Marklo Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 (edited) Conceived as an anti Zeppelin interceptor; The PB 31E was designed to carry a crew of 5 with two Lewis guns and a fixed 1 1/2 pounder gun, it was intended to be able to patrol for up to 18 hours and wait for passing airships. The PB is for Pemberton Billing the designer who sold his interests in the company to the other directors who promptly changed the name to Supermarine. So this is the first design by the company responsible for the Spitfire. The name Supermarine came from a wonderful piece of logic; if a ship that was under the water was a submarine then a plane that was on top of the water would be Supermarine hence the name . Thankfully Supermarine eventually found some good designers and the rest is as they say history. For the GB I’ll make this my main build as the time scale at be a bit tight given the complexity and I’m still not sure if it may be at (or past) my modelling skills. But I think it’s a wonderfully wacky airplane so will press on. I don’t think aviation gets much odder than this. Edited November 16, 2020 by Marklo 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 I had already done some work in the project earlier this year. First off some working drawings in 1/48 scale. Done the old fashioned way as I don’t have access to CAD ( or a functional PC for that matter) at the moment. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 10, 2020 Author Share Posted November 10, 2020 (edited) I did start cutting wood but no plastic has been harmed so far. So there we have it. A scale fuselage buck. Will start on the fuselage itself as soon as Nov 14th comes around. Edited November 10, 2020 by Marklo 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Wow! An ambitious project that will result in a large and interesting model. What a cracking subject 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shorty84 Posted November 10, 2020 Share Posted November 10, 2020 Hi Marklo, I see you will treat is with another of those 'weird and wonderful' designs. A Zeppelin interceptor is really a unique category of aircraft and I will definitely follow your journey Cheers Markus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandsaw Steve Posted November 11, 2020 Share Posted November 11, 2020 More Marklo madness! I love it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 14, 2020 Author Share Posted November 14, 2020 (edited) It’s the 14th plastic has been cut and glued. Started the fuselage, went together very easily. I’ve also cut the blanks for the centres of the four wings as the two tail planes. I’ll need to carve bucks for the canopy/cockpit and for the engine nacelles. Probably do that next. Edited November 14, 2020 by Marklo 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 14, 2020 Share Posted November 14, 2020 Taking shape already 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 (edited) The bucks for the cabin and the engine nacelles. The cabin one still needs a bit more sanding. I’ll probably split it horizontally and mold the roof in white plastic and either fabricate or mold the lower section in clear plastic. I’ll just plunge mold the nacelles. Not sure if you ll put the cutout for the wing in the mold or not. May split the nacelles buck if I decide to go for vac forming instead. I’ll probably use the front of the fuselage buck for the upper decking. I’m aiming to get the moulding and wing sanding done this week. Edited November 16, 2020 by Marklo 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 (edited) Managed to get moulding. I think I’ll try fabricating the clear sections from sheet as it’s made up of flat sections anyway and will save me having to carve the faces in the buck. I’ll use the buck to make a cutting template. Next step will be to make and shape the wing blanks then skin them in 20 thou sheet. Motoring along at this stage Edited November 16, 2020 by Marklo 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 You certainly are making good progress 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 11 minutes ago, Col. said: You certainly are making good progress I’m on a charge Most of the build is fairly straightforward but my one big niggle is the figging and struts. This isn’t my first scratchbuilt Quadruplane and it actually has the same wing end strut configuration but with more bays. The wight was tricky. For the PB I’m going to make the struts as single pieces going through all four wings and then covered in situ hopefully this will make the wing alignment easy and also be light and strong. