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youngatheart362

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Okay, I got myself one heckuva conundrum. Working on Tamiya's $200 1/32 F4U corsair, and I decide I want to feature folded wings. Unfortunately, I dropped the model when I had it 2/3 of the way assembled. All I needed to assemble were the wings, tail, ailerons, rudder, and elevators, The main wing spars which hold the wings up snapped off. I've tried various glues, using the snapped off spars as spars for extended wings, etc. Nothing worked. At this point, the only fix I know of is to disassemble, switch out folded spars for extended spars and reassemble. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

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Is it worth asking on static model forums if anyone has built one with wings unfolded and has spare parts you could use to repair yours ? 

An extreme solution might be to buy another kit and use the parts from that to build 2, one with folded wings, and one with unfolded.

Unfortunately having been in similar situations with snapped off landing gears, my experience is that once something snaps, it never has anywhere near the same strength if repaired with glue.

There's always the option of doing a crash landing diorama before consigning it to the bin.

Sorry I can't be of more help than that..... :(

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I dont know if this is of any use, I'm not sure which part of the plane you are referring to but...

years ago when building real lead miniatures like the old Citadel figures the parts were quite heavy. I used to get a very fine drill bit in a pin vice and drill a hole in each of the 2 parts to join. Then get a pin from my sewing kit and snip the pin head off. I would then mix up and put 2 part epoxy glue on the pin and slide the 2 parts onto the pin using the pin as a metal spine to give the joint strength. Pins can be surprisingly strong supports in model kits and once the 2 model pieces were joined together the internal pin gave a lot of strength to the join.

If the area where you would put the pin is not a solid lump of plastic which could hold the pin (i.e. it is a cavity) then you can fill the cavity with some modelling putty like milliput and once dry drill into that.

Perhaps this would help with a joint that you are trying which needs strength?

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25 minutes ago, Gebbly said:

I dont know if this is of any use, I'm not sure which part of the plane you are referring to but...

years ago when building real lead miniatures like the old Citadel figures the parts were quite heavy. I used to get a very fine drill bit in a pin vice and drill a hole in each of the 2 parts to join. Then get a pin from my sewing kit and snip the pin head off. I would then mix up and put 2 part epoxy glue on the pin and slide the 2 parts onto the pin using the pin as a metal spine to give the joint strength. Pins can be surprisingly strong supports in model kits and once the 2 model pieces were joined together the internal pin gave a lot of strength to the join.

If the area where you would put the pin is not a solid lump of plastic which could hold the pin (i.e. it is a cavity) then you can fill the cavity with some modelling putty like milliput and once dry drill into that.

Perhaps this would help with a joint that you are trying which needs strength?

I have done something like that with repairing broken model helicopter frames.

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4 hours ago, MadInventor said:

There's always the option of doing a crash landing diorama before consigning it to the bin.

That's what I will do, saves me from chopping up a perfectly good model to make it 'crashed'.

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Those are basically the same material as hard shell on RC, correct?  I would just make the part out of styrene.. I always tell myself (with hope) there is nothing I can't fix on those hard shell bodies.. so far I have been right. 

GL and sorry to hear about the mishap.. I've done something very similar too in my lifetime. :blink:

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22 hours ago, MadInventor said:

There's always the option of doing a crash landing diorama before consigning it to the bin.

Yes, I've been there too.  I dropped a 1:72 scale Bristol Bulldog shortly after finishing it, took a step back to see where it went and stood right on it.

I was part-way through building a 1:72 Short Stirling, which came with a loading tractor and a driver looking over his shoulder.  Painted grey like a Fergusson farm tractor and positioned on some cardboard painted to resemble a field, it looked like the farmer had turned around in surprise to see a biplane crashed into the ground just behind him.

Sometimes, a small disaster can open the door to creative freedom.

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14 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

took a step back to see where it went and stood right on it

Ouch, been there, done that. Whenever I drop anything now I always tell myself to stand very still whilst I look around my feet.

16 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

looked like the farmer had turned around in surprise to see a biplane crashed into the ground

Well if  thats not crying out for a photo I dont know what is :)

 

On 12/8/2022 at 2:07 PM, youngatheart362 said:

main wing spars which hold the wings up snapped off

@youngatheart362 another thought. if the part that was broken is a tiny stick shape maybe you could even replace it with a painted pin bent to the correct shape, just put the ends of the pin slightly inside each part it connects to for extra strength.

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4 hours ago, Gebbly said:

Well if  thats not crying out for a photo I dont know what is :)

Unfortunately this was in the days long before digital cameras and large storage media, there probably was / is a good old fashioned photo of it somewhere but I have no idea where I'd find it

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