Well, the big news this week is that the house is up for sale. Two families had expressed interest, based on hearing of the sale thru friends and neighbours. One family decided it was too expensive but the other family visited last Tuesday. They said they would get back to us with some questions within a day. We are still waiting to hear back from them, and are now thinking they are either not interested or highly unorganized. Regardless, we meet with a realtor tomorrow afternoon to formally list the house.
Daniel was selected to attend the Canadian Business Leaders Association dinner, hosted by the UofA. Itis a $2500 a table event to recognize Canadian business leadership. As sponsors, the UofA selects up and coming students to attend the event, represent the school, and give them exposure to high profile leaders. Quite an achievement to be selected. Congratulations Daniel!
Nicholas spent a week down east visiting Jill. He had negotiated the opportunity to work remotely every 5 to 6 weeks with the intent he would head east and work from Jill's house. The process worked perfectly and he had a great visit.
My next big project is taxes for 8 people. The plan is to get a first pass for everyone done in the next week, then wait a month for missing tax slips to show up. This gets the heavy lifting out of the way and leaves just input corrections and additions for later.
Norseman
Here's a picture of CF-BAW on floats, the selected scheme, taken at Kenora in the summer of 1943. The plane was being used to transport freight and passengers to Devil's Gap Lodge, a Canadian Pacific holiday resort.
From the blog 'The JN-DOG Boys" http://www.jn-dogboys.com/the-crew/gerry-newey/3-wireless-school-winnipeg/
Assembly deviated from the instruction's recommended sequence. It was decided it would be easier to add the gear wings and horizontal stabilizers before the main wing. This allowed better access to the gear wing joints to add filler. It also allowed better access to locate and drill out the rigging locations on the rear tailplanes.
Finding pictures of the real plane was helpful. CF-BAW did not have access ladders or steps, so those locating holes were filled. It also had a different lower cowl intake arrangement that required reshaping the cowl intake, and removal of the corresponding fuselage portion.
It took a bit to figure out the float rigging locations so appropriate holes could be drilled. The floats were then carefully set on little blobs of white track, to hold them in place, and the horizontal struts glued in place. A little manual intervention while the glue set helped ensure everything was squared up properly.
Filler was needed along the bottom and sides of the windshield. This was carefully applied using Mr. Surfacer and then smoothed with a Q-Tip dipped in alcohol.
The first attempt to test fit the floats was a total failure. Nothing fit and there was no obvious connection points. There were three issues, all fatal to further progress:
The biggest issue was that the float supports were too wide for the gear wings.
It seemed like the floats were too close to the fuselage, and
The fuselage appeared to be canted downwards too much at the rear.
Checking a set of online reference drawings found a number of potential solutions.
The gear wings as currently mounted weren't even, and were too far apart. These were adjusted with a little brute force to better match the drawings.
The drawings show the float support struts attached to the floats near the inner edge, rather than along the centreline, as in the kit. Changing the location helped bring the supports back in line with the gear wings.
The kit includes a vertical support midspan on the rear horizontal float strut. This doesn't seem to appear in either the drawings or any pictures. It has an obvious benefit, providing additional support and strength to the float support assembly. It also makes it much easier to position and attach the floats. The obvious solution to the plane's "squat" was to replace the vertical strut with a longer piece.
Photo 1 - Fuselage nearing completion
Photo 2 - Float rigging complete
Photo 3 - Vertical struts moved to the inner edge, ready to install onto the fuselage
Photo 4 - Test fit shows the improved floats fit!
With a solution to attached the floats,. attention moved to the wings and preparing to paint. The wings have large red visibility patches, edged on the inside with blue stripes, at the end of each wing. The aircraft registration appears on both the top and bottom side in large black letters. These letters will foul the diagonal wing braces, requiring the letter to finished before the braces are installed. After much thought, it was decided to attach the wings after the floats were installed, making it easier position and access the float joints. Unfortunately, the wing to fuselage joint isn't very tight, and will require filler. So a new assembly sequence was worked out:
Attach the floats to the fuselage.
Paint the floats and fuselage silver, leaving an unpainted area around the wing joints.
Glue the wings to the fuselage, fill the joint, and then prep for paint.
Paint the rest of the wing and the bare fuselage area adjacent to the wing.
Trying to repair a loose rigging point on the floats deteriorated quickly, eventually ending up with one broken rigging wire and both floats breaking free of the struts. Selected words were muttered and repairs are in progress.
Photo 1 - Red patches painted and masked
Photo 2- Float repaid underway. Fuselage primed.
MiG-29 Ghost of Kyiv
With the main components together, the plane was ready for paint. A black primer was used as I wanted to try "black basing". This is a process where lighter colours are applied over a black base. The intent is that the black base partially shows thru the colour layer to provide depth and colour/tone modulation. Done properly, and it helps avoid an otherwise monotone colour layer.
