I hope some hard working youtuber stomps the grass and picks your brains, politely, and shares it with us shut ins. The fighter looks fantastic.
LiteFighters: P-40/P-36 and beyond
- Thread starter ScaleBirdsScott
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Aircraft looks great, can't wait for first flight videos! What wasn't fun about a big group of aviators?
Nice video with the AvWeb crew! Congrats on the well-deserved publicity.
ScaledBirds Radial-Powered Curtiss P-36 60% Replica - Sun 'n Fun 2022 - AVweb
ScaledBirds Radial-Powered Curtiss P-36 60% Replica - Sun 'n Fun 2022 - AVweb
Agreed, nice clip, plane looks great, and very interesting to hear the design philosophy and some of the thought that went into what scale to choose. Plus, Scott went to RISD and I grew up outside Providence, so I feel a connection. ;-)
syclone
Active Member
It’s a really nice airplane. It looks better in person; roomy too. Congratulations!
Bill-Higdon
Well-Known Member
I think the best paint job would be Lt Rasmussen's at Perl Harbor
ScaleBirdsScott
Well-Known Member
That was the original plan and, would look good. But maintaining a polished/bare metal airplane in a good looking order is a real chore over time and getting the fiberglass to even remotely look like bare aluminum isn't really a thing we have mastered. So it'd call for potentially just painting the whole thing to match. And that's also not easy to get looking great. So we went with what might have been Lt. Starling's stolen mount's paint and figure that's a story worth telling even if the colors and story ain't as iconic as Rasmussen's.
I won't be surprised if some kits of the P-36 make it into the Rasmussen livery tho, if all works to plan.
In ancient times, when humans only were available in two genders, the plastic scale modelers used to have a special paint called "Liqua-Plate", which you airbrushed on and then could polish to look like aluminum. They made different shades of it to replicate copper, aluminum, titanium, steel, etc. The plastic airplane modelers and railroad modelers used it with great results.
The stuff came in tiny 1/2 oz bottles like all small model paints, so I have no idea if there is an industrial size available.
But I do remember clearly that when it was done right, it looked just like polished and/or semi-polished aluminum depending on how much time you put in. So if you ever wanted to have composite parts that look like metal parts, there was once a way to do it with an airbrush and a polishing cloth.
However, in this day and age, you can simply take the composite parts to have them "flame sprayed" with real aluminum, and you're done with very little effort. You can polish it out with Mother's or Meguiar's, and it would be indistinguishable from any "genuine" Hill Streamliners hammer-formed fairing made for Roscoe Turner in 1937.
The stuff came in tiny 1/2 oz bottles like all small model paints, so I have no idea if there is an industrial size available.
But I do remember clearly that when it was done right, it looked just like polished and/or semi-polished aluminum depending on how much time you put in. So if you ever wanted to have composite parts that look like metal parts, there was once a way to do it with an airbrush and a polishing cloth.
However, in this day and age, you can simply take the composite parts to have them "flame sprayed" with real aluminum, and you're done with very little effort. You can polish it out with Mother's or Meguiar's, and it would be indistinguishable from any "genuine" Hill Streamliners hammer-formed fairing made for Roscoe Turner in 1937.
Aluminum Plate Buffing Metalizer Lacquer 3 oz
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proppastie
Well-Known Member
Beautiful job
Heresy, I know, but there are plenty of metallic-finish vinyl wraps out there...
I think Sterling's story is every bit as worthy as Rasmussen's. Rasmussen is memorialized by the P-36 in the Air Force Museum at Dayton (so glad they did this over the camouflage it originally had). Sterling tossed his watch to the crew chief as he jumped in and said "Give this to my mother, I'm not coming back". That's heroism (so was Rasmussen's). Dennis
Looks and sounds great, I can’t wait to see it fly!
Wow this plane just gets better and better...
Bill-Higdon
Well-Known Member
You need a solid state sound system to generate the "Whine of the inertial starter"
Hope it's not a huge secret but I spy another iteration of the Litefighter... Did I miss that somewhere or is it too soon? Also loved the sounds and looks at the P-36. Personally haven't been this excited about a replica since the WAR days in the 80s and these look so much better IMHO!
nickbayer1
Member
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2021
- Messages
- 10
That's the mock up of the F6F Hellcat Scott and Sam did awhile back
ScaleBirdsScott
Well-Known Member
We're getting there for sure. Inspection in the morning.
Yeah that big blue thing in the back of the hanger is our F6F mockup. All wood and plastic and foam. That was what made us think, "This is a good idea and we can do it, but, this is a lot to bite off for the first go around."
Yeah that big blue thing in the back of the hanger is our F6F mockup. All wood and plastic and foam. That was what made us think, "This is a good idea and we can do it, but, this is a lot to bite off for the first go around."
ScaleBirdsScott
Well-Known Member
Our inspection this morning went very well, and happy to say N936SB holds the papers allowing it to begin flight testing.
We are looking forward to getting that air under the wings in due time, weather, and schedules, and the universe permitting.
We are looking forward to getting that air under the wings in due time, weather, and schedules, and the universe permitting.
