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1/32 BE2c Scratch build


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Well there has been a little progress this week. I made the rudder from styrene sheet, the lip round the outside is just Mr Surfacer applied with a paintbrush. It might be too subtle to even notice but it is there. The rib tapes are just strips of decal sheet. Paints are MRP,  Toyota Supra prominence red,basic white and Oxford blue. Nice to see a splash of colour.

52504268484_303b450aa2.jpg2022-11-16_05-12-36 by Richard Williams, on Flickr

I spent an eternity making my own propeller boss from washers, miniature hex nuts and sheer bloody mindedness. I actually had to make it twice because the first one had only 6 rather than 8 retaining bolts. Very frustrating!

52500277578_95d3cc84cb.jpgPropeller boss by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

A bit rough in brutal close up but good enough to the naked eye.


I made the tailplane part from styrene rods and strips for the structure and 0.25mm sheet for the skin. I had intended to use 0.13mm sheet but was concerned about drilling holes in such thin plastic for rigging and control horns. Rib tapes are again white decal strips. I didn't take any progress shots but I have the other side and elevators to make so hopefully will remember then. This was challenging for me, I skinned the top and bottom halves separately and spent an eternity sanding the edges to blend everything in. I created subtle contours by heating it with a hair dryer and pressing between the ribs. This cause a slight warp which needed straightening with boiling water and a vice which in turn popped the seams causing more filling sanding, many curses and a loosened internal rigging line.. I thought this would be a sweary process and I was not wrong. Because I'm trying to finish with a completely translucent model I can't do any priming. This is hard work but I am having fun and if I end with a reasonable BE2c model at the end I will be very happy.

 

52504267999_32408b548f.jpg2022-11-16_05-12-19 by Richard Williams, on Flickr





Time is a bit limited for a while but hopefully I can keep ticking away at my own slow rate and have more to show you next time.

Thanks for dropping by
Richie

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  • 2 weeks later...


Although I have not updated for a couple of weeks I have spent many hours working at this in that time with,as usual, very little to show for my efforts .I was so pleased with the propeller boss I showed last time but unfortunately I made a big measurement error so had to make another. This went quite smoothly as I had spent hours making one before. Again I used washers and punched discs of aluminium sheet. for the retaining bolts I used my hex punch and die set which I had completely forgotten about. All the parts were just positioned by eye with no measuring and stuck with extra thin CA. The new one is on the left, it will do, I am pleased!

52523239103_3aa7e5d0cd.jpgBE2c Prop boss by Richard Williams, on Flickr

Next up I had to make the rest of the tail feathers. The ribs were cut on my cricut cutting machine, lined up with the plan and glued with B7000 glue. I also use this glue for skinning as it gives me working time and clumsy smudges can be cleaned up with Mr levelling thinner.

 

52505660717_c9a4d8e6bf.jpgTailplane under construction. by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

This was skinned and finished in the same way as the piece in my last update.



So far so good, now onto the elevators. I tried using the cricut again but it was not able to produce the accuracy I wanted so I had to try old school model making.  Using my beloved precision ruler I marked out little rectangles with drilling points. Not so bad.



The central hole is for a spar the other is simply to help line things up so I could thread the pieces ontp brass rod before block filing them into shape.

52521910145_42b0c2e8e3.jpgBE2c elevator by Richard Williams, on Flickr

A 1x1.5mm styrene strip was tacked onto an engineering square with CA gel and taped to the plan, the ribs were slid into place and glued.

 

52521433711_f271c9ac32.jpg20221124_205453 by Richard Williams, on Flickr

All going well so far. Styrene rod was bent into shape and glued making sure to keep everything square. The idea is file down the trailing edge later.

52521910205_5bc96a3d5c.jpgBE2c elevator by Richard Williams, on Flickr

Sadly whilst filing the trailing edge I managed to wrestle everything out of square, bend some of the ribs and the observant of you will have noticed that I missed out a rib. Arghhhhh!

52521709879_6e725ec9a0.jpgelevator by Richard Williams, on Flickr

Another lot of styrene casualties for no forward movement. The upside is that I actually had great fun messing about with it and learned a lot about scratch building and the importance of patience. I will have another bash at it over the weekend, I have a cunning plan! 

Thanks for dropping by
Richie

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Two steps forward and three back....mmmmm sounds like scratch building to me!

 

As Steve has written, keep at it Richie; what you have done so far is awesome and things will only get better as you gain experience. I am thinking about how to make the exposed tailplane on my BE 2a and I do think that you may have given me an idea...

 

P

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15 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Keep plugging away mate. This is going to be awesome when all put together. 👍

Thanks BSS, I have plenty styrene in store. This kit comes with loads of spare parts. I'll get there in the end, I may be some time!

 

9 minutes ago, pheonix said:

Two steps forward and three back....mmmmm sounds like scratch building to me!

