Voisin III LAS 1/72 scale scratch build

[pheonix]

Evening All,

 

I have form when it comes to pushers and recently I have had a severe attack of pusher withdrawal symptoms so it is time to start another one This will be a French design but I will finish it in RNAS markings. Voisin machines were very numerous during the first part of WW1 as they were employed by French, British and Italian air forces, some were sent to Russia and others were built there, so it was an important allied type. As it is a pusher it is seriously under-represented in the kit market: there is a vacuform kit by Flashback but I will try to show how to make one from scratch using plastic card and florists wire. I am going to cheat a little because I have acquired from Epeeman a spare rotary engine from a Roden kit which I will modify to represent the Salmson of the Voisin. I suppose this is the scratch builder's version of an aftermarket part. I will be using genuine aftermarket parts in the form of a set of Eduard PE wire wheels: my first experience of this medium. The plans will come from the DataFile no 135. 

 

I started by bending some 30 thou plastic card in a piece of drain pipe which had been plugged at one end. (I have to thank Stevehed for this idea). I placed the card in the pipe and held it with a wooden spoon handle while I poured in boiling water. After 10 seconds I drained out the hot water and poured in cold water. The card was then suitably bent so that I could cut out the wing blanks. I also cut out some ailerons and horizontal tail stabilisers, and a rudder. I have marked these in pencil to show where the ribs will be added in the form of 10 x 20 thou Evergreen strip.

 

 

The engine looked like this:

 

 

so the first change was to get rid of those awful moulded push rods and replace them with some new ones from thin copper wire.

 

 

An exhaust pipe was made from plastic rod and glued to the rear of the engine:

 

 

and finally an extended drive shaft also made from thick rod which had been filed to shape and glued to the front.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

P

 

 

 

 

[Sprueloose]

Oh I love this! Thanks for sharing. I look forward to a fun build. 

[Brandy]

Following here too...I'll happily watch this twice!

 

Ian

[Martian]

This is going to be fun to follow!

 

Martian

[TonyTiger66]

I'm going to be following this; thanks for doing a WIP.

 

I'm fond of the Voisin, and other pusher aircraft like the AGO, Otto and Wight Pusher/Navyplane. 

 

I had a book once on the first Balkan campaign, a distant memory; were any Voisins used by the Bulgarian forces?

 

Googling doesn't help much, but shows that Turkey captured a couple from Russian sources.

 

Superb to see one being built from scratch!

 

 

TonyT

[Hamster Volant]

If it can be of any help, I found this on a French forum.

http://www.passion-ailes.net/t1636-voisin-iii-1-32

Full scratch, but in 1/32 scale.

May be some things to pick there?

[pheonix]

9 hours ago, Hamster Volant said:

If it can be of any help, I found this on a French forum.

http://www.passion-ailes.net/t1636-voisin-iii-1-32

Full scratch, but in 1/32 scale.

May be some things to pick there?

Thanks for the link - will have a closer look at that later.

 

Des Delatore also built one in 1/32 scale on ww1aircraftmodels.com about three or four years ago - I have that bookmarked too as there are some very useful ideas and information there.

 

P

[pheonix]

9 hours ago, TonyTiger66 said:

I'm going to be following this; thanks for doing a WIP.

 

I'm fond of the Voisin, and other pusher aircraft like the AGO, Otto and Wight Pusher/Navyplane. 

 

I had a book once on the first Balkan campaign, a distant memory; were any Voisins used by the Bulgarian forces?

 

Googling doesn't help much, but shows that Turkey captured a couple from Russian sources.

 

Superb to see one being built from scratch!

 

 

TonyT

Glad you are interested in this project. As pushers go I do not think that it will present many problems apart from the fact that it had nose-wheels - which means lots of weight and where to put it. The cockpit is pretty open and a dirty great slab of lead or other dense material is going to look rather obvious!

