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Biplane wing alignment Jig


Wonker

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Afternoon all,

I have been searching around for ways of setting the correct angle stagger when making biplanes. I know there are jigs available to buy but I was looking for something cheap and cheerful that I could make when I came across this:

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/biplanejigcb_1.htm

Now I mean no offence to the person who created it (may even be a member on here?) as I am probably just being a bit thick but I don't get out it works when it comes to setting the correct angle. As you can see from the photos due to the obvious stagger the top wing must be set forward of the bottom wing; and the top wing is touching the little red brick at point 'C', therefore the bottom wing must be back away from the brick by some distance. The point is surely you have to know how far back (or how big the gap must be) before blu-tacking the plane down and adding the struts etc? So some other method must be employed to get the correct angle?

Please don't get me wrong I am not saying that I want to make this jig, it's just doing my nut in that I can't see how it works. Do you all get it and am I just the confused one? :)

Cheers

Wonker

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The fine adjustment is obviously done by rotating the the small bricks. Note they are at an angle and by rotating them the corner will move fore and aft.

John

(designer of a real Bi-plane jig)

Jig3photos3009.jpg

Afternoon all,

I have been searching around for ways of setting the correct angle stagger when making biplanes. I know there are jigs available to buy but I was looking for something cheap and cheerful that I could make when I came across this:

http://www.clubhyper.com/reference/biplanejigcb_1.htm

Now I mean no offence to the person who created it (may even be a member on here?) as I am probably just being a bit thick but I don't get out it works when it comes to setting the correct angle. As you can see from the photos due to the obvious stagger the top wing must be set forward of the bottom wing; and the top wing is touching the little red brick at point 'C', therefore the bottom wing must be back away from the brick by some distance. The point is surely you have to know how far back (or how big the gap must be) before blu-tacking the plane down and adding the struts etc? So some other method must be employed to get the correct angle?

Please don't get me wrong I am not saying that I want to make this jig, it's just doing my nut in that I can't see how it works. Do you all get it and am I just the confused one? :)

Cheers

Wonker

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John, Thanks for posting that picture. I have one of your jigs & having used it on several models, I swear by it. This picture shows very clearly that I assembled mine correctly. I was not entirely sure before now. Wonker I have a few of my biplanes on site. In particular is my 1/72 nd Aviatik Berg set up in this jig. Carl T :thumbsup::speak_cool:

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I'd imagine he either sets the angle by eye or uses a carboard template (My method) to get the angles.

For something a bit more technical, but home made, try Lance Kriegs one:

http://www.wwi-models.org/misc/Tools/index.html

Ah right, so he probably just uses the jig to keep things in place and sets the angle using another method. A Cardboard template sounds interesting?

Cheers

Wonker

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The fine adjustment is obviously done by rotating the the small bricks. Note they are at an angle and by rotating them the corner will move fore and aft.

John

(designer of a real Bi-plane jig)

Jig3photos3009.jpg

But do you reckon you'd get enough movement in the top brick to do the full 'stagger'? It still looks like the bottom wing is away from the bricks...anyway, maybe I should just invest in a proper Jig......Christmas is coming :)

Cheers

Wonker

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John, Thanks for posting that picture. I have one of your jigs & having used it on several models, I swear by it. This picture shows very clearly that I assembled mine correctly. I was not entirely sure before now. Wonker I have a few of my biplanes on site. In particular is my 1/72 nd Aviatik Berg set up in this jig. Carl T :thumbsup::speak_cool:

Cheers Carl, as you know I am fan of your biplane stuff. I'll check out the Aviatik Berg now.

Cheers

Wonker

Edited by Wonker
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Wonker, my method is to use a set of plans in the scale of the model. In the picture above, the vertical pieces in front of the wings are adjustable by riding along the upper horizontal piece. Once you have set the correct stagger you tighten up the relavent bolts to lock everything in place. Once you have done it a couple of times it becomes second nature. I have knocked the jig onto the floor with no damage to either the model or jig. Check out the Aviatik Berg pictures since that is the model.

