suppliers and perhaps even obtainable on the internet,sounds like a worthwhile project.

[Guest]

Yes, I will try and knock up a sketch of the Vac former ....it is not difficult to make at all.

will post it up very shortly.

Regards........Mark.

[Guest]

Well, I'm not Mark, but here is a diagram that came out of a FSM magazine.

[ATTACH]7450.IPB[/ATTACH]

[IMG]/monthly_2005_01/vac.jpg.a8ea306a58bf1df9472d2319e547dfab.jpg[/IMG]

[ATTACH]12745.IPB[/ATTACH]

[wonwinglo]

Thanks Neville,I am trying to study that lifting arm device,will take another look tomorrow.

[Guest]

another diagram then which may clarify it. Issue was January/February 1998 Fling Scale Models (issue no 3)

[ATTACH]7451.IPB[/ATTACH]

[IMG]/monthly_2005_01/vac1.jpg.8d16e64c55622c42a0a5224172b7df0f.jpg[/IMG]

[ATTACH]12746.IPB[/ATTACH]

[wonwinglo]

another diagram then which may clarify it. Issue was January/February 1998 Fling Scale Models (issue no 3)

*** Got it now Kiwi,amazing what a different view does,thanks for the trouble uploading these diagrams,I have saved them for future reference.