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Pegasus Martinsyde Elephant 1/72


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Having done three whips off the belt it's time I got back to reality. This is a large single seater, similar in format to the BE12, and operated from the Battle of the Somme to late in 1917 on the Western Front as a bomber/recce type. In the Middle East it continued to operate until the end of the war. A fairly recent acquisition from Freightdog I haven't built this aircraft before so everything is new. Quite a bit of flash is the first impression.

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Regards, Steve

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  • 2 weeks later...

Not quitting by any means but having got the top wing made up and a little work on the fuselage I'm in a bit of a quandary as to how the wing root plates and lower wing combine and join to the fuselage. I'm going to get a DF but not available until after Feb 4.

Regards, Steve

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Hi All,

Back into the fray as a friend passed an old Profile of the Elephant to me and I discovered a review with some good pictures on Hyperscale. The original method seemed very flimsy to me so I've drilled holes through the fuselage to insert a metal wire. With the white metal plugs removed holes were drilled into the wings to receive the metal wire rods. Made a hash of the holes as half on them broke through the surface but a dab of filler should help. Still, should be a lot stronger connection now. Top wing pieced together ok, three parts, and have drilled out the ventilation slots in the fuselage. Internal radiator, hence the holes, which will just be a piece of card painted black. Sump of engine required a bevel filed to forefront to fit within the engine compartment and the floor/seat and instrument panel will be next before hopefully sealing the fuselage up.

Regards,

Steve

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Good to see you back at this one Steve. You make a lot of work sound simple and straightforward!

Interesting selection of modelling tools in the background there. If this one tries putting up a fight it's on a looser :evil_laugh:

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Sorry I missed this earlier

AFIK, the Elephant lower wings were uncovered at the root (i.e. a gap), with plates - similar to wing tip plates or fences, but at the root end.

Presumably this was to help with downward vision

Edited by Robert Stuart
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Thanks for the comments and you're right Robert. A gap of a tenth of an inch looks right. Got the internals fitted, mainly OOB, except for a slice of card painted black to represent the internal radiator. Holes drilled through the sides to accept the wire cross bars for the wings and a few dry runs before closing the fuselage up. Did it in two sessions, front section first, then the rear fuselage. Joins looked far worse than they were and I've run some liquid CA along the joints. We'll see when there's some paint on.

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Regards, Steve

Edited by stevehed
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Hi All,

With the fuselage joined and the new wing locater pins in place it had to be the wings next after a bit of paint. Nose panels are grey with natural wood panels behind. Then trimmed the pins to size and installed the port wing. I’ve used the top wing turned up side down as my guide to get the other wing to match the strut holes. Looks ok most of the time with the central holes all lining up but the outer holes look a bit wonky. Might have to cheat and enlarge the holes. Wings are brown PC10 and CDL under surfaces and rear fuselage.

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Regards, Steve

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  • 2 weeks later...

Back with the Elephant. Roundels and tail markings applied and varnished in. The fuselage join needed some remedial work before the tail unit was installed. Slot in the underside of the fin had to be enlarged to fit and then a touch of filler along the base. The fuselage rear joints needed filling too. Used CA gel at first but a little filler had to be applied as a final resort. Have fitted the exhaust as a guide when the top wing goes on. Cut the inner struts from the material supplied with the kit but I think I'll touch up the paint work and sort out a wind screen before starting with the top wing. What's the betting the exhaust gets knocked off?

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Regards, Steve

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So far so good but not the easiest wing to fit. The kit strut material is a little flimsy for my cack handed liking but after several tries and a sophisticated support mechanism it eventually held together. It was left for 24 hours before the cabane struts were added and the rest of the struts will follow. Used some Evergreen rod for the cabanes as it is stronger than the original. Also had to enact a field repair on one of the roundels when the masking tape managed to get stuck to the transfer and pulled a segment off. But, touch wood, starting to come together now.

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Regards, Steve

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This is being a bit of a challenge, but it's looking good

{snip} Also had to enact a field repair on one of the roundels when the masking tape managed to get stuck to the transfer and pulled a segment off. But, touch wood, starting to come together now.

{snip}

Were these used in Palestine? Wouldn't there be a lot of sun damage (ie fade) in practice?

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From what I can gather the Elephant sported roundels on the upper surfaces. I gather that they were the old type prior to mid 1917 so no white outer rings. As for fading the sun did terrible things to aircraft in the Middle East but this one has just had a paint job. Got the struts in situ and have rigged the wings. Bit of bother with a couple of struts coming loose. These particular uprights didn't seem to like CA gel or polystyrene but eventually stayed put. Have a couple of 112 pounders in the stash and will construct a pair of basic bomb racks for them.

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Regards, Steve

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Thanks Cliff. I was going to rest on my laurels for a bit and take my time getting a vac form FE2 ready to build. No intention of finishing it in time for this GB though. However two new Airfix BE2c's have dropped on my doormat. Looks very nice on the sprue so I'll have to have a go and open a new thread. Got to be easier than a pusher. It's got strut guides and seems to be engineered to help construction oob without having to construct home made jigs and supports. Time will tell.

Regards, Steve

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