Macchi M.5

[Courageous]

Absolutely fantastic stuff, loving it. What scale is it by the way?

 

Stuart

[DMC]

Mighty fine scratch building going on here.  

 

Dennis

[Torbjorn]

Thanks, guy! Encouragement helps; this is certainly slowgoing. Scale is 1/72.

 

 

12 hours ago, pheonix said:

Very neat solution to the wing rib problem I do use strip and sand it all down but it is time consuming and dusty! However the balsa core method does not work well in the True Scale so I do not have a choice. Looking forward to seeing more on this.

 

P

I merely applied the method as described by Woodman, so can’t take any credit.  Balsa will probably just splinter if I try to make it that thin. Will have to try either a harder wood or laminated plastic sheet.

[jrlx]

Impressive work! Very well done!

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

Looking great! Brave to pick this subject for a first scratchbuild but it certainly looks like you will succeed in producing an outstanding model.

[Hewy]

Torbjorn, this is quality,  which I've only just discovered,  its a major inspiration ,a link to the plans would be incredibly  helpfull, 

Glynn

[Torbjorn]

12 minutes ago, Hewy said:

Torbjorn, this is quality,  which I've only just discovered,  its a major inspiration ,a link to the plans would be incredibly  helpfull, 

Glynn

I found them here:

 

https://aerofred.com/search.php?search_terms=all&search_keywords=macchi+m5&submit=Search

 

[Hewy]

15 minutes ago, Torbjorn said:

I found them here:

 

https://aerofred.com/search.php?search_terms=all&search_keywords=macchi+m5&submit=Search

 

Hi torbjorn, a quick look on the site you linked ,I'm interested in 1/32 plans ,did you have to specify your scale , obviously it isnt  the stated 52" wingspan, maybe a look at what you get would be good , how did you go about it (make yourself a member i guess)

[Torbjorn]

11 minutes ago, Hewy said:

Hi torbjorn, a quick look on the site you linked ,I'm interested in 1/32 plans ,did you have to specify your scale , obviously it isnt  the stated 52" wingspan, maybe a look at what you get would be good , how did you go about it (make yourself a member i guess)

I printed the map without any fitting-to-page or scaling, measured the resulting wingspan and fuselage. The calculated the scaling factor I would have to use to get the correct dimensions and printed again, this time scaled. You’ll have to use A3 paper for 1/32 I believe, 1/72 barely fits on A4.

 

 

I didn’t save the scale factor unfortunetely.

Edited October 24, 2019 by Torbjorn

[Hewy]

Thanks  torbjorn, this is the start of a journey , thanks for your quick reply, i appreciate it, 

I look forward to more of your macchi m.5

[Torbjorn]

1 hour ago, Hewy said:

Thanks  torbjorn, this is the start of a journey , thanks for your quick reply, i appreciate it, 

I look forward to more of your macchi m.5

Go ahead! It is not particularly difficult, it just takes an awful lot of time

 

—

 

I have started looking for a paintjob. There are many colourful ones, but it has turned out to be really difficult to find decals. I’ve even started to search for other Italian WWI kits so I at least can get some roundels. In the worst case I’ll have to make masks, and avoid fancy nose art (or is it ”bow art” in this case?)

Edited October 24, 2019 by Torbjorn

[Hewy]

You've come this  far, i would choose the lightest paint scheme possible ,nothing like contrast on a small model , some home printed decals would be ok surely ,

Wondefull work though,  real modelling 

[Paul Thompson]

15 minutes ago, Torbjorn said:

 

I have started looking for a paintjob. There are many colourful ones, but it has turned out to be really difficult to find decals. I’ve even started to search for other Italian WWI kits so I at least can get some roundels. In the worst case I’ll have to make masks, and avoid fancy nose art (or is it ”bow art” in this case?)

These are sold out, but perhaps you can find some on Ebay?  https://www.pheondecals.com/72007---sold-out---macchi-m5-of-italy--the-usn-in-the-adriatic.html .

 

Paul.