The primer found the usual areas of repairs, but I was surprised by the number of moulding blemishes also highlighted. The worst was a hairline short shot in the upper port wing that left a shallow crack-like trench. The rest of the blemishes tended to be minor bumps that showed up as the primer was smoothed out using a high grit sandpaper.
I managed to cobble together an assortment of appropriate paint colours from a number of different brands. The top side colour, an off white, was applied first. It was from the Vallejo Model Colour line, intended for brushing, so required considerable thinning to spray smoothly. The paint came out of the bottle quite thick, and seemed to get thicker as more paint was squeezed out. A rather high 2:1 thinner to paint ratio was needed to get a consistency appropriate for spraying. Painting started with the main landing gear bay, but almost immediately, the airbrush started spitting and sputtering. Vallejo is known for rapid tip drying, so a damp Q-Tip was ready. Cleaning the tip helped but didn't stop the sputtering, and it quickly got worse. After several attempts to restore flow, I gave up and the paint was dumped. To my surprise, the bottom of the cup still contained a very thick sludge, the consistency of pudding. Cleaning the airbrush was an extended affair, taking over 30 minutes to finally flush all the white paint out.
A second attempt was made, heavily thinning the paint and adding flow improver. Things worked better. but there was still sputtering. Avoiding paint flow adjustments while spraying seemed to reduce the sputtering, so painting continued until the first layer was applied. The result isn't pretty, and will need to be lightly sanded to even out the finish. That bottle of white will go into the trash and something else will get figured out for the subsequent layers.
Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the first layer of white so I have nothing to show you.
The first layer of white wasn't opaque enough, so another layer was needed. WIth the Vallejo bottle in the garbage, an alternate white was mixed up using Tamiya. This went on as expected, without any issues. I liked the mottled effect over the black base, and think it would look pretty appropriate for a Canadian Hornet, but it's probably still a little too uneven looking. I'm not sure what the decals, being of uniform colour density, would look like on this rather worn looking surface. So one more thin layer of white.
Happy with the while after the another coat of paint, it was time for the underside grey. It was initially sprayed with Vallejo Air USAF Light Gray. What photos I can find suggest the underside should match the lightest grey on the decals. Once applied, this colour seemed too brown when compared to the decal camouflage. I decided to respray with Tamiya XF-80 Royal Light Grey. This was better, with a bluer tone, but still seemed too light. So the third grey was sprayed, this time with Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey. This finally seemed to strike the desired tone and colour balance. Hard to see the difference in the pictures but it works in person
Next morning, I compared the paint to the decals. After much internal debate, I decided the paint was still too light. So out came the masking tape and the plane was masked to respray the grey. This time Tamiya XF-83 Medium Sea Grey was used, and very lightly applied over the underside. The resulting effect is a mottled or uneven grey, hopefully suggesting wear and use. A comparison, holding the decal sheet next to the underside, suggests this grey is slightly darker than the decal but close enough. Time to gloss coat and apply the decals!
Photos 1&2 - Primer found a number of areas that required repair.
Photo 3 - Final primer layer finished and polished
Photo 4 - Second layer of white
Photo 5 - Third layer of white. Happy with that.
Photo 6 - First grey seems too brown
Photo 7 - Happier after respraying with a bluer grey
Photo 8 - Darker grey applied.
With painting complete, it was time to start the decals. Deep breath. Playing it safe, I started work with a smaller decal on the left wing. The decal grabbed immediately, even with plenty of setting solution to wet the surface. Now warned, the large decal over the spine was split into 5 pieces. It still gave me problems, with challenging fit around the intakes. Unfortunately, I later realized that I had applied this decal in reverse, explaining why it didn't fit well around the intakes.
As decal application progressed, I realized it worked better if the surface was wetted using water rather than the usual Micro Set. This seemed to allow the decals to slide easier, and helped get them into position. Unfortunately, there were still instances where decals tore or broke. They were pieced together as best as possible but touch up paint will be needed.
Photo 1 - Left wing and most of the fuselage complete
Photo 2 - Broken and uneven decals around the upper wing intakes
Photo 3 - Upper side complete
Photo 4 - Intake repairs complete
Photo 5 - Digital decals complete and touch ups in progress
Photo 6 - All decals complete and tailplanes added
With the digital camouflage applied, the "normal" markings could be added. The national insignia, unit markings and stencils went on without fuss.
Micro Sol was used to get the decals to settle into panel lines and details, and worked everywhere but on the vertical stabilizers. Repeated applications had no effect on the stabilizer decals but did start to damage the paint. Even slicing the decals didn't really help them settle in. A sufficient result was eventually achieved but additional paint touch ups will be required.
