Thulin Type D

[trickyrich]

well done on the cowling, that wasn't easy to do at all! 

[Torbjorn]

All I managed during the weekend was to get some colours on the engine:

 

 

 

Had to make new induction pipes first though - the kit Le Rhone pipes have flanges which the Thulin did not.

Edited October 3, 2021 by Torbjorn

[Hewy]

Torbjorn I'm  sorry to say I've  missed this build up to yet , fine work you've done so far ,👍

[Torbjorn]

On 10/3/2021 at 8:44 PM, Hewy said:

Torbjorn I'm  sorry to say I've  missed this build up to yet , fine work you've done so far ,👍

No worries, plenty of time before this one is finished. Slowgress is the [non-?]word of my builds.

 

Did the last of the moulding required on this model (or is it ”molding” a I never remember) today: the top decking and faired side panels. The male moulds were carved out of a dowel of suitable diameter. I could probably have achieved the same result by simply heat-bending plate to the dowel, but at least I get symmetric results - and there are several other Thulin types with almost identical decking and faired panels and there is re-use potential. FVM’s Tummelisa and Triplane also had the same curvatures, or close enough.

 

The photo shows one finished panel complete with frames and hole for carburettor air intake and the fresh mould for the other side. The openings in the decking were made by drilling little holes around the perimerers and careful whittling with a hobby knife.

Edited October 5, 2021 by Torbjorn

[trickyrich]

that engine looks really nice, and nice work with the moulding as well! 

[John Masters]

The skills and craft of modelling at its finest.  This will look superb when finished.  

[Torbjorn]

Getting closer, only minor details to add now.

 

Landing gear was build from flattened brass tube and soldered for strength. The lines along the centre-line are unwanted cracks (too thin tubes, I’ll try using thicker ones next time) which will need some filling.

 

 

Shock absorbers were made by wrapping stretched sprue around a puece of plastic strip taped to a brass rod of the same diameter as the axle (note to self: use a slightly larger diameter next time). Since the glue doesn’t affect the metal, it can be pulled out and the wrapping can be cut in half (one for each side) and slid onto the axle. Last pic shows it in place.

 

Wrapping:

 

Turned out I had to add the top of the fuel tank - it could be seen even after adding the decking. A last pic of the interior before it gets closed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Struts, all panels and a lid for the storage behind the cockpits have also been added beside the nose and tail landing gear. 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Torbjorn
awful spelling

[vppelt68]

Hi, my name is V-P and I assemble plastic kits. My second hobby is to admire the people who build models... like Torbjörn

[Torbjorn]

On 10/15/2021 at 4:52 PM, vppelt68 said:

Hi, my name is V-P and I assemble plastic kits. My second hobby is to admire the people who build models... like Torbjörn

Hehe, thx. Assembling kits is another hobby of mine: in fact I shall do so now. I decided to make a Swedish Thulin, but I felt a bit bad so I’ll make something Finnish too.

[Brandy]

I've just caught up with this and I have to say your work is stunning. The wing in particular is just ridiculous in this scale - in the nicest possible way!

I doubt I shall attempt to copy it and will stick to the far inferior method of painting the ribs and spars!

 

Ian

[Torbjorn]

On 10/18/2021 at 6:00 PM, Brandy said:

I've just caught up with this and I have to say your work is stunning. The wing in particular is just ridiculous in this scale - in the nicest possible way!

I doubt I shall attempt to copy it and will stick to the far inferior method of painting the ribs and spars!

 

Ian

 

Thanks Ian. It’s actually not much more difficult than the ”normal” skin-cover-a-solid-base wing method, but has it’s downsides: the wing is a bit flimsy, prone to warping, and making holes for struts or wires going through the wing is tricky. I don’t think I’d try with a biplane.

[Torbjorn]

I haven’t forgotten but the paintinf takes time. A main difference between building from scratch and kit is that I tend to require more filling and fixing than with kits, which ruins paint. Therefore I add as much as possible before starting to paint. Which in turn makes masking more demanding.

 

1.First primed with grey 

 

2.Painted the cowling and undercarriage with grey-green. I haven’t found a specific source, but I believe Thulin used the same grey-green primer as the Germans, inherited from Albatros. Thulin C was a reverse-engineered Albatros B.II and I suspect he liked the paint scheme because he seems to have painted all his following types in similar manner. The Thulin D replica in Finland has this colour, as does Thulin’s last, the type NA which is preserved in original colours, which can be seen here covered in dust:

 

https://www.google.no/amp/s/aeronavium.wordpress.com/2016/03/28/enoch-thulin-pa-landskrona-museum/amp/

 

I used the primer from AK’s German WWI set.

 

3. masked (2) and painted the rest wood

 

4. Masked the wooden panels and sprayed linen

 

5. Masked linen to spray the black lines along the edges and national insignia. This is where I am halfway through now:

 

 

7. will be to unmask and paint grain on the wood with oil, 8 to paint aluminium and brass details.

[Torbjorn]

Tape’s off and we’re starting to see something resembling a Thulin.

 

 

Touch ups and weathering to follow - these things got quite dirty in places. The remaining tape is a handhold. 

 

The ”S” was an early insignia used for a short while. It was painted by printing and cutting a mask:

 

 

It turned out ok, but will need touchups. The work involved makes me tempted to buy one of those snazzy digital cutters. I just think I need a micro-version, which I haven’t seen.

