pheonix

Evening All, have fitted the undercarriage, but forgot to take photos of the stages. Briefly the skid and struts are 20 x 30 strip which has been bent to shape (skids) and filed to aerofoil section (legs). The wheels are Eduard PE centres and the tyres 30 thou rod wound around a paintbrush handle and then immersed in very hot water to make a coil. The vertical struts were attached to a skid and the struts inserted into holes on the underside of the wings. The bracing struts were attached and the sub-assembly set aside to dry out, before I repeated the procedure on the other side The axle is brass rod and was CA'd to the skids and the wheels added last. The units were rigged with rolled copper wire. The rear engine was cemented to the rear of the fuselage nacelles and the propellor glued in place with CA as this will be difficult to reach when the booms have been rigged. I attached the chain drives from the front engine to the prop shafts using thread which I wound around a pin which I had previously glued in the front of the nose. The chains exited via the holes in the fuselage sides seen in earlier pictures. The stabilizing rods were made from plastic rod. The engine was cemented to the pin and the front of the cowling opening added: The booms have been rigged and the horizontal tail surface CA'd to the top of the rear of the booms. I also added the front booms and elevator: Thanks for looking. P

Evening All, Thanks Stuart for the kind comment - much appreciated. I have been rigging recently using my preferred method with rolled copper wire and CA. It all works fine when the CA works quickly, but it can be a trial when it does not. Fortunately it seems to be working well at the moment. I have added the struts under the upper wing overhang and then rigged them, followed by the fore-aft and rear interplane struts. These are the least accessible and I usually rig these first on my models, following the principle that if the least accessible is rigged first, the task becomes progressively easier. It also means that damage is less likely: I have also started to put in the supports and drive shafts for the forward propellors. These were made from 30 thou rod and painted black because that seems to have been the colour looking at photos, but I could be wrong. Note that the drive shafts were directly attached to existing struts because this was a modification to an earlier design: Thanks for looking. P.

Evening All, Having allowed the outer interplane and end boom struts to set overnight, I proceeded to insert the remaining boom stuts with CA as the struts themselves are shaped plastic strip and the booms brass bar. I also added the control horns to the fuselage sides. The inner interplane struts were fitted and allowed to set. These struts were rigged fore-aft with rolled copper wire. One pair of fuel tanks had horizontal struts cemented to the sides and when all of the above was set I was able to add the fuel tanks to the inner interplane struts: The pair of interplane struts inboard of the outer pair were inserted between the wings before I fitted the final interplane pair: this was because the rear struts of the inner pair are longer than the others - they pass through the wing and will form part of the undercarriage. Using this method of fixing longer struts will hopefully create a stronger undercarriage. The second pair of fuel tanks were fitted with horizontal struts and attached to the interplane struts. Once again I had rigged the fore-aft wires of the inner interplane struts with rolled copper wire before I fixed the fuel tanks in position. While I was adding the interplane struts I also added small pieces of stretched sprue between each strut pair to represent the re-inforcing ribs which were exposed on the underside of the upper wing: Thanks for looking. P.

Evening All, Many thanks Chris and Alex for you kind comments. I have been building a second model recently for a GB on another site, (there is a separate build thread on this site if you are interested), so radio silence has been the norm on this build as I have only been able to work on this between times. However progress has been made. The supports for the forward skids and horns on which the front elevator was mounted were made from 40 x 60 thou strip. These were CA'd at the bottom where they are fixed to the brass bar skids, and cemented at the top where they are joined to plastic: I have also added the clock which hung from one of the bracing wires near the pilot's head, but this is not visible in the photos. The control rod for the rear elevator ran from the left lever to the rear where it was connected to a horizontal bar: another control rod ran from the horizontal bar to the rear elevator. When the pilot moved the left lever forwards or rearwards the elevators at the front and rear would operate together. The rod from the left lever to the horizontal bar was fixed in place followed by the rear elevator. The elevator was supported by vertical struts - these were made from wood which had been filled with grain filler. A hole was drilled and enlarged on the fabric covered part of the elevator, and a gap cut in the spar on the uncovered side: The control rod from the elevator to the horizontal bar at the rear of the lower wing has been inserted but is not yet fixed in position: The side of the boom will be rigged when the control rod is permanently fixed. I have also put on to the lower exposed wing section the tip bar and trailing edge "wire" - the latter is stretched sprue: I am hoping that the next post for this project will be the last one - light is clearly visible at the end of the tunnel! Thanks for looking. P