 

As Steve has written, keep at it Richie; what you have done so far is awesome and things will only get better as you gain experience. I am thinking about how to make the exposed tailplane on my BE 2a and I do think that you may have given me an idea...

 

P

Cheers P, I think I have the solution now. Will see how I get on tomorrow, will drop you a line if I have success. I'm thinking 0.5mm brass rod for the trailing edge. 

 

Two steps forward, three back. Very appropriate for a slow scout that flew regularly over the Somme! Those poor young airmen were insanely brave to have flown in such a machine.

 

Richie

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Just read through all this...

 

Very impressive work. I love the translucent effect of using tin sheet and thin paint..  It's going to look really impressive when parts come together..

 

I'll follow your progress.

 

Matt

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13 minutes ago, Mattlow said:

Just read through all this...

Thanks for taking the time to read through the thread Matt. I'm a very slow and not very experienced scratch builder. Any tips, hints and suggestions you might have are more than welcome. I hope to not disappoint!

 

Richie

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Hi Richie

Great job on the Propeller boss, that looks awesome and your elevator looked good, shame it bent out of shape. 

Have you tried Tamiya Extra Thin cement might be good as it melts the plastic together and makes for a great joint.  

Great work, glad you're enjoying it.

Chris

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7 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Have you tried Tamiya Extra Thin cement might be good as it melts the plastic together and makes for a great joint

Thanks Chris, yes I've used Tamiya extra thin before and it is great stuff. Have been using plasweld too, It's a very good idea to use for attaching the ribs to the styrene spar. Not sure why I didn't! Will put it use this morning, cheers mate!

 

Richie

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3 hours ago, Fozzy said:

Patience is the best tool when scratch building...followed by time!......you're doing a grand job Richie!...keep it up!🙂

Cheers Fozzy, it means so much to have the master on board. I read through your whole SE5a build again recently. It was so inspiring! I'm keeping the faith, avoiding all aftermarket parts and learning a huge amount about humility and patience. I'm finding scratch building to be hugely rewarding. Great fun too!

 

Richie

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Well I have persevered today and had another bash at making an elevator. I followed the same process as last time but used 0.5mm styrene rod for the outer edges. I figured that the thicker rod I used last time was attempted to return to its original shape and being thicker pulled everything out of shape. I also bent the required shape well in advance this time. Again, not a huge amount to show for my time but there have many distractions. First the postman delivered this;

 

52524942636_0b0a34b90f.jpg20221126_112441 by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

I preordered whilst drunk on my birthday last January, all very exciting but not sure when I will ever have time to build it or space to display it. It really does look good though!

 

Despite this and cooking a batch of meals to deliver to my elderly folks tomorrow I think I finally won this particular round.

 

52525417790_72ba07470e.jpg20221126_190454 by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Using such thin styrene rod for the trailing edge is a delicate business but once skinned the part sems robust enough to withstand the fettling and refining that will follow so I am chuffed with the outcome. It lines up pretty well with the plan and won't require a lot of work.

 

52525419090_8036407eab.jpg20221126_190325 by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Another bonus of making the internal structure is that I am spared the tedium of embossing the ribs on the skin and fiddling about to get the right alignment. Running a cotton bud over the surface produced the surface texture so quickly and easily. I think I would do things this way even if I was building a non translucent aircraft.

 

I'm off to drool over the newly arrived Airfix plastic and have a beer. Have a good weekend everybody.

 

Richie

 

 

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3 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Have a great wee.

This happens quite a lot at my age! 

 

Yes, the Spit is astonishing. When i was a nipper I always got a 1/24  Airfix kit for Christmas. This arriving brought back many happy memories. I already have 3 more scratchbuilds planned but I may take a diversion down memory lane to build this next. 

 

Cheers

Richie

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15 minutes ago, RichieW said:

This happens quite a lot at my age! 

 

Yes, the Spit is astonishing. When i was a nipper I always got a 1/24  Airfix kit for Christmas. This arriving brought back many happy memories. I already have 3 more scratchbuilds planned but I may take a diversion down memory lane to build this next. 

 

Cheers

Richie

Blooming predictive text 🙄 I have edited now, sorry about that😉. I know what you mean too. 

 

Had a good look at mine earlier and it is a fantastic kit, even got canning on the fuselage too.  I wish the rivets from the cockpit back were not represented as holes as I thought they were domed aft of the pit, will have to get some rivet decals for that!!!

 

Have a great weekend this time

Chris

 

 

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26 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

I wish the rivets from the cockpit back were not represented as holes as I thought they were domed aft of the pit, will have to get some rivet decals for that!!!

Yes, I think you're right about that. I am pretty certain the panels that run over the spine overlap the panels directly beneath them too. Will have to do something about that. ;)

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Had a day free today and needed a nice relaxing task after a bit of an 'interesting' day yesterday so I thought I'd carve the propeller to go with the boss I made last week.

