Beginner's Guide to Fuselage Building

7/29/2019 Beginner's Guide to Fuselage Building

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Beginner's guide to fuselage

assembling

by Steve Wilder

--------------------

Over the last two years, I have learned numerous tricks from several on-line modeling websi

hat have helped my model building tremendously. Although I am by no means an expert, I

ave learned a few tricks that I find useful, and combined with a little patience, some readily

ccessible tools and some imagination, I have learned to improve these skills, and I hope to

ass them on to you.

This is an attempt to offer some practical solutions to help modelers create more realistic

ircraft fuselages. It is not the end-all and be-all of guides. It is a description of the way in

which Ibuild my fuselages. I am always open to further suggestions, and love learning a ne

rick that will help improve my building.

y far, the most common problem that arises in the building of a fuselage (Ill leave theproblemsssociated with painting that fuselage to another article) are the seams that occur due to a mismatchetween the joining pieces. The fuselages of most model aircraft consist oftwo pieces a left andght half that join at the top of the spine and the bottom of the belly ofthe plane. One of the goals (ifot thegoal) of building a model is to create a representation ofsomething that looks like a smallerersion of real thing.

Nothing destroyshis attempt morehan a visibleuselage seam.

There are otherhings as well glue

n the clear parts,oor paint job, etc,ut like I said that is

or another article.

First lets look at

ome of the tools

necessary to make

a good-looking

uselage.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Tools of the trade What youll need

A good working surface (just a cleared off kitchen table will work)

A good cutting surface (I use an old wooden kitchen cutting board. The key here is

something that gives and that you can cut into. Glass, for example would be a very p

cutting surface)

A comfortable knife, scapel, etc with several new blades

Glue (Ill go over the merits of various glues here in a minute.)

Modelers putty

Q-Tips

Toothpicks

Fingernail polish remover (!)

Clothes pins

Various other clamps available at art stores, hardware stores, etc (paper binders are al

great)

Gunze Sangyos Mr. Surfacer not really necessary, but a great tool once you learn ho

to use it

A nifty little glue applicator, carried in some modeling stores, consisting of a long, thin

glass tube and hypodermic tubing at the end. More on this later.

Various grades of sandpaper

Various grades of sanding sticks

Patience

A good beer- OK, not really necessary, but often very helpful. A nice, cool Shiner Bobrew has kept more than one difficult model from flying into the nearest wall.


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A Quick Discussion about glues

everyone has their preferences as to what glues they use and why. Saying that one type

lue is the best glue, is really nonsensical. The reason is because the various glues availa

o modelers each have their good points and their bad points. The basic glue types are as

ollows

Traditional tube glue that we all used as kids

Liquid welding glues such as Testors, Ambroids Pro Weld, Tamiya and Tenax.

CA, otherwise known as Cyanoacrylate

Clear parts cement

Epoxy

Tube glue is actually not as bad as one might think. It has a thick consistency, so that it ca

old parts together while they are drying. The downside to the glue is that it takes forever to

ry, isnt super-dooper strong, and has the famous problem of leaving glue strings whereve

meets plastic. The glue strings are caused by the tube of glue being old...when you get glue

trings it's time for a new tube of glue......and hope the stock at your local hobby shop is

resh...or the new tube will produce glue strings as well. Tube glue also has a bad tendency

nd its way to the nearest set of fingers and leave smudge marks all over your kit.

Liquid glue my most commonly used glue. Personally, I use Testors Liquid Glue, as I fin

hat the Tenax brand glue dries very quickly. This glue actually melts the plastic and welds

he 2 pieces together, proving for a great seam. The biggest advantage of liquid glue,

owever, is its oozing properties, which I will discuss below.


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CA a great glue, and your only option for gluing brass or resin pieces. CA comes in vario

iscosities (thicknesses) thin (water like) medium (similar to tube glue) and a thick gel.

There is also a vapor-less CA that is supposedly OK to use for gluing clear parts, although I

ever tried it. CA has an interesting property in that left alone, it will usually cure in anywhe

rom 30 min to according to the label 2 hours, depending on the temperature, humidity,

lignment of the planets, etc. There is a nifty little product, however, called CA accelerator

which will cut that drying time down to about 2 seconds literally. Just spray the stuff on, a

oila its dry. While CA is great for quick job, I dont recommend it for major seams, such oining two fuselage halves together. The reason is that while CA is indeed a very strong gl

does not do well with sudden sheer force, such as dropping a part, or heaven forbid, a wh

it. Many a modeler has dropped a kit on a hard floor, only to watch the two fuselage halve

plit right open. Another disadvantage of CA is that because it carries such potent fumes, it

will quickly fog and ruin any clear parts that you get it near. Coating your canopy and other

lear parts in "Future" before using CA will prevent the fumes from the CA glue from fogging

he canopy and other clear parts. In other words, dont use CA to glue canopiesinstead,

se.

