Building the Comet

fatalbert

Member
I built the Comet some time ago in the BOAC livery The fuselage is straightforwartd, but the engines integrated in the wing root are a special construction, see pic 1 where you see the root wing spars, with the first engine bulkheads attached. Then I attached the wing Engine frame detail aftside.jpgengine wingspar frame  overview.jpgplanform, along which the outer wing spars are attached, nr 2 and 3. More to come
 

Attachments

  • final wing frame construction rib alignment.jpg
    final wing frame construction rib alignment.jpg
    119.4 KB · Views: 3

fatalbert

Member
I built the Comet some time ago in the BOAC livery The fuselage is straightforwartd, but the engines integrated in the wing root are a special construction, see pic 1 where you see the root wing spars, with the first engine bulkheads attached. Then I attached the wing View attachment 188632View attachment 188633planform, along which the outer wing spars are attached, nr 2 and 3. More to come
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
I have some technical questions about how you got the paint so shiny? If you did this model again, and sanded and filled the seams, you would have one super incredible model, I had to add "super", as it is incredible already.

Those engines on the real plane proved very difficult to service, but for flying, being clse to the centerline, losing an engine wasn't to big of a deal, unless it blew out the one next to it. The Comet lived on for many decades as the Nimrod, the ASW aircraft for the U.K., and had a distinguished career. A really neat plane, that had an unfortunate beginning that killed the British Aerospace Industry. :)
 

fatalbert

Member
I used silver coated paper for the wings and underside of the fuselage. With Paint Shop Pro I divided the fuselage segments along the cheatline. The underside was printed on silver coated paper, and the top half of each segemt was printed on white photopaper in the colours of the cheatline. Sanding the seams would destroy the colour of the print. Maybe I should not have marked them with black feltliner, to make the seams less noticeable. Good observation!
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Great explanation. I always suggest that people either cut on the black line, or just inside it, so they won't show. Of course, if the designer does not take this into consideration, then the builder has to adjust, and that's where fitting before gluing comes in. Thanks a lot for the info. The Comet looks stunning. Have you show it to Lex. Did he change his avatar name?? Maybe not, I just send him a P.M., far too long since I've heard from him. :)
 

Lex

Dollmaker
Thank you Zathros for taking me to this thread. It is a great build so far.

I must comment that the blue lines on the internal structure are the positions they are intended to be cut to, if using 1mm card. In your photo the B51R is already outboard of where it should have been. It is not too late to fix this, good luck, and sorry for not providing clear instructions for it.
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Lex, it's so good to hear from you. I hope you like the new forum layout. Please, don't be such a stranger!! It's really great to hear from you!
 

fatalbert

Member
I mentioned making the fuselage of a top half and a bottom half. Here is how that works. The first pic is the part printed on normalk, white paper. I always let my local copy shop print this, their ink is light resistant (other than ink used in jet ink printers) and the colours really look nice.
I also print the same part on silver coated paper, that I found on the internet, see pic 2. With a photo programme (PSP) I placed the the two bottom halves of the fuselage together at the seam that normally runs along the belly of the model. In that way I have one part that is the whole of the underside.
Now, I cut out the white part under the blue cheat line of pic 1. I also cut out the silver belly part of the same segment of pic 2. I then attach both parts together at the underside of the cheat line, and in that way I have a segment of the fuselage, that is correctly coloured on top and silver on the bottom, see pic 3.
 

Attachments

  • wit apart.jpg
    wit apart.jpg
    108.4 KB · Views: 10
  • Witte dak en zilver onderkant.jpg
    Witte dak en zilver onderkant.jpg
    146.1 KB · Views: 12
  • rompstukken met zilver druk.jpg
    rompstukken met zilver druk.jpg
    104 KB · Views: 11

fatalbert

Member
I went to my local craft supply shop and bought a few chrome coloured papers, in size A-4. They call it art paper or Chromolux.
Spaceagent, what is a dollar tree in the pan section?? Sounds like I want to try that some time.
 

micahrogers

Moderator "Where am I, and how did I get here?"
Staff member
Moderator
I usually get silvered paper from Hobby Lobby or Michaels' Sometimes it's even on sale. My wife buys their printed papers to change the the backgrounds in her Gecko tanks.
 

