Fairey Long Range Monoplane - Excuses and promises...

[Learstang]

Adrian, Frog (I believe) long ago actually had a kit of this aeroplane in 1/72nd scale. I know because I used to have it; no longer, sadly. Even if you could find the old kit, however, I'm sure your scratchbuild will be much more accurate. I still remember the silk purse of an Il-2 you made out of that sow's ear of an Airfix kit. Excellent work, so far!

Regards,

Jason

[John Aero]

Thank you, Adrien. I will order a set, unless someone can tell me in which number of Aeromodeller or Scale Models they appeared - in that case I would prefer to find the magazine.

Carlos

I suspect that they appeared in one of the later, "flying models" only issues of Aeromodeller (I think when it became a subsidiary title of Flying Scale Modeller) as a few of the other plans are not in the old Aeromodeller's but have appeared in recent years.

John

[AdrianMF]

Adrian, Frog (I believe) long ago actually had a kit of this aeroplane in 1/72nd scale. I know because I used to have it; no longer, sadly. Even if you could find the old kit, however, I'm sure your scratchbuild will be much more accurate. I still remember the silk purse of an Il-2 you made out of that sow's ear of an Airfix kit. Excellent work, so far!Regards,Jason

Jason,

I think you are confusing this with the Bristol 138, which was also inter-war, monoplane, single engine, big wingspan, silver, British, and a record breaker (altitude). There is a Frog kit of that - basic but very nice. At one point Britain held all three of range, altitude and speed (S6b, also done by Frog, and Airfix)) records.

Regards,

Adrian

[CarLos]

I suspect that they appeared in one of the later, "flying models" only issues of Aeromodeller (I think when it became a subsidiary title of Flying Scale Modeller) as a few of the other plans are not in the old Aeromodeller's but have appeared in recent years.

John

I don't think they were published recently, or I would have spotted them. The following link refers them as published in the April 1980 issue of Model Aviation. This title is not listed in the Aeroflight magazines index.

http://www.clstunt.com/htdocs/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=277679#277714

[AdrianMF]

Chaps,

Sorry, not sure where the Robinson plans were published, but in the bottom RH corner it says "Aeromodeller, Robinson, Feb 1986". I bought them out of the Aeromodeller (paper) catalogue in 1997 so that's all I know...

Regards,

Adrian

[AdrianMF]

Hello All,

Last night was time to try out some fabric and stringer effects for the fuselage. My first attempt fuselage was used as a trial piece.

First try:

Stretched sprue stringers using (L-R) Halfords knifing putty (a bit old and hard), Squadron Green, Vallejo acrylic putty as filler. Didn't look good, sanded it all down, looked worse!

Second try:

0.16mm fishing line stringers, using Perfect Plastic Putty (same as Vallejo to me) as filler, sanded down a bit too much, with and without primer. Better but not great.

I think the next test will be fishing line with Milliput (which I hope will be easier to smooth and control), done more carefully!

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

Edited January 13, 2015 by AdrianMF

[PlaStix]

Great idea for a project!

[Mike]

How about fishing line and sprayed on layers of filler-primer, then cut back the coating on the fishing line with a sanding sponge? Should result in a softer transition between rib and "fabric"

[AdrianMF]

(You would think I would have a plan for all this before I started...)

How about fishing line and sprayed on layers of filler-primer, then cut back the coating on the fishing line with a sanding sponge? Should result in a softer transition between rib and "fabric"

Thanks Mike! The sanding sponge is a great idea - I will be buying one on the way home.

I think there are two approaches:

• Put the stringers on, add the filler between the stringers and smooth it down whilst it is still drying/setting. The Vallejo/Perfect putties are nearly there on this score, and I'm hoping Milliput will work a little bit better on account of it working well with water.
• Put the stringers on, fill, leave to dry and then sand it smooth between the stringers. The stringers have to be a lot harder than the the filler, otherwise you sand everything away at the same rate! I think Milliput will be too hard for this approach but primer (fillling or otherwise) would sand down nicely.

So I think I will start off by filling as smoothly as I can between the stringers with Milliput, and if necessary top up the filling with primer, which will get sanded back to the final finish. I can also adjust areas that are too starved-looking by adding more primer.

*Now* I have a plan, cunning or otherwise...

Thanks,

Adrian

[wyverns4]

(You would think I would have a plan for all this before I started...)

Thanks Mike! The sanding sponge is a great idea - I will be buying one on the way home.

I think there are two approaches:

• Put the stringers on, add the filler between the stringers and smooth it down whilst it is still drying/setting. The Vallejo/Perfect putties are nearly there on this score, and I'm hoping Milliput will work a little bit better on account of it working well with water.
• Put the stringers on, fill, leave to dry and then sand it smooth between the stringers. The stringers have to be a lot harder than the the filler, otherwise you sand everything away at the same rate! I think Milliput will be too hard for this approach but primer (fillling or otherwise) would sand down nicely.

So I think I will start off by filling as smoothly as I can between the stringers with Milliput, and if necessary top up the filling with primer, which will get sanded back to the final finish. I can also adjust areas that are too starved-looking by adding more primer.

*Now* I have a plan, cunning or otherwise...

Thanks,

Adrian

How about using thin brass wire for the stringers? That way they will remain proud whilst the filler is cut/rubbed back.

Christian the Married and exiled to africa

[AdrianMF]

How about using thin brass wire for the stringers? That way they will remain proud whilst the filler is cut/rubbed back.

