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Zorn’s Flying boat - Farman HF23


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3 hours ago, pheonix said:

Those floats look super. I use Evergreen strip and file it to aerofoil section for struts - but painting them is a problem. Try cutting them a little too long so that the end can be held in tweezers: cut the unpainted end off when ready to use.

 

P

 

Thanks, next time I will do this. With rod though, because I have more of it and it requires less work to sand a squeezed rod and I found it easier to get consistent results.

2 hours ago, JeroenS said:

I like your idea for the number masks. Could come in handy at some point. Must remember not to forget. 

 

I have come to prefer this over homemade custom decals which invariably have very thick paper, and at least with straight-line designs it’s possible to get ”perfect” results. It’s generally much easier to do the masks inversed compared to what I did now: I was aiming for translucency, which would have been spoilt if I had first sprayed the wings black(black with a spot of grey to be specific). Now it turned out that the blue covers too good and there is zero translucency anyway... but at least I tried. CDL is another story, that one is perfectly translucent. 

 

Edited by Torbjorn
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The package from UK containing brass tube has arrived, so I started on the booms.

 

I’m using 0.6 mm tube, which is slightly too thick to scale but the smallest I dared try. Using tube to make drilling easier: to attach the struts, float and tailplane, I drilled holes through the boom, inserted copper wire and soldered. To get the wires in the right place I simply scaled the drawing in the longitudinal direction, to get the length and angles corresponding to the plane centred on the booms.

 

Like so:

 

xxTfacr.jpg

 

 

Then, using a simple jig, the wo booms were soldered together. Results below - some of the joints got too much solder and need filing, but overall I’m satisfied. The upper boom will be made in the same way.

 

KiYGWnM.jpg

 

 

 

Edited by Torbjorn
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Almost ready for assembly. Here’s the last detail for the wings. Existing French Farmans and my drawings show the aileron control wires going through complicated-looking pulleys at the tip of the lower wings, but the Swedish ones seen all to have a single pulley located under the top wing, see red circle below:

 

trhdwEU.jpg

 

The pulleys are large, so I added them as a slice of plastic rod in a house made from beer can sheet:

 

LmsRwWt.jpg

 

 

In the next post I should je ready to show all painted parts ready for assembly. Except the engine, which is still in the mail after almost 4 weeks, which is beginning to worry me.

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On 5/31/2021 at 11:45 AM, pheonix said:

Those pulleys look good - if very small! Looking forward to seeing the parts ready for assembly, when the real fun begins!

 

P


Too early to celebrate, had a bit of a mishap when removing the masking:

 

 

lRSizXD.jpg

 

It peeled off. And since it is yellow it requires half a dozen layers, meaning a several day delay. The pic shows one of the pulleys in place. You can also see some of the  dozens of holes drilled for the wires. Drilled these out with a .3 mm bit.

 

 

On the bright side I got a message from te postal service ”The shipment was unfortunately misdirected but has now been forwarded to its destination”. It appears I might get my engine after all. :)

Edited by Torbjorn
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On 6/1/2021 at 7:46 PM, pheonix said:

Win some - lose some. What you gain on the engine you lose on the wing!

 

Better luck next time with the masking.

 

P

 

So it is, and this was going more smoothly than it use to do.

 

Thanks for the likes ans sympathies, all.

 

I removed all the colour from the damaged outer section, primed and repainted. Masking went better this time - I shall be more careful in the future.

 

I had also been pondering on how to make the bands on the struts in some way that resembles consistency. The solution presented itself while I searching for something else in the goodies box:

 

I2GkKzX.jpg

 

That is a discontinued and discounted lozenge sheet I bought for half a pound without any plans for it. The lozenge doesn’t look like any real I’ve seen (at least not in 1/72), but the blue rib tapes were excellent as strut bands.

 

Here are the finished struts:

AmWWVBr.jpg

 

12 +1 extra finished, 2 without bands yet because wires will be going straight through them and due to that, the exact location of the band will have to be determined in situ. The 4 boom struts were made a mm too long and will be cut to final size after the booms are in place.

