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A new thread!

 

A new cardboard jig!

M_1

 

Fresh solid, weighty resin floats already with cheeky white socks & sturdy stance white metal struts!

M_2

 

M_3

 

Test fit with horizontal radiators doing an impression of a wing...

M_4

 

Test fit with shapely curved cowled fuselage!

M_5

 

And I'm underway with my next Schneider Trophy racer!!

 

 

 

Edited by greggles.w
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Oh, you, cheeky monkey!! :cwl:

I better dust off the one I have midway (optimistically speaking) in 1/72nd.

I think you build models as a pretext to build jigs, your real interest.

Looking good, as always.

Those jigs will end up in the Tate Modern, I tell you.

 

 

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Hope this one works out easier than the Crusader! Looks like a nice kit. Noix kits were made by an enthusiast but you never know!

 

Dave

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16 hours ago, Sabrejet said:

Mmmm gotta love resin: following with interest.

Yes, well if resin is your poison of choice, this would definitely appeal.  These parts were cast & cured some 30 odd years ago, but as I've shaved & filed a little off them to clean them up & fettle to fit, there's a very noticeable sweet scent released.

15 hours ago, Moa said:

Oh, you, cheeky monkey!! :cwl:

I better dust off the one I have midway (optimistically speaking) in 1/72nd.

Please do!  No pressure meant to be applied to you.  T

 

My selection of this for the next project was driven more by seeking relative ease & enjoyment for myself:

  • A ready supply of the requisite red-oxide primer & red racer top coat on hand;
  • Of all the red Macchis in my stash, this earliest of their floatplanes is the only one with rigid horizontal struts between floats, rather than yet more bracing;
  • Furthermore, all the struts betwixt floats & floats and floats & fuselage are handily pre-set in their triangular geometry in study white metal; 
  • The bracing for this Italian machine is circular in cross section, allowing me to try alternate bracing material (your tip specifically, thank you!);
  • The surface radiators on this kit are beautifully pre-scribed with finesse into the wing surface.

I'm already finding this is making for a far quicker, leisurely & enjoyable ride.

 

The more Macchis the merrier!

What might be the collective noun be for a group of Macchis I wonder ... how about a 'monkey of Macchis'?

 

15 hours ago, Moa said:

I think you build models as a pretext to build jigs, your real interest.

Looking good, as always.

Those jigs will end up in the Tate Modern, I tell you.

Ah, you're on to me!  A pretext or a perverse procrastinate - one or the other or both!

 

In this case the jig is really performing not much more than a second set of (steadier) hands to hold things in place.  In contrast to the Crusader build, where the jig was a forced response as an an essential pre-requisite to fabricate absent or erroneous parts, this Noix kit needs no correction.  So far each jig measurement I establish from photos & drawings , be it lengths or angles of recline, matches that embedded in the kit.  I had thought myself rather clever constructing the scaffolding to ensure the correct 67° & 87.5° recline to the struts, meeting at just the right point in 3x dimensional space ... only to find on test fit that this was precisely the arrangement the parts & junctions naturally wanted to settle in to!

15 hours ago, Vesa Jussila said:

One interesting subject again. Will follow this with interest. Golden age of aviation...

Yes it is a ever-fascinating era.  I have skipped over my other work-in-progress Curtiss CR-3 as I really feel I need to collect my thoughts & build some more experience through experimentation before embarking on more rigging to the extent that biplane requires.  The Macchi shall be the perfect diversion.

15 hours ago, DMC said:

Off to the races again. And in 1/48. Good!

 

Dennis

Shhh! .. that enthusiasm for the refined scale might scare off Moa!

14 hours ago, Fastcat said:

Hope this one works out easier than the Crusader! Looks like a nice kit. Noix kits were made by an enthusiast but you never know!

 

Dave

Thanks Dave, I can reassure you already at this early stage that things look very promising!

12 hours ago, Andrew.S said:

I desperately need this model.
Good luck with yours!

Thanks Andrew.  Don't hold your breath waiting for one of these to present itself .. 

 

I think if you keep your eye on AMP you may be rewarded.  I note their recent 1/48 Supermarine S5 box art included this text in the bottom corner: ' Schneider Trophy Series'.  We shall see ...

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1 hour ago, greggles.w said:

What might be the collective noun be for a group of Macchis I wonder

How about “a Macchiavelli”*

 

AW

 

*autocorrect really did not like this word.

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I built a Noix M39 a while back, came out half way decently and I'm quite fond of it. Such a cool machine.

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3 minutes ago, seadog said:

I built a Noix M39 a while back, came out half way decently and I'm quite fond of it. Such a cool machine.

