John Greenfield wrote:Phil
I would love to know exactly how you built that throttle unit. this is an area of modelling I always struggle with and fully detailed advice is so hard to come by. All builders usually say is that it was made from bits from the scrap box. Maybe I do not have enough imagination or I have the wrong scrap box but to understand exactly what you used for each part would be a great help to us mear mortals.
Best regards
John
Hi John
It honestly is pretty straight forward when you approach it from the right direction, but when people who maybe haven't tackled this sort of detail before see a finished product, they often think 'where the h**l do I start'?
You have to cut these parts right back to basics and start with the base forms rather than starting to try and build the finished forms straight away......if you break even the most complex items down into simple boxes, spheres, tubes etc etc...it becomes a whole lot easier. The photo of the gun sight below (not for this model) shows this well how even this complex part has been broken down into much simpler base forms and built up part by part.
The throttle console is built around a simple 1/8" balsa 'box'.........this is proportioned of various archive photos and drawings from a selection of books.....this is where a good library comes in handy as you can never have too many reference materials. I have the majority of good published on the B-26, many showing interior shots, but some are contradictory as many photos are from many different angles so it's hard to get an accurate idea of the exact shape.......so you have to add all these together and produce a shape that averages out all of the possible inaccuracies.
Once the box is formed, it’s skinned in 0.5mm styrene sheet (boned with green ZAP after a light key), this gives a nice smooth 'paint ready' surface, but one that’s easy to bond other bits to with liquid poly (plastic modellers glue)
The 'slots' where the various levers project from are not cut into this face...a 2nd skin is added where these slots are cut into.....far easier to cut slots on a flat piece of styrene on a cutting mat that trying to accurately & neatly cut them on a curved surface. This does take a little plotting to get the slots the right length though.
The toggles switches were next........these are basically styrene rod with the ends rounded over bonded into holes drilled into the styrene/balsa.........all this stuff is available from any model shop that’s into plastics or railway modelling (Evergreen is one of the main trade names). The 'guards' for some of the switches are formed litho. Fiddly to make....parts are normally held in a pair of tweezers when being spared. The large mag switch assembly on the centre is again made up from multiple sections of styrene bit by bit to form the final piece.
The larger rotary switches are made up from 3 pieces...the centre is a styrene tube (with the end filled in with cyano), the 2 outer pieces are 1mm styrene sheet cut to shape and bonded with liquid poly (the one rotary switch is actually made from 3 individual pieces). Fiddly yes, but it’s the only way to do it unless you want to make a master, take a silicone mould and cast a batch in resin (pointless if you only have 4/5 to make)
The ball ended throttle levers are from plastic ended dress making pins. The 'thickness' to the lever is added in styrene sheet bonded to the shaft of the pin......the liquid poly basically melts the edge of the styrene, forming it against the sheet pin to for one piece (the joint is difficult to see once painted)
The smaller 'block' are produced from Chemiwood.......this is a solid, grain free resin material used in the commercial model making industry. We sell this in 6" x 4" x 2" blocks that weight a little over 500g, so it is quite heavy stuff.....but in small pieces like this, it's weight is minimal. Being grain free, it doesn't split, doesn't require sealing prior to paint, and rubs down to a nice smooth finish very easily. Being quite dense, you can cut it with machine & hand tools, machine it in a lathe/mill, drill it, tap it, even hand carve it.......it's fantastic stuff for those smaller parts that you once would have made from balsa and had to be careful to prevent them splitting and seal them multiple times prior to paint. (This is also the greeny stuff use in the gun sight) Details of it can be found on our website here..............
http://www.sacarr.co.uk/fighteraces/building/chemiwood.htmOnce the basic assembly is complete, being plastic, an etch primer is used prior to colour coat. We used U-Pol Acid Etch #8 in an aerosol can (Halfords & the like sell it)...once coat of this gets a good bond to the styrene and prevents paint from cracking/chipping in the future (good for small metal parts as well).
Hope that helps?
Phil