 

I do not know whether the Bulgarians used Voisins or not: the DatatFile does not mention them and it is pretty comprehensive, (but not by any means the last word of course). The RNAS certainly used them in the Adriatic Sea area (my model will be based on one of them), but beyond that my limited sources do not go.

[qn30jEkPz7]

This promises to be an education

[pheonix]

I made the fuselage sides and floor from 20thou plastic card and painted the interior with Revell semi-matt natural wood (SM 382) which is close enough for this model. Very little will be visible when the fuselage is closed so I am not too concerned about the colour. I added some framing from Evergreen strip and interior wire bracing - the latter is rolled copper wire.

 

 

I made a fuel tank from 20thou plastic card and filled it with some old lead fishing weights that I found stored in the roof from my earlier incarnation as a modeller: lead weights are no longer available in the UK. This aircraft had so much lead in its petrol that its exhaust fumes would have poisoned half of the troops that it flew over, never mind the ground crews!! This model will be a nose sitter so I need to add a lot of weight - there are few places to put it without it being visible. Just to make sure I am going to put more under the observer's seat too.

 

 

The fuel tank was painted brass but I am not sure that much will be visible when the top of the fuselage is in place. The shelf behind the fuel tank also has lead shot underneath it - extra weight which I hope will help to pull the nose down. (There was no such shelf on the real aircraft but this will not be visible on the completed model).

 

The pilots'  seat was made from card together with a control column (rod) and rudder bar and pedals. The window in the floor at the front of the nacelle was added from a small piece of acetate cut from an old blister pack which I keep for this purpose.

 

 

I moulded the top sections of the fuselage (front and rear) from 30 thou card. These will be glued into place next - I have been away for the Easter break and have not done that yet.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

P

[Sprueloose]

Lovely tidy work! I am new at this and your talk about trying to avoid it being a tail sitter got me wonder if someone somewhere has ever made metal wheels (lead or something as heavy but not so harmful). Anyway looks great! 

 

[pheonix]

Evening All,

 

Thanks Sprueloose for the kind comment which I appreciate. As far as I am aware there are no such wheels which would be suitable for this model unless I could fins a pair from a diecast motor of some kind. However even the I am not sure that they would be heavy enough, - it is a tricky problem. However if the weights in the nacelle are insufficient I do have a plan B to ensure that it does not sit on its tail...........

 

I have attached the moulded upper parts of the fuselage nacelle to the main body and cleaned up the joints. I also drilled the holes in the top rear where the water pipe from the radiators will enter.

 

 

 

The radiators have been made from 2 x 60thou laminated card which was scribed to represent the vertical pipes with thin strip glued for the binding pieces. Holes have been drilled where the pipes will enter and leave.

 

 

The propellor has been carved from wood and I have added the ribs to the flying surfaces from 10 x 20 thou Evergreen strip.

 

 

The next stage will be to glue the lower wings to the nacelle and then the booms to the wings: more later.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

P

[Sprueloose]

Look good! I'm enjoying watching this take shape. Thank you for sharing your process. 

Terry

[pheonix]

Thanks Sprueloose for leaving your kind remarks - I am pleased that this is of interest to you.

 

I have added the ribs to the wings from 10 x 20 thou Evergreen strip attached with liquid glue. These were then sanded down to take off the edges. I have also added the ailerons to the lower wings.

Many of you are aware that when it comes to pushers, both conversions and scratch builds, I have considerable form. However some may not know of the method that I use to construct the booms, so I will describe the method in detail here and in a later post. What follows is part one of a process - part 2 will follow after I have completed painting the wings, fuselage, tail units, etc. The problem with pushers is that the boom assembly must fit the wing trailing edges exactly. In some cases the horizontal boom arms may not be parallel, nor are they in line with the top of the wings. If the booms are assembled first from a side elevation drawing of the model, the spacing of the wings has to be absolutely precise or problems will arise when trying to attach the front ends of the complete booms to the trailing edges of the wings. I avoid this problem by attaching the horizontal arms of the booms to the wings before I put the top wing into place.