I had already made up a blank from coffee stirrers so I all I had to do was a spot of whittling. To get the shape I just put Tamiya tape on the plans, traced the shape and the transferred the tape to the blank. I didn't take any progress pics but I just used a scalpel to rough it into shape followed by files and different grades of sandpaper.

 

52530430838_9f93cc9f32.jpgBE2c Prop carved from coffee stirrers. by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

I could go on and on refining the shape and trying to perfect the symmetry but this is good enough for me. The coffee stirrers (bamboo?) carve really easily and have a very fine grain that looks in scale and there are no pores to fill. RFC propellers were stained and the laminations were not usually very apparent so I can get away with using just one type of wood. I did make another blank from laminated veneers of different woods but I'm calling this one a keeper. I will stain it later.

 

I finished making the elevators too. Once the Mister Surfacer has dried I will sand them down, give them a thin coat of white/cdl mix, apply white decal strip rib tapes and then give them a final coat. Here is the sum total of over 2 weeks of work, a bit bit different to my childhood build it before bedtime days!

 

52530477033_93bcb5f2ac.jpgBE2c Tail feathers and propeller by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Thanks for looking

Richie

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Ooooooo that prop looks wonderful Richie,  what a great job .  Coincidentally I was also working on a prop yesterday,  I was mounting a full size Tiggie Prop above the entrance to the mancave!!! With permission from the domestic authorities of course😉

Great work 

Chris

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9 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

I was mounting a full size Tiggie Prop above the entrance to the mancave!!! With permission from the domestic authorities of course😉

Thanks Chris, hope you post a picture of that Tiggie Prop mounted on the wall. Old wooden props are real works of art eh? If you ever take a trip to Old Warden there some beauties on the wall in the Shuttleworth collection. They have an airworthy original Sea Hurricane too. ;)

 

9 hours ago, Fozzy said:

Great work on the prop Richie!....exactly the way I do them!😉

 

Fozzy

Cheers Fozzy, one little piece at a time I'm slowly getting there.  :)

 

Richie

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Evening all, hope everybody is well and enjoying all things modelling.

 

After a busy week I had a couple of days to myself. I decided to set about making the gravity tank cowling which can be seen here in a phoograph by James Fahey from his magnificent set of detail shots of TVAL's BE2c.

 

52546648172_9f172c62f1.jpgBE2C photo by James Fahey by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

I pondered making the blister by doing old fashioned panel beating but soon realised that it would mean making a former the same shape so I just whittled a piece of styrene rod and CA'd it in place. The panel itself is just 0.15mm sheet aluminium that I annealed and bent over a former a made a few weeks ago. The Tamiya tape will represent the reinforcement strap at the end. The former was made from balsa, I spent an age getting a smooth enough surface to vac form the cockpit coaming but that's for another day. Spoiler alert, the vac form machine didn't get used.

 

52547521415_046496c5a9.jpgBE2c Fuel tank cowling by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

This was then primed with car body filler and lots of little punched rivets were stuck on with future. I don't bother measure things like this, it is eye straining enough working with 0.25mm specks of aluminium.

 

52547591628_ce0498885c.jpgFuel tank cowling, rivets added. by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

All painted up, that's a fun job done, the finish looks a bit ropey in the photo, there may have to be some micro mesh action later. I'll have a look later with the naked eye and see if I'm worrying about nothing.

 

52547385704_e5935e018e.jpgFuel tank cowling painted by Richard Williams, on Flickr 

 

Much less fun was making a strip of stitches for the fuselage from fishing line (1.5lb Maxima chameleon) and styrene sheet. This involved individually drilling over 300 0.4m holes that should be spaced with absolute precision, I didn't manage that but it was so tedious that I won't be repeating the process. Actually I need another strip the same length, I shall wait for my brain to recover before doing the next length.

 

52547385379_6544c6fdd5.jpgFuselage stitching strip by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

I seem to be do be doing everything except finishing the fuselage frame, this is because I am living in terror of cocking up the alignment of the next pair of uprights. My intention is to make them from brass rod and continue the straight up to form an inner core for the cabane struts. Get this step wrong and the top wing won't go on. I will tackle that soon, wish me luck.

 

Richie

 

 

 

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Gave the cowling a rub down with 2000 grit paper and gave it a respray. After airbrushing I sprayed a mist of Mr Colour Levelling Thinner. 

 

52547552694_1f6063cfba.jpg20221206_183531 by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Much better, I'm calling that part finished. Looking on each part as a model in itself is proving to be a big help. Far too much to take on otherwise.

 

Thanks for looking

Richie

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Excellent work. I especially like the stitching.
 

I had to put some stitching on my Avro 504 once upon a time but your method did not occur to me. Yours looks way better than what I came up with.

 

Sorry if I’ve have missed it but how did you make those exquisite little rivet heads?

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