Clear parts cement. Pretty much what it says it is. Not the strongest, nor the quickest

rying, but this cement does its job very well. Another substitute that some modelers use is

very day Elmers white glue and even watch crystal cement which watch repair shops

se....dries very clear).

Epoxy unparalleled in its strength, epoxies still have their weaknesses. Basically, they ha

o be mixed in the proper proportions (not much room for error), and they have to have

omething to grab onto. For example, I cut out some bulkheads to fit inside of a vacuform

was building to add strength and to help the parts retain their original shape. Because thenside of the fuselage half and the bulkhead were both glass smooth, the bulkhead popped

ght out the next day. I have since learned to use a coarse grain sandpaper on any surfac

lan on using epoxy.

f you are looking for more information on glue, I suggest that you check out the RMS FAQ.

Plastic Preparation

Before getting into the specifics of gluing the fuselage halves together, lets discuss preparati

bit There are several things that are advised before you begin gluing parts together. On

f these is doing research. That is up to you to decide. If you want to learn every little bit

here is to know about a specific plane before you build, or if you just want to start building

omething to represent whats on the box, you decide. Another recommendation is that the

model be thoroughly cleaned before any parts are assembled. This is actually a pretty wise

dea, as some manufacturers use a significant amount of release agent chemicals to help th
http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/models/rms_tips/rmsfaq.1.htmlhttp://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/models/rms_tips/rmsfaq.1.html


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lastic pop out of the mold, and these chemicals usually do nothing to help the paint you wil

e trying to put down later.

Now, assuming that you are all read up about your subject, youve opened the box, smelled

he wonderful aroma of freshly minted plastic, and washed the parts, lets get down to the ni

ritty.

When I was building models as a youngster, my enthusiasm and excitement of having a n

it would usually overwhelm my urge to patiently build a great model, and I would start tearin

he parts off of the tree by hand, twisting, tearing and pulling as I saw fit. This got the parts

f the tree, so I was happy. However, believe me here this is not a wise idea. Not only

oes it leave serious pockmarks where the plastic was pulled off, but you can also damage t

art by bending or warping it. Take your time and carefully remove each piece with either

our knife or a set of wire cutters, leaving a small piece of the tree still attached- no more th

/16 or so. Some modelers use a special tool designed for just this purpose, and thats

ne. Personally, I dont think you need one of these unless you are cutting brass from a

hoto-etch set, but whatever floats your boat. Once you have removed a part, lay it flushgainst your cutting surface, and very patiently, carefully remove the 1/16 stub that is left

ver. The key here is to only cut until youve reached the finished piece. DO NOT cut into

he plastic that you want to finish later. Its better to leave some of the plastic uncut than to

ut into the finished piece. It can always be sanded off later, but cuts that are too deep mu

e puttied and sanded. Removing this stub with a small modeling file works well too.

Usually, I start by removing only the major parts the parts that you really dont need to kn

he part numbers in order to successfully build a model. So I, for example, would cut the

uselage halves, wing pieces (two, three, four or however many pieces) and nose cone or

ngine cowl. I would also cut out the cockpit tub and landing gear well, if separate. Heres

where the fun begins.

Dryfitting

After washing, removing and trimming the basic parts, align them up and note how they fit.

Are the fuselage halves warped? Do the panel lines line up? More importantly can you

nstall the cockpit floor or tub and the wheel well tub (or any other major pieces that belong

he interior of the fuselage) and still relatively easily close the whole thing

up? Do the two pieces join together like nothing

between them, or do you really have to squeeze

everything with all your might to make the seam

disappear? If the former, you are in luck. If the

latter, you have some work to do. Keep in mind

that during these dry fittings parts that arent glue

down often have a tendency to shift or slide aroun

giving you an inaccurate feel for how they might f


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when you actually use glue. For example, lets

assume that you are building a

kit with the standard left and right half fuselage with a cockpit that must be glued in. You la

one fuselage half down on its side, lay the cockpit on top of that, followed by the other

uselage half. When you pick the two halves up and hold them between your fingers,

everything seems fine you can hold the two halves together with relatively no pressure.

