This time the fuselage is buttoned up…
Here are the instructions:
As I said before, the concern with this is whether you have managed to build the framework straight. The fuselage has 2 fixing plugs to guide you.
After you have put the exhausts in place and the machine gun in the cockpit, you are ready to go. It took me about 20 minutes to line it up properly, but it worked well and all is now concealed!
I had painted the area around the exhausts Alclad Chrome before fixing the exhausts, as I thought that it would be difficult to mask them later. They are flush with the engine panel.
The first real problem for me was the undercarriage fixing.
There are no definite fixing points for these parts and nothing much to get a drill into. Reference shows the vertical legs engaged forward of the axle.
I opened up the gap just by the wheel fixing and left the copper centre of the strut so that it nestled into the position.
Doug Nelson in his build (on the Silver Wings site) points to the necessity of drilling a new hole for the rear struts about 4mm forward of the bump/blister in its position on the underside of the fuselage. I drilled it about 6mm ahead and found that to be good.
Superglued together, the joint is really quite strong.
Once again there are no real fixing points for the tailplane parts and those that are there seem to need drilling out. With a little patience all can be solved and once again the final assembly is quite robust.
I painted the metal parts at this stage using Alclad Chrome. At this year’s show at Telford, I spoke to the people at the Alclad stand and they showed me their new gloss coat; one is, I guess, a lacquer or whatever they use, the other is acrylic.
I was shown an example of it having been sprayed over the Chrome. It looked very good and was useful in their opinion to enable the chrome to be handled.
I don’t know if I did something amiss, but the acrylic flattened the lustre of the chrome, unacceptably in my opinion. I will later attack it again with polishes to see if I can bring it back.
The thing that attracts me to the Hart is that wonderful shiny metal on the nose!
