Closing up the Falke is not as easy as it sounds. From the previous article, you night have realised that in certain situations, the two fuselage halves does have some slight warpage. And this is due to the mysterious circumstances which takes place after the modifications. You will also need to monitor the cockpit and test it again and again as they are the prime suspect. Sometimes, it’s also the stubborn and unsecured loose wires which prevents the halves from closing.
After the final check, and test-fit, I started to glue the fronts of the twin booms first. I do not have any of those big clamps and so, I used cable-ties to hold them in place while the glue sets. Once I am satisfied that the two halves would not pop open, I continued with the rear, which is the engine. I had to use my hands since the curves of the model does not allow me to use any other tools except for the tie-wraps in the middle. It was a good 15 minutes before the rear is done.
Test fitting of the Falke and electronics prior to the closing up process. These tie-wraps are crucial for closing the Falke. I did not use any tapes in case the thin cement flows into them and smudges the surface.The right side of the model closed perfectly.You can see the stubborn gap on the model’s left cockpit area which I suspect was due to the cockpit’s sidewall’s LED for the console. I am very sure it is not the LED Blade PCB as they fit snugly when I was test-fitting without the cockpit installed.Despite my efforts to close this 1.5mm gap even by force, I gave up and used Aves Apoxy to seal the gap instead.
I left the tie-wraps overnight for the Aves to work.
Finally, after 24 hours, the Falke has successfully closed and I could not even start to think about dropping it…
FRONT INTAKE DETAILING
With the model now closed up, it’s time to go to the next stage. But before that, there is one small little detail which needs to be done first. The intake’s cover will not be used since it has to be opened to show the spinning electronic propeller. I needed to put a small detail there to make the model look more convincing and not as a plastic model.
There is a double row of rivets/screws on the plastic panel which covers the intake. This means the panel was secured to the Falke and there should be a metal beam in the middle. So, I cut out four styrene squares and glued them behind the intakes wall. This is to hold the new scratch-built part. This is also the reason why I mentioned earlier that the ribs of the aluminum cage must align where the square beams go. Luckily, I have positioned the aluminum cage’s fins correctly. Phew.I then cut out a small thin-ish styrene strip and replicated the rivet/screw holes as best as I can with the syringe needle. You might want to shave a little off the four holder’s thickness so that the styrene bar can sit flush in there.
Note how easily the aluminum cage scratches. You can scratch them even more during the weathering process later.
And so, now it looks like as if the panel was really removed by a mechanic. Of course, I could have also lined the fins of the aluminum cage with thin red wires but not for this model. It’s beautiful enough and so easy to get lost into making more and more details!
While the sides of the model is being glued, there are some noticeable light leaks. They can be easily take care of when I prime the mode. But for the ones at the bottom, I will have to use extra pieces of plastic since they are gaps created when the two halves could not close. Or maybe, I’ll just leave them alone.Always test the electronics again and again at every step. You do not want to have a LED not lighting up after sealing the model. Also, do a burn-in test to see how long the circuit can last before charging. There is an issue with modern power banks as they will only provide power is there is a significant power drain otherwise they will shut off after 15 seconds or so. For a 10,000mAH power bank, I think it lasted more than a day.
In the next chapter, I will discuss the colour scheme I will use for the Falke and then something happened….
