Avro 504K, 1/32, Scratchbuild

[Bandsaw Steve]

3 hours ago, Matt_ said:

 

Maybe there are times when having a big tool is better? 🤔

 

Phew! 😅 finally he got there!

For a moment I thought he’d gone all polite and serious and grown-up.

[Courageous]

Great work Steve/ Looking forward to the engine build, looks interesting.

 

Stuart

[Matt_]

Look what I found. 👀

 

 

I'm interested to see how you lace up the belly

 

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Yes - the lacing is highly visible and at this scale will need to be done for the surface to look finished. 

I do have a plan for it but am open to suggestions. 

[hendie]

48 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

I do have a plan for it but am open to suggestions. 

 

I'd nip down to that haberdashery store you haven't visited for a while and ask the nice young assistant if she can recommend a good sewing bee for you to join.

 

does that work?

[Bandsaw Steve]

11 hours ago, hendie said:

 

I'd nip down to that haberdashery store you haven't visited for a while and ask the nice young assistant if she can recommend a good sewing bee for you to join.

 

does that work?

Go easy on her Hendie. The last modeller she met broke her heart.

💔 

 

(When she found out I was married)

[Martian]

Eduard do 1/32 lacing, which should make things a bit easier for you.

 

Martian 👽

[Bandsaw Steve]

OK - thanks. I did not know that. 👍

[Matt_]

Seem to me like some Uschi van der Rosten rigging and a lot of patience is the way to go.

[Bandsaw Steve]

A visit to Bunnings

 

Last week I went to the local Bunnings outlet. Bunnings is Australia's largest hardware chain and despite their reputation for - shall we say prioritising cost over quality - I find them quite useful.  I was in search of some cylinders for a 1/32 LeRhone 9Ja rotary engine and when I asked the young man at the counter if he knew where they were stored, he pretended to not know what I was talking about.  He suggested that I have a look in aisle 36 where the petrol engine lawnmowers were kept,  which was very helpful because two and half hours later in aisle 14, I found these...

 

 

Suddenly, what had transpired became very clear to me.

 

Following the public announcement that I - Bandsaw Steve - was setting out to build a 1/32 scale Avro 504K, Bunnings had obviously suffered an unsustainable run of high demand for 1/32 scale Clerget 9, Le Rhone 9J and Gnome Monosupape engine parts.  In order to protect their rapidly dwindling stocks, all remaining engine cylinders had been carefully camouflaged as 'grub screws' as per the package above. The young man at the counter had obviously been instructed to deliberately misdirect anyone trying to find this treasure. 

 

Nice try Bunnings, but it was all to no avail!  I bought two packets of 5 - which gave me the nine I needed plus one spare with which I shall return one day and use to bargain for a pair of 1/18 scale Aston Martin DBR1 tail-lights. 

 

Upon my return home I showed my purchase to my wife - who was overcome with joy. For months she had been worrying that I would not be able to find engine parts for my Avro A380...

 

So then it was out the factory to try out this little wonderful thing - it's technical name is a 'wotcher-notcher' - that must be true because I made it up just now.

 

Basically a 'wotcher notcher' is a small hand-held mitre box that allows you to cut several lengths of wire or pipe or plastic (or whatever) at a standard measured length, and guides your saw or razor blade to cut at exactly 90 degrees or 45 degrees as required. G.W. - the guy whose battleship beat my submarine for gold at the last WASMEx - swears by this tool. He's less 'tool orientated' than I am but when he's working on his ships he always has this one within reach.

 

Here I am cutting the first of nine bits of plastic pipe all to a standard length. That Razor saw looks appallingly rusted - but it's actually quite sharp.

 

Here's 8 of the 9 little plastic pipe things that I need...

 

and below we can see the ninth...

 

Each of the so-called 'grub-screws' has a hole in the centre of it into which that bit of plastic piping fits nice and tightly. So, simply line up the pipe with the bung-hole and stick the assembly in a vice and...

 

squeeze until the pipe sinks right into the centre of the screw. It's a beautifully tight fit so absolutely no glue is required.

 

Repeat the step above eight more times - then do some maths and work out at what length to cut off the brass 'sticky-outey' bits exending from the engine's crank-shaft.

 

Cut them with that invaluable pair of heat-tempered steel scissors.  When I bought them I asked the shopkeeper if they - the scissors not the shop staff - would stand severe abuse.  She assured me that they would, and have they ever!  These scissors have been a great buy.

 

So now after snap-fitting all of the bits above together I have the basic outline of a Le Rhone 9j rotary engine.

 

Clearly there's a lot more to do on this engine, and it's definitely never going to be 'laser accurate', but I am happy with it.  It meets my low standards for accuracy and finish and, at this early stage, looks about right when dropped into place under the cowling.

 

That's about it for now...

Next time - I dunno - I might get back to that cockpit...?

 

Best Regards and thanks for all the banter and interest,

Bandsaw Steve 👍

 

 

[Brandy]

Interesting method of building the engine and it obviously works! Shame that Bunnings tried to hide their cylinders, but a good detective usually wins through. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who wanders through hardware stores wondering if certain items can be repurposed more usefully!

 

Ian

[Jonners]

Yup. Another scratchbuilding schoolday.

[John Masters]

That is very cool.

[Ted]

Thanks for that Steve, I will definitely steal that brilliant idea.

[pheonix]

What a brilliant idea for making a rotary engine. Pity it would not work in the True Scale but still very effective in this ginormous one. I am sure that with a few extra details the engine will easily pass muster.

