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White Knight - Short Crusader: or ‘How to Build a Very, Very Fast Floatplane Very, Very Slowly’


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Hello all, I’m looking forward to having fellow travellers again on this long journey of mine ...

 

Hopefully you can tolerate me still doddering on with this one!

 

I have a long-running build thread over here ...

 

 

... but I propose transferring the tortured narrative back over here for the duration, taking up Enzo’s offer to roll-over builds from the last floatplane group build.

 

My current status, in summary:

 

A collection of subassemblies - including the requisite floats - primed in white ...

 

White!

 

... since embellished with a flourish of blue to the fuselage spine ...

 

Mask off

 

... & most recently, back in the tailplane jig after accidentally snapping off the starboard stabiliser - sigh!

 

Two steps forward, one back ..

 

So, I’m hoping there’s an outside chance I might finish this time around.  We shall see ...

 

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Hi Greggles!

 

Welcome to the GB! It's great to have this impressive build carried over to the second edition of the GB! I was much impressed by the work done till now :worthy:

 

Looking forward to seeing it progressing.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

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On 8/26/2019 at 10:41 AM, Bandsaw Steve said:

Nice!

Thanks Steve - are we going to see you whittling a waterline in this GB??

 

On 8/26/2019 at 4:56 PM, bigbadbadge said:

this looks a lovely machine, will watch with much interest.

Indeed it is Chris.  The sleek inline machines dominate the Schneider scene, and make this one something of an oddity, but I’ve come to appreciate its uniqueness.

 

11 hours ago, jrlx said:

Looking forward to seeing it progressing.

 

Thanks Jaime, nice to be back in the fold!

 

Well, as mentioned in my opening post, in finishing the blue, I damaged the tailplane.  Since then I have fixed said tailplane ... and in doing so damaged the white.  So, another step backwards before forward, masked up & resprayed ...

 

Sunday

 

Back on track ...

 

Sunday

 

There’s only a few tasks remaining for this fuselage subassembly.  One of which would be the RAF fin flash to the rudder.

4_1_zpsvhhhthq9

The Karaya kit supplies a crisp decal ...

 

Sunday

 

However something did not feel right, a nagging recollection of a discussion elsewhere here on Britmodeller re a reversal of the colour order that the RAF mandated between the wars.  So I posted a query in a separate thread & was very grateful for the responses ...

 

 

The conclusion being that Karaya has it wrong - it ought to be red at the back ...

 

So another challenge.  Plenty else to keep me busy while I distil a strategy.

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2 hours ago, greggles.w said:

Thanks Steve - are we going to see you whittling a waterline in this GB??

 

Indeed it is Chris.  The sleek inline machines dominate the Schneider scene, and make this one something of an oddity, but I’ve come to appreciate its uniqueness.

 

 

Thanks Jaime, nice to be back in the fold!

 

Well, as mentioned in my opening post, in finishing the blue, I damaged the tailplane.  Since then I have fixed said tailplane ... and in doing so damaged the white.  So, another step backwards before forward, masked up & resprayed ...

 

Sunday

 

Back on track ...

 

Sunday

 

There’s only a few tasks remaining for this fuselage subassembly.  One of which would be the RAF fin flash to the rudder.

4_1_zpsvhhhthq9

The Karaya kit supplies a crisp decal ...

 

Sunday

 

However something did not feel right, a nagging recollection of a discussion elsewhere here on Britmodeller re a reversal of the colour order that the RAF mandated between the wars.  So I posted a query in a separate thread & was very grateful for the responses ...

 

 

The conclusion being that Karaya has it wrong - it ought to be red at the back ...

 

So another challenge.  Plenty else to keep me busy while I distil a strategy.

The old Build-n-Repair 2-Step, I know it well.

 

The blue and white look real nice together, esp with that shade of blue. and nice catch on the rudder flash.

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 Really enjoyed the first part of this build but had forgotten about it until I saw the title. Good to see it back on the bench  and I hope it gets finished this time. 

Colin 

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On 9/2/2019 at 1:19 AM, Thom216 said:

The blue and white look real nice together, esp with that shade of blue. and nice catch on the rudder flash.

 

On 9/4/2019 at 7:34 AM, Courageous said:

Good catch on the fin flash, noted.

 

On 9/4/2019 at 10:19 AM, AdrianMF said:

Good to see this on the move again. The colours look really sharp.

Thanks all, it is remarkable how we celebrate any relief from the pure white!

 

On 9/4/2019 at 10:27 PM, Colin W said:

Good to see it back on the bench  and I hope it gets finished this time. 

Thanks Colin, nice to have you back, & yes, I’m very motivated to finish!

 

So, the weekend!

 

Sunday

 

All this for a little interior painting, from this ...

 

Sunday

 

.. to this:

 

Sunday

 

This is certainly not an exemplar super-detailed cockpit, the approach being rather more like amateur theatre set design - heavy lashings of matt black & brown to send it all out of sight & mind.

 

Having said that there was a little variation with some semi-gloss black for the instrument panel, in readiness for dial-face decals.

 

Sunday

 

I’m really not sure what I was thinking when I built the instrument panel in as an integral bulkhead way back when ...

