| Image Comments |
| biplane guy | 01-Mar-21 08:30 |
| WACO UPF-7 fuselage ready to cover |
| biplane guy | 01-Mar-21 09:09 |
| I need help. The contoured balsa blocks at the nose are going to be difficult to cover, even with Solartex. I'm thinking of filling/sealing the balsa with something that will give me the appearance of a metal surface when sanded and painted. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks. Keith |
| Don C | 01-Mar-21 12:28 |
| That's looking good. Great cockpits. Are you filling the gap between the front blocks and the Instrument too? I've learned 2 methods here: 1, sand the balsa smooth, then used a light weight spackle and sand again. Repeat, repeat etc. until you get what you want then seal it with dope (I haven't tried EZ dope yet) and sand with 320 a few times. The number of repeats depends on your desires. 2, Sandable auto primer. Several coats with 320 and seal. Clear Krylon spray seems to be a good sealant too and dries quite smooth and quickly and can be sanded. Hope that helps.
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| biplane guy | 01-Mar-21 17:41 |
| Thanks, Don. I'm going to try to duplicate the metal panels on the top around the cockpits and on the sides between the block-filled forward section and the passenger (front) cockpit access door with some .010 thick polystyrene. The remainder of the fuselage is fabric covered. The multiple contours of the block-filled area prohibited the use of the styrene. |
| bsadonkill | 01-Mar-21 22:27 |
| Fantastic detail on the cockpits, it looks real! |
| Creosotewind | 02-Mar-21 09:17 |
| I've used heavy card stock to replicate panels. Work with the grain of the paper to avoid wrinkles. You can lightly wet the paper to work around contours. I've even laminated two lighter sheets with white glue and as the glue sets, I worked the paper to the shapes I want. |
| biplane guy | 02-Mar-21 15:11 |
| Thanks for the nice comments guys and the helpful tips. I'll give them a try. |
| heywooood | 07-Mar-21 21:36 |
| it looks just fantastic. For what it's worth I have used 1/64" birch ply as well as card stock to make the upper fuselage cockpit coamings. Soaking the birch ply in warm water for an hour or so will allow for some severe shaping.
The compound curves are always difficult and for the Stearman Cloudboy I covered the two cockpit areas separately, then blended the connection with filler such that the appearance was as if it were one section.
I would love to have a closer look at the landing gear you're working on in the top of this image :) |
