TonyTiger66 Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 This is really informative and wonderful to watch. Thank you for sharing, some really fascinating insights into how to approach scratch building with a little less fear. The engines are works of art in their own right , now the airframes are developing beautifully. TonyT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted June 13, 2017 Author Share Posted June 13, 2017 20 hours ago, limeypilot said: Those engines are works of art, and the fuselages certainly looked bent enough for Flycatchers! Lovely work, as always! Ian Thank you, Sir. Things like the motors really are my strong suit --- lots of little bits, enough to dazzle by profusion, like a school of fish. I can't help thinking the Flycatcher designer looked too long at an R.E. 8 and it imprinted somehing on his unprotected mind: 'I want to make one of those, only more....' 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted June 13, 2017 Author Share Posted June 13, 2017 16 hours ago, Martian Hale said: I like the way these are going a lot. So much so in fact that I will probably end up going to Evilbay to see if I can score a 1/48 example and it will all be your fault! Martian the weak of will. Hope you can find one of those LifeLike/Impact kits, Sir. They are nice, especially nice for their time. By the way, it's only recently it registered with me that it's not 'Martin' but 'Martian'.... I expect there's some story behind that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted June 13, 2017 Author Share Posted June 13, 2017 11 hours ago, TonyTiger66 said: This is really informative and wonderful to watch. Thank you for sharing, some really fascinating insights into how to approach scratch building with a little less fear. The engines are works of art in their own right , now the airframes are developing beautifully. TonyT Thank you very much, Sir. I'm not sure my methods would translate well to larger scales, and I don't kno what sizes you usually build in. But scratch-building is not so occult and arcane a business as many seem to think.... Thanks for the kind words about the engines. Making radials is something I have improved my techniques on quite a bit from when I started out. I will still occasionally source a motor from a kit for a build, mind, but after these I feel pretty sure I can make anything. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheonix Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 I have only just found this - I had seen your earlier thread on the engines which are absolutely first class and mini-masterpieces in their own right. The fuselages are also coming on really well - very interesting indeed to see how you tackled them. I was interested to read your comment that some scratch builders make components as though they are building a kit: I seem to follow that method although I have never really thought about it in that way. I also build things as I go along as you do too. Either way what you write about having the nerve and the rest will follow is in my opinion very true. There are many on this and other forums who add super scratch built detail to their models and play with PE: any of them could build from scratch if they really wanted too. I remember well my fears when I took the plunge, only to find that it was not nearly so hard as I had imagined. And it has the advantage that if it does not work the first time there is always the opportunity for another attempt. P 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 1 hour ago, Old Man said: Hope you can find one of those LifeLike/Impact kits, Sir. They are nice, especially nice for their time. By the way, it's only recently it registered with me that it's not 'Martin' but 'Martian'.... I expect there's some story behind that. There is indeed! It is all down to our "esteemed" leader Mike. A couple of years ago I was building the Hand and Head kit of the Haunebu German flying saucer design, link here: and Mike decided that I was one of the little green men from Mars and the name stuck. Strangely he kept out of my way at Telford last year! So there you go, you surely didn't expect some cleverly reasoned answer on BM did you? Martian Britmodeller's Official Alien 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted June 14, 2017 Author Share Posted June 14, 2017 (edited) 16 hours ago, Martian Hale said: There is indeed! It is all down to our "esteemed" leader Mike. A couple of years ago I was building the Hand and Head kit of the Haunebu German flying saucer design, link here: and Mike decided that I was one of the little green men from Mars and the name stuck. Strangely he kept out of my way at Telford last year! So there you go, you surely didn't expect some cleverly reasoned answer on BM did you? Martian Britmodeller's Official Alien I see, Sir.... So you came down to earth to bring us this? Not the first kit I ever built, but certainly among the first. I distinctly remember the 'little green man' was actually in green plastic. That was quite a build thread, by the way.... Edited June 14, 2017 by Old Man 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted June 14, 2017 Author Share Posted June 14, 2017 (edited) 17 hours ago, pheonix said: I have only just found this - I had seen your earlier thread on the engines which are absolutely first class and mini-masterpieces in their own right. The fuselages are also coming on really well - very interesting indeed to see how you tackled them. I was interested to read your comment that some scratch builders make components as though they are building a kit: I seem to follow that method although I have never really thought about it in that way. I also build things as I go along as you do too. Either way what you write about having the nerve and the rest will follow is in my opinion very true. There are many on this and other forums who add super scratch built detail to their models and play with PE: any of them could build from