This
is the second article about my A380 project. The full article, in 3
installments, allows me to go into some details which I think make this build a
little different from traditional “out-of-the-box” assemblies.
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Part 1: Scratch-built cockpit with illuminated instrument panel. Cabin, taxi,
icon and NAV lights. Body assembly.
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Part 2: Engines with custom-made etched fan blades. Landing gear.
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Part 3: Paint job, final adjustments. Display base, with illuminated taxiway.
ENGINES
AND FAN BLADES
The
starting point, showing the kit parts. I wasn’t happy with the kit’s
rendition of the N1 and N2 fan blades. If you look at modern jet engines,
you can actually see through the engine. Revell’s fan blades would not
allow this, and the engines would look like plastic engines. Which was not
up to my standards.
The
solution was to create my own blades. Photo-etching comes in as a handy
mean. I will not describe the technique again here, there is already an
ARC article describing extensively the process.
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I am
holding the result of the first etch, a pair of N1 (front) fan blades. It took
me several attempts to get the right size, but you will see that the result is
well worth the extra effort. I placed side-by-side my etched fans, the kit’s
original fans and a snap-together assembly of the engine. The glasses illustrate
the scale of the items, which are large enough for some easy extra detailing.
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An
overview of the engine parts, primed and painted with a mix of Alclad II
metallic colors. Note that the front fans are still “flat”. I will bend them
into shape soon. The open engine shows how the brass fan is positioned in the
engine hull.
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The
first version of the front blade clearly shows that the final rendition will be
great, but also points out the wrong size of the fan diameter. There is an
obvious gap between the outer fan end and the intake rim. In real aircraft, both
items are in close contact, to a point where you can almost hear the blades
screech against the inlet rim. I created a second version later, which was right
sized: the second pictures shows an assembled – and painted – engine.
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Was
the effort worth the result? Look at the two photos below, and go figure. I
actually love my rendition of the engines, they look almost real
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LANDING
GEAR
The
landing gears deserved some special attention too. First the model became
heavy, due to all the electronics packed in the body. I was afraid the
original, fragile plastic struts might collapse. And I had to find a way
in for the external power supply. Both issues were solved by turning a
pair of brass struts. They would bear the weight, and provide an entry
point for the electricity. So I had to find a lathe, and learn how to use
it J
A senior, 85 years old modeler donated me the former, and books learnt me
the latter.
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The
basic idea about power supply is to run the electricity through a brass strut,
which will connect with the taxiway through a small plug. The later would become
almost invisible, hidden by the many wheels – 22 in total! Assembling the
brass strut was a matter of soldering and drilling holes for the wheel axis. The
match gives an idea of the tiny size of the landing gear items.
Had
I followed the kit’s instructions, the struts were to be assembled with the
gear wells at a very early stage, even before mating the body halves. So I
started a little surgery session, removing the locating pins from the struts.
Now the struts can be slid into the gear wells at any stage. I added them as a
very last step, after the paintjob was completed.
The
struts deserved some extra detailing, so I added a couple of hydraulic lines: a
main brake line, and smaller, individual lines, leading to each wheel. After a
paint and weathering session, the result looked quite convincing. Remember that
this is only 1/144 scale!
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The
A380 has two main landing gears: a 6-wheeled gear attached to the body, and a
4-wheeled strut attached to the wing. The later is the one I scratch-built with
brass. I cut away from the original plastic strut the scissors, dampers and drag
brace, and transferred them to the brass strut. Again I added the hydraulic
lines, made from lead fisher-line wire and extra-thin copper wire.
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Painting
and weathering added some level of realism to the assembly, as do a couple of
yellow-blue color marks on the hydraulic lines. On the pictures below, you can
clearly see the pin which will provide the power connection to the display base.
You might also note that the attachment of the strut to the wing is quite
sophisticated.
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Twenty
wheels for the main landing gears are a great challenge for any modeler.
To align them all to a common level was a nightmare.
The end result however looks impressive, doesn’t it?
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The
assembly of the landing gears to the aircraft took place at the very end of the
project, after the paint job, which I will comment in the next article.
Pierre
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