** WAR's "Black Tank" Tumbler Build **

[WAR Machine]

So now for the part of getting to the shape and reducing the weight...
So you will see that I marked out 2 inch borders around the edges and the plan is to cut out the center sections and fill them with a polyurethane based expanding foam.

But after looking at the pieces I cut for the side shapes I could see that fin number 2 and 3 were not going to work so well with 2 inch border as those edges would be too thin, so I made them 4 inches on the back end...

Set all ready.

Number 1 (Back most unit) is fine with the 2 inch frame as the shape will work well.

Units 2 and 3 will be too thin on the tips so hence the 4 inch gap on the tips...

[Big Bozo]

Didn’t realize so much sanding was involved.

Seriously. I can’t even bring myself and get motivated to clean my pig sty of a room for months right now.

[WAR Machine]

Didn’t realize so much sanding was involved.

Seriously. I can’t even bring myself and get motivated to clean my pig sty of a room for months right now.

Hey Big Bozo.
Yeah one never really thinks about much of these things until you actually start making them and then you already in it, so cant stop now...
Well all in due time I suppose...

When the shaping starts like it did on the afterburner, then the sanding will be a good long while to shape and check, repeat until happy...
So that could possibly be a few rounds...

[WAR Machine]

Update:

Ok so last night & today was spent cutting...
First had to cut out the second set of the flaps... And sand as the first set...

Front edges were not fully flushed on the line as I was thinking of using the edges to mount tail lights (LED strips) and Indicators on...
And besides that I need to shape them down anyway...

[WAR Machine]

Then:
I started cutting out all the center sections...
All I did with the middle brace section was measure the halfway mark, add 1 inch on both sides and that made my 2 inch (5cm) middle section.

Then finished both sets...

And then I was double checking that I had enough 'meat' left on the edge for when I need to shape...
Using the side sections as my markers...
(Top line is 2 inches, Bottom line is 4 inches from the top...)

So on these flaps (no 2 and no 3) the 4 inch looks like I will have enough on there to shape as needed...
(But still thinking about using those edges for the LED strips... But will see...

[WAR Machine]

Here you can see using those cut outs that I dont have much to build up...

The board is 21mm thick and the side templates are:
Long Side is 35mm thick
Short Side is 28mm thick (As per pic below)

Can see here that the short sides dont need all that much filling or building up...

Then spent the rest of the day sanding and cleaning...
The board I used seamed to have a paper like thin layer on the one side of the board and the other side was a glossy surface...
So to make sure that I dont have issues down the line, I sanded both sides off on each flap / wing...
And as you can guess that was quite a while...
* Here you can see the left side sanded off and the right side still to be sanded...
Never saw this when I got the boards as I was just too happy to get the boards ... (Well lesson learnt)

[Big Bozo]

Looks good. Don’t you just get urge to paint them already?

I ask bc I’m sitting on bunch of plastic model kits like F-14, gundam, macross etc that I bought on sale for last two years and everytime I open the box to see if I should start building, all I can think about is painting them first before starting assembling them.

[WAR Machine]

Looks good. Don’t you just get urge to paint them already?

I ask bc I’m sitting on bunch of plastic model kits like F-14, gundam, macross etc that I bought on sale for last two years and everytime I open the box to see if I should start building, all I can think about is painting them first before starting assembling them.

Hey Big Bozo.
Yeah Ive even thought of skipping the shaping thing and leave them flat like that... Not like people will know..
But then I sit and think man, Ive put in this much time already, no point in taking shortcuts now...
Cauz I dont want to take shortcuts later and regret them.....

I will however get these and the afterburner coated in primer once done, but will only have everything painted once all built I suppose...
But that is still a long while away so will see how it goes...

But it gets exciting when things start taking shape and you add just one more piece of the puzzle in place...
Only problem is it feels like ive now only gotten 2 pieces out of a 50 000 piece puzzle...

[MrA]

Hey War, you are doing a stellar job on these fins and also sharing your method. Thanks for that.

How ever things turn out, you are at least keeping the dream alive. I have always been a little jealous of the 89 builders overseas, for being able to find and purchase a kit. Not many here in the UK and even fewer for sale. I really do not have the cash to buy one, if I am honest so I just pick up what little pieces I can find and afford, but I feel my dream is still alive too.

Maybe one day I will get there, but in the meantime I love watching and reading all the builders posts about how they go about theirs.

Thank you again for sharing and good luck with your build.

Regards
Mr A

[WAR Machine]

Hey War, you are doing a stellar job on these fins and also sharing your method. Thanks for that.

How ever things turn out, you are at least keeping the dream alive. I have always been a little jealous of the 89 builders overseas, for being able to find and purchase a kit. Not many here in the UK and even fewer for sale. I really do not have the cash to buy one, if I am honest so I just pick up what little pieces I can find and afford, but I feel my dream is still alive too.

Maybe one day I will get there, but in the meantime I love watching and reading all the builders posts about how they go about theirs.

Thank you again for sharing and good luck with your build.

Regards
Mr A

Hey MrA,
Wow thank you, I know its not easy so I try give some insight into my thinking / planning...
This in the hope of:
1 - Helping others look and find other possible ideas or methods of doing things differently as one can easily get stuck in a one track mind frame...
2 - Hoping that other will possibly see what Im doing and maybe offer me some advise or other options of how to go about whatever Im doing...

Dont worry about the time it takes you, I was in the same situation when I started...
Also bought what I could when I could, and just kept it aside...

But the fact that you are still trying and not giving up on it is already a win...
Slow progress is better than no progress...
And even if you need to stop for a while, thats fine, just dont quite...