 

The rest of the pieces, bar engine, are finished. 

 

The tailplane and booms and rudder with the naval ensign:

R4yTzxq.jpg

 

The exact size and placement of the ensign varied from machine to machine  (regulations gave the proportions and stated ”as large as possible” and that’s it) and no photos of this particular plane are known to me, which lets me choose a decal from a Blue rider sheet which is somewhat correct in size.

 

 

The breadknife, or upper wing:

6Do4Jhm.jpg

The upper side is without any markings. For size can be said that the lower wing covers the upper until the ailerons - don’t tell wikipedia or they will call it a sesquiplane.

 

And finally the office and lower wings mounted on the slippers:

BTYQt86.jpg

 

 

This lot will now be varnished for protection, and the drying time will be used to assemble the engine.

Edited by Torbjorn
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YjEzKwd.jpg

 

The fun has started. The wires were first added to the upper wing, and then the upper wing to the lower. Outer struts first, then one strut by one. The ”jig” I use for this job is the paint bottles in the photo. Now comes the cross-eyed job of getting the wires into their little holes. I will probably tension the wires before adding the booms.

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Excellent jig - I use similar materials all the time and they are very effective. However I rig my models with rolled copper wire as trying to put thread through tiny holes with the above set up would be enough to cause me to take up origami....!

 

Best of luck with the rigging - this is a super model.

 

P

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Thanks for the likes and comment guys.

I’ve considered using copper wire before, for miniature model ship rigging (a vemture which I postponed due to lack of space) but wouldn’t dare using it on a plane except for some special cases. My wings are flimsy so I want the ”wires” (I currently use hair) to be structural and the little holes also help keeping the model clean from glue. Could you share where you sourced your wire from though? It’s awfully expensive where I’ve found it.

 

But my goodness this is a queerlooking thing.

 

7TeWvmA.jpg

 

I dryfitted the boom in order to measure and cut the boom struts to their final sizes.

 

You may also see some silvery looking things on the aft struts on the wings between the upper and lower booms - these are fairleads for the control wires: 0.3 mm aluminium tube superglued to notches in the struts. I will wait with painting them blue until after the wires have been led through them, for fear of clogging the openings.

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That is beginning to look like an MF on floats! MF machines were odd looking at the best of times, (which is what makes them interesting in the first place), but on floats they doo look even more odd. However it makes them all the more interesting to scratch build!

 

My source of wire was the Scientific Wire Company. I bought a reel of 0.10mm about 8 years ago - it is sold by weight, (125grams I think - the label is damaged), and it cost around £10 as I remember. There is enough wire on the reel to rig the whole of the RFC in 1/72 scale! When it is fixed with superglue it strengthens the model too and is very much easier than trying to drill holes and run thread through them. It is also superior when working with metal booms which cannot be drilled. I use it because I do not have the dexterity and eyesight that I used to have but I use thread on 1/32 scratch builds where I have more room to see and manipulate things. (see https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10930.0   and  https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=9631.0   where I used thread).   

 

P

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Oddity is indeed a major factor when it comes to model selection. :D

 

I’ve noticed the inevitable deterioration of eyesight myself - my plan of action is to switch to 1/32 when that time comes. But I shall give wire at try at some point.

 

Those gunbuses are amazing, especially the half-naked one. Thanks for the links.

 

 

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Was delayed by a couple of mishaps:

1. Was not gentle enough and tore off the port side of the upper wing from the struts

2. when re-attaching forgot to check theh alignement and the whole she-bang glued solid leaning about 10 degrees to port

 

Most of the approximately 100 wires are now fastened and the construction is becomd sturdy. The cylinder on the float wires are not supposed to be turnbuckles, but shock absorbers.

Still have a few wires to go, but the boom will go first.

ye34Ajs.jpg

 

But before the boom I need the engine, which currently getting its pushrods and ignition wires attached:

 

bl2EVAx.jpg

 

I printed drawings for an Integral airscrew for a DH2. The Farman would likely have had a locally produced propeller but on photos they look very much like the integral.

