Heather's Workbench - building a Civvie Auster

[Heather Kay]

I think @Moa is having a good influence on me. Out of all the military types in my stash, I’ve decided to build a civilian plane. It’s also nothing to do with my 1940 obsession, but I thought it would make a nice change.

 

Not that it matters, Best Beloved is some years older than me. When he was still a young chap about town, he made friends with the owner of an Auster Autocrat. We are talking about the swinging sixties, when Best Beloved lived in the outer reaches of East London, also known as Essex, and worked for a firm based in the Medway Towns. To avoid the hack across the Thames, he would occasionally hitch a lift in his friend's plane, and sometimes be allowed to take the controls, though he never held a pilot's licence.

 

Anyway, I am often regaled by his fond memories of times with the Auster. Although we couldn’t find a civilian kit boxing of the type, not a lot was changed from the military versions so we acquired the AZ Model kit at IPMS Telford a couple of years ago. 
 

 

The plan is to build the AOP MkIII in the kit, with adjustments to make the Autocrat Best Beloved remembers. Amazingly, we found two photos of the actual plane, G-AMVN, one each side. Although memory is hazy, we think the plane was finished in aluminium overall, with the serial in blue on the fin and rudder. The black and white photos sort of hint at the wing struts being a different colour as well, probably blue. Sadly, the real Mike Victor November was written off in an accident in the summer of '69 - probably about when Bryan Adams got his first real six-string… 

 

Adjustments will include making a second bench seat in the cabin to make it a four-seater, making a new exhaust system as the real plane had a form of muffler fitted, fitting a wind-driven generator to the starboard wing, and a pitot tube to the port wing. Otherwise, aside from paint scheme and lettering, this will be out of the box.

 

I got the Peewit masking set, so that should make things neater. 
 

 

Not a lot to build, aside from the comprehensive cage structure in the cabin. Lots of butt joints for things, though. I guess I’ll need to add metalwork for extra strength.

 

On with the show!

[Heather Kay]

Basic prep.

 

 

The one piece transparency has been dipped in Humbrol Clear and left under cover to dry.

 

 

I've marked up the masking sheet so it’s easier to find the right parts later. The sheet also includes wheel masks, but I’m not sure how they work. I expect I’ll freehand the wheels like I usually do.

 

 

Lots of nice and awkward nubs to deal with on fragile parts. Typical fare from this manufacturer, and most short run kits to be fair.

 

 

[Martian]

@Moa and good influence in the same sentence? First time for everything I suppose. A very interesting project Heather.

 

Bewildered of Mars 👽

[Heather Kay]

 

Well, there’s a start. Cabin floor, control columns, seat plus scratched rear bench. I’ve not bothered to find out where the rear seat went, but Best Beloved reliably informs me it was quite tight in the back. I guess space behind the rear seat could be used for whatever luggage or bags you might want to take with you. I’ll make up some lap belts later, from my usual thin masking tape.

 

 

[Heather Kay]

Lady Luck is with me.

 

 

I slapped my scratched rear bench in the cabin without once considering how it might fit around the tubular framework… 

 

I think I might just have got away with that! 

[Hamden]

 

Nice project with a personal touch, mind if I follow along?

 

  Stay safe       Roger

[Heather Kay]

17 minutes ago, Hamden said:

mind if I follow along?

No problem. I think there’s still room, abiding by the 2 metre distancing rules. You might need a powerful telescope to see what I’m doing though. This thing is tiny! 🔭

[AdrianMF]

Interesting build, Nice to have a personal connection too. What is your cutting mat calibrated in? Too small for cm, too large for inches. 5mm squares?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Heather Kay]

6 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

5mm squares?

I had to go and measure it. Yes, 5mm squares. That’s three-sixteenths in Freedom Units.

[AdrianMF]

Thank goodness for that. I was scaling the full-size length out at either 10 or 42 feet!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Heather, you made me very happy today!

Following this one, a cute little monoplane with harmonious lines.

Good choice!

Cheers

[Heather Kay]

8 minutes ago, Moa said:

Good choice!

I admit it’s not my sort of thing usually, but it’s for Best Beloved. It’s also refreshingly simple, with few parts. No washroom, sadly. 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Hope you don't mind, Heather, a PDF from Auster you can download, with nice info in it:

http://austerhg.org/auster_mags/Aircraft News August1951.pdf

 

And plenty more of Auster magazines:

http://austerhg.org/auster_mags/

 

[Ed Russell]

@Moa is a bad influence - he even got me to build a civilian aircraft recently

(Don't tell him but it was about my #10 civilian build)

[Graeme H]

Very interested in following this, and I think I can do the social distance thing in spades.

I only ever had one flight in an Auster, but once lost out in a go slow race to one, with me solo in a Cessna 152, and them with 2 on board.

