Today was an odds and ends day. I'm still working through the engine house punch list items. Today it was build the caged access ladder to the gantry hoist. I had some chunks of the Plastruct ladder and cage set, but not enough of either to make a single-piece ladder. I measured the height to the gantry rail and spliced two ladder pieces end-to-end to make the correct length. I then glue on the cage. It was the right height, but the top end didn't have a ring. It was just a bunch of slats sticking up in the air. I cut a ring off the remaining chunk of cage and first solvent cemented and then CA'd it to the assembly. I primed it white Tamiya primer (a good color under yellow) and then air brushed it with Tamiya flat yellow. I stuck it into the engine house with the contact cement strips I've been using. You step directly from the ladder to the gantry which is why its facing in that direction. You'll also notice that the 567 looks different.
I decided to see how the engine looked with the detail painting. This wasn't a perfect engine. The next one I'm building today is more perfect, but it can still get better.
First I went to work on the cylinder head details. That painting alone added some significant realism to this already realistic model. Painting consisted of using A-K Interactive black wash, then Tamiya gloss Smoke to give that oily look. I followed this up with Tamiya gloss black for all the valve gear and the power pack clamps. Next I used the Molotow chrome pen to pick out selected bolt heads and the injector racks, and finally used Tamiya Black Panel Line Accent around the cylinder pots.
After the cylinder area I went over the whole model with panel accent and wiped off with Q-Tip dampened with some low odor mineral spirits. I then brush painted the mufflers with Vallejo Dark Flesh (a great rust base color). I filled the exhaust stacks with black accent and then used brown and black weathering powders on the mufflers.
If anyone would like one of these engines for dioramas or flat car loads, let me know.
I took some photos inside the engine house using the cell phone on the "selfie" setting to make it easier to put it into the front door and see the view screen. If it wasn't for the huge flanges, the swinging pilots and that 3rd rail, it could really fool somebody. For some reason the back row of LEDs are not getting enough voltage. The outside light is. It may be draining the circuit in some funny way. I may have to re-wire that light into it's own feed.
It really shows just how huge the Q2 is. It's one of my favorite engines of all times partially based on seeing a Max Gray engine in a long-gone hobby shop in downtown Philly, Les Meyers. I saw this engine in their window when I was probably 8 or 9 years old and it burned itself into my brain.
I put together another 567 of the last parts that I printed. I had two back ends. One with the corrected flywheel where the generator fits better, and an older one missing the oil lines. So of course I had to spend a half hour adding back 0.020" phosphor bronze lines. It didn't take so to drill and bend. It took time to keep finding the **** things that I kept dropping on the floor.
Then I found the correct one… so it was all for naught. I built the engine and primed it. It's now drying.
S-38: I got a successful 3D part completed for the strut jig. It will work nicely. The width and the slots are dead on.
I also painted the props the bronze color that the rest of the plane will be. I put these aside until the end of the build. I was a shame to cover up those pretty spinners, but the model is to appear monochromatic.