John designed this jig to be used by any modeler with some experience & desire to build biplane models & to make that a lot easier. That is my opinion. Carl T :thumbsup::speak_cool:

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Wonker, my method is to use a set of plans in the scale of the model. In the picture above, the vertical pieces in front of the wings are adjustable by riding along the upper horizontal piece. Once you have set the correct stagger you tighten up the relavent bolts to lock everything in place. Once you have done it a couple of times it becomes second nature. I have knocked the jig onto the floor with no damage to either the model or jig. Check out the Aviatik Berg pictures since that is the model.

John designed this jig to be used by any modeler with some experience & desire to build biplane models & to make that a lot easier. That is my opinion. Carl T :thumbsup::speak_cool:

Just read your Aviatik thread Carl, you did a cracking job mate; looks like the jig came in handy. You say that you set up the plane in the jig (setting correct height and angles etc), then you add the struts. As you mentioned this can be quite fiddly as the gap on a 1:72 scale is very small. Is this the way that everybody uses it or do some glue the struts in place then attach it to the jig before the glue fully sets? Can you see any advantages or dis-advantages in doing it this way?

Cheers

Wonker

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All that I can comment on is my own way of doing it. I do it this way because there are no struts in the way while I get the model all lined up & locked into place. I am sure that there are other ways that work just as well,but this works for me so I stick with it.

If you have any idea that you may end up building some quantity of biplane models, this jig is a must proposition in my opinion. For me it is the best one on the market. That is because I have at least 30 biplane models in construction right now, & a few WW1 bombers planned plus a few inter-war bombers as well. I have heard of a plastic jig similar to this one,but if I had that one & had dropped it like I did this one, both the model & the jig would likely have ended up in the trash can.

I have always advised people that the way to figure whether or not to buy an expensive modeling tool, like an airbrush ( or this jig ) is to figure just how many models you are planning to use it on & divide the cost of the tool by the number of models you have decided on as a minimum, & then decide if it is too much to add to the cost of each model. I have never regretted buying any tool that I have because they have all made modeling much easier for me. Carl T :thumbsup::speak_cool:

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All that I can comment on is my own way of doing it. I do it this way because there are no struts in the way while I get the model all lined up & locked into place. I am sure that there are other ways that work just as well,but this works for me so I stick with it.

If you have any idea that you may end up building some quantity of biplane models, this jig is a must proposition in my opinion. For me it is the best one on the market. That is because I have at least 30 biplane models in construction right now, & a few WW1 bombers planned plus a few inter-war bombers as well. I have heard of a plastic jig similar to this one,but if I had that one & had dropped it like I did this one, both the model & the jig would likely have ended up in the trash can.

I have always advised people that the way to figure whether or not to buy an expensive modeling tool, like an airbrush ( or this jig ) is to figure just how many models you are planning to use it on & divide the cost of the tool by the number of models you have decided on as a minimum, & then decide if it is too much to add to the cost of each model. I have never regretted buying any tool that I have because they have all made modeling much easier for me. Carl T :thumbsup::speak_cool:

Words of wisdom as always Carl.

Cheers mate

Wonker

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AS some of you know, I have started on a project of doing 20 inter-war British biplane models elsewhere on this site. I started this project because I have the Aeroclub wing alignment jig to work with. OTHERWISE I WOULD NEVER HAVE EVEN CONSIDERED DOING THE MODELS IN SUCH LARGE NUMBERS. This jig will make sure that for each type of plane, all the staggers, width between wings will be consistant with each other, & that is what I want.

I have been building biplane models now & again for over 50 years. I started out using the old eyeball number one method, & then graduated to making jigs of my own ideas, & now I have & use this jig excluseivly. Carl T :thumbsup::speak_cool:

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  • 2 weeks later...
One other simple jig type is using larger sized children's "Lego" blocks. They uasually come with base plates. They are absolutely plumb and square and simple to accomidate leading edges of most biplanes.

Do you mean like the one in the first post of this thread or are you thinking of something different?

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