Evening All, Thanks Stuart for the kind comment which is much appreciated. I can assure you that although the aircraft looks comples, if it is broken down into sub-assemblies it is not as daunting as it looks at first sight. I hope that this construction log will demonstrate what I mean. I have painted all, (or almost all), of the parts ready for assembly. The fabric parts were coated with umpteeen, (I lost count!), layers of thinned acrylics - Revell white with Revell Beige 314. The struts were Revell semi-matt enamel (382), and the propellors are carved from wood strip. I also used Humbrol brass enamel for the fuel and oil tanks: The parts were laid out in the above image to show roughly the order from front, (on the left), to rear (right). Initial assembly of a pusher is important to get right - everything must be lined up accurately or the model will look odd later. Most pusher types had vertical interplane struts which makes alignment straightforward: a simple jig to keep the leading or trailing edges of the wings in line, and another support to keep the wing tips aligned is all that is required. Paint pots or thick books provide the material for the jigs. I did not photograph them for this build because I forgot to, but if you look up any f my previous builds you will see clearly what I mean. Setting up a simple structure that is robust enough to be handled but simple to assemble is also straightforward: I cement the outer interplane struts to the lower wing and try to get them as well aligned as possible. When the cement is partially set so that the struts can be moved without falling out, I put small drops of glue into the locating holes of the upper wing and gently lower the upper wing on to the struts. The boom at the rear has to be supported with a paint pot or other suitable jig, (a piece of wood, corner of a book), while the wings are aligned and squared with paint pots as described above. The middle strut of the boom rear was inserted first on this model - it was plastic strip and was glued to the brass booms with CA. Once the CA had set the corner struts at the boom rear were easily inserted and fixed with CA. This kept the rear for the structure rigid while the cement on the interplane struts set: When this sub-assembly has had 24 hours to set, the remaining struts can be carefully inserted between the wings and booms as the structure is surprisingly rigid. Thanks for looking. P.

Evening All, Thanks Ian and Chris for the comments - much appreciated. I made the front and rear booms from brass bar as the originals were from square section timber: Quick and simple to solder. I will prime them later. I made the fuselage nacelle by push moulding 30 thou plastic sheet which had been heated under a gas grill. I used a scrap of basswood for the male mould and plywood for the female. Unfortunately I made the sides a little too short so I had to trim them and add some card to lengthen the rear: a small piece of card was then glued to the rear to make the back of the nacelle. A strip of scrap plastic was added for the seat and a wheel for the pilot. I know nothing else about the interior and as so little will be visible I left it blank. The joints were filled and sanded and a cowling made from 20 thou card. The card was run between the blade of a pair of scissors and my thumb to make it curl, and then mounted on some stretched sprue formers glued to the front of the nacelle. When all of this was dry I added more filler and sanded it smooth. I forgot to take photos of these processes but the result can be seen below. Holes were drilled in the wings to take the struts and undercarriage later. When all the fuselage assembly was dry I epoxied one of the rear booms to the lower wing and supported it with a sophisticated jig while the epoxy cured: I used a slightly more complex jig to attach the rear booms to the upper wing: I now need to make the struts from plastic strip and carve the propellors from wood, following which I will paint as much as I can. Thanks for looking. P.

Unfortunately so do I....! I am hoping to be able to keep the two balls in the air, not least because I have reached the last stages with the Short Wright. But you never know! P

Evening All, I am making this as part of a GB on another site while I try to finish the Short-Wright biplane. I do not normally take on two projects at the same time, but personal circumstances have prevented me from completing the Short-Wright by the time that the GB started. Hopefully I will not become confused as to what to do next on each project and I will be able to complete both before the deadline for the GB. I started by making the engines from plastic rod: Flying surfaces are easy to make and quickly result in something to show for the effort. The wings, tail surfaces, and rudders were made from 30 thou card with the leading and trailing edges sanded and filed to make them into aerofoil sections: The above shows the front elevator, wings, horizontal tail surface and rudders. The notches in the wings are where the booms will be fixed later. I have also started to make the propellors from wood - one has been carved, the fuel tanks - there were 42 fixed originally, later two more were added which were of a different shape, and the bench seat for the pilot and passenger. The fuel tanks were shaped from sprue and the seat from 40 thou scrap plastic sheet: Now I have to make the moulds for the fuselage nacelle. Thanks for looking. P