scratch if they really wanted too. I remember well my fears when I took the plunge, only to find that it was not nearly so hard as I had imagined. And it has the advantage that if it does not work the first time there is always the opportunity for another attempt. P Going to scratch-building was like a light-bulb going off in my head. I was looking at the F.E. 8 profile in the old Osprey number on RFC fighters in the first half of the Great War, and thinking yet again that I'd like to have a model of that, and it suddenly hit me --- I can make those shapes! I did treat it like a kit, though. I made the nacelle in two halves, and in my enthusiasm starting I also set up for 'Le Vengeur', the Type N militaire prototype flown by Gilbert, and I treated it the same way. I came to see it as unnecessarily complicated, it's not as if I was making masters for a mould, after all. The first one I did with this approach was a Boeing FB-1 (Naval version of the PW-9). I quite agree with you that a great many modelers have the skill to do a bang-up job at this, even if they do not think so. I was pretty much a novice when I began, I had only been back at it for a couple of years. And not only can you just do another if it doesn't come out right (no worry about messing up a part there's no extra for --- I used to always buy two kits for a build, just for insurance), you've only got your own standard of craftsmanship to match when you do have to fix something.... Edited June 14, 2017 by Old Man 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 12, 2017 Author Share Posted July 12, 2017 A couple of other projects nudged to the fore lately, but I have gotten more done on this one. The upper portion of the nose in front of the cockpit is now in place. This was done on each with three piece of mm sheet, one for each side and a top piece, beveled to lower itself into the gap. These were placed so there would be plenty of plastic in hand when sanding down to section.... Here are both sanded down to final shape, in profile and section.... Next step will be to do the instrument panels, and a few other last minute interior bits, then put on the cockpit decking.... 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 Nice to see you getting back to this one, OM! Those definitely look like Flycatcher fuselages. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted July 12, 2017 Share Posted July 12, 2017 Shaping up really well! Martian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Looking good OM! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 13, 2017 Author Share Posted July 13, 2017 18 hours ago, Learstang said: Nice to see you getting back to this one, OM! Those definitely look like Flycatcher fuselages. Regards, Jason Thank you, Sir. It should progress more quickly now. I went back into the spoke wheel mines to improve my results tere, and it chewed up a lot of time. I will be posting up results a little later. 15 hours ago, Martian Hale said: Shaping up really well! Martian Thank you, Sir. I'm kind of looking forward to doing the instrument panels. Cockpit decking, not so much --- that is going to b tricky.... 14 hours ago, limeypilot said: Looking good OM! Ian Thank you, Sir! Glad you looked in on it. If all goes well, I ought to be setting to the wings before the weekend is out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 17, 2017 Author Share Posted July 17, 2017 Instrument panels are now finished and installed. These follow pretty closely the official drawing reproduced in the MMP Flycatcher monograph. Instrument bezels are from 34 ga wire, coiled, cut, and flattened in a smooth-jawed pliers. 'Placards' are foil stuck on with Future, painted black, and scraped a bit with a toothpick. The slanting bit in the center I believe is a fuel gauge of glass, it is a bit of thin rod painted a bit amber, the little curve at the center is similar, a spirit level serving as a bank indicator. Instrument bezels were filled first with black paint, then given a lick of white with a toothpick point, and filled several times with Future. Here are a few more pictures, a kind of farewell to the interior, before the cockpit decking is contrived; the opening on this is actually pretty small, and I wonder how much of this will be visible once that is settled.... 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Those cockpits look great! In keeping with the rest of the build... Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomoshenko Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Yes excellent work and nice tips on the home brew instrument bezels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Very nice work indeed on the instrument panels, OM! Like you say, not much will be visible once all is in its place, but it's still nice to know the detail is there. Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 Gorgeous! (And SO tiny...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted July 17, 2017 Share Posted July 17, 2017 These are really coming to life now OM! Gorgeous! Slowly but surely you are instilling in me the resolve to one day scratch build a Parnall Peto, not that I suspect there'll be an MMP monograph on this particular aircraft anytime soon.... Keep up the great work, it's much appreciated. Tony 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 On 7/17/2017 at 1:25 PM, AdrianMF said: Those cockpits look great! In keeping with the rest of the build... Regards, Adrian Thanks, Adrian. It's one of the busiest cockpits I've tried in a while, and even so I've left a good deal out. On 7/17/2017 at 1:36 PM, Tomoshenko said: Yes excellent work and nice tips on the home brew instrument bezels. Thank you, Sir. You can vary the size by the size of the rod or stiff wire you wrap the soft wire around for a coil. You want the former a bit undersized, the wire itself, flattened, will add about a third of a millimeter to the diameter. Make lots --- some will be dropped. On 7/17/2017 at 1:40 PM, Learstang said: Very nice work indeed on the instrument panels, OM! Like you say, not much will be visible once all is in its place, but it's still nice to know the detail is there. Regards, Jason Glad you like it, Sir. certainly more will be visible in person than to a camera, I expect. On 7/17/2017 at 1:50 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said: Gorgeous! (And SO tiny...) Thank you, Sir. I have heard of people working in larger scales, but scarcely credit such tales.