Gloster Gauntlet 56 Squadron

[galgos]

Before moving on too much further forward I need to get to grips with the front starboard side of the fuselage (funny how virtually every drawing shows the port side only!)  This is the best photo that I can find of the contentious area, and I've enlarged it and tweaked it to death, but there appears to be five openings/caps/pipes of interest.  1 and 5 appear to be filler/inspection caps (radiator related?), 2 and 3 appear to be drain/vent pipes and 4 possibly an exhaust vent.  Any thoughts?

 

 

[dogsbody]

Could #2 be where the starter crank was inserted? I've looked through my meager stash of Gauntlet info but couldn't find anything.

 

 

Chris

 

[galgos]

Thanks for your thoughts Chris, I think the starter crank is actually on the port side, and this picture makes things a little clearer:

 

 

Also it looks like a pipe running along the lower edge of the oil radiator which is different to the Gladiator where it runs along the top edge, or is there one top and bottom? Every time I look I see, or interpret something different! 

[galgos]

Front starboard area about finished:

 

 

and the cowling roughly in place:

 

 

[wellsprop]

This is stunning! @mahavelona check this out

[Patrik]

Max, did you find a photo confirming the seam and the locks (or whatever it is) on the starboard side of the cowling? Because I did not and therefore I decided to keep them on the port side only in my 1/72 build. However, if you conjured up similarly wonderful photo as you did two weeks ago for the fuselage underside, I could still change my mind😉.

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by Patrik

[galgos]

Oh dammit Patrik, I hadn’t noticed that! And checking through my photos the answer is “No”! There must at least be a hinge there or somesuch! Having checked all my refs I’m pretty sure now there are no such mechanisms on the starboard side. Out with the scalpel and file! Cheers Patrik! 😛

[galgos]

On to more musings from the muddled modeller!  Major(ish) mods needed following thoughts about "the black hole" that exists on the Silver Wings model beneath the tailplanes.  I knew from building ICM's excellent Gladiator that this "open" internal rear fuselage area contained the mechanism for anchoring the horizontal tailplanes and for hinging the elevators, not very clear picture but you get the drift:

 

 

but Silver Wings don't provide anything to go here.  So looking at ICM's instruction sheet for their Gladiator:

 

 

My plan is to manufacture something along these lines and try to "wedge" it in place somehow......this of course should have been addressed before closing the fuselage up but hindsight is a wonderful thing.  But then looking at the picture above that I took of Duxford's Gladiator tailplane made me remember that the tailplane isn't actually fixed to the fuselage for most of its length, there's quite a large gap.  I assumed this is so with the Gauntlet, and enlarging the picture of the unfortunate crash proved so:

 

 

The question then remains about how to secure the tailplanes firmly in place and I guess the answer is pretty much as the real thing; metal rod through e fuselage at the front end and through the structure that I'll be adding at the aft end.  Accurate drilling required!

 

SW provide two small frets on the PE sheet for the surrounds for the "footwells" on the fuselage but I avoid using PE wherever I can so I imported a clear picture of a Gauntlet into Silhouette and quickly produced vinyl alternatives, no messy CA to deal with:

 

 

 

There were spring-loaded flaps on each footwell but I can't decide whether to leave the vinyl in place or just have the surround, perhaps when painted things will be clearer.

 

[Patrik]

7 hours ago, galgos said:

Oh dammit Patrik, I hadn’t noticed that! And checking through my photos the answer is “No”! There must at least be a hinge there or somesuch! Having checked all my refs I’m pretty sure now there are no such mechanisms on the starboard side. Out with the scalpel and file! Cheers Patrik! 😛

Hope I did not spoil your Sunday.😉

Love the thread, both the build and the educational part.

[galgos]

Not at all Patrik, getting things right is the first priority and carving off the starboard latches was very easy! Thanks for drawing my attention to it, I’d have missed it completely. 

[mahavelona]

The tailplane attachment is a challenge - it's easier on the ICM gladiator because the holes to mount the brass rod are already present. However I have no doubt you will be able to get the main spar accurately through the fuselage.

 

The black hole as you call it is a challenge on both kits...

 

The bare metal foil looks excellent 

[galgos]

Well it's not very pretty but it's functional!

 

 

I carved a piece of resin "sprue" so that it fitted into the back of the fuselage recess and drilled a hole to accept the elevator pivots.  I tarted the resin up a bit with a nut and bolt either side, but once it's all painted and the tailplanes are in place not much will be visible, but it's better than an empty space!

[bigbadbadge]

Nice recovery on the rear end Max , that fuselage is now looking rather lovely.

