Old Man Posted July 26, 2017 Author Share Posted July 26, 2017 14 hours ago, TheBaron said: This continues to be a pleasure at each installment OM. Nice progress on the wing formation. Tony Thank you, Sir. Hope to have these and the upper wings as well complete over this coming weekend. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted July 26, 2017 Share Posted July 26, 2017 I love the tip for getting the under camber on the wings. Martian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greggles.w Posted July 29, 2017 Share Posted July 29, 2017 Inspirational scratch building! The challenge of that wonky, bent fuselage has been well met. Congratulations. A curious machine the flycatcher. My interest in them was raised by reading in Flight magazine that the RAF High Speed Flight used them as hacks, with those Supermarine S5 & S6 pilots first taking a Flycatcher up for a check circuit of the race course. What a contrast of aeroplane design, and flying experience too I'd say! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 8, 2017 Author Share Posted August 8, 2017 On 7/26/2017 at 4:33 PM, Martian Hale said: I love the tip for getting the under camber on the wings. Martian Hope it comes in useful, Sir. It does produce a lot of powdered plastic, but with serious grits (229 is what I usually use) it is pretty fast. On 7/29/2017 at 1:09 AM, greggles.w said: Inspirational scratch building! The challenge of that wonky, bent fuselage has been well met. Congratulations. A curious machine the flycatcher. My interest in them was raised by reading in Flight magazine that the RAF High Speed Flight used them as hacks, with those Supermarine S5 & S6 pilots first taking a Flycatcher up for a check circuit of the race course. What a contrast of aeroplane design, and flying experience too I'd say! Thank you, Sir. It does sort of seem the designers went out of their way to avoid right angle.... That is an odd little bit, about these being stablemates with the Schneider racers. That would make for an odd little diorama or joint display. Do you know if those were float or amphibious Flycatchers, or did they have wheels? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 8, 2017 Author Share Posted August 8, 2017 Am seriously stuck into the wings, now. Upper wings are formed, and their upper surfaces ribbed and primed. They were made the same way as the lower wings, though I left them a hair longer at the tips, to allow for the dihedral (the Flycatcher upper wings has some, the lower wing doe not). Once I had a wing shaped to plan and section, I marked out on the upper surface its ribbing, and the hinge-line of the ailerons/flaps of the Fairey Patent Camber Gear (dating back to the Great War and the 'Hamble Baby' version of the Sopwith floatplane). The rib pattern was taken off the Grainger drawing I am using, but this agrees, at least under casual inspection, with the plans in the Mushroom Models monograph (albeit those are in 1/48 only). The spacing varies, and does not always match those of the aileron/flaps.... To get ribs, I scrape away some of the surface between the ribs, leaving a raised ridge between depressions. To do this, I generally start with some attention from a 'swizzle stick' thin sanding stick (these are generally three or four millimeters wide, and so quite convenient), then follow by scraping with the curved edge of a #10 blade, held perpendicular to the plastic. This gives a slight curve to the depression, and allows tight control on the edges of the raised ridge created between the 'channels'. The matter is complicated, though, when leading edge 'riblets' are involved, and even more complicated when the bulk of the true ribs do not extend the full chord.... Here is a wing with the 'riblets' put in.... hey are much to narrowly spaced, so I substituted cutting grit sand-paper, folded over itself several times, for the 'swizzle-sticks'. I find this gives as good a curved sanding surface as sand-paper rolled into a tight coil, and it is easier to hold on to.... Here is a wing with all panel ribs put in... At this point, center ribs were put in, and the wing-tips dressed down. The out the depressions between ribs that were not full chord introduced some distortion into the airfoil curve of the upper wing. This was addressed by brute force bending on the plastic (now considerably thinner than its original 1.5mm. Here is a wing with all shaping complete, and under two coats of Future. It was light sanded with polishing grit paper before the Future was applied, and than the Future was hit with a polishing pad. I find the Future smooths out small imperfections in a scraped and sanded surface noticeably. Here is a wing under two light coats of Tamiya fine primer (light grey).... Though only one is shown, both upper wings are at this stage. Next will be putting undersurface ribs (which needs only a token scraping) and scoring and bending for dihedral. I will be starting on the ribs for the lower wings now. Here they are notched and matched to their fuselages... The widths of the fuselages vary a little; it is very slight, but enough to keep the pieces from being compeltely interchangeable, so each wing is now matched to its particular fuselage. