Scale Aviator International Magazine Issue 3 | Page 46

fA nice view of the retractable tail
wheel again with the gear doors
attached. Look closely and you will
see the rods that are connected to
the gear doors and the movable part
of the tail gear.
After a few minor adjustments, the
opening and closing of the doors
worked well.
I wanted to make sure that The
gear operated smoothly without any
chance of hanging or rubbing the
fuselage.
Everything worked as planned after
a lot of adjustments. Again, no instruction manual on this segment!
fHere is where a photo is worth a
lot of words. The doors close easily and flush. Probably in the air no
one would even notice the doors,
but being a scale person that I am, I
had to do it correctly to avoid those
that look for those things.
Fitting the doors was easy enough
after I made some templates to
match the opening in the tail. Then
I fabricated the doors.
I am happy with the results and
you can see at this stage the silver
undercoat is applied to the entire
aircraft.
fLook closely and you can see the
silver finish that will be under the
Olive Drab final coat.
The silver makes it easier to apply
weathering or scratched and worn
surfaces to match the full size aircraft. Any removal of the final olive
drab finish will reveal the aluminium
look un derneath.
Notice the rearTurbo charger exhaust Just ahead of the fuselage air
intake vent. See scale hinging and
the trim tabs in the correct locations.

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