A very British experiment, Marshall MA4.

[Head in the clouds.]

1 hour ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

P-38, P-39

Now that does surprise me, fitting it to a fighter, was it only for movement across sodden or crated airfields or did they fly with it connected?

I am just glad they found other ways around rough field performance, can you imagine a Jaguar or A10 with that kit and ka-boodle?

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

From what i read they flew them like this to see if there were any major issues ? The were retractable to a degree but only flush to the aircraft, not inside. It obviously never really worked right or it would've been a more common sight. 

Edited June 3, 2018 by Corsairfoxfouruncle

[Head in the clouds.]

Ingenious really if not aesthetically pleasing.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello @Head in the clouds. ... did a quick Google search for aircraft with tracked Landing gear. I believe this is an Auster possibly the same one from above. 

next up is a P-40 fighter. 

Then an LI-2(Soviet copy of DC-3). And what looks to be a C-119 or its predecessor.  

Heres an A-20 on the ground and in flight. 

Here is a B-29 which is pretty amazing ! 

Until you realize they even tried this on a B-36 ? 

 

My apologies for the thread hi-jack but i figured id post these. 

 

Dennis

 

[Head in the clouds.]

I hope everyone has had a good weekend, which is now drawing to a close, dratt, dratt and double dratt.

 

My aim this weekend was to finish the cockpit area so I can move on to other areas, the wings and undercarriage being my main focus for the coming week. Having sorted the pilot out with instruments I now turned my attention to the observers position, this requiring a couple of instrument backs and the rear bulkhead/frame assembly.

This is the first instrument bank with the framework that supports it;

 

 Made from plasticard and wire and a few failed attempts this is what I am fitting.

 

In my hast I forgot to photograph the second panel, but if you look carefully you can make it out in the following pics.

 

 

 

 

Whilst waiting for paint and glue to do it's thing I painted the cockpit framework, after looking at several pics Silver seemed to be the default colour so I went with that colour.

The last job to do is to make an orifice on the bottom of the fuselage in front of the observer for the Budworth 60HP single stage turbine.

As the turbine will not be seen I will only make some pipework and blank it off, approx 10mm up, I do not see the point of spending time making something that cannot be enjoyed.

 

I had a little time on the wings, making the underwing attachment points for the support struts which I will have to make from scratch, by the time I finish the only items from the kit left will be the fuselage and propeller.

Along with some scribing this is where the wings are up to;

 

This is my new best friend, he has a vice or two but I have had him since my apprentice days, it was my test piece to complete my first year and I could never bring myself to throw it away, thankfully, now I am back into modelling it has come in very useful.

 

On my next post I will hopefully have the turbine exhaust done and so allowing me to get the last panel fitted to seal everything on once the wing is in place.

 

Thanks for looking.

Ta ta.

[Head in the clouds.]

14 minutes ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

My apologies

Non needed, thanks for posting, they are very interesting pictures, I cannot believe they tried it on so many different aircraft but a B36 takes the biscuit, are you really going to take a B36 over soft ground?

They certainly tried their best to make it work.

[perdu]

Love that tool clamp device, a thing of beauty

You did well hanging on to that

Great work on this Airfix babyplane, I know how well that goes together as an Auster

it doesnt

 

This is a fascinating build, thanks for it

[bhouse]

You're going to need that clamp to hold the wing steady when you start to drill all the holes in them. Apparently  0.05" holes at a 0.1" spacing in real life, so I hope you have some fine bits and a good press 😄.

[Head in the clouds.]

8 hours ago, perdu said:

I know how well that goes together as an Auster

Welcome Bill

Thank you, as ever your words are very wise, like your AOP6 rebuild I too had to leave much out of the cockpit, my seats have no room for a scale A4 sheet of paper between them.

It was nice however to have a big and open empty tub to make a better fist of it than Airfix.

I would love to have seen your pictures of the build, your WIP was on the first page of my internet search when I was gathering material for my build....thanks a million PhotoBin.

