Cessna 150: Wheel Skirts, Prop, Nose Cone

[emeiermodel]

Hello all,
I'm building a Cessna 150 static model. I was wondering if anyone had any pro-tips, advice,etc. regarding building and attaching the wheel skirts?

I'm dreading cutting the plastic pieces, gluing them together, painting them, attaching them, etc. I was hoping for an alternative (I was experimenting with Sculpy with no luck.) Working with the plastic parts of these planes is my least favorite activity. I've seen some wonderful 150's and was curious how others dealt with the wheel skirts. Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated!

Also, looking for scale prop suggestions. I typically carve my own but would be willing to buy pre-made.

Finally, the plastic nose-cone came damaged. I know I can buy another but was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for sturdier/better nose cones.

Thanks in advance!
Eric

[heywooood]

a few tricks you can try.
1) to remove the plastic parts from their sheet cut around each part with small, sharp scissors - just leave about 1/8" of material all around the part.
2) using 100 -120 grit sandpaper sand the back of the part until the excess plastic falls away. Just be careful to sand EVENLY. eventually the plastic gets so thin you can carefully peel it away from the part
3) you need 1/16" this balsa sheet material - for the wheel pants or any two sided and equal parts to be joined - trace the part onto the sheet balsa, then cut it out and glue it to one half (of the wheel skirt for instance)
**Note: for the wheel skirts you will also have to trace the wheel onto the balsa piece you just made and make a cutout on it so the wheel can still go into the skirt**
Once you have the appropriate balsa part you just made THEN glue it to one side of the skirt. it should be able to fit inside and flush with the part OR to make it easier - it can be oversized..then join the half with the balsa part and the opposite half of the skirt together making sure they are aligned. If you have made your balsa piece an INSERT then just press the two halves together until set. If you have made the balsa piece OVERSIZED then what you have should look like a sandwich with the balsa in the center..
If that is what you have then once it is set just sand that part all the way around until that seam is gone.

For parts that do not have a wheel in the middle to deal with this is an excellent solver. You get a much stronger bond to the airplane with that balsa in there..

As to the repair on the cowl - you dont say what the damage is... is the part crushed? or cracked? or cut into? If it is cracked or sliced you will need some liquid cement for plastic models - I use Tamiya liquid cement for this repair.
just take a piece of the scrap plastic that surrounds the part and cut it in a piece large enough to cover the crack or slice with about a 1/8" overhang all around if possible - then wet the inside of the cowl with the liquid cement all around the area to be patched.
Then put your scrap plastic over the wound on the INSIDE of the cowling and hold until set. Once dry take a drop of CYA and go around the edges of your patch inside of the cowl. No glue need be applied to the outside of your cowling.

[heywooood]

for removing contoured or complex parts - or where scissors wont work for instance - I take a fine point sharpie and trace the part along all of its edges or the outline of the part if you will. Then I can see where to cut with the exacto blade.
Dont try to cut right through the plastic in one go. This is where most people go wrong. You are basically going to retrace the part with your blade going right along your sharpie line over and over again until the blade begins to dip right through the scoring cut you've made. Then just continue tracing the areas that are not separated until they are. Sometimes you can 'work' the edges of the part and separate it from the sheet that way but you have to be careful not to 'rip' the part.

[emeiermodel]

Thank you very much! These tips are helpful.

[joecrouse]

for getting the parts OUT of the plastic I suggest the old school method. sand the back side of the plastic at the mold joint till its thin enough that the excess plastic basically falls off.

[Bill Gaylord]

Run thick CA along the inside of the seams and hit with activator. You will now have additional material to sculpt from. If the seams can more than just barely be seen, then the person did a lousy job. Should be able to get them invisible with a prime/sand operation. For some apps like the Stearman pilot, it may be difficult to get the glue on the inner seams, where usingthin CA will work. It just takes a bit more glue apps and a bit more concentration to keep it running along the seams.