Colonel Robert L. Scott’s P-40E “Flying Tiger”; Part Two

Colonel Robert
L. Scott’s P-40E “Flying Tiger”; Part Two
by Rodney Williams

After reviewing those small
“black and white” photos in Part-1; I felt I could
regress somewhat, and send some nice big color photos. I only
had a few black and white photos of the real aircraft, including
a couple of color one’s.

Having no measurements, it takes lots of experience to make
these wheel wells, main struts, rotation gears, let alone the
axle, torque links and the angle braces.

Many items were
put together using a pin-hinge arrangement. I have made notes
on some of the photos, showing the .010″ diameter pins
not being cut to length. You must make sure everything fits
together with this system.

When I am happy with the end result, everything is taken apart
for painting. On final assembly, I heat one end of the pins,
which gives it a “mushroom” shape. It is inserted
into both parts, then cut to length. I carefully “mushroom”
over the other end with my little soldering iron….”presto—-it’s
finished.”

I photograph many of my parts on an U.S. minted penny. A penny
is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter; (20mm; – .750.”
DIAMETER) This gives the viewer of how small some of my “hand-made”
part are. Some have emailed me about my tools. I do not have
any fancy items such as a drill press, or lathe. Everything
is made using my different sizes of cutting blades in my “X-Acto”
handles. I have some small drills ranging from .006″
to .013″ in diameter. I have several file sets from “0”
cut to real fine # 6 cut. I also use the Flex-i-files, and
my Dremel motor tool, and a small 1/4″ drill…..that’s
it ! At times, I build jigs to hold parts when I solder them.

Look at all my
panel lines on top of the wing, including the simulated rivets.
I draw on all the lines, then butt masking tape on both sides
of the lines. (Leave a little gap between the tape, so the
point of the scribing tool has room to move). When this is
finished, I sand the model, check for screw-ups, and fix.
Next, I measure the distance between two panel lines…..Let’s
say it’s 1″. I need a rivet every inch ! In 1/32 scale,
that’s every 1/32 of an inch. I make a mark with my pencil
every 1/32 of an inch next to the panel line. I draw a line
about 1/64″ away from the finished panel line to each
side panel. Now my marks show a ” + “. I just push
in my scribing pin in the center….”PRESTO>>>>
YOU GOT ONE RIVET ! ” Just keep doing that a few 100—1000
+ times, and your finished. Sand the rivets like you did the
panel lines…..If you screwed-up, and got it off center…fill
it with super-glue, and re-do it……Don’t forget !

I always use
two kits when I build. Here you see that I cut out the access
door on the left side of the “test” or “spare”
fuselage. I placed this door on top of my .005″ thick
piece of aluminum. I just scribe around the door, then cut
it out. It’s placed on the other fuselage and I scribe-in
the panel lines. “It’s real easy for me…….just practice…..if
I can do it……so can you! Use your computer….put it to
work……”no !! not the one on your desk, use the one
that’s located behind your eyeballs.”

For you novice modelers, just
remember this. When I got back into modeling in 1977, I knew
nothing. I got a model out of the box on Friday night….and
it was “finished,” and up on my model shelf Sunday
night ! It’s like your first step when you were a baby, you
fell down, but got up and tried again….soon you were walking
with no problem. Can you remember that day ? You shoud remember
you first “kiss” with the opposit sex ! Like model
building….you didn’t know what you were doing……but you
learned……..”I did !!!!!!!!!”

Hope you enjoyed my P-40E so far……there’s MORE to come!

Go to part
three