However, what you dont realize is that when you picked the two halves up, the cockpit floor

slid down at an angle, thus making it seem as though there was more room between the tw

halves than there really was. A little trick I use is to try to tape the parts inside to one of theuselage halves so they dont move during the dry fit. I try to attach the tape in a place that

wont affect the thickness of the seam, i.e. attach a tape between a cockpit tub and one

uselage half at the back of the tub, not on the side where it will be caught between the side

he tub and the other fuselage half. In short, make sure that everything that is supposed to

n the fuselage does indeed fit before you bust out the glue. Nothing is more nerve wrackin

han to apply glue to the fuselage halves, only to realize that what you thought had fit perfec

will now leave you with a nice 1/16 gap running all the way down the spine of the fuselage.

Then, trying to pull the already stuck parts apart gets ugly - you get glue fingerprints

everywhere well, you get the idea. In woodworking, the phrase is measure twice, cutonce. Modeling is similar, maybe something like dry fit twice, glue once.

Now, having taking care of this, here comes the hard part actually using glue. Really, if

youve test fitted everything, you shouldnt have anything to be afraid of. This may sound

unny, but I often go through the procedure of how Im going to glue a fuselage together

in my head before I actually do it several times.

Youd think I was performing brain surgery orsomething. Anyway, heres where all those nifty too

come into play. Try to find tools that will allow you to

hold the fuselage together without squishing it. When

you apply too much pressure to a fuselage, the sides

often squish in, distorting the actual shape and often

creating a killer gap at the wingroot. More trouble th

you want to deal with. So, what do I do? Well, lets

look at the first example the Zero. I used an


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assortment of

various clothes line hangers and clamps I found at a hardware store (Sears to be exact).

dont use rubber bands for a few reasons they cover up the seam I am trying to observe a

do this, plus they have a horrible habit of removing the glue from the seams (via capillary

action) and distributing the glue all over the side off your fuselage. Not good. All of this i

before I apply any glue. I check to make sure that the panel lines are all meeting at the sam

place, and that the two fuselage halves are at the same level. One little trick Ive learned ishat working in low light can often be helpful for this. The reason is because misaligned pa

are easily identified by the shadows that they cast. For example, after I lined up the fuselag

ike you see here in the picture, I looked at it from the side and rotated it, like a real plane

does when it rolls. If I notice any sudden changes in the shadow as I continue to turn the

uselage, then this means that one side of the fuselage is higher than the other. I like to us

ight to help me find mistakes before all is too late. Another trick I do is to run my fingernai

orward across the seam, and if it catches, then there is obviously one side higher than the

other.

Sometimes, you will have to make a difficult call. If one side of the fuselage is smaller than

another, what do you do? Personally, I choose to line the fuselage up along the top seam,

his is what you will see the most. You can try to bend the two pieces to make them fit

simultaneously, but I wouldnt recommend it. I would either correct it later with putty, or do

something Ill show you here in a minute (build your fuselage in stages).


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OK, so the kit is held together with clamps, and you are satisfied with the way things look.

ets get dangerous. As I said earlier, I use liquid glue for the majority of my building, and

oining fuselage halves is no exception. If you recall, I mentioned a nifty little tool earlier tha

onsisted of a glass tube attached to some hypodermic needle tubing. This tool isnt

ompletely necessary for this operation, but I do find that it helps. Once I look at a held

ogether fuselage and say to myself Perfect! I just wish it would stay that way once I remo

he clamps! I find an old #11 exacto blade. Using the sharp point of the blade, I carefully

wedge the blade between the fuselage halves. This will now leave a nice long hair-line cracetween the two halves. The great thing about liquid glue is that because it is so thin,

apillary action pulls the glue long and far into this seam once the glue comes in contact wit

. So, using either the glass tube filled with liquid glue or a fine tipped paintbrush (dont use

he brush on the bottom of the lid way too thick, and glue will go everywhere but where it i

upposed to), fill the crack with the liquid. If you are using a brush, be patient let all of the

lue leave the bristles and then reload with glue. Tamiya liquid glue has an excellent brush o

he bottom of it's lid, which is very fine at it's tip, but also fairly long and thin to hold a

easonable amount of glue.

