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Wingnut Wings 1/32 Bristol F.2b Sunbeam Arab - FINISHED (at last)!!


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Onwards and upwards then. For a while I have been struggling with how to do the Arab's distinctive exhaust manifolds, which (like the RE.8 etc) have a very prominent longitudinal flange on the forward section, where the two parts were welded together. Finally I decided to bash a few bits of plastic and (as often happens) after a few tweaks my experiment ended up being the final version.

 

First of all I trimmed some plastic tube (very old Evergreen stock) and put a taper on one end to see if it would fit and accurately represent the join of the manifold to the rest of the exhaust system (which will be aluminium tube). All OK there.

 

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My initial idea was to cut a long slot in the length of the tube to represent the flange and to use thin brass sheet for the flanged part. However, with the likelihood of this whole assembly being a bit flimsy with a plastic-to-brass joint, I decided instead to use thin plastic sheet and then I'd be able to flood any joints with MEK for a better weld. A new razor saw blade did a good job of cutting the slot:

 

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Then two pieces of (15 thou?) plastic card were slid into place and loads of MEK/liquid cement applied:

 

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Next, I applied Milliput to the 'forward' ends of each part, to represent the domed front end:

 

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And then once that had set, sanded it all back to a more accurate profile:

 

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Final bit (and the only awkward bit in fact after all that head-scratching) was to cut some header pipes from thick plastic card, and using the engine exhaust flanges as guides, spaced them initially with a dab of liquid cement, and then once they were all in the right place, applied another flood of MEK.

 

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Then repeat for the other side, trim them to the correct length and make sure the aluminium tubes still fit. Still a bit of tidying up and minor filling to do, but another hurdle overcome.

 

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Finally I drilled the headers for 0.4mm dowels and was able to roughly attach everything to see if it looks OK (which thankfully it does pretty much).

 

55 (2)

 

Edited by Sabrejet
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Some days things just don't go right. I decided to make up some  cowling latches, since these are part of the final bits to attach to the upper cowling. There are eight latches in total, and I made them up with 1mm wide plastic card, drilled for two rivets each (but using Taurus' fantastic screws, since only someone with a microscope would notice the difference!). 

 

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With these done, I glued each one in place, and fitted the cowlings on to the fuselage to make sure all was OK. Looks reasonable (note that I've also made a start on the radiator front face - more of that in a minute).

 

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Final bit was to fashion the prominent tapered ends to each one, and drill a hole to receive the Taurus wingnuts/studs:

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Except that on looking at a photograph of these latches, I found that I had managed to glue mine on upside-down: the tapered part should be rivetted to the top cowling and the squared-off end is where the wingnut goes!!

 

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So that was a learning experience. RTFQ as my geography teacher used to say (Read the Flippin Question, though "Flippin" can be exchanged for other suitable expletives). In any case I have convinced myself that the latches I made were over-scale and I've sliced them off and will replace them with more dainty versions (and the right way up) after I install the cowlings.

 

I did however spray the insides of the cowlings (Mr Color silver) in case any of that will be seen on the completed model. That was more a morale booster than anything I think.

 

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Having had a night's sleep to get over latch-gate, I tackled the front face of the radiator. As seen above I had already applied some brass mesh in the lower area (the upper part is covered in radiator shutters, as per the Falcon-engined F.2b and similar to the SE.5 radiator too). So no need to apply any mesh further up. I also made up the shutter guides with 1mm brass strip and a few other bits at the base of the radiator where it is bolted to the engine bearers.

 

Next up was the shutters themselves. Since these are closed on the ground, I decided to make them out of plastic card, which I scribed with deep horizontal lines to replicate the gap between each shutter section. The plastic was sanded to ensure that the grooves were neat and uniform - though with less than 1mm spacing it was never going to be a perfect job. Each section then received a coat or two of Mr Color silver and then a thick splooge of black oil paint thinned with a little white spirit to highlight the grooves.

