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Author Topic: What would you rather bee or a wasp?  (Read 20572 times)

Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #50 on: March 01, 2020, 10:59:32 pm »

This is the easy bit, the head is certainly going to be my biggest challenge. Still got legs to do as well.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #51 on: March 02, 2020, 11:57:50 am »

Legs from knitting needles, anchored in place with superglue and balsa dust. I hope this is up to the job. My other option was epoxy. Superglue and balsa dust is pretty rock hard though. I will still need to treat it gently to avoid ripping it out with a heavy landing. I have just test flown it with excellent results, I can adjust the balance by moving the battery back or forward, its still slightly tail heavy but I still have the head to add to the front.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #52 on: March 02, 2020, 12:04:53 pm »

Legs are 16 odd grams, about half what the jetranger skids are. They seem to take landings ok. Other photo shows my balsa and superglue undercarriage mounting 'lump', I dont think the legs can fall out now, lol.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #53 on: March 03, 2020, 10:00:06 am »

Did my drawings for the head. This is my third go at the side view. I thought my original one was too small, so I had scaled it up, I thought it was ok till now, a quick sketch of front view showed it was going to look a bit big so I shrunk it to about halfway and drew both views. The more I look at wasps in close up, the weirder they look. And a lot more complex shaped than anything I have done so far. And pretty hairy as well. I wont be reproducing these hairs, unless the dog brushes against it when the paint is drying. I still have no idea how I am going to tackle the head construction, I would use foam but I dont have big enough bits to do it in even a few parts. I will draw on the battery box and start working outward from that. I may end up just having to do loads of separate bits, whether foam or maybe suitable bits of plastic packaging, thats asking a lot of my plastic collection though, its such a complex set of shapes, I wondered about cutting a table tennis ball to try and get an eye but I dont think its big enough or right shape, the wasp eyes appear oval. Anyway, I will see what I come up with. Still wondering about a clay version to mould off but it would be difficult. With foam, I can cut the side profile and then the front, ending up close with some rounding and shaping to do.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #54 on: March 04, 2020, 12:18:40 pm »

Painted the thorax yellow while I am deciding what to do about making the head. The thorax will be mostly black but it has some bright yellow markings, I will paint round these areas when I do the black. I still need to find something to use for the remaining 4 legs. I can't afford the weight of four more knitting needles so they will have to be light.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #55 on: March 04, 2020, 03:47:38 pm »

I am going to have a go at a foam head, I can always come up with something  else later. Only one problem, my foam blank is nearly 50g!  Carving the outside will take it down to probably around 40, but still pretty heavy. I might manage to lose some by hollowing it out but I dont want to leave it too thin and fragile.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #56 on: March 04, 2020, 04:46:15 pm »

I cut the hole through the foam head for the battery box, but now I have tried it on the rest of the wasp, I think it looks quite big, it will appear a bit smaller once it is carved but it may still look too big for the body. Anybody have an opinion on this?
It would obviously be lighter if I make it smaller. Just dont want it looking too small.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #57 on: March 04, 2020, 05:00:17 pm »

I might take a cm off all round to start with and see if that looks better proportioned.
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Capt Podge

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #58 on: March 04, 2020, 05:02:02 pm »

Andy, I think you've got the length of the head about right. Are you able to draw the shape of the head onto it? Using the photos / diagrams for reference would suggest there's quite a bit of material to be removed. Your first picture on this thread would appear to be quite accurate as far as the head is concerned.


Regards,
Ray.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #59 on: March 04, 2020, 05:55:51 pm »

The original one I drew on my plan looked a bit small as a drawing but as a 3d shape it might look ok. The yellow bit of foam is destined to be added to it to thicken it up a bit. Its not critical that the head is to proper scale, the rest of the body isnt that accurate anyway. It just needs to be fairly close. Going for the dimensions of the original drawing should take a cm or maybe 2 off all round. In the photo above, the head is at the front of the battery box with a space behind it which my yellow foam bit will go in.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #60 on: March 04, 2020, 07:06:47 pm »

I haven't taken a lot off it but it looks better, its close to the original drawing so I will try this size. I have glued the yellow foam on now and started carving. Glad I have made a start on it at last. Its down to 36g now (before carving) so thats a decent bit of weight off it to start with. I may have to paint it with pva once its carved to give it a tougher skin.
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Capt Podge

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #61 on: March 04, 2020, 07:22:38 pm »

Aye Andy, that's looking better already.  O0


Regards,
Ray.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #62 on: March 04, 2020, 07:30:18 pm »

Cheers muchly, I just need to carve away at it carefully, making sure I dont ruin it. Will see how it goes. It fits well onto the battery box so thats a decent start.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #63 on: March 04, 2020, 09:10:50 pm »

A bit more carving, still a long way to go though
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #64 on: March 05, 2020, 10:49:18 pm »