Gary

 

36 minutes ago, bhouse said:

Apparently  0.05" holes at a 0.1" spacing in real life,

Thanks for reminding of the job that should not be spoken of bhouse😉🤐. I have not even done the calculation on what the scale spacing would be out of sheer fear but I am thinking of a few shades darker on the area where the runs of holes are on the wing, at least then I will have a representation of them.

 

As a quick add on this is what I am trying to achieve with my observers cockpit.

 

 

[perdu]

I'm sorry the pics have all gone, I thought I had them in Postimg.cc

Obviously not, Bucketofpain has done immense damage to we modellers and probably the same for hundreds of other hobbies

 

While I keep an eye in here I will also get back and rebuild the Auster thread

 

One thing I always note, all scratch build interiors suffer scale creep to some extent

I'd have set the seat sizes after setting the instrument binnacle first then you can halve the remaining space for the seats

 

Looks to me as if you managed to get by that bit without many problems, I love the instrumentation in the back

Fabulous work

[bhouse]

1 hour ago, Head in the clouds. said:

I have not even done the calculation on what the scale spacing would be out of sheer fear

There are, apparently, 200,000 of them 😵

I read on the Secret Projects forum that the whole holey wing was covered in model aircraft tissue paper and doped, then specific holes were punched through so different configurations could be tested.

Apparently one person could punch up to 100 holes per minute: that's up to 40+ man-days of hole-punching per test-flight.

 

And I should have said earlier, I think you are doing a fantastic job on this kit - I'm looking forward to seeing how it progresses.

[perdu]

I have made a start with repicturing my Auster  threads

 

As it is going to take a while I thought I would repair the RFI set first, they are now done

[Head in the clouds.]

9 hours ago, perdu said:

I'm sorry the pics have all gone,

 

No problem Bill, I did not mention it as a disservice to you more a moan at PB, as you say, they have done a lot of damage to many people and organisations.....long may they suffer.

 

Scale creep sounds a little like mission creep where you loose sight of your objectives, I have to hold my hands up and say there are a few items where I think the scale has done it's own thing, I blame my eyes and out of date spectacles🙄

Makes a lot of sense what you say about setting the instruments first then the seats, one to bank for future use.

 

Thanks for re instating the photo's to your threads, that will be great, I feel more inspiration coming my way.

 

Cheers.

Gary

 

8 hours ago, bhouse said:

There are, apparently, 200,000 of them

Now you know why I have avoided that little subject, mind you , it is a typically British solution to what could have been a tricky issue, slap some tissue on it and poke them out when needed; simple but effective.

 

Cheers

Gary

 

Thank you for your kind words gentleman, I am glad you are finding it of interest.

[Head in the clouds.]

Good evening everyone.

Bit of an update from tonight's. session at the bench. First up is the exhaust baffle, no nasty surprise lurking here, a piece of brass rod heated up at the end and flattened then a quick lick of a file. A smaller piece of rod was placed at the front of the baffle and that finished of this little item.

 

Next up and in no particular order is the main undercarriage legs. After a bit of thought I decided to go for brass rod again, simple because it is more crisp when finished than plastic rod.

Two pieces of equal length were inserted into each other and glued and the final section slipped inside the inner leaving 2.5 mm protruding, the end was drilled to later accept the wheel shaft, filed at the top at the approx angle required and repeated for the opposite side.

 

Travelling to the rear of the plane it was time to tackle the vertical stabiliser.  The MA4 had a completely new tail, enlarged in every aspect and so this is what was done here. Two pieces of plasticard were glued together and left overnight.

I then photocopied a side elevation drawing in 1/72 and cut it out, placed it on the plasticard sandwich drew around it in permanent marker.

The next 20 minutes were spent sanding away until I was happy with the shape, continually checking against my cut out tail unit. In the absence of any tech drawings with measurements this was all I could think of doing.

 

Checking against template;

 

Finished item.

 

 

Thanks for looking in, I am off to watch one of my favourite programmes; Versailles, plenty of historical backstabbing and tomfoolery.

 

Goodnight.

[perdu]

Tomfoolery, always up for some tomfoolery

 

I'd like to assure you your way is my way,plus every one I know who scratch builds

 

Acos its the right and proper way

 

Looks good

[Head in the clouds.]