 

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Once that was dry, I removed the excess with a cotton bud, but tried to leave a slight residue on the silver parts to indicate a bit of weathering. Then it was a case of gluing them onto the radiator section, having already sprayed the area with mid-gray. The centre shutter group is displaced upwards by one shutter on the actual aircraft:

 

fb1eb5dc6fe41a4078ceaafbe0acdc52_ab1.jpg

 

Then a final trim/sanding of the two side sections to conform to the radiator shape and another test-fit of the cowlings (which have now been shaved of those horrible cowling latches!)

 

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A better day. I will apply a wash over the radiator to bring out the various features. One step closer...

 

Edited by Sabrejet
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Very nice effect on those shutters, but are you sure they were closed on the ground? Normally radiator shutters would be open on the ground to increase the airflow through the radiator and help keep the engine cool, as it wouldn't have the benefit of the added airflow caused by being in flight.

 

Ian

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OK I have managed to recover the photo links to the first page and this one: I will endeavour to restore those on page 2 as soon as I can. Annoyingly I had a few updates to post and so I spent a lot of time finding a new web host that would allow me to link photos for this site and not charge me $399.99 per year (I am not kidding!) to do it...

 

Enough of that. I started painting the exhaust headers, using the 'salt' method of (attempting) rust replication. First of all, a thin, uneven coat of Mr Hobby silver:

 

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Then on with the salt: the more uneven the better, though I wanted most of the effect to show on the upper area of the exhaust:

 

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Then a coat of my interpretation of red lead paint - Mr Hobby Hull Red. Looks a mess at this stage:

 

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Then, using my wife's tooth brush, scrub all of the salt off (once the paint is dry):

 

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Looking better. I added a thin wash of orangey-red paint around the flanges to show a bit of powdery rust (I added a bit more than shown here in fact):

 

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And finally, offer the whole thing up to see how it looks. I think I may have over-done the effect, but I can always tone it down with a dusting of a pale colour later if required.

 

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This is fantastic!  A subject I know little about made fascinating by someone who clearly knows the Arab and associated installation in some detail... and can back it up with top notch modelling skill.  What's not to like?

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I don't think you've overdone it at all - that looks superb. At first I thought the colours should be reversed - rust where you had silver and vice versa, but how wrong I was! An interesting thread keeps getting better!

Nick.

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I think the truth of it is that I lucked in with those exhaust headers! I will most likely do the reverse on the long exhaust pipe runs, where I don't want the effect to be so extreme.

 

Talking of exhaust pipes -  these run from the headers, wayyy back along each side of the fuselage and end at the lower fuselage side just at the frame that marks the back of the observer's cockpit. These long exhausts are often seen on Falcon-engined Bristol Fighters but WNW doesn't provide them in its kit. So I have to make those too.

 

First problem is that I wanted to make them from metallic tube, with aluminium being easiest to work with. However, even the slightest free-hand bend in the tubes left very obvious kinking:

 

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So taking a leaf from the book of plumbing, I thought I'd have a go at making a kind of miniature pipe-bending tool, starting with a handy block of resin. I drilled two holes of the same diameter as the pipe, and at right angles to each other. Then, using a razor saw, cut down the centre of each hole. Next, when the various parts of the resin were released, I filed a circa 5mm radius at the point where the two bores met (red line hopefully explains that bit):

 

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I then drilled the 'top' part of the cut resin (piece at right above), to accept two dowels, which would be the part that held the pipe while it was being bent. Best to show what all that means in practice: two shots of the tube/exhaust being bent:

 

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Thankfully, this demonstrated that good bends could be done with minimal or no distortion:

 

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Then a quick test to see if I could replicate the sharp bend and cut-off end to each exhaust:

 

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So another of many deep breaths I've taken on this project and time to do it for real: two joggled exhausts later and a good representation of the front ends of each exhaust pipe...

