Humbrol Tiger Moth

[Piecost]

I was concerned about the use of vacuum formed polystyrene on the finished model. So I made a trial nose to test the following;

1. How well the plastic attaches using canopy glue

2. How well (unchalked) yellow Asuka covers the different colours of the white plastic and balsa

3. How well chalked Asuka covers the different colours of the white plastic and balsa

4. Does pre-painting the plastic and/or then balsa before tissue covering help?

5. Does the tissue cover the double curvature of the plastic without wrinkles?

6. Does wallpaper paste work Ok. The stuff made from powder and water.

7. Is the plastic stiff enough to withstand the tissue shrinkage?

Conclusions, so far

1. The 0.25mm plastic is stiffer than the soft 1/16" sheet fuselage sides. On one side the plastic glued reasonably flush. The other the plastic was proud. I cut and reglued the plastic. Perhaps the moulding was too wide. A small overhang was Ok since the plastic could be sanded. If underflush then lightweight filler could be used. The canopy glue stuck Ok, but may notnsand well.

More will be answered as I progress...

Reproducing the vacuum formed parts has been a knightmare and has trippeled the build time of this project. I am not even happy with the neatness of the moulds.

The photo shows the nose with aluminium tape holding the rear part of the plastic onto the fuselage side and household DIY lightweight filler applied to the joint.

The inset squares on the balsa side are to simulate the inset strips on the empenage. To find out how prominant they appear under the tissue after sanding.

The nose has been given local areas of lightweight filler and a couple of coats of Sand'n'Seal. This fills then grain nicely.

[Piecost]

The test piece has been painted with 50% thinned Tamiya acrylic. The paint does not reduce the contrast between the plastic and balsa. It may even enhance it, due to their differing textures.

I have applied yellow chalk pastel onto some yellow Asuka tissue. I will cover half with chalked and half with unchalked and tissue and see how they compare.

[pb_guy]

It looks like it is the grain of the wood that shows through the lighter colour paint, which is acting more like a heavy stain than paint. Perhaps a layer of thin white or yellow tissue overlaying the wood, then sealed and painted might overcome this transparency. But that does add a bit of weight.
ian