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 Amazing aircraft, with all those wings and rigging, you deserve a Britmodeller medal if there is such a thing. Out of interest did it actually fly and work ? Obviously it never downed a Zeppelin otherwise we would probably have had of it ! Best of luck, I'm really looking forward to following this. Cheers Pat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 16, 2020 Share Posted November 16, 2020 1 hour ago, Marklo said: ...For the PB I’m going to make the struts as single pieces going through all four wings and then covered in situ hopefully this will make the wing alignment easy and also be light and strong. Sounds a good plan. We'll all be watching your progress and picking up tips from your work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 16, 2020 Author Share Posted November 16, 2020 5 hours ago, JOCKNEY said: Out of interest did it actually fly and work ? Afaik two prototypes were built and flown but for many reasons the concept was abandoned in 1917. ( although arguably the Bolton & Paul defiant was a product of the same line of thinking) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 17, 2020 Author Share Posted November 17, 2020 Mouldings cleaned up, assembled and a bit of filler. I’ve extended the cabin moulding with some thin sheet and filled it. I’ll sand it then cut it to the exact height. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 18, 2020 Author Share Posted November 18, 2020 Fitted the rear upper decking. Sanded filled and painted the nacelles dnd cabin. Ready for a second cycle of filler and sanding. I also extended the front upper deck and started on the cutouts as well as sanding the tail plane blanks. Next job is to skin the tail planes and start on an interior. Now I have very little idea except that the crew was proposed to be five, pilot, two gunners and two extra( possibly pilots) the interior was covered in doped fabric and there was a second seat beside the pilot but no dual controls, there may also have been one or two beds with the intent of the crew rotating through rest s as me active periods over the intended 18 hour flying time. Other than that there would have to have been a platform under the rear scarf ring and probably some steps it rungs as the overall height would have been too high for the gunner to just stand up at the level of the cockpit floor. Sooo basically I’ll put in a plausible interior but have no idea as to it’s accuracy. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 18, 2020 Share Posted November 18, 2020 Sounds a good plan. So long as ylthe interior looks fit for the purpose I'm nobody else can honestly say it's wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 18, 2020 Author Share Posted November 18, 2020 (edited) 51 minutes ago, Col. said: Sounds a good plan. So long as ylthe interior looks fit for the purpose I'm nobody else can honestly say it's wrong. One of my other WIPs is a Handley page O/400 which I’m thinking I’ll use as a guide. Otherwise I’ve built a few contemporary planes of late so I’ll try to logically populate the interior in a similar fashion. This is my WWI shelf Btw, all 1/48 a mix of scratch and kits. A DII a Pfalz triplane, a Sopwith triplane, a eight quadruplane. back row DFW Floh, Sopwith Pup and a Sopwith Snark. Mostly scratchbuilt except for the Sopwith triplane and the Floh which are oob kits and the DII which was converted from a glencoe DIII. I also have a Sopwith, Swallow, Camel, Dolphin and Snipe as well as an Albatross CIX and a Junkers JI at various build stages ( really trying to bring down my WIP, sort of managing ) Edited November 18, 2020 by Marklo 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 19, 2020 Author Share Posted November 19, 2020 (edited) My collection of bits increases. Skinned the tail planes, finished sanding and filling the fuselage and nacelles and started painting the interior. I also decided to skin the cupola and extended the front decking. Next up I need to cutout for the cupola, trim the tail planes and start on the wing centre sections. Edited November 19, 2020 by Marklo 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 More impressive workmanship. Those tailplanes in particular look delicate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted November 19, 2020 Share Posted November 19, 2020 Fascinating project. There is definitely something of the steampunk aesthetic about this plane. AW 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted November 20, 2020 Share Posted November 20, 2020 An amazing build Marklo The plane was also called the Nighthawk - a very appropriate name when you think of it prowling the night skies. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 20, 2020 Author Share Posted November 20, 2020 Shaped,scored and painting Nyerere the tail planes. Also did a bit of work on the cupola. in not at all sure what colour the plane should be. I’d have thought clear doped linen, however the cupola and nacelles look the same colour, so the fuss was probably painted. By first thought was battleship grey or maybe cdl on the fabric and battleship grey in the natal parts hmmm.., 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 21, 2020 Share Posted November 21, 2020 I was about to suggest silver but the lack of sheen on the fuselage makes me think light grey now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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