Ooh, don’t hear that often! Any pictures to share?  It is a grand machine

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Just now, greggles.w said:

Ooh, don’t hear that often! Any pictures to share?  It is a grand machine

I shall  oblige shortly

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It was pained with an 'airy stick using Testors Ferrari red. Sorry about the dust and lack of gloss!

M-39 M-39_1 M-39_4

 

M-39_3

All the best, F

Really wish their S5 was still available

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Re the S5.... I got one from the Ukraine, and then hesitated. 

Hoping to see a few WIPs on here to show the way. 

I read a few moans about it somewhere - floats too narrow? 

But to be honest, if you grew up on the Airfix S6 kit, this looks like a box of joy. 

 

Re the motorbike..... I went to the Isle of Man with my Dad and brother for a few TTs way back in the early 60s. 

Saw Hailwood, Agostini, all those guys. 

Is that the 250 Honda 6?

I remember seeing, and HEARING! that machine take the Mountain circuit by storm ‼️🤩

 

Anyhow, glad see you're on the case again, greggles. No resting on your laurels 😃

This one should be a doddle 👍

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  • 1 month later...

Hello!

 

Look at this wonder ...

 

M39_A

 

Sensational

 

OK, so last post I had press-fit a tease assembly of white metal struts & resin floats ...

 

M_3

 

So having committed to that with CA, I then mused on how to manage the blending-in at the junctions - where internal acute triangular struts meet compound curve float.  So I took my lead from this on the real thing:

 

Macchi M.39 - Vigna di Valle, IT

 

Which bit?  The bit he's looking at ... a subtly raised sheet that wraps around the junction of both struts & bracing.  It is particularly subtle, of a thickness which does not bear calculating for 1:48, so I'm hoping my addition of these will recede as the build continues ...

 

But the reasoning behind latching onto these was that they offered a way to contain the mess puttying-in the joint & limit collateral damage to the surrounding floats.  This here demonstrates the various stages of the approach:

 

M39_B

 

  1. Frame the geometry with carefully caliper-measured masking tape;
  2. edge the rectangle with fine strip;
  3. then fill the remainder of the rectangle with matching thickness sheet;
  4. trim with very sharp blade using the masking edge guides;
  5. the offcuts came off with the masking tape - this pure luck, or more accurately, this is another plus to Tamiya tape, as the CA bonded the offcuts to the tape, but the tape did not leach the CA through & bond the lot to the resin float!;
  6. this then formed the neat external edge, while the internal 'cofferdam' sits ready to back-fill with putty, like so:M39_B2
  7. Into which - with some difficulty & lots of tiny improvised toothpick tools - Mr White Putty was slathered...M39_c
  8. then a process of fabricating yet more improvised sanding sticks shaped from balsa with tiny offcuts of micromesh affixed.  Both blending in the putty & thinning down the laminate at the same time... M39_D
    On that one above you can see deliberate omission of filler under the horizontal strut - this a convenient reduction of my workload based on this flimsy evidence:M39_D2
  9. And here is the assembly after a few rounds of primer, ready for topcoat!
M39_E1

 

M39_E2

 

I quite like the thought that I'm using 'red oxide' primer intended for tanks & other such combat vehicles for this 'civil' - if still competitive - vehicle ...

 

And for @Moa, as  I now feel obliged to reveal a new contrivance with each post, here's my cardboard tube 'float-hand-hold' in it's 'hold-the-float-hand-holder' as used during painting sessions ...

 

M39_F

 

 

 

 

 

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... & that post above kept me disciplined between primer coats of the next component - the wings.

 

Just look at the quality of these beautifully cast-in surface radiators from the Noix kit:

 

W1

 

I want to be very careful that I don't clog those with excess primer or paint, so I've masked them off -  figuring the creamy yellow resin can be a fine base for the brass radiators - while the surrounds have been given their oxide coats:

 

W2

 

Moving f'ward!

 

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I think the M-39 is one of the great beauties of the air. Looks like you're really giving it the love it deserves! Your attention to detail...wow.

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5 hours ago, Courageous said:

Lovely work going on here.

 

Stuart

Stuart!  I wondered if you'd pop your 'Malteser' up above the cockpit coaming!

 

Pilot_1

 

And here you are, with exquisite timing, as I have only just now been rummaging in my spares like the Dr Frankenstein @Moa seems to think I am, in order to harvest white metal body parts for our Macchi pilot.  Once again bits are from various sports-car driver figures from Phoenix Figures.  The head selected for suitable goggles & helmet (no radio headphones or oxygen mask), while the body had the right small-collar & pinched waist, although the jacket pockets were a little less stylish than Sig. di Bernardi's slick outfit, so I filed them off.  Base paint colours started ...

 

Pilot_2

 

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