 

image_zpstppvouly

 

.. trying to paint these now makes painting an instrument panel inside my own nostril seem an easier proposition!

 

So with stage set, our hero is fixed in place ...

 

Sunday

 

Those already tsk-tsking about my absent cockpit detail may also be troubled by the pilots lack of seatbelts ... or control column now I think of it.

 

But again we must remind ourselves of how small this machine was.  The fuselage cross-section diameter is no bigger than the engine crankcase - excluding cylinders!  The same Bristol Mercury powered the Blenheim, so by comparison this machine is something like half the diameter of  a Blenheim engine nacelle.  The fuselage doors hinge up & out to let the pilots shoulders through, closing again such that once in, little other than his head can be seen:

 

Sunday

 

Hence my approach to interior detail & paint!

 

This is just a test fit, as I just need to first go cross-eyed attempting to apply those instrument decals, & then fix the side glazing.

 

Bert seems pretty happy with progress nevertheless...

 

Sunday

 

:pilot:

 

Note too the addition of the leather headrest, fashioned from scrap styrene.  What the camera politely does not reveal is the blemish from a CA glue accident during installation of this little part.  It’s marked the blue above, & so sets me the task of rubbing that back & re-painting ... 

On 9/2/2019 at 1:19 AM, Thom216 said:

The old Build-n-Repair 2-Step, I know it well.

 

... sigh!

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Looking real good!

I did the same thing with my S6B, scratching an IP and securing it into a fuse half before painting. Sometimes we don't make things easy on ourselves. But considering how little you can probably see through there I wouldn't sweat it!

 

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With that pilot figure in there, I doubt you'll see your effort with the i/p. You could almost blank off the cockpit altogether and stick a head on it. Can you imagine this in 1/72? Would you see much more without the figure I wonder?

 

Stuart

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One of those unanticipated opportunities for a focused hour this evening.  Spent applying a decal ... yes, one decal. 😳

 

Airscale’s 1:48 airspeed indicator, the instrument I speculate is front & centre of the pilots view, all but hidden in the shadows here:

 

BRIT_17B_zpsrhral416

 

& here we go ...

 

Speedo!

 

On 9/9/2019 at 11:15 AM, Thom216 said:

Sometimes we don't make things easy on ourselves.

Quite so - I tied myself in knots doing that!  I strongly suspect it’s tenure may be short lived, perhaps held in place only by static electricity?  Wait for it to dry & see ...

 

On 9/9/2019 at 4:58 PM, Courageous said:

With that pilot figure in there, I doubt you'll see your effort with the i/p.

 

Much wisdom in this observation Stuart.  I briefly brought Dan Darstardly (thanks @AdrianMF!) into place & you’re absolutely right - nothing to see here!  So with thanks to your permission I will quite happily call the instruments done & move on!!

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5 hours ago, Courageous said:

Ah, now you've put a fly in the ointment. Now I see how the cockpit door opens, I reckon that'll be how I will pose my Crusader but that'll mean cockpit detail :evil_laugh:.

 

Stuart

 

If you are seriously contemplating taking this on (at 1/72 no less!!) & need references, let me know.  I have a bucket of images collected over time, many you may well have already seen, others perhaps not.  It’s all a bit haphazardly ordered & unattributed, but if you think it would help I’m sure there’d be some way I could ‘internet’ it across to you ...

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More of consequence to report tonight: I have - finally - joined wings to fuselage!

 

Sometime ago (2yrs?!!) I layered up some sheet on a stone slab as a jig to achieve dihedral when bringing together my mended wings & wingroot / centre section as cut from the kit fuselage halves ...

 

Crusader_17.8.13_1

 

Crusader_17.8.13_1

 

... well it turns out I must have left it intact for a reason ...

 

48721321028_6c98ea518e_b.jpg

 

This jig assisted again by holding the wings steady for glue application, and also insured against me splaying the wings out of dihedral though over-enthusiastic pressure when gluing.  Or such was my concern ...

 

In any case - glazing was fixed in, then the subassemblies at last permanently brought together!

 

48721655246_8784b27b82_b.jpg

 

Now sitting, waiting overnight for the slow-burn CA glue to cure before I handle again.

 

There are varying gaps along the upper join, but nothing beyond that which should be filled with carefully applied white liquid putty.  It remains to be seen if it is equally benign below ...

 

Feels like quite a milestone.

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Thanks again for the company gents,

 

Tonight quietly spent finishing the joints, filled yesterday with a little white putty & liquid surfacer.  Calling that task done up here ..

 

Cleanup

 

& over here too ..

 

Cleanup

 

.. & down here too:

 

Cleanup

 

The wing / fuselage join was set along a pronounced lapped panel line, so the intent here was not to blend in, more clean up.  I intend one final light coat of white to further integrate the two.

 

Now Bert (aka Dan) can start preliminary, unpowered test glide flights, over the dark stormy sea that is the kitchen floor ...

 

Cleanup

 

I really should soon paint those wing oil coolers ... but I’m procrastinating re colour choice.  Instead I think I’ll next investigate mounting the cowl (minus individual cylinder helmets) to the front there ...

 

g’night / g’morning all, as the case may be ...

 

 

 

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