Great work.

Chris

[galgos]

Thanks Chris, I'm pleased with it all so far, but there are now so many small jobs that I have to do before going further....for instance lots of small holes to be drilled ready for rigging points, mustn't forget the underbelly light, drain tube on the starboard nose etc etc.  😅

 

Love this picture of a Tiger Squadron Gauntlet's rear end:

 

 

 

[galgos]

Before too long I will be fitting the cabane struts to the forward fuselage then the mid-wing upper section but before that can happen I have to fit the gunsight and windshield.  The latter is cast from resin and whilst being clear, is rather thick and doesn't fit very easily snuggling up against the radiator.  So back to the Silhouette to design and cut a new windshield, quite a lot of trial and error involved with measurements and angles but I finally arrived at an acceptable windshield.

 

 

So I used the "empty" outline to cut a piece of thin clear plastic and the one with frames to cut some vinyl (self adhesive of course), which I then pressed onto the clear shape.  It works:

 

 

It will fit well when glued in place.  I'm going to paint the vinyl silver before cutting it to avoid the fiddly job of freehand painting or trying to mask it.  Job done! 

Edited just now by mozart

 

[bigbadbadge]

Great idea Max , looks wonderful. 

Chris

[Dunny]

Some lovely work on show Max, and some great detail emerging!

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[galgos]

Thanks Roger, it's the best bit of fun I've had building a kit for ages!

[galgos]

I've been carrying out an experiment to try to determine the best finish for the Gauntlet's metal fuselage representing an anodized finish.  So the following picture is self-explanatory:

 

 

and each section against the fabric rear fuselage:

 

 

I'm leaning towards the finish with the MRP anodized aluminium applied, but not sure whether matt or not?  Thoughts chaps?

 

I've also been looking in more detail at the Aldis gunsight and windshield arrangement clearly shown here:

 

 

 

but inevitably further questions arise about the associated sights, AP1487 shows me which way round the sighting barrel goes and that the forward sight is a bead one:

 

 

So I need to start off by cutting a hole through the windshield, getting that in place then sorting the gunsight, something like this:

 

 

 

[Alpha Juliet]

What a great build!

[galgos]

46 minutes ago, Alpha Juliet said:

What a great build!

Thank you AJ! I build only aircraft subjects that interest me, I think my passion must come through in my modelling! 

[galgos]

So plain anodized paint it is, no matt.  It looked a bit uniform so I've added a haze of smoke/graphite around the panel lines, not sure if I've overdone it in places, could need knocking back a bit.  The windshield is on so next is the Aldis sight (the bead sight won't be fitted till the very final build stages) followed by the cabane struts and wing centre section.  Still waiting for the missing struts from Silver wings.....

 

 

 

[IPMS19]

- Very inspiring post, it gives me the idea to built my own, I have two ICM Glad. Mk I; Owing to cost of the resin Silverwings  Gauntlet, I feel Iit could be possible to turn one of these into a Gauntlet at cost of some surgeonnery work and adding some parts as wind screen , gear and wing masts.and some blaked off eyes for the inside structure of the cockpit....

[galgos]

28 minutes ago, IPMS19 said:

- Very inspiring post, it gives me the idea to built my own, I have two ICM Glad. Mk I; Owing to cost of the resin Silverwings  Gauntlet, I feel Iit could be possible to turn one of these into a Gauntlet at cost of some surgeonnery work and adding some parts as wind screen , gear and wing masts.and some blaked off eyes for the inside structure of the cockpit....

Thank you mon ami! I had exactly the same thoughts about converting an ICM Gladiator to a Gauntlet until Silver Wings came along (thankfully) with their Gauntlet. I can see now that the changes needed to the Gladiator really are quite major if you want to build an accurate Gauntlet, so it’s worth trying to afford the SW kit if you can. 

[IPMS19]

3 minutes ago, galgos said:

Thank you mon ami! I had exactly the same thoughts about converting an ICM Gladiator to a Gauntlet until Silver Wings came along (thankfully) with their Gauntlet. I can see now that the changes needed to the Gladiator really are quite major if you want to build an accurate Gauntlet, so it’s worth trying to afford the SW kit if you can. 

-Thanks for your encouraging words, I will first try my hand with an "ordinary" Swedish glad, for now I begin collecting the necessary material for the Gauntlet. My main concern is about finding enough airfoilded strips for the masts andthe wind screen, but thanks to your demensionned drawing I can do the job. for the neceessary fuselage skin repladement, I have enough beer cans eager to give me their skin for the science  ....