[nate55]

Looking Dam good so far !!

Nate /

[Mark_WCE]

Nate,

Thank you for your kind words good Sir! Greatly appreciated.

Quickly on the tail end of the last update, the placard for the one side as well as the 'support arm' (technically the radius arm, but here is most certainly going to be used to support the elements of the seat), well, the construction there started.

The radius arm cut, shaped, sanded smooth, with rivets added:




And the placard cut to shape and size, with rivets added:




From there, the placard was shot with glosscoat (as was the radius arm, but not really that exciting). Then the placard had the text applied. Only frustrating part was having to hand paint the white line under 'Danger'. Then the whole thing was shot with dullcoat, and then the silver drybrushing added:






Here the radius arm also has the dry brushing done, only difference is no dullcoat added.


And the completed pieces in place. The placard is glued on, the radius arm is still free until the other ones and straps are completed:







Thanks for looking!
Mark.

[Mark_WCE]

Oh yes! Forgot to mention! The plans arrived yesterday as hoped.

Just over 107 inches long... 114 tip to tip... those are "just numbers" until you see how big this thing is when the plans are layed out on the ground...

*Insert evil/nervous/enthusiastic/"what the hell did I get myself into" laugh here*


Cheers,
Mark.

[Mark_WCE]

Work is still continuing very well with the ejection seat. Tonight I hope to have pictures of the completed upper headrest placards and serial plates, and as well to be moving forward with the blue seat harness mounts.

I picked up the seat straps and pieces required for the seat harness this weekend, along with all the items for the figure as well (which is being done as a step by step in the scale section here - making pilot figures.

Here are the pieces being used:


The various widths will allow as close as accurate a representation of the actual seat straps, and the thread is going to be used as the leg restraint bands.



Here the widest strap is 4mm wide, the others 3 and 2mm. The reason I chose these, aside from the blue that matches the pictures fairly closely, is that they are easy to work with, very thin, show a really tight weave, so that they'll at least look close to scale, but also will not frey at the edges.

The buckles themselves will be made from scratch, and the stitching also done by hand.

Though the bottom of the seat pan has not been made yet, the reason I want to get the shoulder straps done, is not so much to get the straps themselves made, but the mounts that will be going on the upper pan. The rest of the straps will be secured to the sides of the seat later on.


Anywho, yes, so progress is steadily moving forward with the Clunk cockpit. Hopefully, with a little bit here, and a little bit there, before long (as these seats and figures will definitely be taking up most of the effort) there will be a fully modular cockpit able to be put together and taken apart, all the while being very scale accurate.

Cheers!
More to follow soon!
Mark.

[Mark_WCE]

To the fine folks that have been following this build so far,

First off, thanks! Between here, and a few other threads, there has been not only a whole lot of support, but great advice as well. Cheers!

I've hit a bit of a snag yesterday, in that I was trying to place the figure into the seat to determine both the right height and as well, the lengths of certain things, such as the straps, angle of the seat, how the pilot would sit, etc... As I've mentioned, with an upcoming move coming very soon across Canada, and the size of this Clunck, I didn't want to start building the fuselage or wings until I have an appropriate work area. However, without a cockpit section of the fuselage to go on, I'm stuck.

Rather than throw in the towel, and say "pause-2-3", the solution is very simple - time to start building, kind of.

I've pulled out all the spare balsa, the plans, and will be constructing a mock up section from the break in the nose where the radar components attach, to just behind the cockpit section. This part will have the ribs, formers, and all other structural pieces (including the cockpit floor/nose gear well ceiling, but no skin on the exterior. The plan with this is to use up as much scrap balsa as I have, which literally is just short of a full 1/6 mustang, and build the rig so that I can build up an accurate cockpit that will later be moved into the real thing.

As the cockpit was always intended to be modular, in that I can insert the pieces into the completed Clunk and remove it as well, this will also offer a great opportunity to design it while having nearly complete 360 degree access to everything.

Right from gunsight to electrical, I'll be able to focus completely on the cockpit, all the while making sure that it'll all work.

So! Who would have thought, there will be some balsa bashing sooner than later!

Updates to follow soon.
Cheers,
Mark.

[Mark_WCE]

Well, now it's maybe a Mk.5 after all.

The plans for the wings came in today, and I was looking at them, pouring over them this morning, and wow, LONG fuselage, stubby little wings.

Both for the lift and asthetics, I may indeed be modifying the plans slightly to incorporate the Mk.5 wingtip extensions to the ends. This will bring the total wingspan (with the tip tanks) from 114 inches to 128 inches (along with extending the horizontal stab a partial amount as well).

They're just so small... Going from a NACA-0010 Symmetrical, to a NACA-1210 wing seems like it's a must as well, to help out with the lifting of this heavy body. I say "seems", as going through the countless pages of my old text books from a few years ago, I would hate to see this 1/6 Clunk drop out of the sky at low speeds, or lose the little bit of lift it has on a slow turn into final. There isn't much of a difference between the 0010 Symmetrical to the 1210, though it may very well be a huge help with this project and keeping her nicely in the air. As much as I would want to keep this aircraft completely scale as an RC to the real thing, I also want to avoid (as much as possible) the creation of a scale accident scene.

I posed the question in another thread in the Scale Section under "How much scale is too much scale?", so please don't hesitate to comment on this.


None the less, she'll still be a Natural Metal Finished Mk. 5 Clunk from 409 Squadron if I do go that route. But rather than the 8 50 Cals slung under the belly, I'll still have a couple options other than the smooth belly.


That's things... feel free to comment, they're always appreciated.

Cheers,
Mark.

[LEE]

Watching this closely as I often went to North Bay to watch the 409 airshows with the Voodoo and Clunks blasting by I think the bigger the better for this one and the larger wing should make this much more pilot friendly!
Great job so far!

[Mark_WCE]

Cheers! Thank you Lee! Any chance there are some old photos you might have of the old birds as well?

Ill keep you and the guys well entertained I'm sure! Hahahaha


Cheers,
Mark.

[LEE]

I might have a decal from the squadron. I'll see what I can find.

[Mark_WCE]

Lee, that's awesome!

What were they like when they flew? How did they sound? The video's and clips I've seen really don't give a distinctive and clear indication. As much as I love the video's of two Clunks taking off together and having their legs up and tucked away while still feet off the runway, to see and hear them, that would be something!!

Don't hold back! This kind of stuff is the motivator in this project!

Thanks,
Mark.