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 18, 2017 Author Share Posted July 18, 2017 23 hours ago, TheBaron said: These are really coming to life now OM! Gorgeous! Slowly but surely you are instilling in me the resolve to one day scratch build a Parnall Peto, not that I suspect there'll be an MMP monograph on this particular aircraft anytime soon.... Keep up the great work, it's much appreciated. Tony Thank you, Sir. I hope you do it. That is an interesting little aeroplane, and the submarine it was on a fascinating subject as well. I expect one would need resort to creative gizmology for the interior, although information from the better covered Plover and Panther might show a company pattern that could be helpful. You could always put a pair of likely lads in sidcots in the crew positions, it's a good look and covers a lot of blank space. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 25, 2017 Author Share Posted July 25, 2017 Further progress on the Gentlemen. Cockpit decking and opening is complete, and I have begun on the wings. Usually for cockpit decking I simply bend and fit a piece of thin sheet, then once it is fastened and dressed, pierce it and trim out the opening. The 'dog-leg' of the Flycacher in this area, with the front higher than the rear and the decking rising from the front to the opening, makes this unsuitable, and required a more complicated piece by piece approach. The lower sides of the decking were relatively straightforward. I scored off a piece of 0.5mm sheet a long strip 4mm wide, and pieces of this were cut and trimmed to fit, bent to a bit of a curve, and their interior surfaces painted before assembly. The upper longeron sidewall detail, and edges of the instrument panel, supplied secure mating surfaces while concealing the seam. Here are the forward deckings put in. This was necessarily a trial and error process. the piece of plastic to the left of the fuselage are the bits employed in 'sighting in'. I began with some of the extra 4mm strip, bending and trimming a piece till a reasonable approximate fit was achieved. When flattened back out, these gave a good guide to length and angles. The fuselage on the top required a further fitting step. Finally a thin strip was put in at the rear. Here is one fuselage with the cockpit opening trimmed to its basic length, and one still in raw state marked for trimming. The final bit was adding the doors. I trimmed a little too far down into the lower sides and had to restore with bits of 1mm x 0.5mm strip. The doors are pieces of 3mm strip, trimmed down a bit. The semi-circular notch in front is put in with a knife and a half-round needle file. Here are the fuselage blanks with the motors tacked into place. Final step on the fuselage blanks was closing over the nose with a frnt-plate of 1mm sheet (painted dark grey on its interior surface). These were pierced where the Grainger drawing indicated the motor should be centered, and a bit of 1mm rod fixed to the rear of the motors. The next step in the fuselages will be adding surface detail, but I have put that aside for now and moved on to the wings. I used a cut-out from a copy of the drawing for a template to outline the shapes of the two lower wings on 1.5mm sheet. When these were cut out, for reference I scored in a center line for span and chord on each. The two pieces were joined with double-face tape for final shaping as a unit. To mark the highest point of the airfoil curve on the upper surfaces, I drew in a line (about a third of the way back from the leading edge) as a guide to sanding. I did the upper surfaces of both while they were still joined, so the 'interior' surface will become the lower surfaces. Wings at this stage just don't photograph very well, but you ought to be able to see that the curves have been sanded in (heavy grit 'salon board' sanding sticks were used) on both wings. The wings were then separated, and the concave camber of the undersurfaces put in. Most of this was done with 220 grit sandpaper stuck with double-face tape on two bottles, one a big old empty ibruprophen bottle about four inches or so in diameter, the other an empty CA 'kicker' bottle about one inch in diameter. Hopefully it will be apparent that the wing on right shows the concavity of the undersurface camber. Next step will be the upper wings. Process will be basically similar, but with some extras, as there is dihedral to the upper wings.... 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 The fuselage are looking great. That's an interesting way of doing the cockpits. I'd have been tempted to crash mould them, but your way is probably quicker. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 30 minutes ago, limeypilot said: The fuselage are looking great. That's an interesting way of doing the cockpits. I'd have been tempted to crash mould them, but your way is probably quicker. Ian Thank you, my friend. I don't know if it's either quicker or better. A lot of my methods stem from a reluctance to work with wood, and I have seldom had luck with any technique which involved heating plastic. What I do, I know how to do, and I would just as soon not trouble with a fresh learning curve. I do sometimes think of getting a vacu-form device, however.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 This continues to be a pleasure at each installment OM. Nice progress on the wing formation. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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