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Avro 504K, 1/32, Scratchbuild


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13 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Now we can see that the dihedral in both wings is almost exactly equal - that's a good result.

:clap:

 

BTW, my little 'un was looking at this thread with me the other day and he wanted to start building a biplane with his carpentry set. I think you have another new fan @Bandsaw Steve. I will post the results later.

Edited by Matt_
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3 hours ago, Matt_ said:

:clap:

 

BTW, my little 'un was looking at this thread with me the other day and he wanted to start building a biplane with his carpentry set. I think you have another new fan @Bandsaw Steve. I will post the results later.

That’s just fantastic news Matt! In fact that makes my day.

😀

I am now waiting with great anticipation to see what comes of his project.

If I may offer just one piece of advice it would be this - see if you can find him some good quality carving wood. It can make all the difference.

When I did this as a kid I used a lot of cedar as it’s very easy to work. I would suggest avoiding the ubiquitous ‘ pinus radiata’ (white pine) as it good for building houses but discouraging to carve. 

Good luck!👍

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8 minutes ago, Matt_ said:

He's only just 6. We were just nailing a few of bits of balsa together. No dihedral setting or wing carving, I'm afraid.

That’s all good!

Many of us here will have started somewhere pretty similar to that. I know I did!  For me it makes doing all this even more worthwhile if there’s even a chance that it will spark an interest for some ‘young-un’ somewhere.

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I do remember thinking that I must add commentary to your mime post but life sorta got in the way (as it does).  At least the thought was there.

 

My vote is for the fuselage.  Can't wait to see you carve the pilot

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What an odyssey, glad you wrangled the wings under control, they look excellent. My Nieuport build has stalled because of two group builds and summer but your updates sure make me want to get back to it.

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On 6/30/2018 at 4:11 AM, Bandsaw Steve said:

 

IMG_5482

Just catching up on this. I can’t see anyone’s answered your question - Roxy Music?

 

I admire your tenacity with the wings. This augers well for the rest of the build. I’m guessing this will weigh ‘a lot’ when finished?

 

Trevor

 

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8 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

My next post after that was in my very best mock Shakespeare - it was in iambic pentameter and everything. Not that I think anyone noticed. ☹️

Sorry Steve, I'm not a poetic man and your words of poetry are wasted on me. Your skill with wood are another matter.

Nice to see the chisels at work, the wings are looking good after a couple of false starts.

 

Stuart

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On 7/10/2018 at 3:28 PM, Bandsaw Steve said:

That’s just fantastic news Matt! In fact that makes my day.

😀

I am now waiting with great anticipation to see what comes of his project.

 

This is what we've got so far.

 

We've also cut some wheels and a tail.

 

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Well done Max and Mike, Roxy Music it is. Generally a safe bet with me. I generally try to restrict myself to one mention per thread of my favourite rock band of all time but the photo was there in the background, so what was I to do? 

Do a Britmodeller search for ‘Roxy’ and you will see that there seems to be a small Roxy Music cult developing on this site.  @71chally seem to be the ringleader but there are others - self included. 🎟

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On 11/07/2018 at 00:19, hendie said:

I do remember thinking that I must add commentary to your mime post but life sorta got in the way (as it does).  At least the thought was there.

 

My vote is for the fuselage.  Can't wait to see you carve the pilot

OK Hendie - the fuselage it is. Watch for an update later tonight!

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Fuselage

 

The astute among you may have noticed that this model already has a fuselage, so what gives with this post?

 

Well the current fuselage is a fairly basic affair mostly comprising of 90 degree angles and flat surfaces. By contrast the real aircraft's fuselage has quite a few subtle geometrical complexities for example a 'turtleback' shaped deck over the rear fuselage.  Better get on with it then...

 

If you have been following these builds you know my modus operandi by now so I won't need to write much. I've said it before; building stuff this way involves learning a few simple techniques, getting passably OK at them and then just repeating them over and over again.  Matt_  I hope your 'young un' is listening to my wise words on this - if he keeps at it, by the time he's in high-school he'll be better at this than I am! From what I've seen he's made a good start already.

 

Anyhow...cut out the bit of paper...  

IMG_5535

 

Find a good bit of wood and stick it on - in this case the wood is 'bass-wood' from the local hobby shop and it's magnificent to work with.

IMG_5539

 

Look at this,, this carving business is just like peeling an apple - only easier.

IMG_5540

 

Sand to shape when you get too lazy to use the chisel.

IMG_5542

 

Use this fabulous fret saw to cut out the cockpit opening.  My dad uses an electric scroll-saw quite a bit for this kind of work but I don't have one. Must get one sometime.

IMG_5547

 

This is where the pilot's head and shoulders will stick out. At least it would be if I was giving this one a pilot.  I'm thinking it's going to be on the ground with some crew beside it - perhaps doing the paperwork before the next flight.  And no Hendie - I'm not carving the b#$%&&y pilot... that would require skills far beyond my ability.

IMG_5549

 

Now turn the job through 90 degrees and make the decking taper to a very thin wafer towards the rear of the aircraft.

IMG_5552

 

Something like this... There was still a bit more to come off when I took this photo but you get the idea.

IMG_5553

 

Now carve out the 3d turtleback shape. Again, basswood - just beautiful to work.

IMG_5557

 

Naturally a bit of sanding followed soon after this shot, but I doubt you want to see yet another photo of something being sanded!

IMG_5560

 

Leaving this.  The overhanging section of deck is arranged like this so that the fuselage behind the pilot will appear hollow.

