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Barracuda questions regarding wing fold


PenquinTony

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Hi all,

I’m looking for info from an expert on the Fairey Barracuda. I’m planning (for 2nd time) to try the Special Hobby 1/48 Barracuda with the wings folded. (First one had too many mistakes to live with!)

Naturally all photos are relatively poor quality but it appears to me that the pins which lock the wing to tailplane protrude through the top of the tailplane.  (see these photo links)

 

http://mail.barracudaproject.co.uk/assets/images/History/Folded.JPG

https://ww2aircraft.net/forum/attachments/fairey-barracuda-jpg.381244/

 

Also in Matthew Willis book page 17, again not a clear picture but little points of some sort are visible.

 

However its not shown on plan drawings that way and I’ve not seen any other modeller do it. Am I confusing something or am I right?

 

A follow on question, is the pin painted with the top camouflage?

 

Thanks for any help available, Tony

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Looking at your second image, which is the only one that I’ve found under my own steam, the top of the latch pin appears to protrude above the tailplane leading edge.  The angle of the aircraft relative to the camera in your first image serves to hide the pin behind the tailplane upper surface.  As for your follow-on question the colour of the pin seems to match that of the surrounding camouflage.  I hope that others who know more and better will be along soon with definitive information.  Blueness noches.

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I believe that there is a detent type catch in the leading edge of the tailplane that the wing locking bar fits into. I do not believe that the bar goes through the tailplane but  the wing lock  bar engages a catch in the detent, perhaps what you are seeing is the top of the locking bar protruding out of the detent. If you are doing the S/H 1/48 Barracuda, "you are a better man than I Gunga Din!" I have made 2-3 abortive attempts to start on mine and I did not even think about trying to fold the wings...Where angles fear to thread.

I would assume that the lock bar was painted with whatever color that part of the wing was painted but I would guess that the paint on the locking bar itself where it engaged the detent did not last long, assuming that section was painted.

Good luck!

Pat D

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Tony, good morning.

Pat's explanation above pretty much nails it: that trailing edge of the mainplaine folds up and forward onto a rod sticking up on the mainplane about a third of the way out in order to give clearance for the whole wing to swing back. The other pin out near the tip of the mainplane then slips into a spring-loaded clip in the leading edge of the tailplane.

 

It's that which makes it look as if the rod is sticking up though the tailplane, as you have duly noted.

 

I built the 1/72 Special Hobby Barracuda with a working starboard wing fold, but due to the confined space in the wing root wasn't able to get the functioning hinge angled exactly:

 

Hth,

Tony

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Ah ha!

That's brilliant everyone. Thanks a million.

I hadn't sussed the pin ended up in the leading edge but now I look at photos again I can see (i.e. pick out a dark splodge) in said leading edge.

It also makes sense of course for how the pin engages.

The geometry of my first attempt at this was clearly off. 😨 I'll have to give careful thought to getting mm precision during construction and 

a suitable sequence so it all matches up.

Thanks again everyone.

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This might help, too; it’s the tail of the FAA Museum’s Barra restoration.  You can see the latch clearly:

98402fc3-e267-4286-9840-67d0d0dc7208.jpe

 

No, I don’t know why there’s a Dalek in there either!

Edited by Ex-FAAWAFU
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Faaantastic! Never expected something that good. 

But not sure I can convince anyone about the Dalek in a diorama. Got a skeptical family.

Thanks.

And I guess its time I got a FB account lol.

Perhaps you could cover another missing piece of info for me... inside the wing root, attached to fuselage sides, are two bottles. What are these (and are they painted the standard colour for whatever it is)?

Thanks.

Tony

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Alas, they haven’t got that far.  Pure guess, but emergency air blow-down for the undercarriage?

 

The Barracuda Restoration is about the only thing that makes me keep FB going.  I don’t think they update anywhere else, but on FB they post about once a fortnight.  Still a long way to go, but when you look at the raw material (crashed aircraft from about 4 different sites) and the amount of work each piece requires, they have made astonishing progress.  My Dad was a Barracuda Observer, and my Uncle his pilot, so it’s a topic dear to my heart; I had always assumed I’d never see a real Barracuda (despite more of them being built than any other RN type), so I am chuffed to bits that eventually I will.

 

Plus I helped to load lift some of their wreckage from the Paps of Jura when flying Seakings out of Prestwick, so I feel I have contributed in a tiny way!

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On 10/10/2018 at 1:16 PM, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Alas, they haven’t got that far.  Pure guess, but emergency air blow-down for the undercarriage?

 

The Barracuda Restoration is about the only thing that makes me keep FB going.  I don’t think they update anywhere else, but on FB they post about once a fortnight.  Still a long way to go, but when you look at the raw material (crashed aircraft from about 4 different sites) and the amount of work each piece requires, they have made astonishing progress.  My Dad was a Barracuda Observer, and my Uncle his pilot, so it’s a topic dear to my heart; I had always assumed I’d never see a real Barracuda (despite more of them being built than any other RN type), so I am chuffed to bits that eventually I will.

 

Plus I helped to load lift some of their wreckage from the Paps of Jura when flying Seakings out of Prestwick, so I feel I have contributed in a tiny way!

Thanks, I try to post weekly but normal life gets in the way sometimes. Off to Wales for a family break so won’t be in tomorrow or next Friday but I will be posting as I’ve been sent some photos to post. 

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