I have done a bit more carving on the head, it's getting closer to the shape I want, I had to cut a centimetre off the front of the battery box so I could glue a blanking piece of foam in the head to fill the battery box hole. The battery box was only 3mm behind the front of the head, not enough to allow for my carving. I will put photos on once I finish my carving.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #65 on: March 06, 2020, 09:41:21 am »

More carving, I think its pretty close now, its quite hard to visualise it when its all the same colour. I will give it a sand and see how it looks after that. Looks close enough for me though, a nice yellow base coat and go from there.
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Capt Podge

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #66 on: March 06, 2020, 12:15:05 pm »

That looks good Andy, the shape is coming along nicely now  :-)


Regards,
Ray.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #67 on: March 06, 2020, 12:49:00 pm »

I used copydex to join the foam bits of the head, this is good but leaves unsandable bobbles which I pulled off, only trouble is that it pulls some out from between the layers of foam, so it leaves small gaps. I have filled these with lightweight filler so I need to let this dry before I can give it a final sand and get painting. I have had this filler for years and it is really good stuff. I just noticed at the bottom of the tub that it is beeline professional. Should be ok for wasps too tho! Quite happy with how the head has turned out, good enough for my semi scale model. This is the biggest scaled model I have made, being about 20 to 30 times full size. I have built a full size sea eagle before, 8 foot span, along with a full size jackdaw and a 22 inch pteranodon. The eagle had strange drag flaps on the ailerons which made the handling terrible, my first flight was nerve wracking, with unintentional barrel rolls and a fair bit of plummeting involved. These drag flaps were removed which improved the handling instantly. Anyway, I hope to get the wasp head finish sanded and a coat of yellow on it later.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #68 on: March 06, 2020, 03:36:16 pm »

First coat of yellow on the head.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #69 on: March 06, 2020, 07:51:45 pm »

Was hoping to get another coat of yellow on but its pretty cold here so its taking ages to dry. I have weighed the head, with first coat of paint... just over 28g. Not bad, lost 20 g since I cut the foam blanks out. I did lose 10 by going for smaller head, which looks better. The other 10 has been from carving it to shape, basically a slightly flattened ball with some evil looking wood crunching jaws stuck on the bottom, I have actually heard wasps chewing on my wooden shed... while I was sitting in my metal shed about 15 feet away, its probably equivalent to us chewing up a 4x4 fencepost. I have  had many wasps nests over the years,  I got most of them when they were small because I was in the sheds frequently. Cheap electric bb M4 takes care of them pretty quick. Then some running, well not so much running these days, but as fast as I can manage, I dont like wasps.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #70 on: March 06, 2020, 07:57:09 pm »

Short test flight video here.     https://youtu.be/W0t2RdbQTr8
Turn your volume down tho! She's loud. Lol
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Capt Podge

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #71 on: March 06, 2020, 08:10:18 pm »

That's a really good effort, despite the noise, and it's gonna look great when it's all painted up and 'buzzing' around outside. The noise will give it a "menace approaching" sound as well  :o
Well, you're definitely getting there now Andy  O0


Regards,
Ray.
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derekwarner

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #72 on: March 06, 2020, 09:10:15 pm »

I reckon the answer is a Yellow Wasp specie O0 ....brilliant Andy...PS......the dog doesn't appear too upset & they have excellent hearing.......


Derek


PS....back in image ...306


....we see an empty 330ml glass [assumed Beer] bottle....could this have  been an imported type of beer with a Mexican/Spanish name?


Shall I just say Totoya type beer?  {-)


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Derek Warner

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Illawarra Live Steamers Co-op
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www.ils.org.au

Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #73 on: March 06, 2020, 10:15:57 pm »

Its actually a giant whisky bottle with a slot in the neck for loose change. Its about 18 inches high.
I am actually a bit scared to paint the black bits, dont want to mess it up. There are a few 'colour schemes' I like, the smooth, sharply defined c.g. picture I put on earlier in the post, and natures version, which features hairs and lumps and bumps. The cg one does look good, but I could only find that one view of it.
I still have at least the legs and another overall coat of yellow to finish before I have to paint black bits to finish it.
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Andy M

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Re: What would you rather bee or a wasp?
« Reply #74 on: March 07, 2020, 02:01:16 pm »

317g including battery, flyable but unfinished. I still have another coat of yellow at least, then 2 coats of black pattern and maybe some gloss varnish if its still not shiny. It still needs 4 back legs and shrouds for front leg wires.
 I am well happy it is only 317g, that is 98g lighter than the seaknight, hence the super twitchy nature of my test flight.
 I have one of these quads in standard form with the foam body on that I keep just for exercising the dog, she loves it, it has bite sized chunks superglued back into place all round the edge. She only chases that, and only outside, so I can still fly indoors when the wife is out. The dog is pretty smart, knows when you say no. She also leaves her quad alone if I land it, just drops flat and watches for first sign of it lifting again.
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