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1:32 scale Ansaldo 'Baby'


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Hi all,
I'm waiting for the propeller to arrive to complete my Siemens-Schuckert D.III model.
Therefore I'm making a start on the 1:32nd scale resin model of the Ansaldo 'Baby' by 'Lukgraph'.
I'll be modelling the first 'Baby' built (Ser No: So 5005) by the SA Aeronautica Gio Ansaldo of Turin.
This aircraft was fitted with a Le Rhöne 9J rotary engine (120hp) with a circular engine cowl.

I've made a start on the 3D printed engine, which I must say is the best finish I've seen thus far from a model company.
The surface shows very little, if any, of the layer striations seen on some 3D printed model parts.
Cutting the parts from their support trees is a bit tricky and because the material is quite hard, removing the tree stubs on such small parts is difficult.

 

Mike

 

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Hi all,
The 3D printed Le Rhone 9J engine is complete.
Painted with 'Alclad' Steel lacquer and weathered using by sponging 'Tamiya' Weathering Master Burnt Blue, Gunmetal and Silver.
Complete engine washed with 'AK Interactive' Kerosene, thinned with White Spirit.
Spark plug leads twisted from 0.125 mm diameter copper wire.

 

Mike

 

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Nice work on the Le Rhône.  I have an interest in the bomb rack (two 50 pounders) on the Sopwith Baby.  Any chance this Ansaldo Baby is so equipped?  

 

Love your site, incidentally 

 

Dennis

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Hi Dennis,

The Ansaldo 'Baby' was intended for operational combat squadrons, but it's thought the Italian preferred their own aircraft designs, such as the Macchi's.

As such production of the 'Baby' was slow and by the time deliveries were ready, it had been superseded by other types.

Therefore it was relegated to training and some coastal operations.

Although initially produced to carry a Lewis machine gun over the upper wing (Nieuport style), I don't believe it was ever equipped with a bomb rack, as were the British aircraft.

 

The 'Lukgraph' kit therefore has no weapons of any sort.

The British version of the kit does have the machine gun and bombs (all 3D printed),

However, it has the horse shoe shaped engine cowling, whereas the Ansaldo had either a full circular cowl or the cut away circular cowl, both supplied in the Italian version kit.

 

Mike  

Edited by Sandbagger
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Hi Mike,

 

I do appreciate your most through briefing on the “Baby”.  I am currently working on a couple of 1/28 Revell Sopwith Camels. One of which is intended to be a 2F.1 Ships Camel that participated in the Tondern Raid.  These Camels apparently were modified to carry two 50lb bombs instead of the four 20lb ones they might normally carry.  I know what the larger bombs look like but have been unable to find a picture of the rack.  Possibly a modified 20lb rack.

 

Eduard do a 1/48 Baby with the large bombs but so far I’ve been unable to get a clear image of the rack.  However, I’m sure something will turn up.

 

Thanks again for the primer on the Baby.

 

Dennis 

 

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Hi all,
I've been sorting out certain anomalies with the primary parts of the model.
The details will be covered in the PDF build log, but as a heads up:
The resin locating pegs for the fuselage halves cause the assembly to be misaligned, as do those to locate the wings to the fuselage and upper wing centre section. 
These pegs were removed and replaced with 0.8 mm diameter brass rod, which with the kit original steel pins provide a better joint and alignment.
Even so I found that with the wing leading edges aligned, the trailing edges were not. It seems the wing chords are slightly less than their mating faces.
Therefore some sanding of the trailing edges of the upper wing centre section and lower wing roots was required to align correctly to the wing sections.
Resin surface irregularities, such as blow holes, chips, edge delaminations and joint seams, needed to be either filled and/or sanded. 

 

The two fuselage halves have pre-moulded external linen stitching, which is not very realistic. Also the stitching at the sides of the cockpit was not present on the aircraft.
In addition, the removable rear fuselage was attached to the forward fuselage at a joint to the rear of the cockpit.
This joint has been moulded on the fuselage halves as a thick ridge, but in reality did not look like this (see the following photograph).
The joint at the fuselage sides was covered with a strip.
These details were scraped and sanded away, in preparation for being replaced with photo-etch (‘Eduard’ WW1 Stitching (EDP32228).

