Jonners

That’s really nice, Claudio, and the finish looks great. A typically esoteric Laté; I sometimes think that French designers of that period were in competition with each other to come up with the most outlandish shape that could actually do the job. Whatever their inspiration, though, it resulted in plenty of very interesting subjects. Jon

Hi Matt, I have it printed from an internet PDF download, thanks. I considered following his method of skinning a wooden core but decided that the curved wingtips would be awkward to create and blend in nicely, plus I wanted to try vacforming a wing as I haven't done that before. The laminated plank for the lower wing is partly to avoid the faff of creating a vacform mould, but if it doesn't work well then I'll just do the same as I did for the upper wing. I like experimenting! Thanks for the suggestion and the offer though - it's appreciated. Jon

The tape is off and the fuselage halves seem to have bonded well. I cut a slot on the upper port nose and glued a piece of plastic tube into it, then sanded it flush to form a gun trough. It needs a lot of fettling, but after one dose of filler and subsequent sanding it looks like this: I intend to make two male half moulds for the main float, then vacform it in the same manner as the fuselage. I started by making an identical pair of profiles from 40 thou plastic card (useful stuff, that), using the aircraft profile very handily included in the Aeroplane Monthly article as my reference. I then used dividers to mark out where the keel meets the upper part of the float at defined points along the length of the float. The AM 3-view did not include a plan view of the amphibian, so I sketched out an 'imagineered' plan that looked about right and again marked out those dimensions using a pair of dividers. Using those measurements I cut some plastic card formers and cemented them into place on each float profile. Once they have set I'll start on shaping their curves. They'll eventually have a strengthening plastic framework and be filled with P38 to make the moulds: So, this is where I've got to, with a plank made from pieces of 40 thou and 60 thou plastic card laminated together with plenty of liquid poly to make solid lower wings. If you sit quietly and watch carefully, you might get lucky and see a Gurnard: Jon

Very nice, Mark, and I also like the base which is simple but very effective. I routinely fly over and drive across what was RAF Elsham Wolds, and I often try to imagine what it would have been like as a wartime airfield. If you haven't already read it, I very strongly recommend 'No Moon Tonight' by Don Charlwood to get a poignant flavour of life at Elsham on a Lancaster squadron. It is one of my favourite books. Coincidentally, I also have an unbuilt Revell Lancaster that I bought for my son some years ago; he too decided that modelling wasn't for him, so I'll also be building it myself one day. Jon

You made that in a shed? Great first post, Pete, and what a result. You are an artist, sir. Please consider posting your previous builds, as I'm probably not the only one who would like to see them. Jon

There, I think that ought to hold the fuselage together while the cement dries... The vacform top of the upper wing was scraped using a cabinet scraper and sanded with a sanding block, then cemented to a piece of 40 thou plastic card to form the lower surface. After it had thoroughly cured more sanding followed until I got to a reasonable wing shape. The main rib positions were transferred from my plan onto the plastic and very carefully drawn over with my Edding paint pen using a strip of plastic card as a flexible straightedge: I was pleasantly surprised to draw all the lines without the pen dumping at least one puddle of paint on the wing! A couple more applications should give a decent rib effect to work with, then I can add the leading edge riblets. This work resulted in an extra rib being drawn on the right-hand wingtip, which led to the discovery the starboard upper wing is slightly longer than the port. This can just be seen against the cutting mat grid above. After checking against the plan (okay, enlarged 3-view) I think that the trailing edge cutout is ever so slightly off centre. Correcting it will mean that the span will be a couple of millimetres too short compared with the 3-view, but it isn't something I'll lose sleep over. Jon

Cheers Mark, I'll pick some up when I can. The only reason I used balsa is because I didn't have any basswood!

After making use of a perfectly-timed idea from @Martian for incorporating an instrument panel, the fuselage is nearly ready for closing up: Purists will see the interior as a bit clunky and lacking in artistic finesse, and they'd be perfectly correct. On the other hand it suits my scratchbuilt purposes, will be largely out of sight once the model is completed and I ain't no purist! The scratchbuilt pilot's seat needs a harness and my imagination suggests that the shelf-thingy in the gunner's cockpit (inferred from the Aeroplane Monthly images) ought to have a cushion of sorts, then the fuselage halves can be joined. Jon

Blimey Martian, why haven't I ever thought of that? Pure genius. By happy coincidence the instrument panel is my next job on my Gurnard (not content with 'just' building a vacform, I decided to try creating one), so I'll give this a try! Jon

I've been away from the workbench for a few days, then focussing on some other non-modelling projects, but I'm back at it now. After cutting out one of the pairs of fuselage halves, which I though I'd vacformed successfully, I discovered that they were in fact too narrow: That's the nose, which should be circular to match the propeller hub. I considered adding plastic card shims to widen the front fuselage but also noticed that the cockpit was incorrectly shaped, being too deeply curved. Rather than commit to bodging extra bits if plastic into the vacformed pieces I bit the bullet and modified the masters. The cockpit opening had extra P38 filler added and then sanded, and I put a row of 60 thou / 1.5mm card strips around each base to deepen the vacform 'draw'. After commandeering the kitchen oven grill I manage to produce a decent pair of fuselage halves (and another 3 that were rubbish... ), so I've decided to stick to building just one Gurnard variant for now. I also managed to produce an upper wing top half, as I'd made a mould from balsa. This had been hardened with 3 or 4 coats of liquid poly, then the grain was filled in and smoothed with a couple of layers of Humbrol filler. I'm sure that there's an easier way to do it, but it seemed to work: It still needs plenty of scraping and sanding before I even think about surface detail. I discovered that the June 1998 issue of 'Aeroplane Monthly' contained photos of both Gurnard airframes in varying stages of undress, so I bought a copy online for reference. Internal detail isn't easy to see, so I've used a bit of 'imagineering', but the interior is well on its way to completion: That's kept me out of trouble. The Airfix Swordfish at the back of the workbench must be wondering what it's done wrong... Jon

That sounds remarkably familiar! I often surprise myself by my vocabulary when I encounter similar frustrations, then realise that I’ve said everything out loud and wonder what on earth the neighbours must think. Oops. Jon

Bonkers! Impressive, spectacular even, but still bonkers!

Well said. That's another lovely model that looks really good in the sunshine. Unfortunately here in Yorkshire it would look more like the B&W photo at the moment, even in colour... Jon

Very nice work. I'm just a bit concerned that the cistern might have spilled water on the passenger's head in turbulence... Jon

The halves were shaped on a 40 thou / 1mm backing piece to allow for the curve which could then be trimmed away, but I agree that another millimetre would be better. Thanks for the advice - appreciated. I made sure that the edges were well glued to create a seal as well as screwed, Adrian, but taping the joints can do no harm. Cheers for the top tip. No probs there, Stu; I’ll happily pass on a set of mouldings. Let me see how the fuselage pieces look once they’re trimmed, and how I get on with the wings. I’d prefer not to give you rubbish! Jon