Sky Seeker

Well Established Member
I mentioned making the fuselage of a top half and a bottom half. Here is how that works. The first pic is the part printed on normalk, white paper. I always let my local copy shop print this, their ink is light resistant (other than ink used in jet ink printers) and the colours really look nice.
I also print the same part on silver coated paper, that I found on the internet, see pic 2. With a photo programme (PSP) I placed the the two bottom halves of the fuselage together at the seam that normally runs along the belly of the model. In that way I have one part that is the whole of the underside.
Now, I cut out the white part under the blue cheat line of pic 1. I also cut out the silver belly part of the same segment of pic 2. I then attach both parts together at the underside of the cheat line, and in that way I have a segment of the fuselage, that is correctly coloured on top and silver on the bottom, see pic 3.

My next project is so going to incorporate this! :) This is AWESOME! Your model is looking incredible!thumbsup Thanks for sharing this.

Sky Seeker
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Pigment ink is what you should use in your printer. When I buy a printer, I make sure it uses pigment Ink, not Dye based ink. It determines what printer I buy. Some can use both. If you go to www.inkproducts.com and then have a pigment ink listed for your printer, you ink will be just as good as any print shop, as it all comes from Dupont anyways. ;)
 

fatalbert

Member
I always believed, that pigment ink printers need to be used very regularly, otherwise the jets will clog up with the drying pigment. Is that true?
The link shows refill systems, which are only send to American zipcodes. Not for us Europeans.
 

fatalbert

Member
Some pictures on the wing construction, pic 1. I used a planform to keep the front and aft spars at their correct distance, and put in place the wing profiles with half way slits. That will facilitate the covering of the wing , as I will show in the next posting.
I love the way the engines are buried in the wingroots, so here is a view of the mighty engines. The silver coated paper gives a beautifull reflection.
 

Attachments

  • Wingspar construction first step.jpg
    Wingspar construction first step.jpg
    283 KB · Views: 6
  • mighty engines.jpg
    mighty engines.jpg
    160.5 KB · Views: 7

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
It takes me 20 minutes to flush out my printer heads and do a complete cleaning. If you go a few weeks, you should clean the heads, not using the "fuction" but flushing out the printer nozzles with 8 oz. of warm water with one drop of detergent. The ""clean function" uses massive amounts of ink and usually doesn't work. Pigment ink does not fade, it is considered archival. Dye Ink will eventually fade away into obscurity, quicker, if in the Sun light at all.

I believe your printer has to be made to use Pigment Ink, which involves heating the nozzles. I have seen some printers that use Pigment Ink for Black and Dye for colors.
I didn't know you were from Europe. I recommend this company because they get it from the distributor who buys from Dupont, the patent and manufacturer of most printer ink (others may do it but it is under license), and their prices are phenomenal. I don't know about the E.U., you guys have different laws than we do, you can get printers that have massive ink tanks, and those same printers are not sold in the U.S.. :)
 

fatalbert

Member
That's right, normal ink tanks contain 11 ml (Canon) but you can buy ink tanks that contain up to 54 ml, saves a lot of money for non light resistance prints. I print my model kits at the local printer shop, very good colours, and cost like 50 or 60 cents (Euro, of course;))
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Just so you know, and I found this out by the guy who designed what all Inkjet printer heads are based on, all ink copyrights are held by Dupont. Canon, Newlitt Pack, etc., all of them have to pay money to Dupont. Dupont has a very strict distribution network globally. They have billions and will jump on anyone who tries to steal it's patent by producing ink that works with inkjet printers. It's the most expensive liquid in the world. I doubt it costs much to make, but that where it's at. It is the local laws that determine just how much ink you can buy and who can sell it. In the U.S., you can now buy O.E.M. ink in bulk, and ge generic printer modules, but the printer companies hold individual patents on the modules and are making them harder to reset.

I use www.inkproducts.com to let me know what printers still let you use their "Ink Refill Station", which are many many bottles of ink, and the tools to clean the heads, and the head cleaning solution. While you may not be able to get products from them, they can give you useful information as to which printers use what ind of ink and which can use refillable cartridges. You look up the model number, and you will find the equivalent model in the E.U.. The printer manufacturers make the basic same models for worldwide use, they just change their product I.D., so as to confuse those who don't want to pay an arm and a leg for ink, abd wish to by pass their schemes. If I take into account the price of fuel, and the time it would take me (plus I have trouble walking, and am in too much pain to stand around and wait), the cost of going to a local printer, which in my case doesn't exist, far too expensive. There is something to be said for Mom and Pop shops which are fast disappearing here. :)
 
Top