Macchi M.39 Speedbird: radiators

[DMC]

50 minutes ago, greggles.w said:

You’re powering ahead & this looks great! Very well done!

Thanks, greggles.  Still a little more to do: belts, rudder bar and a highlights.  These cockpits are pretty sparse to begin with but as little can be seen when the fuselage is closed up excessive detail isn't really necessary.

 

50 minutes ago, greggles.w said:

such an impressive & beautiful machine nevertheless.

Agreed! Something about the Italian sense of style in a lot of what they do is certainly carried over to these Macchi racers. Pity about the M.67 not doing very well, and the Fiat C.29.  I'll add a link here in a minute that might interest you.  If you haven't got it already'

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

,http://www.cmpr.it/Macchi M.67/macchi__m.htm

 

 

[Courageous]

Thanks for the useful link Dennis. Anymore useful links for other racers?

 

Stuart

[DMC]

Bought the Pegram book, Dave.  Very good. Thanks.

56 minutes ago, Courageous said:

Thanks for the useful link Dennis. Anymore useful links for other racers?

 

Stuart

Have you looked in the galleria?

 

Dennis

[Giorgio N]

Missed the start of this thread but I'm happy to have found this before it was too late. Great work, loved everyting you've done til now !

[Marklo]

Amazing work. I've never seen such good use of plunge moulding, although I do use it quite a bit myself, mostly for canopies and fairings but the occaisional fuselage. Here's the before and after of the fuselage of a 1/32 Depredussin racer I recently made using plunge moulding.

 

 

The shell is about 40mm at it's widest point and about 150mm long. It did take lots of filling and sanding to finish it off.

 

[Courageous]

4 minutes ago, Marklo said:

Depredussin racer

Oooohh. What did you use as reference, what to do these (like others) in 1/72?

 

57 minutes ago, DMC said:

Have you looked in the galleria?

No I hadn't but I saved the link. Thanks Dennis.

 

Stuart

[Marklo]

Quote

 

Depredussin racer

Oooohh. What did you use as reference, what to do these (like others) in 1/72?

 

Scale plans from the internet and many photos. It's more or less the 1913 Gordon Bennet trophy winner. 

[DMC]

2 hours ago, Marklo said:

Scale plans from the internet and many photos. It's more or less the 1913 Gordon Bennet trophy winner. 

 

Very very nice.  I see that a Deperdussin also won the 1913 Schneider Cup in Monaco.  Much modified from the 1912 GB winner, it featured a proper spider’s web of control wires.  Make a nice model but oh that rigging.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[greggles.w]

12 hours ago, DMC said:

I'll add a link here in a minute that might interest you.

 

Very interesting, thank you.  It seems they’ve used your build as a reference 😉

[Courageous]

13 hours ago, DMC said:

Deperdussin also won the 1913 Schneider Cup in Monaco.

Initially, this would be the one I would build first.

 

Stuart

[Marklo]

Not wanting to hijack DMC's  Macchi thread the build thread for the Dep is Here

Edited August 22, 2018 by Marklo
details

[Caerbannog]

Excellent work  - I especially like the aluminum prop technique.

[DMC]

1 hour ago, Courageous said:

Initially, this would be the one I would build first.

 

Stuart

Hmm, roughly 38 individual rigging wires.  Limey Pilot might even think twice on that one.  And he’s good at it.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

46 minutes ago, Marklo said:

Not wanting to hijack DMC's  Macchi thread the build thread for the Dep is Here

Not a problem.  Had a quick look.  Looks good, I’ll get back to it later. 

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

41 minutes ago, Caerbannog said:

Excellent work  - I especially like the aluminum prop technique.

 

Thanks, very much appreciated.

 

Dennis

 

[DMC]

Thinking about seatbelts for the 'bird, I remember seeing something about using Milliput for them.  Could have been on BM, if so, thanks for posting.  So, rolled out a bit of the extra fine stuff and running it through the pasta machine on the #1 setting I got a nice flat strip.  I let it cure for a few minutes and then tried out a few shades of Vallejo acrylics.  Pale sand is good.  Cut a few thin strips up and tried them out in positions of suitable disarray on the seat.  Put the seat aside overnight and then applied a few metal effects with a cheapo silver gel pen.   The effect looks okay for my first attempt and the stuff is easier to manipulate then etched metal.  Also quite a bit cheaper.

 

Note to self for the next time:  Apply the gel pen before fixing the belts to the seat.  Use a paint brush dipped in water to pick up the belts instead of a toothpick.  No marks and the damp Milliput will/should adhere the belts to the seat easier.  Try forming very thin strips into the metal bits.  Experiment with an even thinner strip. 

 

And, putting the cart firmly in front of the horse. in a minute I'll add a YouTube link I found after finishing my seat.  

 

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Dennis

 

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

On 8/21/2018 at 6:55 AM, Marklo said:

Here's the before and after of the fuselage of a 1/32 Depredussin racer I recently made using plunge moulding.

And in 1/72 made (some time ago) from vac shells on wood masters. Perhaps easier than plunging?:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DMC]

5 hours ago, Moa said:

Perhaps easier than plunging?:

Somewhat, Moa, but starting with a blank sheet of styrene has its rewards also.  Still, nice build.

 

Dennis

[DMC]

Quick worktop shot of work I did on the M.39 yesterday.  Vertical stab, rudder and skeg made using the Woodman styrene sandwich with a balsa filling method.  I used .015 styrene which is pushing it a bit as the cement softens the edges too much and it's easier to sand through.  For the horizontals I'll try .020.  The cowling needs a little modifying as a photo I found clarifies the arrangement of the 'bumps' and I'm off on the rear half.  I should have a 'stop looking' point when it comes to research photos.  Save me having to do things over.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Dennis

 

 

[greggles.w]

Wow, great progress, very shapely!

[DMC]

37 minutes ago, greggles.w said:

Wow, great progress, very shapely!

Thanks.  Incidentally, Speedbirds arrived this week.  Great artwork, very inspirational.  Besides the M.67 I am really liking the Sopwith Tabloid. 

 

Dennis

[woody37]

Lovely plane and excellent modelling, first time I've stumbled on this, but popcorn stocked up

 

[DMC]

3 hours ago, woody37 said:

Lovely plane and excellent modelling, first time I've stumbled on this, but popcorn stocked up

 

Thank you and welcome Woody.

 

Dennis

[Courageous]

I like that! 

Borrowed this from Bandsaw's Avro thread:

Loved to see what was to the left and right 

 

Stuart

[DMC]

 

After looking at the cowling a little more closely, I decided that the valve cover bulges were just that little bit too buxom.  So, rather than try and remedy things by sanding them down, I shaved and sanded the moulds a little and went ahead and made another cowling.  The difference is probably not that obvious in the photo but it is there.  The space between the bulges is wider now and there is a little more room for the vents that parallel the central bulge.  The second half of the cowling is different also.

 

I've added the horizontal stab and elevator also.  Same method as the vertical stab and rudder.

 

Next up will be the wing.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

 

 

 

 

[DMC]

No more plunging on this one.  Here is the collection of moulds I made to get to the point I am with the M.39.  I should say that these are the moulds I used.  Doesn't include the ones I got wrong and had to do over.  A fair sized pile of half melted styrene should accompany this lot but most of that went into the bin.

 

All part of the learning process.

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Dennis

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Very instructive! 🧐

 

Thanks for posting all of this - it has my little brain-thinker brain-thinking. 🤔

 

👍👍👍