Beaver
Hockey games provide a great opportunity to do research. The Whiskeyjack decals provide two schemes. The first is for the older white upper, light blue lower, with a blue fuselage stripe and red/white tail. Two registrations are provided for this scheme, CF-BHD and CF-DJM. The second scheme uses the PWA "Speedbird" or "flying mustache" emblem. This also uses a white upper and light blue lower, with alternating blue/white fuselage stripes, but the tail is solid white.
Googling CF-DJM only found one picture, which matched the decal scheme with one exception. It showed the plane with amphibious floats, rather than the water only floats included in the kit. Adding the necessary retractable landing gear looked like it could be a lot of work.
Despite trying for several hours, I could not find a picture of the speedbird scheme on any beaver. Then I discovered the site www.dhc-2.com, and found a lot of info and some very useful pictures. The site is attempting to find information, history and pictures of all 1692 Beavers, and looks to be well on its way.
CF-DJM was looked up first, the 65th Beaver to have been built. The plane was originally delivered to Consolidated Mining on May 5 1950. It was sold to Queen Charlotte Airlines sometime before 1955. It became part of Pacific Western Airlines when it bought QCA in July 1955. It crashed on landing in 1957 when the plane landed on water with the landing gear extended. Amazingly, it was restored to service, but later disappeared near Eureka River, Alberta on September 8 1958. The wreck was found in July 1977. Not a very appealing history. cn65 (dhc-2.com)
CF-BHD is rather famous. It was constructed in June 1947 as CF-FHB-X, with the X designating experimental, as serial number 1, making it the first Beaver built. Most prototype aircraft are kept by the company for flight testing. Unusually, Beaver #1 was sold and placed into service, where it had a long and distinguished career before being placed on display at the National Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. The plane was initially purchased by Central British Columbia Airways in June 1948, and served with them until the airline incorporated into PWA in May 1953. It served with PWA until 1960, when it was sold to Northward Aviation. It was then sold to B&B Aviation in 1968, and finally to North Canada Air (Norcanair) in 1969.
CF-BHD had two accidents. From DHC-2.com
Accident: Stewart, BC. 28-Feb-1953. Aircraft damaged when operating as ski-plane. Attempted take-off from unsuitable temporary strip, hit snowdrift after it veered sharply to port. Substantial damage to tail cone, stabiliser and elevators. No injuries suffered by pilot Ian MacLaren Watt. Flown to Prince George for repairs which were completed by 25-Apr-1953.
Accident: Stewart BC. 06-Mar-1954. While attempting to take off on skis on a temporary airstrip the aircraft swerved off the runway onto rough ground. Substantial damage to rear of fuselage which was bent upwards approximately 18in forward at a 45deg angle. Tail and ski damaged. Shipped to Vancouver for repair.
DHC-2.com has several pictures of CF-BHD in PWA colours. The first shows it in the earlier scheme with the red/white tail. The other picture shows it on floats, in the speedbird livery! Finally, a picture was found, proving that at least one PWA Beaver had the speedbird markings as shown on the decal sheet.
Close examination of the photos showed some important information.
The Whisekyjack decals provided the blue/white fuselage stripe in two parts. The blue decal stripe was to be placed first, and then overlaid with the white decal stripes. My experience overlaying decals on decals hasn't been good, and the white decal often lacks sufficient opacity to prevent the underlying colour from showing thru. CF-DJM had the white stripes, but the picture of CF-BHD shows it only had the blue stripe.
Pictures of CF-DJM in Consolidated Mining colours shows it on standard floats. The picture of CF-DJM in PWA colours, with the Pacific Western written out on the floats, shows amphibious floats. It may be possible that it initially has standard floats and PWA added the amphibious floats later. Having Pacific Western spelled out on the floats is unusual, and doesn't appear on any other PWA Beaver picture. It makes me think this was unique to the amphibious float version.
The aircraft registration was placed on the tail, on the white portion, in large blue letters. The picture of CF-BHD shows very small blue letters. The decal sheet includes a set of small registration letters, intended for the speedbird scheme, that look like they would work.
So which scheme to model? I had originally wanted to model the speedbird scheme. This is without question the more familiar version, and was still in use on all the 737s I watched in Calgary thru the 1980's. But I am leaning towards the earlier scheme, with the red/white tail, as it appears to have been more common on the Beaver fleet. And who could resist modelling CF-BHD, the very first Beaver?
Photo 1 - The very old Whiskeyjack Decals.
Photo 2 - CF-DJM in happier times. Note the retracted landing gear at the front of the floats
Photos 3&4 - CF-DJM upside down after landing with the landing gear extended. Amazingly, it was recovered and returned to service
Photo 5 - CF-BHD in the early PWA colours but lacking the white stripes
Photo 6 - CF-BHD in the PWA speedbird markings
That's it for another blog. I hoped you enjoyed my adventures. Take care and stay safe.
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