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Vickers Viking 1b


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@Dave Swindell I looked at several pictures of various Vikings yesterday. It seems that many variants did not have the toilet window, or was capable of being blanked off such that the cover doesn't show at the resolution of the photos I saw,

I do have an issue with the horizontal stabilizers as presented by Valom:

It seems that one of the two variants possible with the 'out-of-the-box' Valom model suggests the port stabilizer and the starboard one should be radically different- one having a rounded tip and the other one a flatter edge. I have not yet seen a photo

of an actual Viking to support this.

Anyway, I have two dilemmas. I want the port & starboard stabilizers to be the same shape, which means doing a mix/match of the two variants, giving me locating pin mismatch between the upper & lower surfaces,

in addition to my two fuselage halves now having different spacings between the locating holes (not that this can't be overcome).

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1 hour ago, BrianBrachiopod said:

 I looked at several pictures of various Vikings yesterday. It seems that many variants did not have the toilet window, or was capable of being blanked off such that the cover doesn't show at the resolution of the photos I saw,

As far as I'm aware all Vikings were built with this window and all BEA Vikings had it whilst in service, however as you say it could possibly have been blanked or painted over in later service - if you've got a photo you're modelling from then go with that.

 

2 hours ago, BrianBrachiopod said:

It seems that one of the two variants possible with the 'out-of-the-box' Valom model suggests the port stabilizer and the starboard one should be radically different- one having a rounded tip and the other one a flatter edge.

Valom assymetric tailplanes are correct for a Viking IB, see photo linked below. This was an aerodynamic solution to counter the effects of prop torque

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/view/1224427

 

2 hours ago, BrianBrachiopod said:

There is a peculiar dog-leg on the join between horizontal stabilizer and its elevator flap,

There isn't a dogleg, the elevator inboard end is where you've highlighted the panel line dogleg, the inboard section is fixed tailplane right back to the trailing edge, again, see photo linked above.

 

22 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

 My reference says the aircraft height is 21 feet at the tail when the tailwheel is lowered, but the whole thing measures out to about 18 or 19 feet. 

Which reference is that? I have 19'6" for both Viking and Valetta

 

2 hours ago, BrianBrachiopod said:

 there were several iterations of the vertical stabilizer (so I am told).

I'm not aware of any change in overall dimensions of the fin/rudder, but there were at least 3 iterations of tailplane/elevator design. The Viking I/IA initial design with symmetrical outline/ asymmetric tailplane/elevator division as shown in the Granger plans posted by @dogsbody, the Viking IB symmetrical tailpane/asymmetrical elevator as one option kitted by Valom and the other option supplied by Valom for the Valetta with the full span elevators. Note that Valom have got the inboard section of these elevators incorrect, they should extend almost to the fuselage with a straight leading edge continuing inboard (no dogleg) and a very short section of full chord tailplane adjacent to the fuselage. This style of tailplane/elevator was retrofitted to the Nene Viking.

 

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14 hours ago, Aeronut22 said:

painting rather than a photo?

Might be . They had shiny NMF .That one is dull alluminium  like it's un loved  or perhaps it was shot on the ground and showed reflections of people and vehicles so was  touched up . 

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3 hours ago, Dave Swindell said:

Note that Valom have got the inboard section of these elevators incorrect

Excellent point.  Are they correct for the Valetta, though?  I'll need to doublecheck.  Likewise I'll doublecheck the height, which is for the Valetta, and from the book The Valetta.  I could be wrong, but this was an issue for me when I built the Valetta.  I didn't fiddle with the fin height, by the way.

 

While you're at it, @BrianBrachiopod, please check the aileron span to see if it checks out.  It may be 1/2" too short.  It certainly appears to have been on the Valetta.

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11 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Excellent point.  Are they correct for the Valetta, though?  I'll need to doublecheck.  Likewise I'll doublecheck the height, which is for the Valetta, and from the book The Valetta. 

The tailplane error is applicable to the Valetta

Afaik Fin/rudder didn't change between Viking/Valetta, therefore overall height should remain the same.

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Yes, @TheyJammedKenny! , I am going to try to use the windows supplied in the Valom kit, as they seem to fit. I haven't decided yet.

Earlier today I decided to investigate the plausibility of having a full-length passenger deck. I have made a temporary one out of a piece of thick card, wedged in place with a bit of blutak.

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A couple of weeks ago, my son asked me to buy some new motors for his micro-drone. They came in the mail today, so, as he only needs 2 of them, and I had to order 5, I am going to put a motor in

each of the Valom Viking engine nacelles. Problem is at 5V they run at over 55,000 RPM which is crazy fast, so I'll have to build some circuitry to reduce the speeds to about 2,000 RPM.

