Thursday 6 February 2014

The Dragon is growing!...

It's been nice to get back to the Dragon Rapide master after weeks of car stuff.  And very productive it's been too.
I finally got the wing ribs masked and sprayed to represent the tapes over the rib stitching .  The rib stitching is however, a step too far. It is so extensive and time consuming that it would double the cost of the master!
So that will be up to the kit buyers to either ignore or to use Archer decals to represent it.

Beyond that, the lower wings are finished along with the engine nacelles which are partly integral with the wings to obviate as many non-natural joints as possible.  The long joint between the fuselage halves is, alas, unavoidable, due to production constraints, but I have endeavoured to make the joint as good as possible, requiring only the smallest amount of filling.  More Archer cross-stitch decals will then cover most of that.
Here are the two fuselage halves, with the newly carved nose cone, which snicks on the front. That is yet to be hollowed out when the weather allows me to stand in the workshop doorway and have the wind blow the dust away, so that I don't end up looking like a snowman.
Also the cockpit bulkhead with it's framing, to which attaches all manner of electrical boxes, switchgear, etc.

The halves internally.  Each side of the cockpit has slightly different  framing, but all these hold various different controls, electrical boxes, pipes and wires.  Also here are the nose cone with its cockpit glazing frame detail and the engine nose cone with its new air intake surround.
And finally, a shot of all of it, so far (showing my usual muddle of tools!)


2 comments:

  1. I'm in awe of folk that can make such complex masters!
    Just out of curiousity, what will the finished kit be cast in? Resin?

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  2. Thanks for your comment, Paul. Yes, this will be cast in epoxy resin, for strength and also because epoxy is a little cheaper and doesn't shrink as much as polyurethane. However it's not so easy to work with, but this client seems to be leading the rest with it. The details will be split twixt photo-etch and white metal.

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