Christian the Married and exiled to africa

Thanks Christian. I think fishing line will be tough enough. However, if the next round doesn't work, I have some wire off a wine bottle that I could use. If I need more, I can always ask my wife to help with my modelling!

[John Aero]

On Plastic I use Slaters hard 10 thou plastic rod for the stringers. Then spray with multiple coats of Halfords Yellow primer filler. after a few coats rub it back with a cloth soaked in small amounts of either acrylic thinner of lighter fluid.

Do this in a well ventilated area. If you get it wrong you just spray and wipe again. You can also use a fine sanding sponge at the initial stages as the hard red plastic is reasonably forgiving. Brass wire tends to be too inflexible and can break away from the surface and if it bends it stays bent.

John

[AdrianMF]

After spraying some more filler over the perfect plastic putty and fishing line of my last test, I ended up with this, which is not far from the approach that John uses:

So I think fishing line stringers + light filling + primer works for me, given that I have a better fuselage to work on and I will do the job with more care and precision than the test. I have a work trip coming up so this will be on hold for a week, but it's a way forward.

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

Edited January 14, 2015 by AdrianMF

[Winenut]

In a word...Brilliant

Great stuff Adrian.

Keep it up

Really looking forward to where this goes

Chocks away!

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Thanks Christian. I think fishing line will be tough enough. However, if the next round doesn't work, I have some wire off a wine bottle that I could use. If I need more, I can always ask my wife to help with my modelling!

Another option might be to be some guitar strings; I use them a lot (and not only because I play the guitar...), and they're a) very fine and b ) strong, especially if you sanded them along their length

[robvulcan]

Well this is an amazing thread. Very nice and inspiring work. Balsa is lovely stuff to work with and your doing grand things with it. keep up the good work

[woody37]

How are you doing with this Adrian?

['V']

That is truly an old fashioned way of modelling.

Most impressed

'V'

[AdrianMF]

Hello All,

This project is not dead, it's just tired after a long squawk (and a Skyvan, an S6B...).

So I picked it up yesterday. Bubbles!

I had started sanding before I took the picture. And more sanding followed:

At least I have got thinner trailing edges now!

I think the cause was too many coats of primer too quickly, combined with possible dampness caused by wet sanding the intermediate layers without adequate drying time. More haste, less speed.

This is not going to be a short project...

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

[Mitch K]

This is not going to be a short project...

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

This is not a surprise...

Seriously Adrian, I can't imagine it was ever going to be short, or easy. Nice to see progress on her.

[rmcclure]

Really inspiring stuff. I've just read through the WIP and it's fascinating.

Cheers,

Roger

[GrzeM]

Wouldn't the lime tree wood be better for such build?

Still, you're doing great!

[AdrianMF]

Hello All,

 

Well, I've shifted the Privateer on to the finished shelf after quite a few years, and so it's time to pick this puppy off the Shelf of Shame again.

 

I wasn't totally happy with the old fuselage. I haven't got the shape of the cowling right and it's all a bit too slim (again) and I've cut off too much below the wings:

 

So I'm going to make a new fuselage, this time using the sections on the plan to get something a bit better. Start with a profile:

 

To make the formers, I transferred the pattern onto plastic card and cut it out. Then I sharpied the edges black, tacked it to another piece of plastic card and cut around it to make the second side:

 

To finish, I sanded the second former down until I started to take sharpie off the edge of the first, then separated the two halves. Matching! Almost...

 

So now I have glued everything together, removing 0.5mm off each former to allow for the profile thickness. I've also put some holes in the profile piece for the propeller and tail skid and I'm about to add some brass tube for the undercarriage legs. The cockpit is boxed in by some plastic card which has been sanded to shape and had the windows opened:

 

Looking at the progression of templates in the nose gives me a better understanding of what the cowling should look like.

 

Next, I'm going to put blocks of balsa between the formers to fill most of the space, then slather the whole thing with either Milliput or two-part wood filler. Then I can sand it to shape. The black edges of the formers will show through the filler when it gets thin, and this will help me to stop sanding in time. My former cutting isn't terribly accurate, so I will be using the rear formers as more of a guide to overall size than an exact template.

 

Finally, I experimented with Harry-Woodman-style scored 5 thou plastic card as a way of achieving the fabric and stringer look. It does look very nice and neat on the test piece and promises to be less messy than the stringers-and-filler approach. It seems to conform to the underlying surface well, and allows enough double curvature to get it over the bulged belly (I can cut a relief slot where the radiator will go). The trick will be to get the various panels (I will need two sides, a top and a bottom) to join up and match. 

 

As ever, just as I get back into a project, it's time to travel. This time it's a short conference/trade show. So it's all packed away for a week!

 

Thanks for looking,

Adrian

Edited February 3, 2017 by AdrianMF

[Old Man]

Excellent re-mount, Sir.

 

That central template and split section forms is a good way to work.

 

Can't go wrong cribbing off Mr. Woodman.

 

A wonderful project.

[Brandy]

Just caught up with this, and I was going to suggest scoring 5thou sheet but I see you've found it. The best way to do it in the fewest  pieces is to stick masking tape onto the fuselage in small pieces, making sure it's all flat, then peel it off and use it as a template. I use an old biro to score the back of the card for the stringers. It works really well, but be very careful when gluing it on, as too much glue will melt your carefully  prepared "skin". I use Plastic weld, very sparingly, and attach it in stages, working around the fuselage. 

 

Ian