 

Mike

 

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On 7/31/2020 at 3:37 PM, DMC said:

Hi Mike,

 

I do appreciate your most through briefing on the “Baby”.  I am currently working on a couple of 1/28 Revell Sopwith Camels. One of which is intended to be a 2F.1 Ships Camel that participated in the Tondern Raid.  These Camels apparently were modified to carry two 50lb bombs instead of the four 20lb ones they might normally carry.  I know what the larger bombs look like but have been unable to find a picture of the rack.  Possibly a modified 20lb rack.

 

Eduard do a 1/48 Baby with the large bombs but so far I’ve been unable to get a clear image of the rack.  However, I’m sure something will turn up.

 

Thanks again for the primer on the Baby.

 

Dennis 

 

Hi Dennis,

Here's a shot of two 65lb RL bombs fitted to their rack under a Sopwith 'Baby' (the two openings behind them are for dropping 'Ranken' darts).

Also here's a link to a document about these types of weapons,

 

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/Research/RAF-Historical-Society-Journals/Journal_45_Seminar_conventional_weapons.pdf

 

Mike

 

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Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for the photo, and the interesting link.  Went over the best account I’ve bookmarked on the raid and it seems that the Camels were carrying two 49lb (very specific) bombs.   Nothing in the Journal mentions bombs of this weight.  Big jump from 20/25lbs to over 100+.  Made for an interesting read, however.  

 

I can make out a bit bit more of the rack and with what I have I get a pretty good picture of what I’m needing to put one together.

 

Thanks again for posting and will be looking out for your next build post.

 

Dennis

 

 

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Hi all,
The pilot operated the ailerons on the wings by turning the pilot’s wheel on the control column.
The typical aileron control from a pilot’s wheel was effected by cables.
The control column would be fitted with two cable pulleys, one from the wheel and located on the top of the control column and a second pulley located at the bottom of the control column.
The aileron control cable run was routed around the top pulley then down to the bottom pulley, where the cable run was crossed.
From the bottom pulley the cables were routed out of the cockpit and through the lower wings to their respective ailerons. 

 

Unfortunately these pulleys are not supplied in the model kit, so had to be made.
Each pulley is a 2.5 mm diameter disc, cut from 0.5 mm thick plastic card, and sandwiched between two 3.5 mm diameter discs.
These represent the basic 'grooved' pulleys, around which the aileron control cable run will be routed,

 

Mike

 

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Hi all,
The fuselage halves had two pre-moulded resin location pegs only and when the fuselage halves were located together, the pegs did not align correctly.
Also, as noted by 'PrzemoL' during his build of the Sopwith 'Baby, once the cockpit if fitted and the fuselage closed up, the fuselage seam will be seen from inside the cockpit.
Therefore I decided to sand away the resin location pegs and drill three 0.9 mm holes into one fuselage half, then fitted 0.8 mm brass location rods.
To align the rest of the fuselage halves I added short strips of 0.8 mm thick plastic card to the fuselage half, in positions that would not interfere with the cockpit fit.
Finally to hide the fuselage seam and to add to fuselage halves alignment, I cut and profiled a single piece of 0.8 mm thick plastic card, which was secured to the cockpit floor area of the fuselage half.
The result is a much better alignment of the fuselage halves wih the seam below the cockpit hidden,

 

Mike

 

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Hi all,
Just a small update.
The instrument panel is complete.
Oil paint for the wood effect and decals added (not in the kit) from my spares.
The five selector levers were made from 0.4 mm Nickel-Silver tube, flattened then bent to 90 degrees.