IMG_5561

 

Now thin down the big thick block directly behind the cockpit to enhance the appearance of 'thin-ness' and 'hollowness' There was probably a bit of 'skill' used here but not as much as you might think. The sharp chisel and the beautiful wood made this relatively easy.  Just take your time, keep checking the effect, and do this cut-by-cut, slice by slice.

IMG_5563

 

See what I mean. Now to the casual observer looking through the cockpit the fuselage will appear hollow and the top deck will appear thin.

IMG_5569

 

The main fuselage was still a bit over-width, but a couple of minutes with the belt-sander fixed that.

IMG_5571

 

OK - fuselage rear upper deck is under control. Now let's have a look at the wing roots.  The first shape I cut out a month or so ago is not really satisfactory. I'm going to revisit this - now I have a more cunning plan. 

IMG_5573

 

Mark out the revised shape - note that the floor under the cockpit really is getting thin.

IMG_5576

 

Cut, saw, sand etc until you get a rectangular rebate in the base of the aircraft.

IMG_5580

 

The wing sits completely in that rebate now - it did not fit before.

IMG_5583

 

From here I'm going to cut a block of wood that fits into the rebate. Fit the wings at the correct angle onto that block of wood and then fix the block into the rebate.

Told you I was making this up as I went along. 🙂

 

I feel like I'm making good progress at the moment and am really enjoying this project. Hope all you people in internet world are as well!

 

Best Regards,

Bandsaw Steve.

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Brilliant! It's difficult to make a model that's strong enough but looks fragile and you're nailing it.

 

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21 minutes ago, Ted said:

and you're nailing it.

 

nope, just glue as far as I can see.

 

2 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

And no Hendie - I'm not carving the b#$%&&y pilot...

 

some people just won't accept a challenge will they

 

2 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

I'm going to revisit this - now I have a more cunning plan. 

 

s'funny how the cunning plans always seem to appear when you're ( the royal "you're") way into the build isn't it?  It 's be nice for a change if the cunning plans revealed themselves at the start of a build, thus making progress slightly easier to achieve.

 

3 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Told you I was making this up as I went along.

 

don't we all!

 

 

Nice work.

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Hello Redshift

 

That’s great news! Am really looking forward to seeing your project. My first scratchbuilt aeroplane was a Spitfire MkXIV.

 

I’ll stick some photos of it on here soon.

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Things going right!

 

Have a look at the photo directly below and you will see that the rebate that I've cut for the wing to sit in is now a nice clean rectangular cut . It's actually a fairly good bit of woodwork, at least compared to most of my rough-as-guts work.  The only problem now is that the rebate bears no relationship whatsoever to the top of the wing that must fit into it. 

IMG_5581

So, short of bodging this gap with a tonne of filler, and in doing so risking a very weak connection between wing and fuselage, let's make a block that will both span the gap and fix the wing at the correct angle of incidence.

'Angle of incidence' 🙂 technical talk that! Did you notice???  

 

Here is a nice looking bit of wood that just so happens be the right thickness to fill the gap.  The wood is bass-wood and I bought it at a local hobby shop. It's expensive but it also has the reputation of being some of the very best carving wood in the world.  So lets give it a try.

IMG_5585

 

Cut it to fit into the rebate.

IMG_5586

 

Mark up the top surface of the aerofoil.

IMG_5587

 

Start carving.

 

Wow! Go Basswood! Fantastic stuff.  I believe that this is a favourite of American woodworkers and I can see why - it's just beautiful to carve. I have to admit that this just might be the best species of wood I've ever carved although - for patriotic reasons - I might have to claim that New Zealand white pine is its equal.

IMG_5590

 

Getting there.  Note how the front (left of picture) of the basswood is now thinner than the rear. This change in thickness will set the wing at the correct angle of incidence. (Note the technical stuff again!) 🤓

IMG_5592 

 

After a bit of smoothing and sanding I ended up with this.

IMG_5594

 

Which makes for a pretty tidy bit of gap filling I reckon.

IMG_5595

 

Glue it onto the top of the wing with a bit of PVA.

IMG_5597

 

Clamp it down and let it sit for 24 hours.

IMG_5599

 

And look! There it goes - gap gone, wing set at the correct angle and I'm as happy as Larry with this - assuming Larry is happy.

IMG_5681

 

Somehow, just for once in my life this project is actually tracking along really smoothly. Things just seem to have been working out OK ever since the dihedral was sorted. 

Something must be about to go wrong, but I'm not complaining. It's unusual to have things going right so I might as well enjoy it while I can.

 

Thanks for following along.

Bandsaw Steve.

 

 

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coming along swimmingly it is.   Nice bit of profiling there.

 

21 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Something must be about to go wrong

 

you did glue that block to the top side of the wing didn't you ?

 

 

I'm intrigued by the slots cut into the underside - I don't remember seeing them mentioned anywhere previously... or was I just not paying attention?

My best guess is that they are the slots for the frets and it's going to be some form of stringed musical Avro

 

 

 

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Glued to top side of the wing?  yep! Otherwise each wing would have three degrees of anhedral. 😆Didn’t  fall into that trap this time. Not this time! 😜

 

As for the slots on the bottom of the fuselage, all they are are the remnants of the ‘spalling cuts’ that I made way back when I was preparing to cut out the fuselage. Obviously I’ve cut them a bit too deep. Once the two halves of the fuselage are joined I’ll just fill them with automotive bog filler or maybe a suitable wood filler. They should be completely invisible on the final model.

 

 

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