 

P

[Redshift]

I chickened out of using screws for cylinders as I thought helical cooling fins would look odd. I was clearly wrong as this will look spot on once painted. Good job.

 

[hendie]

9 hours ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

So then it was out the factory to try out this little wonderful thing - it's technical name is a 'wotcher-notcher'

 

Nice bit of tooling there - I've looked at one of those several times but never had the severity of need to pull the trigger.  Looks like it worked wonders for you.

 

Then the vise

 

 

then the scissors

 

 

now you're just showing off.

 

 

Though I am happy to see you maintaining your consistently low standards in terms of technical terminology, technical technicality, and in technical wizardry.  Fabulous update.

 

Have you considered wrapping small diameter wire around the threads in the grub screws?  It might give the impression of more cooling fins... or it may not

 

 

[HAMP man]

don't laugh but flower arranging wire is very thin and very bendy and has a myriad of uses to the very determined !

[Bandsaw Steve]

Third time lucky?

 

Here's that brass cockpit that I made way back whenever, getting a lick of paint here and there.  I was well-pleased with this cockpit when I made it. Reckoned I was getting the hang of a soldering iron and so-forth.

 

And here it is coming along nicely with some stick-on wood laminate used to create the effect of the wooden instrument panels. I've also used it to create some of the longerons and ribs and so forth. It's looking a bit promising... 

But not really... more and more I found myself trying to like it... trying to convince myself that it was OK and that it would do. But there was a problem with this assembly and it was becoming obvious that there would be some fairly serious implications for later on if I didn't fix it right now.

 

When I built the cockpit tub it was too wide in the middle because the instructor's instrument panel was too wide. As a consequence, in plan view, the walls of the cockpit both bowed outwards. In the diagram below they should be straight and in about the position of the red lines. The orange arrows point to where - if I don't correct this now - there will be a gap between the top deck of the fuselage and the brass cockpit-walls.  This will cause all kinds of issues later on - especially when fitting the struts that support the centre of the upper wing.

 

So it was time to have a serious rethink and take some fairly drastic action...   One good thing about solder; a soldering iron melts it pretty quick, so you can undo everything you have done very promptly.

 

Yep - that made a mess 😦 - but at least the cockpit walls can be straightened now and with a bit of effort can be made to sit in the right place.

 

Have another crack with that soldering iron. The big blunt one this time. I'm getting the hang of the idea that you heat the metal - not the solder - key concept that!

 

This time use solder to attach the two longerons on the inside of the brass cockpit wall.  Make sure that each longeron extends beyond the length of the brass sheet.

 

Prime the thing again...

 

Then use a V profile chisel to cut some deep notches in the relevant spots on the outside of the fuselage...

 

and 'Voila' we have two straight fuselage side walls that sit in the right spot.

 

Here's how it looks from the side. It's probably also a reasonable way to make recesses for - let's say - some 20mm cannons, but that's not what's going on here. Ultimately the brass is going to be attached into those slots with some araldite and then the slot plugged with some milli-put.  I'm nothing if not bodgy!

I think this is going to be better. It better be - this is my third attempt at this job. 🤨

 

I can't complain though - I knew when I took on this project that it was going to push my limited envelope of skills. That's why I picked a biplane.  Won't be doing that again in a hurry...  😁  probably...

 

Steve

 

[Matt_]

Top re-bodging, Sir. I think that's much improved.

[Ray S]

1 hour ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Third time lucky?

Have another crack with that soldering iron. The big blunt one this time. I'm getting the hang of the idea that you heat the metal - not the solder - key concept that!

 

Steve

 

Steve, in the interests of honesty, I have to admit that the last sentence there is one that finally sank into my brain! I actually remembered that you had mentioned this some time ago earlier in your build, and I promptly heated the brass rod to very hot when I soldered a pair of 1/600 masts for my highly detailed Mistercraft HMS Eskimo!

 

Thank you very much for mentioning little details like this, it really helps us mere mortals with our modelling!

 

All the best,

 

Ray

[Marklo]

Still loving the build. Funny how it can gnaw away at you when you compromise something on a scratchbuild.  Been there many times where my modelling conscience has made me redo a part so it's right. e.g. the headrest on my Deperdussin.

vs

 

 

This was my attempt at a 1/48 LeRhone in my Pup (looks much better IRL, but that's probably because it's mostly covered up   as you can see) It's plastic tube wrapped in .5mm wire for the cylinders, aluminium wire for the manifold (the more astute among you may notice these are the wrong way round, and contrary to the above statement I haven't convinced myself to redo them ) and the crankcase is a sprocket from an airfix Sherman tank from the spares box. 

Edited November 26, 2018 by Marklo

[TheBaron]

That engine. And the thing. And the other thing.

All looking terribly good Steve - adaptation and inventiveness of the finest order. Plus an excellent display of tools to boot. Bravo!

On 11/16/2018 at 1:42 PM, limeypilot said:

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who wanders through hardware stores wondering if certain items can be repurposed more usefully!

Do it in the hardware store and it's just healthy curiosity - do it in the jeweller's and suddenly you're helping police with their enquiries. I ask you...

[bigbadbadge]

Great work Steve.  The hardware store narrative was fantastic  great idea.  Good recovery on the cockpit walls they look fantastic. 

All the best 

Chris 

[Courageous]

Good fix of the cockpit 

 

Have you thought about changing your display name, again, 'Bodger Steve' 

 

Stuart