Notice ooze

One trick I use to sometimes get things flowing is to squeeze the seam shut with the brush i


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he crack this makes the line even thinner, and it squishes the glue out of the bristles. Af

hat, the glue should be flowing. Because there will be multiple clamps on the fuselage, the

rack wont be too long, and thats fine. In fact, I build my fuselages in several steps. I cou

e wrong here, but I dont think you can put too much of the glue in. I mean, you dont wa

ll over the place, but you do want enough in there. Once you feel that you have enough

lue in the seam, gently pull the blade out. You should start to see that magic plastic/liquid

lue ooze out of the seams. If so, congratulations!! Seeing this is like seeing a nice thick

olden crema on top of a freshly extracted espresso, or a fat thick head on top of your beerYou have successfully joined part of the fuselage together. Now here is where I leave it up

our discretion. Like I said, I prefer to build the fuselage in sections glue a few inches, le

ry and move on. The reason for this is simple I can watch the progress of the drying gl

know! How exciting!!) and not worry about whats going on at the opposite side. Once I

lue the two halves, I try not to touch them unless I have to. Also, if you do make a boo-b

s easier to try to make the other pieces join properly. But thats your call. Anyway, once

ou have done this, repeat and move on down the line. I know it may take a while, but

etting this seam wrong will be pretty obvious or require a lot of repair work. Patience

rasshopper.

more ooze

Seam Clean-up and Surface Preparation

After gluing all of the fuselage, I usually wait a good day or so to let the glue fully cure. On

is dry, I begin the process of removing the plastic ooze.

Assuming that all went well, the melted plastic hopefully filled in any seams that would be


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present. I remove the plastic ooze ridge in steps with my X-acto knife until it is almost flus

with the surface of the fuselage. I then use the back of the blade to give a final once ove

omake sure everything is flush. Here is the moment of truth if the two

parts were properly aligned to begin with, and didnt mov

while drying, there really shouldnt be much to do except

go over the seam a few times with a sanding stick or so

wet-sand sanding paper. However, not every seam wilbe perfect. In fact few are, and more often than not, I e

up having to fill some seam.

Again, this is another situation where you will have to us

your judgment.

f the seam is relatively minor, I suggest you take the following approach. Using the regular

hickness CA, pour out a small amount onto a yogurt lid and using a toothpick, carefully app

ust a little of the glue to the seam. As soon as you have applied the glue, spray it with the

ccelerator. Immediately begin to sand the area down with sandpaper or a sanding stick.

N.B. CA that has been sprayed with an accelerator hardens very quickly. If you do n

and this down quickly, the glue will be rock hard and will laugh at your sandpaper w

ou sand the surrounding plastic! Sand immediately after spraying accelerator!!

f the seam is a little more serious, you might want to consider using putty. Heres an exam

f where I decided to use Squadrons white putty. The fuselage for this Hasagawa 1/72 Mig

was made out of eight (!) parts, not counting the nose or

he end where the exhausts attach. Unfortunately, I didnt have as much luck getting al

hese parts to align as well as I did with the zero. As you can see, I had no choice but to u

some sort of filler. I choose to use the putty over the CA, as some of the seams were rat

deep, and I was worried about sanding all of that CA if it hardened too quickly. Using

extremely helpful Aircraft Resource Center article on filling gaps without sanding in


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Tools n Tips section, I filled the lower areas with the putty. Then, I poured some of the

ingernail polish remover in a lid, and

according to the article, proceeded to

wipe away the excess while smoothing

he new surface. This makes for much

easier sanding after the putty dries. To

get the hard to reach areas where puttywent that you cant sand out, I just took a

resh Q-Tip soaked in the remover and it

came right out.

Other problems often rear their ugly head when building fuselages. One example can be

seen here dimples or sink marks in the

plastic. As annoying as these are, they really

are not extremely difficult to fix. Here, I use

he CA and accelerator trick to fill the marks.

As you can see, I just filled the immediate

area, trying not to get any glue into the rivet

detail, and then sprayed and sanded. By the

way, if you mess up and dont get all of the

whole smoothed out the first time, go ahead

and try it again. I noticed after I first sandedhese that there was still a small line that had

ormed where I hadnt used enough glue.


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Once you have properly assembled the fuselage and filled any seams or sink marks, you

hould pretty much be ready to go. After filling all of the seams, I begin with a coarser

andpaper, 240 or so, and move up stopping around 1000 grade. If the aircraft is going to

ainted in a very revealing paint scheme, like a natural metal finish, I prefer to paint the wh

lane with a primer first. This usually highlights any mistakes that I may have made that ne

o be corrected before the paint goes down.

Here are some spare reference pics..


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Heres a shot after the glue has dried and Ive removed the oozed plastic.

Heres what happens when you dont pay attention to the part as it dries.

Still dont know how Im gonna fix this

Finish down the spine just needs a little sanding. BTW, I find that an

old toothbrush is good to get the sanding residue out of the panel

lines
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Beginner's Guide to Fuselage Building

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