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1915 RNAS Short 184, Aeroclub, 1:72 - wings on!


Brandy

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I'm about to start this one for a GB on another site, and thought I should post it here too. @John Aero, if you read this, feel free to chastise me for ruining a bloody good kit! Although I profoundly hope you won't need to!

 

Start date is next Monday (Feb 16th) but I wanted to whet some appetites so got this posted early!

 

 

 

 

As I'm sure you all know, John Adams of Aeroclub released this a few years back. Not long after, I was building up my stock of Aeroclub white metal parts, and also invested in a jig. and John very kindly, (and unexpectedly!) offered me this at a very reasonable price to go along with all my goodies! I think he was also trying to consolidate the business and I just lucked out on the timing!

 

As a limited run kit, it is top class. The trailing edges are almost razor like, the engraved detail is very finely done, and there is almost no flash!

 

Here's the box:

 

 

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Inside we find all sorts of goodies!

 

6 sprues of plastic: 2 for the wings, one for the tail and interior parts, the other 3 for fuselage halves, floats and sundry other bits:

 

 

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We then have a bag of white metal parts (wing and float struts, float parts, props, gun rings beaching trolley wheels and control column), and a resin radiator:

 

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A lot of the struts are duplicated in nice thick PE, so there is a choice of which to use:

 

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Very nicely printed decals, which include a lot of surplus items such as manufacturer's stencils etc to cover alternative aircraft:

 

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and of course, last but not least a large instruction sheet!

 

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I will be using the Datafile and a Windsock International Seaplanes Special as references:

 

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This is going to be a very interesting build and a huge challenge - the rigging is NOT simple! I'm thinking of building her with wings folded, we'll have to see if that is feasible.....I'm really looking forward to getting started on it!

 

 

 

 

 

Ian

 

 

 

 

Edited by limeypilot
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I have a couple of Short 184s, but they are not as exciting as this kit, I think they are Formaplane vacs. They are out in the garage in my old army trunk and they can stay there for a while.

Edited by StephenCJ
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  • 2 weeks later...
Well, I've finally made a start. All the parts have been removed from the sprues and cleaned up, and the interior is well on the way to being painted and detailed....

 

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Ian

 

Edited by limeypilot
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Thanks OM - looking forward to seeing your next project!

 

 

 

 

Fuselage is now buttoned up. I haven't gone overboard on the detail but I have drilled the seat backs, added Eduard seatbelts, a little rigging, and a rudder bar.

 

 

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The bulkheads needed a little sanding to fit properly but nothing major!

 

 

 

Ian

 

Edited by limeypilot
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I got a bit more done today, mainly starting on the lower wing mountings.

 I started by cutting off a little under 1mm from the inboard end of each wing, along with the mounts, and replaced the lost width with a piece of plastic strip.

 

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The fuselage was modified by adding strips of .010" card to lower the wing, and making a small cutout at the front to enable the parts removed from the wing to be fitted flush to the sides.

 

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The pieces that had been removed were then modified by drilling a hole on the front spar for the locking pin and reshaping the front and rear ends.

 

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The modified parts were then fitted to the fuselage and the gaps filled.

 

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Thanks for looking in!

 

 

 

 

 

Ian

 

Edited by limeypilot
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:popcorn: + :pizza: + :drink: with :guitar: playing quietly in the background. Looking good so far and I am really interested to seeing how this develops as I have one in the stash, (to be done in Chilean markings...).

Christian the Married and exiled to africa

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A little more progress.

 

I realised after fitting the wing mounts that the front spar locking bar didn't match the front cabane. Fortunately after measuring and checking the plans it's evident that the strut needs to move forward about 0.5mm so problem solved easily!

 

 

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I spent this morning thinning the wing trailing edges and tidying the scalloping, then decided I needed something in the engine bay. So I added the front mount, cut up some plastic stock, stuck it together, and ended up with a rudimentary engine - good enough to fill the void!

 

 

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Thanks for looking in.

 

 

 

Ian

 

Edited by limeypilot
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Good luck with this build and you are doing a great job so far, I really like the Shorts 184 and really fancied building this one but the huge amount of rigging scared me off!

Cheers

Tony

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Thanks guys.

The rigging is a little daunting I must admit, more for the method than the quantity - I'm not yet sure how I'm going to fit the outer bay wires which are pulled upwards at the outer ends to clear the tail when the wings are folded....the Datafile plans are also wrong on some of the rigging - they omit the additional single flying wires which run to the mid-point in each bay, and the drag wires from the nose are shown incorrectly - the lower two (only one is shown on the plans) run to the upper fittings of the inner and mid front struts and were detachable at the nose end to aid wing folding, the upper one runs straight back to the forward cabane strut, not to the mid front strut as shown. They also show the outer bay rigging incorrectly. The flying and landing wires in this bay did not run front/front and rear/rear, but crossed over each other - front lower running to rear upper, and rear lower to front upper, just to make it even more awkward! This was again to aid in clearing the tail and its rigging when the wings were folded. The aforementioned extra single flying wires were fitted as normal in this bay. Curiously the plans include drawings from the RAF Museum which clearly show this arrangement!

Ian

ps does anyone have any plans or details for the 14" torpedo? The kit has no info on it....