Hello one and all.

 

Well, I feel like I have been at my bench most nights and achieved the sum total of nowt...well maybe a little more than nowt. Much time has been spent trying to find something in the house that I can use as the exhaust outlet for the turbine, once done I can fix the wing in place. Still not found anything so I going to raid the town centre tomorrow.

 

What I have done is make the horizontal tail surfaces, same as before, just whittling the plastic down and checking the template. One thing I had to consider was how to fix it to the vertical tail unit. I went for a length of .45mm brass rod drill and glued, offset against the other side.

 

 

 

I have also be gathering some angles from my photographs of the landing gear and while doing so the wheels rolled into my thoughts.

 

This is what Airfix have given me;

 

 

Not very inspiring or very detailed, in fact they look like doughnuts from a dolls house and that just is not me. After a trawl of the interweb, I could find no direct replacements, however, me thinks that a set of Spitfire Mk I/II/V wheels come close, does anyone have any ideas on this doughnut issue?

 

That is it, meagre offerings for a weeks work, more later.

 

Thanks for looking in.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Not exactly sure what the turbine exhaust looked like, or how big it was ? What about some sort of straw ? Or hollow tubing like brass or aluminum ? Would any of those work ? 

 

Dennis

[perdu]

Many of my pictures have now been reinstated HIC

 

Home brewed wheels and undercarriage is in there now

 

I have had to stall at the finishing stages, about twenty or thirty left to pop in later 

I hate PB

 

71chally might be able to throw wheel and tyre info our way, the man is a veritable powerhouse of data

 

You scratch building is coming along brilliantly, love the tail feathers

[Head in the clouds.]

8 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Not exactly sure what the turbine exhaust looked like, or how big it was ? What about some sort of straw ? Or hollow tubing like brass or aluminum ? Would any of those work ? 

Thank you Dennis.

Yes, I thought the same as you, straws, pen lids, anything long and hollow but nothing in my home is right so I will see about brass rod, just not sure if I can get it at 8mm dia. A quick search should give me that answer. Again, I have no dimensions just two non technical drawings so size wise it is a best guestimate.

7 hours ago, perdu said:

Many of my pictures have now been reinstated HIC

 

Home brewed wheels and undercarriage is in there now

 

I have had to stall at the finishing stages, about twenty or thirty left to pop in later 

I hate PB

 

71chally might be able to throw wheel and tyre info our way, the man is a veritable powerhouse of data

 

You scratch building is coming along brilliantly, love the tail feathers

Ah, many thanks Bill, I shall be looking this weekend for inspiration. If I can follow your lead and fondle some plastic into shape I shall...much more satisfying than spending money..I think.

 

We all hate PB, it must be the fastest growing club in the world

 

Very true, 71chally has helped in a previous build of mine, who needs computers...we have 71chally.

 

Yes, the tail feathers, thank you. I was having a gentle browse through your RFI picks the other night and I noticed the rigging wire you used on the tail, it looked bang on the money. What did you use as I need something that will be as rigid as possible just to give a little  added support to the pins which are only 2mm long and your wire did look nice and taut.

 

Gary

[bhouse]

1 hour ago, Head in the clouds. said:

brass rod, just not sure if I can get it at 8mm

That scales up to over half a metre - sounds on the large side but knowing Marshall (never knowingly under-engineered) anything is possible!

[perdu]

You know what, I think the wire might actually be wire, hard to remember these days

 

I have a reel of 020 gauge* tinned copper wire, bought during my 'learn what you can without mathematics about electronics period' 

 

It is delightfully thin and is often used, rolled under the flat of a steel rule to give dead straight riggingses

If not wire it can only be the venerably old fashioned stretched sprue

 

It's tucked away at present in a box behind a cupboard, if you want me to get it out that is not a problem except getting access in the joint hobby/computer suite

 

Gaffer gets dibs on the morning sessions but this arvo its all mine

[Head in the clouds.]

6 hours ago, bhouse said:

sounds on the large side

Indeed bhouse you are correct, that is what happens when working from memory I have now measured my orifice  and I am looking at 4.5-5.5mm .

