Jonners Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 (edited) As geeky as it sounds, I have a real soft spot for the plethora of between-the-wars silver British biplane prototypes that appeared in response to the many Air Ministry specifications. I'm particularly fascinated by those which didn't make it into service; for 4 or 5 companies each to build prototypes for a requirement that would see the winner in service for only a few years seems bizarrely extravagant by today's standards. The Bristol Berkeley was one such aircraft that, along with the Handley Page Handcross, the Westland Yeovil and the Hawker Horsley, was constructed in response to Specification 26/23 'Single-engined Day Bomber'. Three Berkeley prototypes were built, the first (J7403) flying for the first time on 5 March 1925. Along with the other manufacturers' prototypes, J7403 went to the Aeroplane Experimental Establishment at Martlesham Heath but was quickly eliminated from the competition due to its poor performance. In spite of this, all 3 Berkeley prototypes went into service with the RAF and were used in trials work by the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough. My first task was to create a useable set of plans from a 3-view that I found online. Profile, plan and front views were cropped and resized to 1/72. Comparison with photographs and published dimensions highlighted several inaccuracies including window location, wingspan and lower wing position on the fuselage, so these were corrected (as far as I could reasonably manage) on my plans: I then carefully measured each section and created tracings of each one: The fuselage section tracings were transferred to some pieces of 0.040" plastic card with 0.060" being used for the floor sections: These pieces were then cut out to form a basic fuselage 'kit': The windows have now been drilled but need a fettle with wet 'n dry paper, and the gunner's hatch has been partially drilled to size: That will do for today, while I go and muse over why on earth I've started this! Jon Edited June 19, 2020 by Jonners Completed 33 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheonix Posted March 25, 2020 Share Posted March 25, 2020 No need to muse on why you started - the reasons you have given are good enough! I too am fascinated by the many silver wing prototypes of this era - British Fighter Since 1914 and British Bomber Since 1912 (P. Lewis) are full of them: as a teenager I really wanted to build some of these but simply lacked the skill and confidence to try. At least you will have another unique model in your collection. P 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cngaero Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 That's a fine looking aeroplane and a fascinating project. I'm looking forward to seeing this one develop. Good luck with the build. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Learstang Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Interesting choice - it appears to be quite a large aircraft for a single-engined biplane! I too love all those wonderful one-off (two-off, three-off...) prototypes that must have filled the air over the UK (or at least Farnborough) during the 1920s and 1930s. I thought I knew most of them, at least by sight, but this is a new one for me. Best of luck on your (scratch-)build! Regards, Jason 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 An interesting looking project which I'll enjoy watching. Looking at this image I found on Wikipedia, its a rather bigger beast that your top photo shows. The chappie standing by the nose is either slightly vertically challenged or that is a monster prop, I suspect the latter. Steve. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 I’ve learned to love these odd interwar types. Glad to see some more scratch building going on as well. ( and I’m not the only one taking on mad projects ) Nice work so far. I’ll definitely be following this one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefanoff Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 I really love between-the-wars airplanes, ecpetially british and russian and I will follow the topic with big interest. But why do you choose 1/72? It is too small scale, it doesn't allows you to reveal the whole beaty of this bird. 1/32 maybe will be too big, but maybe 1/48 will be good compromise!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 13 hours ago, pheonix said: I too am fascinated by the many silver wing prototypes of this era - British Fighter Since 1914 and British Bomber Since 1912 (P. Lewis) are full of them I picked this up for a tenner in a bargain bookshop about 20 years ago, and it remains my favourite aviation book if only for its 'browse-ability' (pic from a previous WiP thread): 7 hours ago, Learstang said: it appears to be quite a large aircraft for a single-engined biplane! Length 14.05m (47' 7"), span 17.65m (57' 11"), max weight 4140kg (8,128lb). Specified powerplant for all 4 entries was the 650hp Rolls Royce Condor. So, quite large and, looking at its general 'slabbiness' and numbers of struts (3 bays), pretty 'draggy' as well. That was borne out by its early rejection for poor performance. 5 hours ago, stevehnz said: that is a monster prop That sums it up quite nicely! This webpage has some excellent high-res photos and background info: https://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/bristol-90-berkeley# Jon 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Interesting book. Has a Gamecock in the front so it has to be good 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 Yes, it's fascinating and I'd go do far as to say it's my modelling muse! Highly recommended. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) Hmm going for around 20 quid on evilBay might be an April purchase. I do have a copy of war planes of the First World War vol 2 on the way And just got vol 3 this week so they should keep me going it’ll then. Edited March 26, 2020 by Marklo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Nice choice, and definitely in the right scale! I've got my seat,and my beer... Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) 12 minutes ago, limeypilot said: definitely in the right scale To each their own. I’m a 1/48 th scale heathen with forays into 1/32 ( my racers) and 1/144 (reserved for big things) and am trying (but possibly failing) to clear all the 1/72 kits out of my stash ( I did finish a typhoon and a mustang but I bought a 262 which is nearly finished but I bought a skyhawk for decals for the 262, so that means 2 1/2 out for 2 in, hi hum) Still the one upside if corona virus ( apart from better air quality apparently) is tha I should have a bit more modelling time. Edited March 26, 2020 by Marklo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 1 hour ago, limeypilot said: I've got my seat,and my beer... Make sure it's a comfortable seat, Ian; this could take a while! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Very useful book that is , worthy of adding to the library if this period interests you. Keith Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) Small (and, frankly, not desperately exciting) steps. Firstly, after my opening post, I realised that the triangular window on the starboard side was in a different position to that on the port side: As the circular windows were identically placed on both sides I had assumed (!) that the triangular window was the same. Glad I noticed it at this early stage! I cemented in a small piece of 40thou card cut to size to plug the hole and left it to cure overnight. Cutting out a new window was a quick job this morning. I also carefully sliced approximately 40thou off the edges of the 0.060" bottom pieces and off the tops of the side pieces so that the dimensions will be correct once the parts are glued together: Next job will probably be to cut some fuselage formers to keep things square and rigid when I put the parts together. Jon Edited March 26, 2020 by Jonners 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Don't you just love boxy fuselages! It's very satisfying building slab siders. Looking forward to seeing this build. Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 5 minutes ago, AdrianMF said: Don't you just love boxy fuselages! Well, it was either this or a Vickers Vulcan, which was anything but slab-sided! I shied away from creating the complex fuselage for vacforming (thanks for the inspiration, BTW!) this time, but it's definitely on my 'to-do' list. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty84 Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 A Vickers Vulcan, you definitely have an elaborated taste, sir. I have the feeling a lot of scratchbuilds/heavy conversions are going on here in the last months. So many interesting builds to follow... Cheers Markus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted March 26, 2020 Author Share Posted March 26, 2020 Right, time to leave it for tonight while I try to guess what the interior of a Berkeley might have looked like! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheonix Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 One of the problems of building these short run aircraft (real ones nt kits) is finding out what the inside looked like. I am currently struggling with exactly the same problem with my current build: but one answer is that nobody else knows either! P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 (edited) 10 minutes ago, pheonix said: One of the problems of building these short run aircraft (real ones nt kits) is finding out what the inside looked like. I am currently struggling with exactly the same problem with my current build: but one answer is that nobody else knows either! True, for my Pfalz I managed to find drawings but for the Gamecock and the Snark there was zero information. For the Gamecock I more or less copied it’s nearest sibling the Grebe. On the Sopwith I followed the structure for things like stringers and ribs and then made the rest (seats, pedals ip etc) look like contemporary Sopwiths. Edited March 27, 2020 by Marklo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 8 hours ago, pheonix said: nobody else knows either! ...which is why I'm quite happy to be making it up! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted March 28, 2020 Author Share Posted March 28, 2020 (edited) There. That's kept me quiet for a bit: Off the streets, you might say. Oh, wait... It's completely conjectural (ie I made it up), but I assumed that there would be a folding gunner's seat, a folding chart table with stool and something purporting to be an early radio set. I completely forgot to put a hatchway in the central bulkhead until it was too late; worrying about it would be a bit OCD, so I won't. The cockpit piece obviously needs priming, then the fuselage needs detail painting, but there's also a Vildebeest on the workbench complaining about being ignored (again)! Jon Edited March 28, 2020 by Jonners 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheonix Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Excellent cockpit detail. With all that internal weight it is a wonder that some of these aircraft got of the ground and stayed airbourne! P 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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