Who wants to build a semi-scale all-wood micro hydro?

[Dr. Jet]

So with a better looking driver figure on the way for the Short Circuit, I'm thinking the same figure will go in the Atlas. But wait!........ What about the interior walls of Bill Muncy's "Office"? They were upholstered. I spent some time making a "Tuck-n-Roll" mold from a hunk a brass and Voila':..... 1/20 scale Tuck-n-roll.

[Dr. Jet]

Now before some educated donkey (a.k.a. Smart A$$) chimes in, I KNOW the Blue Blaster had button tuft upholstery, but I had no way to make such a mold. Tuck-n-Roll is good enough for a SEMI scale model.......

This is the newer Blue Blaster hull with the canard wing (and other upgrades), but the upholstery was the same in the '78 hull.

missbudweiser_marksharley7019.jpg

[J Mack]

I KNOW the Blue Blaster had button tuft upholstery, but I had no way to make such a mold.

What size would the diamonds be if you could?
I might have something in the shop that could work and I could take a look tomorrow.

[Dr. Jet]

The "rolls" in the tuck-n-roll were 0.0623" (slightly less than 1/16") and were cut in a brass block with a 0.0625" ball-end mill. The button tufts would be somewhere in the 3/32" spacing area and far more complicated to machine into a mold.........

[Dr. Jet]

The panels aren't glued in yet, but you get the idea.....

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[J Mack]

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When I buy barrel blanks they come with this plastic wrap covering them that has a diamond pattern I was thinking might work for you. Unfortunately the diamonds are a bit larger than what you were looking for.

[Dr. Jet]

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When I buy barrel blanks they come with this plastic wrap covering them that has a diamond pattern I was thinking might work for you. Unfortunately the diamonds are a bit larger than what you were looking for.

Yeah, but it does give me a good idea......

[Dr. Jet]

Not sure if this will work, but it's cheap and appears to be the right size.........

s-l1600.jpg

[Dr. Jet]

Some idle thinking here......

If you remember, I built a prototype to test parts fit and such before building the final version.

DSCN0625.jpg

The prototype is seaworthy and I've run it a few times, but the finish on it is still "preliminary"; you can still see a lot of wood grain through the paint. I'm not real happy with the shape of the cowl and the idea struck me to give the existing hatch/cowl assembly a LOOOONG ride on the belt sander and do something different. The rear wings/fins are fiddlesome and tedious to build and finish, so I'm looking for something to get around building more of them.

This might be just the ticket:

U3_1979b.jpg

U3_1979a.jpg

[Dr. Jet]

Kudos to J Mack

While the exact product J Mack uses on his barrel blanks wouldn't work for a host of reasons, it did get me to thinking and researching. I bought a small sheet of that expanded aluminum mesh in the photo above with the penny. I just did a quick "test" and wound up with what I consider a completely usable "Diamond Tuft" panel. I'll make 2 more and use the tuck 'n roll panels as templates for trimming them.

_MG_5038.jpg

[J Mack]

I just did a quick "test" and wound up with what I consider a completely usable "Diamond Tuft" panel.

Looks great, your builds have given me so many hours of enjoyable reading with my morning coffee I’m glad I could contribute in a small way!

[Dr. Jet]

Thanks for that J Mack,

Much of what I do is experimental, going where no man has gone before, and I appreciate it when somebody takes the time to read what I write in these forums. I'm glad you found it entertaining and I appreciate your contribution!

[Dr. Jet]

Hmmm..... I just found 4 rather dusty Atlas kits in the back corner of my hangar.....

What to do; what to do??

[Dr. Jet]

Endless possibilities with this kit...

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lw_AmericanSpeedy.jpg

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lw_NatLight.jpg

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[Dr. Jet]

So I'm looking at Prototype #1 and thinking of how I'm going to revise the cowl. I thought about Miss Tri-Cities, but I was concerned that the opening in the hatch to clear the (electric) motor would fall in an "open" area of that hull, just in front of the location of a scale Merlin engine.

Then I got to thinking about the 1970 Pride of Pay-n-Pack with the twin supercharged Hemis.

70Pak.jpg

33652973_Pay'n'Pak0001.jpg

1970 Seattle John Woodward 02.jpg


The cool part about this hull is no wings/fins to deal with (other than the central fin), and 3D printed supercharged Chrysler Hemi engines are a dime a dozen and can be printed at any scale.

Hemi.jpg

Hemi CAD.jpg