 

 

The drawing shows the wings and how to measure the angles of the booms. Line ' 2 ' is the horizontal which touches the front and rear of the underside of the wing, (not as in the drawing where it has missed the front edge - I know, I cannot draw properly!) Distance ' a' is measured to a convenient distance from the trailing edge of the wing - make it as far back as possible while at the same time being easy to measure, e.g. 5.5cm rather than 5.7cm. Height b is measured from the scale drawing: it is the difference between line ' 2 ' and the line of the boom ' 1 '  at the measured distance from the trailing edge of the wing: in this case 5.5cm. Height ' b ' tells you how high the support for the boom will need to be at 5.5cm from the trailing edge of the wing when the wing is lying flat on the desk/modelling bench. Now you can put your two supports, e g a piece of plastic card of the thickness ' b',  at distance ' a ' (in this case 5.5cm), one for each boom, behind the trailing edge of the model wing.  When you attach the booms to the top of the wing rest them on the supports while they dry out, and you will have the correct angle between the boom and the wing. NB the distance ' b ' may not be the same for both wings: you must measure each wing separately. I use Araldite to attach the booms to the wing because it sets very hard but gives me some wriggle time if needed. I make my booms from florists wire because it is about the right diameter and it is easy to roll straight but is also rigid and does not sag later. I file out a groove in the top of the wing trailing edges with a round file into which I can place the boom: this gives a better join between the wire of the boom and the plastic of the wing.  

 

 

Above are the two sets of booms, one on each wing, for the Voisin which is currently under construction. Note that I joined the ends of the booms with superglue as this sets quickly and gives the structure a little additional support while the epoxy cures. The shadows show that the booms do not lie flat but are above the desk top: this is because I used the method described above, and this will ensure that when I put the top wing on to the lower one and join the rear of the booms to the rudder, they will be at the correct vertical distance apart. In a later post I will describe how I assemble the top wing and the remainder of the boom strut assembly. But first I must  paint the above assemblies and add the markings.  

 

Thanks for looking.

 

P

 

Edited May 5, 2017 by pheonix
forgot to add initial

[825]

Impressive work. The work on the booms is quite exquisite.

 

On getting enough weight up front to prevent it tail sitting did you think about using metal sheet rather than plastic card for the cockpit floor and sides? I know you're considerably furthermore on than that but it could have been an option. 

[pheonix]

Thanks for the compliment on the booms. I had not though of using metal sheet actually. If I did try a problem for me would be that I do not have the soldering or other skills to join the sides to the floor: unless I used superglue or something similar. It is an idea which I might try on a future project though - thanks for the tip.

 

P

[Sprueloose]

Fascinating methods! A real pleasure to see how you build this model!

Terry

 

[pheonix]

I have painted the model and the markings: the latter were hand painted. To put on the roundels I scored the circles with a pair of dividers and then painted the red and blue circles allowing the paint to fill the grooves. The serial number on the nacelle was printed on my home computer.

 

 

 

I have been drilling holes in the nacelle to take the various pipes and parts which are attached to it: this seems to have more holes than a Tilsiter cheese!

The engine was fixed via a pin from the rear of the engine which was put into a hole in the horizontal bar which crosses the rear of the nacelle. Then the braces from the rear end of the drive shaft to the bottom rear of the nacelle could be fixed. The small exhaust pipes which lead from the ring on the rear into the rear of the nacelle were made from bent 30 thou card and inserted into some of the holes mentioned above.

The radiators have been put into place and the pipes to and from the engine. The pipes were made from 20 thou rod and were fixed to the holes drilled in the fuselage and sides of the radiator blocks.

 

 

 

 

The next stage will be to add the top wing.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

P

[Brandy]

More beautiful work, enhanced by the fact that It's white so everything looks nice and crisp!

 

Ian

[cngaero]

This is coming along very nicely indeed.

You've done a tremendous job of painting the roundels on the wings and I really like your neat solution to the nose weight problem.

First class modelling.