[AdrianMF]

This is looking lovely. Enjoying the thread hugely.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Torbjorn]

On 10/24/2019 at 9:20 PM, Hewy said:

You've come this  far, i would choose the lightest paint scheme possible ,nothing like contrast on a small model , some home printed decals would be ok surely ,

Wondefull work though,  real modelling 

I will probably do something like that. The serial number is a bit of a problem to draw oneself though.

 

—

 

Nothing much to show this week. Added some surface details and permanently mounted the tail. The hole on the side in the front is for the port gun (there’s one in the other side too). The hole will take a brass tube flush with the surface. I also added the guns themselves, they are located on the inside of the fuselage. The second picture shows a glimpse of the friendly end of the starboard gun (handles can be seen on the pilot’s right side). The windshield frame is a PE piece stolen from a Nieuport kit. By the way, the Macchi fellows had plenty of experience from building Nieuports, and several features can be seen on the M5, e.g. horisontal tailplane and wing construction.

 

 

 

 

 

[Hewy]

👍👍

[pheonix]

This is really beginning to take shape. The markings on some of these rarer types can be a problem if transfer sheets are not available. I have commissioned them for my model and consider that it was well worth the expense.

 

P

[Torbjorn]

On 10/28/2019 at 9:17 PM, pheonix said:

This is really beginning to take shape. The markings on some of these rarer types can be a problem if transfer sheets are not available. I have commissioned them for my model and consider that it was well worth the expense.

 

P

I am currently rummaging through old decal sheets, but that will be a last resort, unless too expensive.

 

—

 

Not much to say, started on the struts and engine. Struts will be made from hardwood and metal since they need to be thin and still carry some weight (tried plastic strip but it bent).

 

The engine is a Isotta Fraschini V.4 - an inline engine with 6 cylinders, the confusing V stands for Flight which they apparently felt the need to specify (Isotta was and still is a carmaker).

 

The crankcase from plunge molded plastic (lower half) and solid plastic (upper). I have to narrow the upper part a bit, it’s too wide. Other parts from various strips and rods. After a few hours we are about here:

The three pieces represents the cylinder houses, which had one pair of cylinders in each.

 

 

The springs on the valves are made from winding 0.05-0.1 mm wire around 0.5 mm plastic rod and toasting it: the plastic flows into the windings to produce a spring-shape appearance. Not that I see it with bare eyes, but wanted to test the method anyway. After un-winding:

 

Edited November 3, 2019 by Torbjorn

[pheonix]

That is a very novel way of making springs for the valves. Must remember this for future reference.

 

P

 

 

[AdrianMF]

Lots of lovely detail here!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[bigbadbadge]

Very nice work indeed and lots of useful info in this thread, thanks to you and the others for sharing.  

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[Grandboof]

Awesome work 

Martin H

[Torbjorn]

Thanks for the likes and comments guys.

The roasted spring idea is from Woodman’s book, he described making cooling gills for cylinders in that way.

 

I’ve finished the floats. They are narrower on the front otherwise pretty straightforward. I made a mold to get them the same shape. I’ll let pictures describe:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fuselage is *finally* ready for paint. Added some last details and brackets for the wings and closed up the underside with a plunge-molded piece(mold on the lower left), seen in the image below together with two finished pieces that will make up the holder for the engine and radiator:

 

My first plan was to just glue plastic pieces to the underside and shape with sticks but this molding business is quite easy afterall and the shape of the thing is a bit complicated underneath (starts convex and ends concave). I’m happy with the decision - it was certainly the easiest way.

 

Below the finally finished hull. The line arching over the headrest behind the cockpit and coming up from below the hull are the aileron cables: they go through a hole in the bottom of the hull so that I can stretch them after glueing them to the upper wing.

 

 

 

[pheonix]

Glad that you found the push moulding straightforward - it is a very useful technique for shapes which would be awkward to achieve in other ways. The floats look good too - I like your simple mould for those.

 

In all this is looking very good - excellent scratch building.

 

P

[Torbjorn]

Yes, I’d recommend everyone to try - using wood carving techniques like carving and sanding now seems like wasting the qualities of styrene as a material.

 

—

 

Stubborn good weather has halted progress. I only managed to add some details to the engine, the rest (ignition wires, intake manifold, cooling pipes) will wait til after some painting.

 

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by Torbjorn