 

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And then a fit check on the headers to make sure I had a nice gap, as per the real thing.

 

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Still a few jobs to do before I get back to the mainly out-of-the-box bits of the kit. The outstanding bits are (bar a few I have yet to discover):

 

1. Bend the rest of the exhaust runs.

2. Make up exhaust brackets (2 per side) to hold the long exhaust pipe sections.

3. Make a spent shell case box (port side - it attaches to the oblong hole in the image above).

4. Make a Thornton Pickard Mk.IIIH camera gun (which will attach to the starboard cabane struts).

5. Make a trailing aerial pulley & attachments (stbd side).

 

Many/most/all of these seem to be common among training machines but not so much/at all seen on active service F.2bs. The camera gun is seen in some photos being used by a (trainee?) observer, but since Yatesbury trained only pilots, this equipment was only used for the front-seater. The shell case box also seems to be a training option, and I have seen at least two different designs, which leads me to think that they were locally-designed and made.

 

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A few images to explain the above:

 

Exhaust brackets (2 per side) to hold the long exhaust pipe sections: asymmetric in shape (v-shaped), with the short leg of the bracket at the top for the front bracket and at the bottom for the aft:

 

zz2

 

Spent shell case box (port side only). At least two different versions, and both squeezed in between the exhaust pipe and fuselage:

 

zz1

 

Thornton Pickard Mk.IIIH camera gun (attached to the starboard cabane struts on F.2b in training role):

 

zz4

Trailing aerial pulley & attachments (stbd side only). This one looks rickety as you like, again probably local manufacture:

 

zz3

 

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Sorry I am late to the party - only just found tis. Wow to converta WNW kit takes some courage if only because even small details have to be so precise. You clearly have the skills and information to ensure that your alterations are well up to WNW standard. A very interesting thread especially as you are using a variety of materials. Wi  le following more closely in future as there is much to learn from here.

 

P

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First on the list of stuff to do (see above) - the exhaust brackets.

 

First task was to back-mark the fuselage frame positions (which dictate the fore-aft position of the brackets), and then mark off the position for placing the prominent canvas patches which surround the brackets (thin plastic card):

 

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Then some simple 0.6mm brass rod v-brackets were bent up and cut, as well as some 1mm-wide brass strip, which was rolled around the exhaust pipe tube to begin making the exhaust clamps.

 

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Brass rod brackets then attached to drilled holes through the canvas patch/fuselage:

 

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Thanks to Taurus (this time their 0.9mm bolts), I would be able to get some detail on the exhaust clamps.

 

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First clamp done...

 

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And then the rest, fit-checked on the exhaust pipe tube:

 

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And then a fit check on-aircraft, along with the final bends of the exhaust:

 

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And so the list of jobs is further reduced. :penguin:

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Here goes again: trailing aerial thingy this time (photo above). 

 

Starting with a piece of plastic card I used the aircraft frames and longerons as guides to place the end of the mounting board and the axis for the cable reel. Looks a bit strange to begin with:

 

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But after mounting a few bits of brass tube etc, it starts making a bit more sense: Cable reel axis is the hole at top (and straight into the upper longeron), while the bottom part of the mounting board (white plastic card) will eventually use the frame aft of the pilot's seat as a mounting reference.

 

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Bit more stuff and a fit check to make sure it will fit with the exhaust in place:

 

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And finally, cable reel placed in 'stowed' position (the spring-loaded latch at the top was used to lock the retracted aerial cable), and the cable itself wound wound the reel. The lead weight on the end of the aerial is some 0.6mm-dia brass tube, cut to length.

 

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I enjoyed this one a lot and will miss doing these little additions which hopefully will make the finished model look a bit different.

2 hours ago, Bobs_Buckles said:

:tmi:

 

My eyes! My eyes!!!!!!

 

vB

 

Got to admire anyone who has Wilfred Owen in their signature block. :yes:

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