From the archive (2010):
Another carefully crafted vac kit from Khee Kha Art Products
of Alaska, the WACO YKS is a welcome addition to the growing line of bush
planes kitted by this talented manufacturer
This iconic biplane, of which still many cross the skies
today, has the same mythical power of the Beech Staggerwing.
Many WACOs rode on floats, and many were modified to
accomplish certain tasks; that aside the many models and marks that the factory
itself delivered.
For that reason it is a good idea before construction to
select the actual plane you want to model and get some references, to be able
to pint-point details, colors, markings and so forth. Research is an exciting
part of the building process, and usually prevents the commission of mistakes
regarding appearance, mistakes that are more difficult to correct after the
model is built and somebody points them out to you.
Construction started by separating the parts and sanding
them according to the instructions. The molds have very good surface detail, be
careful not to obliterate it. Some lines are a bit faint, so mark them to be
able to score/cut/sand at the right place. By the way, those instructions are
extensive, detailed and well written –image also included in this article-
Fuselage windows were open at this time too.
I opted to represent a plane that had another engine
(Continental), so I put aside the neat resin one that came with the kit
(another images depicts the well cast and detailed resin bits included in the
kit (engine, two props of different style, instrument panel/dashboard, tail
wheel, control column, transparent material for the side windows and the two
–one spare-windshield)
Advised by Khee-Kha’s owner I also modified a few details
that slightly differed from the “6” variant in the landing gear area. This
informs you about the adaptability of the kit, since with little tweaks you
could expand the range of machines that can be represented. Being Khee-Kha’s
owner a fan of bush planes, he of course offers aftermarket resin floats and
decals for other versions that you can purchase separately.
Wings and stab halves were joined, locking tabs glued to the
fuselage halves and the interior parts cut from the backing sheet and built-up.
I had a pair of suitable white metal wheels so I put aside the vac ones
provided. The wheel pants were glued and refined to accept the wheels at this stage.
I had to scratch the control wheel/pedestal, but that part
is now included in the kit as a resin bit.
Once the interior was finished and painted, I joined the
fuselage halves, and had to do a little shaving on the cabin floor and
instrument panel to have a comfortable fit.
I was a bit enthusiastic while sanding the cowl opening, so
had to glue a pre-curved flat styrene rim on the cowl mouth, to restore proper
shape.
Once the fuselage was set I started to locate spars for the
wings and stabs, as seen on the photos. I departed a bit from the kit’s
instructions since I feel comfortable with my own method, but the kit
instructions give you a very good way to deal with the issue.
The horizontal tail actually got the spar where it should
be, and a connecting piece that united the halves at the front, lodged in the
fuselage cutouts for the variable incidence as the original. Later on the
elevators were separated from the stab and given a relaxing angle.
The windshield transparency was carefully trimmed and set
aside for the moment.
The side windows were patterned as per their openings, cut
and adjusted to fit; as you can see in the photos I added some thin rubber
padding to a pair of tweezers after getting fed-up of marring transparencies.
This allows the clear part to be held and proceed with minor sanding preserving
the surface of the part.
Other details as per photos were dealt with (exhaust pipes,
carb intake, nav lights, rudder control horn, bottom wing linkage fairings, fuel
gages under the upper wing, etc).
As you make progress on the building start to think about
your decals since they don’t come with the kit (as said, an option can be
purchased from the manufacturer separately for one machine).
In order to further expedite construction I replaced the kit
landing gear and wing struts for Contrail (plastic) and Strutz (brass)
material. I also added a lower fuselage fairing where some landing gear
reinforcement struts go.
The upper wings were glued to fuselage, via a metal tube
spar previously inserted after its dihedral was given to it.
The model needs a few struts, but fortunately no other
rigging than tail bracings and control leads for the rudder horns.
Home made decals were printed and a custom paint mix
prepared for the model representing NC31663.
I am truly grateful for the help received from the
National WACO Club, which kindly provided information on WACO liveries.
Again, my thanks to the National WACO Clu
Khee-Kha’s website is here:
No comments:
Post a Comment