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Burgess-Dunne Floatplane +++FINISHED+++


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The wood effect is first class. So difficult to get that right: you have! I have given your float idea some thought and think that in theory at least it should work. The key problem is allowing the struts time to set in the correct position - just check that the surfaces are completely smooth and all should go well. My fingers are crossed for you.

 

P

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Very nice, the wood looks great!

It doesn't look as though they put much thought into the float conversion: Remove wheels and bolt to a float....

 

Ian

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Looking good Ray. Misaligned holes, wings that look perfect from one angle yet skew wiffed from another yet when checked again and again the measurements are correct. Seems like a perfectly normal string bag build to me. I like the wood effect on the float too. I use SM382 as well and consider it perfect for an easy wood effect. Oils are a tad messy for me.

 

Regards, Steve

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Hello all!

 

Now I am getting to the bit that has had me puzzling away for weeks, the main float.

 

On 10/23/2017 at 2:59 PM, limeypilot said:

Very nice, the wood looks great!

It doesn't look as though they put much thought into the float conversion: Remove wheels and bolt to a float....

 

Ian

 

I agree Ian!

 

I completed the skis by giving them a coat of Revell Aqua Clear Orange, but to be honest I am not sure if it made a difference. I then drilled in some mounting points along the top of the skis, four for each ski, and then came the fun bit.

 

I found it very difficult trying to fit the removable wedge to the plane. I tried using masking tape but could not get it tight, and I also had to be careful where I stuck it so it did not interfere with the struts, and also to make sure I did not use too much pressure for fear of collapsing the wing structure. I gave up the first time after about an hour of trying, then came back to it a couple of days later. I have decided to fit the two fore and aft struts first, then remove the wedge once the struts have dried, then fit the four midship struts afterwards. After I fitted the wedge and taped that up as tightly and as true as I could get, I then taped the float to the wedge, and crossed my fingers!

 

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I have now started to add the float struts - I have used .8mm rod, I filed one end down a bit on each strut, and added them to their location holes. Sounds easy, doesn't it? Yeah, right. I found that the tape still pushed the struts out slightly, but I solved that by pressing the tape back down onto the wedge. I found that the tweezers would not hold the rod securely - even a slight touch on the end of the strut made the tweezers lose grip. The glue would not grab quickly enough, even CA. The usual modelling things. I tried a new pair of dividers to get the size of the struts right, these have a central dial so I can adjust the size accurately and then they stay at that setting which is a bonus. I trimmed the struts just slightly over-length and then made minor adjustments until they were just fractionally too large, and that then gave some grip for the CA to finally work. I kept giving the float the Mk1 eyeball test for level-ness, and it looks reasonable to me so far.

 

37983674216_695a96827b_z.jpg

 

So there we are at the moment. This is proving to be a tricky model to build, but that is why I love doing Vacforms. I think I will try something simpler next time, maybe my Aeroclub Felixstowe.

 

Well, thanks for dropping by and all your comments, always appreciated.

 

Cheers, Ray

 

PS, I hope to have removed the bit of wood successfully by next time I post, so wish me luck please.

Edited by Ray S
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That's definitely one of the more awkward assemblies I've seen!

It looks as though you've finally cracked it though, good luck with removing the block safely.

 

Ian

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It seems like one of those contraptions where a third hand would be helpful... ;)

 

A lot of patience in display, no doubt. I wish the best of luck for the next steps!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

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That looks a tricky an operation as I have seen on a model, even more so than putting in the star struts on the Hansa-Brandenburgg CC. I sincerely wish you luck removing that block - but I can see problems with the float moving when you do. I am not sure what to suggest to help you to keep it in the right place until you can get a front strut into place though - I suppose that you will have to hope that the rear struts are sufficiently rigid to hold everything. I certainly have my fingers crossed for you though - hats off even for trying.

 

P

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Hello all, and a huge thank you to all who wished me luck!

 

Well, I bit the bullet, cut the tape and gently eased out the wooden block, and after a 'heart-in-mouth' moment when the masking tape stuck to one of the leg struts, I found that the operation had gone according to plan, and I had a free float. Phew! It was then but the work of a few minutes to get the final four struts measured and fitted, and I found I had this:

 

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I let that set for a couple of days, then got the struts painted up, Humbrol 29 Dark Earth followed by a coat of Revell Clear Orange to tie in with the ski colours. Then it was time to rig that thing. I used the copper core from speaker cable. I had a number of lengths of that already cut, so I ran a black Sharpie pen over the wires to colour them black and then I wrapped the far ends round a couple of pairs of tweezers and pulled them taut, stretching the wire. When I cut them off the tweezers, I had a series of very straight wires. I always used to roll the wire under a ruler, but that did not seem to work well straightening. I used my new dividers (with a dial to adjust their width) and measured out the appropriate sizes and then fitted them with a dab of Glue'N'Glaze to secure them. My old dividers had a locking screw, but they never seemed to lock solid, and they kept closing when I least expected it - I know it was my fault because they only closed when I was using them! Here it is now:

 

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I have not fitted every wire to the floats and struts, but I have just given a representation of the complexity that there is. I also think the float may not be truly lined up, as the aircraft does sit slanted to the left - or it may be heavier that side! All the strut lengths and rigging lengths were identical for each opposite position.

 

I have also taken my first steps with the radiators. On the model they are supplied as open-backed, and I needed to cover that up, so:

 

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I backed them with some 5thou card. There is some etched detail on the radiators that should become visible with a bit of paint, but hopefully my plan will be to add a filler cap each and connect 'pipes' top and bottom which connect the two across the fuselage. Hopefully progress will be a bit quicker now.