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 Those wings are as good as any injection parts I have seen! Martian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 Brilliant work on the ribbing on those wings, OM! Regards, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 8, 2017 Share Posted August 8, 2017 Serious modelling; most inspiring! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greggles.w Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 10 hours ago, Old Man said: That is an odd little bit, about these being stablemates with the Schneider racers. That would make for an odd little diorama or joint display. Do you know if those were float or amphibious Flycatchers, or did they have wheels? I found the references to flycatchers within some of the breathless (hysterical?!) pre-race coverage in Flight magazine: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1 - 0902.html?search=Schneider Trophy flycatcher https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1 - 1058.html?search=Schneider Trophy flycatcher It is only inferred, but I'm pretty confident they were the floatplane version. And - lovely work on those wings!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 Oh my OM. You must feel more than a little pleased with how those wings are turning out. Outrageously assured. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 4 hours ago, greggles.w said: I found the references to flycatchers within some of the breathless (hysterical?!) pre-race coverage in Flight magazine: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1 - 0902.html?search=Schneider Trophy flycatcher https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1929/1929-1 - 1058.html?search=Schneider Trophy flycatcher It is only inferred, but I'm pretty confident they were the floatplane version. The Schneider Trophy was specifically for floatplanes, wasn't it? I'm sure I read somewhere that one of the requirements to win was that the aircraft had to be capable or remaining moored to a buoy for several hours - presumably without sinking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greggles.w Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 58 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: The Schneider Trophy was specifically for floatplanes, wasn't it? That's true for the competing machines, yes, but the Flycatchers weren't used for the competition, just as team hacks. It occurs to me now that these Flycatchers would have almost certainly been the float version, given the context of the 1929 race at the seaplane base RAF Calshot ... which presumably only has facility for water landings?! Old Man, I can't recall you telling us yet: will your two machines be on wheels or floats or perhaps one of each? And I think your idea of a diorama which contrasts a Flycatcher to a Supermarine racer has much merit! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 (edited) Good point re Flycatchers as hacks (must have been awful for the crews to have to schlep around in an agile fighter). But yes, Calshot most definitely had no runway besides the large wet Solent-shaped one, so I think they must have been floatplanes. [Edit: the Flight article shows that Furious was there "making a splendid grandstand" - I suppose it is just possible that the Flycatchers could have been embarked in her, but there is certainly no sign of them (or any aircraft at all) in the photo of her.] Like many, I have a huge soft spot for the Flycatcher - not sure why; not especially important, not exactly beautiful (though certainly charming in its own way)... but I love them! Edited August 9, 2017 by Ex-FAAWAFU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 On 8/8/2017 at 2:24 PM, Martian Hale said: Those wings are as good as any injection parts I have seen! Martian Thank you, Sir. The test will be how they show up with a coat or two of silver paint. Pitiless stuff, that.... On 8/8/2017 at 2:47 PM, Learstang said: Brilliant work on the ribbing on those wings, OM! Regards, Jason Thank you, Sir. I've been doing it this way for years. Practice helps. So do the thin sanding sticks. On 8/8/2017 at 4:49 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said: Serious modelling; most inspiring! Thank yu, Sir. Like most of what I do, it's more laborious than difficult. Of course difficulties generally arise when you have to do the same thing over and over and get it right every single time.... 18 hours ago, TheBaron said: Oh my OM. You must feel more than a little pleased with how those wings are turning out. Outrageously assured. Thank you, Sir. They do feel 'right' to the touch. Finger-tip feel is part of gauging when it's right. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted August 10, 2017 Author Share Posted August 10, 2017 16 hours ago, greggles.w said: Old Man, I can't recall you telling us yet: will your two machines be on wheels or floats or perhaps one of each? And I think your idea of a diorama which contrasts a Flycatcher to a Supermarine racer has much merit! One of each, Sir. One will be on floats, in markings for HMS Hermes on China Station in the late twenties. The ship spent most of its time docked at Hong Kong, and the aeroplanes did anti-piracy flights. One will be on wheels, in markings for HMS Courageous in the Mediterranean in 1929, when the ship's aeroplanes operated ashore during troubles in Mandatory Palestine. Regarding the diorama, it's not the sort of thing I do, but it would be a nice contrast, the very old up against the very new.... 11 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: Like many, I have a huge soft spot for the Flycatcher - not sure why; not especially important, not exactly beautiful (though certainly charming in its own way)... but I love them! I am certainly one of those, Sir. I expect the enthusiasm in the old Putnam 'Naval Aircraft' book's entry on the type had something to do with it --- whoever wrote that really like the little beast. There is something about the look of the thing, a 'so wrong it's right' quality that sticks in the imagination. And it really does typify English naval aviation at the time, though that is not completely complimentary. It was a leader when it went into service, and the first real purpose-designed carrier fighter, but its performance was just barely in excess of the best machines at the end of the Great War, and soon the U.S. and the Japanese put carrier fighters into service that had far better performance than Flycatcher, and yet it remained front line equipment. Still, I love the wonky-looking thing, and have wanted to make one for a long time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Aero Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Calshot 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Alas, no Flycatchers, S6s, Stranraers, Walruses or other ambphibious beauties in sight! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 26 minutes ago, John Aero said: Calshot That picture just shows the very end of the spit, which is indeed the seaplane and flying boat accommodation, however RAF Calshot carried on inland to the main camp on the mainland via a narrow gauge railway and road along the spit. http://www.hampshireairfields.co.uk/airfields/cal.html There might have been space around the main camp (eg recreation ground) for small landplanes like a wheeled Flycatcher. From what I've read (and indeed a pilot from those days I knew), those old RAF pilots would visit anyone who had a more or less big enough field, so a formal airfield wasn't always required for the smaller types. It would depend on if the High Speed Flight needed the Flycatchers to test or recce waterplane skills or (as seems more likely to me) as hacks for visiting other RAF bases, which locally would be mainly land fields. Its a long old drag up from Calshot to anywhere in a car nowadays, so flying to your mates would be much preferable. Cheers Will 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 By jove old man! - just saw this - and its bloody fantastic. Top modelling and pleasure to watch. Keep it up. Jonners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Aero Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 The railway 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 (edited) 8 hours ago, John Aero said: The railway Sorry John, that's Hythe pier, miles up Southampton Water from Calshot. Nothing to do with the air base except it's also 2foot gauge, though interestingly the locos came from a WW1 munitions factory. One of the steam engines on the Talyllyn Railway in Wales came from RAF Calshot, and revisited a few years ago for some event at the old seaplane base. Anyway, let's get back to those lovely Flycatchers. Cheers Will Edited August 10, 2017 by malpaso Tablet playing up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malpaso Posted August 15, 2017 Share Posted August 15, 2017 According to the Profile Publication on the type http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Aircraft-Profiles/Britain/Between-the-Wars/Fairey-Flycatcher-56/Fairey-Flycatcher-56-_Page_07-960, Flycatcher S1288 was used for training the 1929 High Speed Flight. Presumably in water handling, alighting and so forth, rather than high speed flight. Or perhaps auditioning? The Flycatcher was a delight to fly apparently, though probably not as much when she was wearing her sea-boots perhaps? I bet they still had something with wheels to get up to one of the "best club in the world"s aerodromes near London for a night out! Keen to see the Med and China station liveries you've chosen. Cheers Will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted August 17, 2017 Share Posted August 17, 2017 Great subject and some serious work going on, I like it... Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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