Edited by limeypilot
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I've been pointed in the direction of a company that makes a WWII aerial torpedo in 1:72 so have ordered one and will adapt it as necessary.

 The mock-up engine was a little too short so I added a spacer under it to bring it up a little, then refitted the nose and added the exhaust. It does show if a light is shone at the front so it's been worth the time spent doing it. The cowlings are now on and just need a little more sanding to fix the fit issues.

 

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I have added "hinges" to the lower wing mounts, and the bar at the rear of the fuselage that locked the wings in the folded position. A dry fit shows that the bar matches exactly to the rear strut location of the folded wing, which is a good thing as that is what it locks onto!

 

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I've also been working on the floats and upper wings. I drilled out the float mount holes to take 2mm rod, glued that in place and added several layers of Mr Dissolved Putty to blend it all in. It will be sanded to the correct shape when it's good and hard, and the rod will be drilled to take the float spacer bars.
 
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The upper wings were separated from the centre section, which was then in 2 pieces, so they were joined and filled. The cutouts at the rear were removed to allow for the wings to be positioned folded. So far it all matches up nicely and I should be able to add the "hinges" on the top wing very soon. The plan is to assemble and rig the wings separately then attach them as completed items to the centre section/fuselage assembly..... we'll see how that works later......

 

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Thanks for looking in!

 

Ian

 

Edited by limeypilot
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A little more progress to report, in that I have now fitted the pins that will (hopefully!) secure the wings in place....

 

 

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It's annoying to note more errors on the Datafile plans: the fuselage is 2.5mm longer, and the wingspan 2mm longer, in the elevation drawings than in the plan drawings! IE: the drawings don't even match themselves! The kit fuselage matches the elevation, so that is what I have been using. I then noticed that the centre and outboard wing struts should be a couple of mm further inboard - but if I correct that now they won't match the rear support bar for the folded wings, so they'll have to stay wrong....

 

 

 

 

 

A little more tidying up and then I can start to get some paint on. White first for the undersides, a more tan colour for the uppers and fuselage, then add the upper wing decal shadows and ribbing, followed by the final colour.

 

 

 

 

 

Ian

 

Edited by limeypilot
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Great progress, Sir. Good work especially on the interior and the engine.

I have noticed the same thing in Windsock drawings. I am told there is often some glitch in the printing process which accounts for it.

There comes a point where you just have to work to the model. No one will ever take a calipers to the thing, after all, and especially on a big machine like this, the odd millimeter or two will go un-noticed (and that is working on the assumption the drawing is correct in the least detail, which it very well might not be, even if not distorted in printing...)....

"Your research isn't complete until your confusion is."

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I share your pain, John, but it's still a fabulous kit. You really should re-release it! The struts are definitely wrong though, the outer struts should be just inboard of the 4th rib in, from pics. For a short-run kit though, it's WAY ahead of anything else I've built.

And thanks for following!

Ian

Edited by limeypilot
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  • 1 month later...
I have tried the woodgrain on the floats 3 times and started again, so now I've decided to go with Uschi's decals. I went out and bought some oils today, and added the decals over a base of desert yellow. Tomorrow I hope to give the decals a light overspray of Tamiya Flesh base and then I'll start experimenting with the oils - something I've never tried before....

 

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I have also given the nose a first coat of grey....

 

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Thanks for looking in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ian

 

Edited by limeypilot
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Well, I bit the bullet and went ahead with the oils! First gave the decals a light coat of Flesh base as per Uschi's instructions, then the oils. The first attempt wasn't too good so I dipped the brush in the thinner, brushed it off, and did it again. Much happier with the result now...
 

 

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It's still not as good as I think it could be, but it'll do. Let's face it, there's not too much grain or colour difference visible in 1:72 anyway, so I really don't want to overdo the effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ian

 

Edited by limeypilot
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  • 5 weeks later...
After 3 weeks the oils were still tacky, and I didn't like them at all, so it's all been stripped off. I'm really not too happy with Uschi's decals in 1:72 so I probably won't be using them again. All they do is show lines which really aren't visible at all in this scale. Adding to that, after scouring the DF over and over again, I'm not even sure that the floats were made of wood - there are a couple of pics which clearly show rivets and chipped paint around the edges...so I will paint them the same grey as the struts and cowling - or maybe not...... :-\

 

 

 

 

On another note, a little more progress has been made on the wings. After an initial primer coat, I decided to fill the small indents for the strut locations and reposition them correctly. I've also separated the ailerons and added pins to remount them. I was going to add the float struts at this stage as the kit supplied items fit into slots under the fuselage which would need to be filled before painting, but then I discovered that both the PE and the white metal ones are way too long, (according to the DF plans) and too wide to fit with the mods I've made to the wings to enable them to be mounted folded. So.... I will make new struts and add pins to fit them - which will mean I will either have to drill the white metal float mounting bars, or make new ones of those too. Since they have a curve in the middle for the torpedo mount I may experiment with drilling them.....

 

 

 

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More fun to follow....thanks for looking in!

 

 

 

 

 

Ian

 

Edited by limeypilot
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Not much to show in the way of progress, but all the locating holes have now been drilled for the wing struts and the float mountings. Next up will be another coat of primer to check for any more filling/sanding that's needed, then adding the underwing shadow details for the roundals and ribs.


Ian

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