[dogsbody]

Is 6000+ km. far enough away?

 

 

 

Chris

[Ed Russell]

10,000 + km is even better!

 

3 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Is 6000+ km. far enough away?

 

but I'm sure @stevehnz will chip in to say he is even further away!

 

PS - interesting project Heather!

[Heather Kay]

9 hours ago, Moa said:

Hope you don't mind

Certainly not! That first PDF is fabulous, and very redolent of the time. It was amusing to read through the specifications for each model, and realise that save for perhaps a wiring loom here, or an engine horse power there, they were all essentially exactly the same aircraft!

 

I have realised I need to fabricate the extended range belly tank that was fitted to MNV. 

[Heather Kay]

7 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

@Moa is a bad influence - he even got me to build a civilian aircraft recently

Good. It’s definitely catching on, then!  

 

6 hours ago, Graeme H said:

Very interested in following this, and I think I can do the social distance thing in spades.

I only ever had one flight in an Auster, but once lost out in a go slow race to one, with me solo in a Cessna 152, and them with 2 on board.

Best Beloved has frequently waxed lyrical on the low speed handling characteristics of the type. It gave the impression a strong breeze would be enough to get it airborne unless it was tied down.

 

6 hours ago, dogsbody said:

Is 6000+ km. far enough away?

3 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

10,000 + km is even better!

Hmm, I think you’re both safe. Here in Blighty we’ve been warned that social distancing might well be a thing for a year or two, until an effective vaccine can be found, or the pesky virus gives up on its own. It does appear the "stay at home" message is beginning to affect the infection rates in a good way, though there are the signs of other social problems appearing. 
 

Still, there are other threads to discuss such things. More Auster fun later.

[CedB]

I'm in Heather  

 

I've always admired perdu's little Auster and there may be some tips for you in his build, sadly hit by the PhotoBucket debacle  

An AOP6 but might be useful?

[Dandie Dinmont]

Gosh Heather, this is bringing back some childhood memories! Not because I ever flew in an Auster, or even saw one as a child, but because the Auster was the favourite mount of Biggles in his later books and I was a voracious consumer of Biggles books. I used to read his latest adventure and wonder what this aeronautical marvel he was so fond of actually looked like. I’ll follow along if I may and wallow in nostalgia for a time when things seemed much simpler. 
 

Craig. 

[Heather Kay]

54 minutes ago, CedB said:

An AOP6 but might be useful?

It does seem that an Auster is an Auster is an Auster. A simple and robust design that stood the test of time. Happily, I have that holy grail of modellers the world over - photos of the actual aircraft I’m hoping to recreate!

43 minutes ago, Dandie Dinmont said:

Gosh Heather, this is bringing back some childhood memories!

You’re more than welcome, Craig. Be careful of that nostalgia, though. I suffer from it on occasions, and it can be painful when I remember I can’t go back to those happier times, save by memory. 

[bigbadbadge]

Looking great so far Heather , that was a narrow escape with the back bench!!!

Great back story and a lovely build, what's not to like.

Keep up the good work

All the best

Chris

[stevehnz]

5 hours ago, Ed Russell said:

10,000 + km is even better!

 

 

but I'm sure @stevehnz will chip in to say he is even further away!

 

PS - interesting project Heather!

Ed, how could you think I would stoop to playing further away manship, but now that you mention it. Yup. about 12,000 miles, or whatever that is in metric.

I'm liking this project Heather, we've still got the odd Auster in New Zealand, they were fairly common in my youth, till the ubiquitous Pipers & Cessnas swamped the market. I shall follow this along with pleasure.

Steve. 

[Heather Kay]

52 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

I'm liking this project Heather

 

 

Last evening I got as far a cobbling the nose together - I can't say it was "assembled", because of the way the parts vaguely attach to each other. I also installed the tubular framework. A test fit of the canopy shows a little fettling is required to the frame to make it a comfy sliding fit. Some attention to the short-run seams was required, particularly underneath, but so far no filler has been deployed.

 

 

That nose, from below. I am at a loss to explain why a single piece of resin has been created for the exhaust manifold. Why, oh why, couldn’t it be injection moulded as part of the nose itself? Now we have a shonky fitting part, superglued randomly among four IM parts, none of which have any location ledges or pegs. Doncha just lurve short run kits?

 

The rear nose bulkhead may or may not be in the right place. Dry fitting the nose assembly seems to show it fits the fuselage, but if the bulkhead is supposed to meet the front of the body, well, that’s never going to happen. My only hope may be to add packing to give a secure fixing point, and hope the nose doesn’t just drop off at a later date!

 

A cursory coat of aluminium paint went on most of the rest of the parts, to be retouched as required later. Time to investigate that belly tank, I think.