After gluing the decking onto the Aerial Flyer yesterday I was relieved to see it hadn't warped too much overnight. A sanding-down fixed most of the problems. Those small gaps that are left will disappear with a thin coat of watered-down spackle, which will also give the planking a scrubbed look suitable for a well holy-stoned Naval deck. I did intend to build the tail-plane after this but will leave it for last.
I drilled a half-inch-deep hole in the deck of each sponson, put a blob of glue in each and inserted lengths of plastic tube until they sat flush with the deck, ready for the pintel-mounted weaponry to sit in. With those done, I moved on to the last major part of the construction - the deck house.
I made the angled inner supports from craft sticks glued directly to the deck, with shorter lengths for fore and aft bracing. The walls are basswood. It's light and, with the bracing to back it up, strong enough for the purpose.
The windows are a composite of materials. The first step is a blob of diluted Aleen's tacky glue, colored with a little sky-blue acrylic paint and smeared to give the impression of reflected sky. Sections of clear acrylic plastic were stuck on this while wet, and frames of thin card glued on top. These will have rivets applied later. On reflection (pun not intended!) I should have painted the frames before putting them on. Ho hum. When it comes to painting the Flyer I might make them bronze or brass. We'll see how it goes.
The next step will be the after end of the deck house and its roof.
2 comments:
I think the windows are particularly effective.The decking has indeed turned out well.
Coming along nicely.
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