Vought V-173 Flying Pancake 1/48 Special hobby.

[Jean Pierre CULIS-FERY]

Hello,

I decided to build the "flying pancake" from special hobby (the plane have just being restored, so there are many interesting pictures on the net)

The model itself left me a bit disapointed, even if it is a "short run" one.

Parts present a kind of graininess (which may be specific to my copy) then i will have a lot of sanding work (the bottom of the plane is aluminum dope).

There are many unused parts leaving presaged the future release of a high tech version .

There are some resin parts for the train which I can not understand the usefulness, given the form they could be molded injected.

When we introduced the two fuselage holes for both propellers are not focused.

The cockpit consists of many parts but is completely fanciful. I would keep the seat in the final (modified) two rail palonier (seconded from the floor because it does not exist) and the big bottle (oxygen present on the left side of the cockpit).

Having opened the hatch on the underside of the unit, I noticed that the structures represented were 2 mm too far forward, so I have deleted them back to back (I did not take this step photots ).

The cones are made of 4 pieces but not really useful work resulting from sanding.

Place the pictures of my work now:

- I copiously refined the thickness of the upper part, the original plastic is more one minimeter thick.

- Reinforcements near the elevons are too long it will correct and make them the same length as in the picture:

- I started to glue the structure inside the cabin, I also glued profiled plastic inside of the habitable The rudders pedals will be on this structure. I glued the bubble on the body to seal because the bubble and the body have not the same shape. I also have pasted the air intake on the side the fitting is particularly bad sports and finaly the two intake have not the same height :

- I touched the seat and built its support:

- I touched the dashboard refining the original part, I drilled the dials before sticking a piece of plastic card behind with dials decal:

- Finally I started to work on the blades. To imitate wood it is a background color in wood GUNZE that I reworked with watercolor pencils:

I also reworked the drifts that will be represented slightly steered on the left special hobby forgot to represent the compensator:

J'ai continué à faire la structure du fuselage, j'ai finalement décidé d'évider complètement le fond du cokpit:

I worked on Fuel tanks which is just behind the seat. After the assets shown to a friend and have another look photos of the place, I decided to enlarge them (the two tanks not located on the structure).

I finally made a blank building of the structure, final tanks will descend lower:

I finally made a blank building of the structure, final tanks will descend lower:

By maiding a blank mounting of the seat, I broke for the third time the seat support, GRRRR!

I remade the handle who was too thick:

The propellers are ready for their final polish, then final build, I took the opportunity to detail a little plaque at the bottom of the blades:

I detailed the rear panel:

I painted the back of the cockpit and began to detail the structure:

I painted the front of the cockpit, I added the cabling running along the left side of the cockpit:

As the airbrush was out I also painted the seat on which I added the wheels that are in front and which serve to guide the rudders cables. I painted the gray cushion after photos of the cockpit before restoration (thank you Mr. Roman).

I attacked the rear mounting structure with the fuel tank:

[Jean Pierre CULIS-FERY]

Here it is built:

About this horizontal tube structure actually contained battery lamps which acted as the batteries on this plane!

The handle system, it is still incomplete, still missing four starters tubes plate under the handle to the seat and legs to support the mechanism.:

Here it is complete:

I finished the seat belts and they are too short on the top, they should be extended:

Then I'm interested in the front top of the cockpit:

At the begining:

The cabling descend into the lower portion (a great moment in perspective for closing the fuselage ...):

A big gap in the kit, the absence of rail for the moving part of the canopy (though They figure it on the plan for painting and decals). The rails end on a small structure on the anti-crash pilone .

Finally, I glued the seat. There are steps we are happy to pass the seat was a nightmare to handle. In passing I lengthened the straps of the file. PHEW!

For your viewing pleasure, I put three pictures of what we perceive through the hatch:

Here are the rudders pedals:

The control console left (the throttle will come on that later.)

And after a long session working hard over fishing line invisible under poor lighting, the pedals mounted with control cables along the seat. But it's done: Phew:

A note on the last picture the structure at the top of the bubble. Initially I had mounted on the bubble before I realized that I could not paint it once the bubble glued to the fuselage (it was done!) ... Youn have to think when building models ....

Best regards.

[Navy Bird]

Beautiful work! The details in the cockpit are exquisite!

Cheers,

Bill

[woody37]

Bloody gorgeous, lovely paintwork and detailing. Eagerly awaiting more

[Pete in Lincs]

Tres Bon, Jean Pierre.

[racedees]

Great eye for detail. Looks marvelous.

[Devilfish]

Magnefique!!!!

Sorry if that's spelt wrong, my French is very rusty, lol

[Shalako]

Merveilleux, tout simplement merveilleux mon ami. Continuez votre bon travail.

Cheers

Sernak

[occa]

Not bad for a 1:1 replica ...

Now seriously that's far off my skills.

[Jean Pierre CULIS-FERY]

Hello,

First, thank's a lot for your comments and for supporting my very googlous english .

The cockpit amenagement is nearing its end. Having published a few days ago this post on various foreign forums , a user of ARC Forum send to me a URL of a photoscope taken before the restoration of the aircraft. I found some very interesting and photographs and particulary a picture of the layout engine. It was too tempting!

So I cut the right engine cover . Of course a nasty surprise waiting for me The two side walls exceeds the opening about 2 minimeters : I will cheat a little by sticking a piece of .75 mm profile on the inside edge of the door(in french:”je vais faire du trompe couillon”), the rest will be hidden by the structure supporting the trap:

Can be seen in the hatch test for the future of the front cowling.

The engine itself is a Continental A-80, it does not exist at 1 48th, we will have to create it. We take the Solidworks Software solidworks and models. Here below I am:

About the design, I had already noticed that there was a fan at the front of the engine, but I thinked that the plane housed two radiator the two flaps on the back housed (oil the A-80 is cooled by air). I had already built these two radiators, so they will join my sparebox .

I should be able to make good progress this weekend.

See you soon.

Best regards.

[Martian]

A very interesting and well crafted build!

Martin

[Mr B]

Very nice subject and great detail work.......

Interesting type of seat used............on this craft...........

Rgds

Mr b

[Sasha_Be]

Thank you very much for inspiration!

Please see privat message,

Regards, Alexander.