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Scratchbuilding a 1/72 Aermacchi Al-60 (Trojan in Rhodesian AF)


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Would some cast metal parts for the Trog be of interest? As a Rhodesian it is a kit I have often considered producing - I was working in the drawing office of Air Rhodesia when a friend phoned from RRAF New Sarum and said 'if you look at the runway now you might see something interesting!' I looked, and there was the first aircraft flying.

Neil Gaunt

Aircraft In Miniature Limited

Hi,

Hows the Trojan going?

Interested to see this as I have never scratchbuilt a complete aircraft but I am planning to do a very similar SAAF Kudu in the medium future..possibly in 1/48 but same techniques I guess.

Show us some more pics please.

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Would some cast metal parts for the Trog be of interest? As a Rhodesian it is a kit I have often considered producing - I was working in the drawing office of Air Rhodesia when a friend phoned from RRAF New Sarum and said 'if you look at the runway now you might see something interesting!' I looked, and there was the first aircraft flying.

Neil Gaunt

Aircraft In Miniature Limited

Hi Neil

I think we know each other re model railways. Yes I certainly would be interested in cast metal parts for the Trog - prop and undercarriage come to mind, but if you can do more that would be great

Regards

Wayne

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Hi,

Hows the Trojan going?

Interested to see this as I have never scratchbuilt a complete aircraft but I am planning to do a very similar SAAF Kudu in the medium future..possibly in 1/48 but same techniques I guess.

Show us some more pics please.

Hi thanks for the interest, there has been no progress to date, I need to get myself geared up to try the suggestion of building the body and wings of layered plastic card, i will hopefully start again soon

Cheers

Wayne

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  • 3 months later...
Hi thanks for the interest, there has been no progress to date, I need to get myself geared up to try the suggestion of building the body and wings of layered plastic card, i will hopefully start again soon

Cheers

Wayne

Hi Wayne,

Re railways, are you involved with the Friends of the Bulawayo Museum?

I agree with John's comments re building the Trog from sheet plastic. We have 2mm sheet which we use for our vacformings - would some help to kick-start the project? It would be much easier than laminating thin sheets.

I am doing a CAD/CAM course in August and am going to use the Trog as my subject. Incidentally I intend doing Rhodesian green/white markings as the decals - do you know if the indicator 'tee' on the upper surfaces would also be appropriate for these markings?

Where are you geographically? i.e. would it be practical to get together

Regards

Neil

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Hi Neil

2mm card would I am sure be a great help, where is the best place to buy it from? I have no incentive at present - hopefully it will come back I would like to get a model of this done.

As far as I know the white tee on the roof is appropriate to RhAF markings.

I live in Pembrokeshire, West Wales.

Cheers

Wayne

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  • 8 months later...

As a medium for making patterns, it is worth considering perspex. Although slightly harder to carve (file) than wood it can be polished to a finish that is difficult to achieve on other materials. Being fairly hard, scribed lines are crisply reproduced. If interior detail is not required the pattern itself can be used, only requiring the masking of the windows for the finished fuselage. In the case of the Airvan in the accompanying photos, the pattern was "carved" from 3/8 inch thick perspex sheet and used to vac-form the fuselage in clear pvc. The central frame on the windscreen fortuitously covers the join.

Airvan008copy.jpg

Perspex patterns

Airvan016copy.jpg

Machine tools simplify "carving" and improve accuracy but are not essential

Airvan006copy.jpg

Finished model

FGH

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As a medium for making patterns, it is worth considering perspex. Although slightly harder to carve (file) than wood it can be polished to a finish that is difficult to achieve on other materials. Being fairly hard, scribed lines are crisply reproduced. If interior detail is not required the pattern itself can be used, only requiring the masking of the windows for the finished fuselage. In the case of the Airvan in the accompanying photos, the pattern was "carved" from 3/8 inch thick perspex sheet and used to vac-form the fuselage in clear pvc. The central frame on the windscreen fortuitously covers the join.

Airvan008copy.jpg

Perspex patterns

Airvan016copy.jpg

Machine tools simplify "carving" and improve accuracy but are not essential

Airvan006copy.jpg

Finished model

FGH

Very nice - what scale are they?

We are going down the computer route as the finished item is then as accurate as our source data.

Neil

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Very nice - what scale are they?

We are going down the computer route as the finished item is then as accurate as our source data.

Neil

1/72nd

FGH

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