 

Thanks for looking and the encouragement again,

 

Ray

Edited by Ray S
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Very well done Ray. That is a real achievement with what is undoubtedly a complex and difficult model. Could you add a little weight to one of the radiators: that might help restore a more balanced look. I am really looking forward to seeing this one completed.

 

P

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Hello all! I am getting close to the finishing line now, but am also getting to some of the more tricky areas too.

 

First up were the pair of radiators. I had backed the open mouldings with 5 thou card, then sharpened up a bit of detail, finally drilling a small hole at the top of each one to allow some rod to be fitted to represent the filler caps:

 

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After cutting down the filler caps to a more realistic height, I painted the assembly Revell Anthracite, gave the grilles a dry brush of Humbrol Gun Metal, and painted the caps bronze.

 

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In the meantime I painted some rod Bronze and fitted that underneath the fuel tank cross-fuselage to show the connecting pipe between the radiators:

 

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This was just dry fitted at the time, I kept it loose but it was firmly wedged under the tank. I then had great fun trying to fit the radiators straight and level and symmetrical to the fuselage, as they were in a really tight spot! They eventually lined up okay, and I secured the pipe with a couple of dabs of CA. Then I looked at my scratchbuilt engine again, and decided to enhance it a bit. On the Small Stuff photo I had, it showed seven small bits on the 'crank case(?)' which I had not previously fitted, so I remedied that, much to my wife's amusement! There are now 30 parts to this contraption!

 

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It is not as good as the Small Stuff engine (see Limeypilot's thread for that!) but I am quite pleased with the result. All this needs is a prop, and Scaleplanes provided one in vacform form. Over the years I have always replaced vacform props, but I decided to do something different this time, and used it! I cut it out from the backing sheet via my scissors, then filled it with Perfect Plastic Putty, and after an hour or so had a lovely messy time sanding and filing it to an approximate shape.

 

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I do not think I have done it quite right, but it is as close as I am going to get with this one. It is currently in the paint shop.

 

I have also got on with the outrigger floats:

 

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These again were open-topped, so after sanding them down, I skinned again with 5 thou card, drilled a couple of holes in the upper surface and CA'd some rod in for the struts. I made them over-sized, used the struts as tweezer holders and painted them with Revell 382 with my old brush, and varnished them. I love acrylic paint, as the whole process only took an hour! I then cut out a piece of plastic the correct size for the struts, held it next to the strut and used my side-cutters to trim the struts to length. They were then CA'd to the wing underside (making sure the floats were the right way round!). Finally I added the engine (minus prop) to the fuselage, and here is where she is at at the moment:

 

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I still need to finish the prop - I still may replace it with an injection moulded one yet, and I still have a lot more rigging to add, but the Burgess-Dunne is nearly done now!

 

Thanks for looking and all your comments,

 

Ray

 

PS, You can really see where I need to improve my skills when it comes to filling/repairing rigging exit holes! I was rather scared that if I was too energetic cleaning up the scars I was going to crush the plane...

 

Edited by Ray S
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Lovely work on the engine, it will certainly pass muster!

 Be careful that you have the prop blades correct for a pusher, I just noticed on Baron's build that his rear prop is wrong. These engines rotated clockwise as viewed from the engine side, looking towards the prop. (ie from in front of the aircraft in a pusher) The leading edge should be on the down pointing side when at the one o'clock position, and should be TOWARDS the engine for a pusher.  I hope I've explained it clearly. Turning the prop over won't work, if it's wrong, you'll need to cut the blades off and rotate them slightly...

The prop in my kit was wrong also!

 

ian

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello all, I apologise for not updating this for about a month, but things got in the way and I was unable to do much modelling for most of that time. All is sorted now though, and I have managed to get the Burgess-Dunne done!

On 11/14/2017 at 8:24 PM, limeypilot said:

Lovely work on the engine, it will certainly pass muster!

 Be careful that you have the prop blades correct for a pusher, I just noticed on Baron's build that his rear prop is wrong. These engines rotated clockwise as viewed from the engine side, looking towards the prop. (ie from in front of the aircraft in a pusher) The leading edge should be on the down pointing side when at the one o'clock position, and should be TOWARDS the engine for a pusher.  I hope I've explained it clearly. Turning the prop over won't work, if it's wrong, you'll need to cut the blades off and rotate them slightly...

The prop in my kit was wrong also!

 

ian

 

Limeypilot, thanks for that. I have to admit I can get quite confused with the written word, and despite reading that a number of times, I am still non the wiser (my fault of comprehension rather than yours of explanation!), but I think the prop is on incorrectly. If I can find a pusher prop I will replace it, that should be easy to do as it has come off twice already, so all may not be lost.

 

I completed the spider's web rigging with a mixture of EZ-Line and thin speaker cable core. I have two lots of cable, one is silver coloured and very thin, the other is copper and a bit thicker. I found the silver cable was more brittle when stretching between two tweezers to get rid of the kinks, but I found that if I pulled until it snapped, the wire was straight. I coloured them with a black Sharpie pen and it worked okay.

 

Anyway, here she is in all her glory (warts and all):

 

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I will pop a few more into the Gallery in a mo, but I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to all who have commented and 'liked' this build, I have thoroughly enjoyed this, and I hope it has reinforced the lure of building the 'unusual'.

 

Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year to you all!

 

Ray

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