 

Soon I have to solve the teickiest part - the big AETA decal on the cowling, like on this E-type here:

 

[Torbjorn]

Tailplane and wing attached. The rigging looks like my fishing lines after a winter in hibernation, but should hopefully be possible to untwine.

 

[reini]

That is just amazing! 😮

[JeroenS]

On 02/11/2021 at 22:55, Torbjorn said:

The work involved makes me tempted to buy one of those snazzy digital cutters. I just think I need a micro-version, which I haven’t seen.

I've been wanting to buy one of those for some time, I've always been a little put off by the prices. But this seems like a good one. 

 

https://vinylcuttingmachines.net/reviews/silhouette-portrait-3-review/

[AaCee26]

Hejsan!

 

This is a really outstanding built! My fiirst try to scratch building was a Thulin D 40+ years ago. There was an article how to do it in a local magazine. I quess it got inspiration from AoH? It was never finished. Maybe I should try again?

Cheers,

 

AaCee

[Col.]

Stunning workmanship

I'd say good luck with the rigging but that's a spurious sentiment with your incredible skill-set.

[Torbjorn]

On 11/10/2021 at 11:24 AM, JeroenS said:

I've been wanting to buy one of those for some time, I've always been a little put off by the prices. But this seems like a good one. 

 

https://vinylcuttingmachines.net/reviews/silhouette-portrait-3-review/

 

Yeah, something like that. It’s an expensive toy with limited use.

—-

 

 

Thanks for the like and kind comments, guys, they are encouraging. 

 

I have finished most of the rigging. It has the sort of rigging common for several wing-warping monoplane types of the era, principally identical with that of the Bleriot XI.  On both over and underside there are ”masts” holding the wires; the underside mast holds the connection  to the cockpit. I started off with attaching the wing control wires on the underside, which is easier don before attaching the upper wing ”mast”.

 

 
I forgot to take a picture while attaching the wires but this shows the setup. 

 

Each wing has 3 pairs of wires (ie 12 holes in wings, 24 attachment points on the masts/fuselage). I find this trickier than the typical biplane rigging due to the difficulty of having good attachment points. I want the rigging to be structural so I pull it pretty hard: therefore both masts are soldered. The 6 leading wires are bracing wires: attached to eyelets on the upper mast and hardpoints on the fuselage or undercarriage. The trailing wires are the warping wires, running through a pulley on the upper mast and attached to the control system on the lower (the see-saw-looking thing at the tip). After attaching all points on the lower side I threaded the control wires around the pulley and applied some glue. Since the model wings *are* warping I had to pull all six wires simultaneously (it’s 3 on the real thing, but for various reasons I had to have separate on each side), else I’d end up with an awkward-looking wing and/or slack wires.

 

Lastly the leading edge bracing wires were attached to the eyelets on the mast. They were first pulled through, a tiny drop of CA held it in place while making a simple seizing of the wire. With the first wires I only made an over-hand knot, but actually seizing it gives better results and isn’t that difficult.

 

Here the control wires are kept taut (see the wee clothespins?) while the glue is setting. I gave up making a jig and just held it while watching crap on TV. 

 

You can also see the turnbuckles - I usually never use them as they are eitger invariably overscale in 1/72, or takes ages to make. On the Thulin they were huge however, and very prominent, so I decided to add them. I think they are *almost* to scale.

 

Almost there now:

 

 

 

It looks like a bird’s nest on top: I need to clean it a bit from dust and loose ends of wires. I did remember to attach the tiny windscreen.

Edited November 16, 2021 by Torbjorn

[desert falcon]

I greatly admire your skills and patience !! 

[Brandy]

Lovely work on the rigging. I almost invariably end up with the wings, or at least one, pulled downwards no matter how careful I am with tensioning. I try to thread through the wings in one piece so in theory I can adjust the wing after the wires are fixed if necessary.

 

Ian

[trickyrich]

And again another build that seemed to have slipped by me...sorry!

 

But wow she's looking amazing! You'd be very hard pressed to tell she was a scratch built model, amazing work well done!! 

 

[Torbjorn]

On 11/26/2021 at 4:53 PM, Brandy said:

Lovely work on the rigging. I almost invariably end up with the wings, or at least one, pulled downwards no matter how careful I am with tensioning. I try to thread through the wings in one piece so in theory I can adjust the wing after the wires are fixed if necessary.

 

Ian

 

Thanks Ian. Yes, I do have the same problem, also here though it might be difficult to see. I did thread through the wings here also, even though that became maybe unnecessarily difficult due to the hollow wings and the wires not going through any spars. I left them without glue to reduce tension. In a previous model I glued a metal sheet to the vertical side of one spar to prevent bending of the wing, I think that worked great but I skipped it here (at least I think I skipped it... I’m getting senile ).

 

Final session - the propeller. To anyone who hasn’t tried to make on I recommend it - it is very rewarding work as there good chance of surprising yourself with a better result than expected. It’s a complicated shape but perfectly achievable in 1/72 with some patience. 

 

Had no suitable stock so I laminated strips and glued to a cross, then glued a drawing on one side and carved the rough shape:

 

 

Then, in steps, went around and made each blade slimmer and slimmer with a scalpel. Then continued with a needle file and finally sandpaper. The edges were trimmed by scraping with the scalpel.

 

 

Painted with Vallejo model air and oils, gloss-coated and adorned with a PE plate.

 

 

Should be able to manage the deadline now!

Edited December 23, 2021 by Torbjorn

[arfa1983]

That is incredible. I can only imagine what my propeller would look like if I tried that! 

[desert falcon]

The propeller is a little master piece in its own