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This is totally awesome!  If you decide on a passenger compartment, would you mind please sharing an illustration of the deck, complete with the dimensions you used?  I want to crib from your example, so I have ulterior motives (up front).  Also, remember that the wing main spar crossed through the passenger compartment, had steps either side for the passengers to negotiate, and a compartment divider right up top.  Front-most seats faced aft at the next row, which faced forward.  

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@TheyJammedKenny! I was aware of the spar crossing the cabin. Most of the Vikings appeared to have a box over the spar widening it somewhat (I guess they all did), and some cabin pictures I saw, as you say, had a step each side. A picture I saw of a cabin of two used in South Africa

had a short ramp each side (but that could have been a non-standard alteration rather than a standard different variant). I haven't got to the stage where I need to consider that yet, but you raising the issue has given me the incentive to research this further.

I worked through last night, and got a bit more done.

First gob-smacking moment was when I discovered that when the two fuselage halves line up perfectly above & below at the front, they certainly don't at the tail wheel area.

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As I intend to have a full length cabin deck, it makes sense to populate it with seating & other internal goodies, so I will not be gluing the fuselage halves together.

I chatted with my son about this (He's just finished a degree in product design), and he suggested magnets. My first thought was 'How can I make magnets look like something that would be present in a real airplane?'

but then he produced from one of his drawers some incredibly small neodymium magnets that, being N55, should be strong enough to pull & keep the fuselage halves together. Then, (if I can pull this stunt off),

I can mount the plane on a diorama base with a sliding arrangement, to display the airplane closed, or open to show the inside.

I've buried a magnet into each vertical stabilizer half, and it seems to work for that part of the plane.

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I have also finished (in the dead of last night) the final styrene cabin deck. It seems a bit floppy, so I will attach a thin brass bar along its length underneath later today. It extends from just ahead of the pilots' footwell to just behind the bog in the rear.

@TheyJammedKenny!: I will see if I can make a template for you. (I just made a montage of bits of paper and masking tape, gradually refining it with scissors & more bits of paper 'til it looked right- nothing technical).

But I did scan the final shape onto the PC.

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Well, I couldn't settle to sleep, so after half an hour of trying, I'm pressing on with the Valom Viking build.

@Ed Russell: Re. your 'kind' suggestion I use mini servos to make the elevators & ailerons operable- At 1/72 scale?? I shall have to dust off my stereoscopic binocular microscope!

TBH I do actually have some micro linear actuators that would fit inside the horizontal stabilizers, but their contacts are SO tiny, soldering onto them is well beyond my abilities. Nice thought though,

-and a worthy challenge for those folk who get a kick out of painting landscapes on grains of rice.

As I have now made up my mind to have the airplane as part of a small diorama, I have ordered these:

I wanted to have a septic waste truck (honeywagon / stool bus), but I couldn't find one in 1/72 at a sensible price. Then I came across this Soviet fuel bowser which I can modify into a septic waste truck.

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I have now fixed the brass bar to the underside of the extended cabin deck. This should keep it rigid.

BTW I NEVER use polystyrene cement (never have). As most of my builds involve metal, rubber, wood, etc. as well as various plastics, I have got into the habit of almost always using cyanoacrylate as my go-to adhesive.

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I spent a while experimenting with bits of paper & got the shapes of the bulkheads how I want them, and now cut the shapes in styrene.

After I have glued the bulkheads to the deck, I will remove the pieces above the 'doorways'.

I will make the aft bulkhead behind the toilet after I fit the others. I need to look for, and study some more photos to see how the area under the deck is divided up.

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@TheyJammedKenny! I've just looked for the template you wanted of the extended cabin deck. I scanned it into my PC a couple of days ago & because I copied into a CorelDRAW file, I deleted the jpg.

But (and, my apologies for this), I can't seem to find the CorelDRAW file now.

But, I thought you might like this-

It is a copy of the passenger seat parts I have just sent to my laser cutting friend who I hope will make 24 (+ 2 spare) of these sets for me in the next day or so.

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Brooklands have a Viking at their museum, last time I was their the wings were off, as they were doing restoration work but that was a while ago, they are also very helpful and have plenty of information on all things Vickers 

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Last night I thought about which syringe needles to use for the hinges for the ailerons, elevators, rudder & trim tabs.

I decided to get the tail plane stuff out of the way first.

These very small needles are from insulin injection pens. (I decided to use these for the hinge inner pins as, being hollow, they'd be more robust than solid wire. The problem is that they are also more brittle).

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