Evening All, My belated thanks for all of the positive comments that you have left - I really do appreciate them even if I am slow to acknowledge them in writing: life has been more hectic than usual recently. The radiator consisted of a series of vertical pipes mounted on the leading edge of the lower wing with pipes connected to the engine. I had drilled a hole in the lower wing a put a pin in the bottom of the radiator to make a secure joint. The pipes were made from 20 thou rod and connected the engine to the radiator. There was a small battery placed on the lower wing on the port (left) side of the engine: a small cable connected the battery to the engine: The seat was CA'd to a frame made from 20 x 30 thou strip and the latter cemented to the ribs and solid part of the lower wing. A fuel tank was mounted between the inner interplane struts - the tank was made from plastic tube with card at the ends to block the hole in the tube. A water tank was also mounted between the struts and hung beneath one of the bars which held the fuel tank: A control bar which actuated the rudders extended from the control lever on the right side of the pilot - this was connected to a cross bar on the lower rear boom which in turn was connected to the rudders by control wires. The bar from the control lever and cross bar were made from 20 x 30 thou plastic strip: The rudders on the original machine consisted of a two wooden frames with a single sheet of fabric on the outer surfaces, joined with cross rods. I modelled the starboard (right) rudder with the fabric and the port (left) as just the frame. The fabric on the right side was represented with 20 thou plastic card and the frames made with 10 x 20 thou strip. 25 thou plastic rod was used to join the rudders and the whole rigged with monofilament thread: When the rudders were finished I mounted them between the ends of the central booms and connected them to the control wires from the bar on the lower wing: I have still to decide what to do next - either rig the wings and tie off some of the annoying threads or add the rear elevator and rig the rear booms: with several fragile parts sticking out and waiting to be knocked off or damaged I will need to consider carefully how to proceed. Thanks for looking. P

I am using clear monofilament thread - not sure of the size but I would estimate 0.1 - 0.2 mm. It is very stong and when pulled taught and secured with superglue does not sag. I might use EZ line on the rudder wires - not sure yet, but if I do it will not be pulled very tight - just enough to take out the sag. P

Evening All, Thanks Chris for your kind comment - it is much appreciated. I have had a checquered time recently, having been away twice in two weeks visiting family during holidays. In addition I found that the booms were not properly aligned after I have put the top wing in place, so I had to take it off and reset it - this time thing are properly aligned so I have been able to continue with the build. I finished the elevators by adding the ribs from 20 x 30 strip which had been filed to shape. The ribs were added to the spars and the leading and trailing edge pieces were glued to the tips of the ribs with liquid cement. The wooden frame of the elevators were painted the same colour as the remainder of the wood frame that would have been fabric covered on the real aircraft. I also made the rudders: one is the complete unit with frame and fabric covering (on one side only as per the original), and the other just the frame. These too have been painted. The control for the wing warping consisted of a lever which operated a rod: the tail end of the rod moved from side to side, causing tension on a control wire. I made the rod from plastic rod with a hole drilled to allow the control wire to pass through. The front end of the rod was inserted into a hole in the control lever and the assembly superglued into place on the airframe. The warping wire guides on the upper and lower wings were cut from 15 thou card and superglued into place once the warping wires had been threaded through them. The propellors were driven via chains which were channeled and protected in tubes. The chains passed over drives at the rear of the engine and wheels on the ends of the propellor shafts. The propellor shafts were supported by triangular structures mounted between the wings. I made the triangular supports and propellor drive shafts from brass rod which was soldered over a paper template: These were primed and painted before they were mounted between the wings. The chain covers were also made from brass rod which was soldered: these too were primed and painted. The drive wheels on the ends of the propellor shafts were made from 20 thou scrap card. [ The shaft supports were superglued to the wings and the drive shafts inserted and glued to the propellor shafts. Adding the longer chain drive from the engine to the prop shaft on the port (left side) required an unusual jig even by my Heath-Robinson standards. The chains around the drive wheels were made from stretched sprue. Next I will start to add the features surrounding the pilot: there was no cockpit as such as (s)he sat on a seat mounted on a frame on the leading edge of the lower wing. Thanks for looking. P

Unbelievable. I would have been perfectly happy if I could have produced a model as good looking as that in 172 scale! P

Good to see a real aeroplane modelled. Rigging is not as difficult as many imagine, but practice does improve the overall result. P

Very nice to see a real aeroplane so well presented. As others have commented the rigging is first class, but so too is the general finish. Looking forward to seeing this one for real. P

Evening All, Many thanks Adrian, Chris and Tom for your kind comments - I very much appreciate them. It's official: the Short Wright model is now a real aeroplane, ie it has a spare wing! I made the struts from wood as I considered that plastic strip might not be strong enough. The wood grain was filled with a mixture of talcum powder and dope and sanded down, followed by a coat of dope and a light sanding. I used the same mix of acrylics on the struts as I had used for other exposed wood parts described in the last post. To hold the upper wing in place while I fixd the first set of struts was awkward because the solid part of the wing was quite heavy and had to be held gently in place with books! I also put a pot of paint between the rear of the booms to stabilize that part of the structure. Because the books completely obscured the card wing supports I have photographed the jig parts after the wing was in place but you can see their respective positions: As usual this is all very high-tech Heath-Robinson, as per my usual building methods, but it worked. The reason for the large gap in the centre of the front is that I am leaving the space clear so that I can more easily insert the engine, radiator, pilot's seat and frame and controls. I can however put in place some of the rigging to secure some of those pesky threads which seem to be permanently in the way. Thanks for looking. P