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1 hour ago, pheonix said:

Excellent progress but a real b.....r with the wing and then setting at the wrong angle. However you do seem to have fixed the problem.

 

P

Benefit of using Tamiya green glue: you can put small small drops on all connections, just enough to loosen themp up to re-adjust.

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On 6/13/2021 at 6:51 PM, Torbjorn said:

Benefit of using Tamiya green glue: you can put small small drops on all connections, just enough to loosen themp up to re-adjust.

 

That is quite useful, isn't it? I have applied that trick quite a few times in the past, and had it accidentally happen when I have used the stuff to re-inforce a join.

 

The model is looking suitably 'quirky' now, and I am amazed at the amount of rigging.

 

All the best, Ray

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58 minutes ago, Ray S said:

 

That is quite useful, isn't it? I have applied that trick quite a few times in the past, and had it accidentally happen when I have used the stuff to re-inforce a join.

 

The model is looking suitably 'quirky' now, and I am amazed at the amount of rigging.

 

All the best, Ray

 

It’s a game-changer - as a kid I only used those sticky, no-nonsense, unforgiving Humbrol/Revell glues leaving staines all over the place. I still have traumas trying to attach the upper wing of a SPAD with that stuff and relive the residue frustration every time I see a tan-coloured SPAD. 

After coming back to the hobby after a decades-long hiatus I’ve almost only used the liquid poison, and it’s a different thing altogether.

 

 

I do reinforce the strut-wing joints with CA, but only after most of the rigging is on, since that is a point of no-return.

Edited by Torbjorn
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And she’s finished, more or less.

 

Last items were the propeller and linking arma for the elevator wires. The latter were made from brass shim. I did paint them before assemby but scraped the paint off in that process, thereof the lack of colour in the photo below. I shall have to do some touch ups anyhow and will paint the arms as well.

70chyqh.jpg

 

 

I shall describe the propeller making process, because I liked it and these threads work as notes for myself.

1. glued 4 plastic sheets together, after painting them black.

2. printed drawings, and glued them to the upper and lower sides of the laminated plastic

3. shaped until the sides roughly followed the drawing outlines (photo below)

 

HP08xQ8.jpg

 

4. Sanded down the sides to get aerofoil shapes. This is the main reason for laminating rather than using one single piece of thick plastic: the resulting black lines are a tremendous help when sanding,  making asymmetries or uneven sanding stand out as eye sores.

 

 

kw7hjV6.jpg

 

 

The lines of course also shines through like wood grains if you don’t use too thick paint. The original was made from 8 layers though, maybe I’ll try a higher number next time.

 

Remember I said the following?

”I printed drawings for an Integral airscrew for a DH2. The Farman would likely have had a locally produced propeller but on photos they look very much like the integral.”
Half of that was wrong, I have since found this close-up image of a Swedish Farman prop:

 

02347xLkfzqM?filename=FVM.129312.jpg&dim

 

 

Unless I’m mistaken, that says Integral! :D

 

So I slapped on Integral prop decals and called it a day: 

h4UbWA4.jpg

 

(there’s a little shadow on the ”brass” shield that shouldn’t be there - remember to prime that part next time...)

 

 

After I get around to cut loose ends of wires and do touch up painting I’ll get around to putting pics in the gallery.

Edited by Torbjorn
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On 6/25/2021 at 5:01 PM, pheonix said:

Superb build of a very interesting type.

 

You cannot have too many pushers.

 

P

Thanks P  - it’s my third pushed (though the others are Curtiss-type flying boats), and I just bought an overpriced secondhand Eduard DH2, so she will have company.

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On 6/25/2021 at 5:41 PM, Brandy said:

Beautiful build, and the prop is exquisite! (It also rotates the right way, which is a help!)

 

Ian

Thanks Ian! Yes, I admit I had to look at pictures and think twice quite a few times to shape it the right way.

 

Pictures are in the gallery, I’ll finish here with a photo of the boys/men of the Dalarö station in front of a Farman:

IAxF4Zv.jpg

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