[pheonix]

Evening All,

 

Thanks Ian and Chris for the kind remarks: I hope that the remainder of the model progresses as well as up to this point.

 

I have put on the top wing and rudder and all of the wing and boom struts. I will now describe part two of how I fix a wing and booms on a pusher in such a way that I ensure that the boom struts and rudder fit correctly first time.

 

I started this particular assembly by cutting two small indents in the leading edge of the rudder where the boom struts would join. (In reality the ends of the booms were attached to the rudder post by hinges but that is not easy to model in this scale so I compromised). The rudder was glued to the V of the lower boom with superglue and held in position while the glue dried. I had already measured accurately from the plans the inner wing struts: these were glued to the lower wing. While they were still pliable I lowered the top wing on to the struts having first put small blobs of cement into the holes on the underside of the top wing so that the struts could be eased into position and the wing lined up with the one underneath. The V of the upper boom was then edged into the slot on the leading edge of the rudder and superglued in place, making sure that the leading edge of the rudder was vertical. Now I supported the upper wing with some square Revell acrylic paint pots to make sure that nothing moved while the wing strut cement set hard.

 

 

 

 

 

The structure may look weak but in fact when it is properly dry it is quite easy to handle provided one is careful not to strike it hard or drop it. Adding the rest of the wing struts was very simple - they were eased into place one at a time after cement had been placed in the relevant holes in the wings. The outer struts are angled outwards on this model which is why I fixed the innermost struts first - the wings were rigid when I came to add the outer ones and they could therefore be put in place fairly easily: on other pushers I normally add the outer struts first when putting on the top wing because it makes a larger and more stable triangular structure. The boom struts could be cut to the exact length having been measured from the model with a pair of dividers: these were fixed with superglue. The cabane struts under the leading edges of the radiators and the single strut from the end of the engine drive shaft to the top wing completed the exercise.

 

 

 

 

This method has many advantages among which was that I was not trying to do too many operations simultaneously and could therefore focus on getting the alignments right. Once the inner wing struts had set I had a strong but slightly flexible structure to work with. The booms structures were essentially made to measure while the wings can be properly aligned and the rudder made vertical in relation to the thrust line of the aircraft. The outer wing struts being angled outwards did not cause a problem because the others were already in place holding the wings rigid. Now I can rig the underside of the top wing before I tackle the undercarriage.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

P

 

[pheonix]

I have rigged the underside of the top wing as this will be much less accessible later and I do not want to knock bits off the undercarriage assembly and have to put them back again. I have also assembled the undercarriage: this aircraft had a pair of nose wheels which was unusual for the time. The rear undercarriage legs were made from 20 x 30 thou strip filed to aerofoil section, as were the front oleo legs. The remaining legs were made form rolled wire as this was both stronger and better represents the steel tube construction of the original aircraft. The axle was made from plastic rod. The wire struts were put into place with superglue. Holes had been drilled through the ends of the rear struts and the axle was put in using liquid cement. The black pipes at the rear of the nacelle are the ends of the exhaust pipes. I have also put in the central control rod which ran under the nacelle between the undercarriage legs.

 

 

 

 

Those with sharp eyes will notice that I have started to rig the rear of the inner wing bay: this too is because it is relatively accessible at the moment and these are some of the least accessible wires to rig. I do not want to be knocking things off later when trying to put these in. I have rigged the control wires under the fuselage for the same reason: they are going to be more difficult to reach later. This also has the advantage that I am doing more of the rigging as I go along so that I can hopefully save my sanity when I eventually come to complete the rest of the rigging: there is rather a lot of it on this model.

 

 

 

P

[Deon]

This is a fine piece of modelling, completely inspirational. You make (what must be for us mortals) a very challenging series of structures look easy. 

[Sprueloose]

Beautiful delicate work! A fun build to watch. Like a butterfly being born. Thank you for sharing your work. 

Terry

[S5 modeller]

What a piece of exquisite engineering. 

You have some brilliant ideas for solving the problems in this build.

 

Matt