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I'm back from N Yorkshire but haven't had any chance today to get to the bench as hoped, but I have been thinking about my Tiger Moths and rigging while I was away (hums "I've got you under my skin...."!). So....I'm going to try a slightly different form of rigging.

A couple of years ago I was given some free samples of rod from Albion Alloys which I've not really had much of a use for so far. But I got to thinking....having added what is effectively an empty cylinder, albeit a small one, to each turnbuckle, instead of trying to ease some Prym elastic into each one, why not use the 0.2mm nickel rod cut to length instead? If each piece is cut accurately - and I think that's the key, I can't see why it wouldn't work?

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Gotta be worth a try....if it doesn't work there is of course Plan B!!

Max

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Thanks Jon and Chris, I'm hoping this is going to work. The rod has quite a lot of rigidity for 0.2mm thickness so there's no danger of kinking Jon. If it doesn't work it's more likely to be my ineptitude! :)

Max

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  • 2 weeks later...

At last a LITTLE bench time! One of the Tiger Moths in my diorama appears to have its nose reasonably intact so I've been doing some work on this one. Apart from seeing a small part of the forward cylinder of the engine through the front of the nose I thought little else would be seen and therefore decided not to do anything special about detailing, or even including much of it....but I keep forgetting that my planes are going to be upside down and there's a whacking great gap underneath on the starboard side. So I built the nose structure then tried to get the engine in on a test fit....wouldn't go would it!!? So the answer is to cut the engine in half and install in two parts, it may end up as only three quarters of an engine yet!

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Hope to get some more done later......

Max

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Engine's in Chris, no problems and thinned down side panels fit well. Like you I've also been working on the upper wings, the lucky aspect about my builds is that I don't have to worry about the correct dihedrals with a couple of pranged planes! :)

Pics tomorrow I hope but I have to go to a funeral so light permitting for photographs of progress.

Max

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One of the planes is ready for the primer paint shop at last. I've completed the nose including hinges from fine brass wire and also started thinking about the nose section of the other one. This one will be hinged at an angle, I've yet to decide how but I'm building it as a separate unit. The top section will be dented and one engine panel hanging open and buckled....these two are modelled here in lead foil but may yet change!

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I know I've got some good bench time coming up after tomorrow so I'm hoping for significant progress.
Max
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Yes Chris, it was a relief to get the nose on properly but my main problem is all the handling that I'm doing and trying not to knock bits off, so easy to catch one of the turnbuckles for instance and ping it off! Thankfully my struts were OK but then my build gives me carte blanche to have all sorts of bends and crazy angles. :) :)

I've also been working on the metal cover between the empennage and the fuselage:

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It took many attempts with a paper template to get the right size, shape and angles but I finally got there. I've done one so far using lead foil sheet secured with CA - it looks good! Pictures tomorrow afternoon. :)

Max

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Pictures as promised (sorry Chris! :) ). So here's the cover made from lead foil, lovely stuff to work with, soft and easy to cut yet holds its shape so well:

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and here it is in situ:

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The first of the Tiggies after a coat of Tamiya fine white primer. When it's thoroughly dry I'll be going over it all with a very fine sanding stick followed by micro-mesh polish:
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Working on the nose of the other: I've added some plug leads but don't intend detailing any further. The engine cover and side panel again are lead foil with a brass rod hinge holding it all together. The inside of this has now been primed so I'll be spraying the whole lot with interior green shortly.
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More tomorrow I hope....cracking on now!
Max
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More bits and pieces today. I've been working on the u/c of the lower Tiger Moth, it being rather bent out of shape. I'm trying to reproduce the damage without giving myself too much work though it's painfully slow because I have to wait for each section to dry thoroughly before I can move onto the next little bit....still, no hurry!

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The damaged nose is also starting to take shape:
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Visitors over the next two days so small chance of bench time....but at least all the joints will be fully hardened!
Max
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Something that's been exercising my simple mind for some time is the best way of doing the chequerboard band. The band itself of course is not a regular narrow rectangle due to the narrowing of the fuselage and its angles so I spent a while this morning working out its shape, duplicating it, then applying the mask to the fuselage:

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Cheers Chris, yes it is quite a significant step. There have been so many small hurdles to overcome in both our detailed builds and sometimes you spend a lot of time with not very much to show. Today has been the opposite: a bit of masking and a couple of coats of paint.......but it means that MOST of the small hurdles are behind me, just the trifling matter of rigging!

Max

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I'd like to put an order in for 4 sets of cowls and 4 of those metal tail covers thanks mate :coolio: :coolio: :coolio: :coolio: :coolio:

Cheers Paul. The cowls are easy, the tail covers less so, but I'm very willing to send you the template and some lead foil if you wish!

Max

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Cheers Chris, yes it is quite a significant step. There have been so many small hurdles to overcome in both our detailed builds and sometimes you spend a lot of time with not very much to show. Today has been the opposite: a bit of masking and a couple of coats of paint.......but it means that MOST of the small hurdles are behind me, just the trifling matter of rigging!

Max

Great looking with the yellow paint, Max! Impressive work till now :goodjob:

I perfectly understand you, regarding the inordinate amount of time we can spend with very small bits and details... My Moth is still in the cockpit detailing work after more than a month and I haven't done any scratch building. But that's my slowness taking charge, of course :)

Cheers

Jaime

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Slowly getting there, most of the main painting is complete though I now have the "lovely" job of putting lots of 4mm squares in the chequerband to mask the white before spraying the rest red.....cross-eyed time coming up!

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I've been thinking about ways of attaching the damaged engine section and decided to use the fuel and oil lines which come from the bulkhead, I'll use a reasonably thick and stiff wire to give it some substance, though this will be the final, final stage of the build. After I've done the squares I'll mix a very dilute brown-black paint and very lightly spray parts of the wings and fuselage to tone the yellow down. Onwards, onwards! :)
Max
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