 

Mike

 

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Hi all,
The inside of each fuselage half has been painted and side frame outlines added with oil paint.
The frame cross bracing is 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament with 0.4 mm Nickel-Silver tube and 'GasPatch' 1:48th scale resin turnbuckles.
The bracing still needs painting of the tubes and turnbuckles,

 

Mike

 

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Hi all,
The basic cockpit assembly is ready to be fitted into the fuselage.
Control wires are 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament, cross bracing 0.12 mm diameter mono-filament.
Turnbuckles are the 1:48th scale resin versions from 'GasPatch'.
All tube work is either 0.4 mm or 0.5 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tube.
Seat belts were replaced with spare Sopwith F.1 Camel kit from 'Wingnut Wings'.
Fuel tank pipe and throttle control rod are 0.4 mm tube.
Aileron control line pulleys scratched from cut plastic card discs, with spacer discs to allow the control line to be able to wrap around them.
Seat cushion made from 'Milliput',

 

Mike

 

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Wanting to know a little more about the Baby, I bought a copy of Cross&Cockade with it as a featured article.  Very good, detailed plans, etc.

 

Wonderful craftsmanship, Mike

 

Dennis

 

 

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Hi all,
The cockpit assembly is now enclosed within the fuselage.
The fuselage seam joint and the various surfaces blemishes were first filled, then sanded before being primed.
This showed slight surface anomalies which were re-sanded and re-primed until the surface was smooth.
The right side of the fuselage had pre-moulded linen stitching, which I felt was overdone and unrealistic.
So it was all removed, including stitching further forward, which didn't exist on the actual aircraft.
The stitching was replaced by photo-etch from the ‘Eduard’ WW1 Stitching (EDP32228) set.
Also a joint line was added around the fuselage to the rear of the cockpit decking, to represent where the rear fuselage could be detached.
The rear fuselage was secured to the forward fuselage by turnbuckle type fasteners, which will be added later in the build.
A white primer was applied as this is required prior to applying the 'Aviattic' Clear linen CDL effect decals,

 

Mike


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Hi all,
Just a few updates for the fuselage as they're not covered in the kit:
Filler cap (oil tank?) and access panel hinge to the top of the front decking.
Filler cap is 0.2 mm plastic cards discs with a 0.3 mm diameter tube.
Both fuselage/wing roots have photo-etch flying wire attachment points added from the ‘PART’ 1/48th scale WWI Aircraft Control Horns (S48-087).
Creases added to the corners of the linen stitched panel, using ‘AV’ Masilla Plastica (401) putty,

 

Mike

 

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Hi all,
Just a quick update on the fuselage progress.
The metal is 'Alclad' black base with Duraluminium top coat.
Wood panels are 'Tamiya' XF57 base with 'DecoArt' acylic Burnt Umber for wood effect.
Fuselage pre-shaded with 'Tamiya' Smoke X19 with XF55 used to highlight formers.
Top coated with XF 78 for CDL base colour.
The pre-shading and formers are faint but should show up more once the decals and sealing coat are applied.

 

I still have to gloss coat and apply 'Aviattic' Clear Linen effect decals and seal the wood effect.
Then weather it before starting on the rest of the model,

 

Mike

 

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Post script:

I've gloss coated and applied a test decal of the 'Aviattic' canvass/linen effect (ATT32236).
This decal has no colour tint, just the canvass/linen weave.
The colour required shows through from the base coat.

 

decal1.jpg  

Edited by Sandbagger
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Hi all,
The Canvass/linen effect decals have been applied after cutting out the necessary paper templates.
Kit Italian Roundels and Serial number also applied.
Engine and engine cowl fitted.

 

Next is to weather and seal, then create the various rigging points,

 

Mike

 

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Hi all,
Weathering applied using a combination of:
'Flory Models' Dark Dirt clay wash.
'AK Interactive’ Engine Oil (AK 2019).
‘502 Abteilung’ Smoke (ABT005) oil paint.

 

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Now to create the four turnbuckle type locking devices that join the rear fuselage to the front fuselage, just behind the cockpit rear decking panel.

 

fusjoint3.jpg 

 

Mike 
 

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