 

5 hours ago, perdu said:

if you want me to get it out that is not a problem

Most kind Bill, I have exchanged a quantity of the Queens head for some Albion brass, if that turns out unsuitable I will give you a kindly shout.

 

I must be the lucky one, my partner does not know the difference between a TV and a computer...oh how I laugh

[perdu]

Mine was made from 30swg tinned wire which as I said I bought about fifty three years ago for electronic circuit experiments I was interested in

 

This measures in at ten thousandths of an inch and has the benefit of staying straight when it is rolled flat and is easily cut to length with a modelling knife or scalpel

 

you can see this time round it was even thinner than the stretched sprue I made the antennae from

 

I'll edit this picture away if you like, not trying to get in on your show

the port stay wire was bent when I made the shot, since straightened with a pencil point...

[Head in the clouds.]

On 6/9/2018 at 9:02 PM, perdu said:

I'll edit this picture away if you like, not trying to get in on your show

Don't you dare Bill it is all food for the brain and most fascinating, I have been racking my brain for weeks trying to find something that is thin yet rigid, so thank you muchly.

 

Now, I have not been idle this weekend, despite a Christening and ensuing frivolity, so onwards we march with a mixed bag of jobs.

 

My thoughts turned to the undercarriage, something else that was completely changed from the original, being stronger and with no fabric covering. It occurred to me early on that I would need some sort of a jig to get the angle correct as it is angled both forward and outward, so I rustled up one of my pictures and drew lines all over it, went out and purchased an angle finder( a fancy protractor) and came to the conclusion that the undercarriage is 24 degrees forward and 30 degrees outward.

 

So I made this;

 

 

It will sit as seen here under the fusalage ( which will be upside down ) and will give me the correct angle......I hope !

 

There is much to do on the dangly bits, the two flat items on each wheel strut that looks like a cantilever type of spring look like they will be a challenge in this scale. does anyone know what they are called?

 

Staying on the undercart theme, I wandered over to Perdu's facinating AOP6 WIP to see what he did with the two round pieces of scrap plastic trying to pass off as wheels ( thanks again for reinstating the pics).

I decided to do the same but without the plastic tube ( I am still getting my scratchbuild material stock up) and in so doing thought I would make my own tube from sprue. First wheel worked a treat, not so the second;

 

As much as I tried I could not repeat the process and in trying to bully a piece in it split the wheel, and to rub salt into the wound I cannot find the other half🤬

 

So I did what any self respecting modeller would do ( no, the kit is still in one piece ), I went to another room and sulked 😞

 

When I came back I gravitated towards the wing because it looked easier and even I could not hash them up.

 

Having a turbine in the back of what was the passenger space obviously need air and to this end two grills were fitted towards the back of the wing box assembly, one on each side as can be seen in this pleasing air to air study of the MA4;

 

My plan of attack here was to use an old PE grill from another build, cut it into 2 and mark out it's location on the wing. Next, I took hold of my chisel and hacked away to a grand depth of about 1/2 of one millimetre. extra thin CA glue was dropped in the recess, not much mind, and the cut down PE inserted.

 

After applying a little filler to tidy up the edges and a quick sand we had this;

 

Now I know what you are thinking, my right eye is wonky yet my left is OK. Let me assure you that is not correct, it is fact my right hand grill slightly on the proverbial p word.

That extra thin does half dry quick bit I am thinking once we have a coat of paint on it will not be so apparent.

 

Also seen in the above picture is a little cover on the port side near where the canopy top meets the airframe, this is the filler point for the hydraulic header tank which was easily fashioned out of some Evergreen half round rod;

 

This is now glued to the wing in it's rightful place.

 

Right, I am off to look for half a wheel, I am still waiting for some material to be delivered so I can finish of the turbine outlet.  One job I must not forget is the seat belts, I am thinking a blue colour, does this sound right?

 

Thanks for tuning in.

 

Gary

[perdu]

blue sounds right

 

looking very nice so far

 

off for a drive now but i will look in when data availability permits