wonwinglo

Decided to try and restore a model that is very special to me,the model is of a Hawker Typhoon built in 1950 by my father but which was never completed from plans published by the Aeromodeller plans service,50 years of poor storage together with dust and glue fatigue had left its toll on the structure,the brittle balsa breaking before my very eyes,it was either scrap the model of attempt to do something about it,the model was certainly too far gone to even think about getting flying so I decided to go for a super detailed replica built from the existing airframe but how to go about it ? the tissue structure was just falling away and the first thing to do was with a cyno charged syringe go through as many joints as possible to secure them before any further work could be done,a simple jig made from foamboard was set up on my workbench and the long task ahead commenced,wood just kept breaking away as I worked my way from nose to tail but with a little care and a bit of re-inforcement things were looking up.
Then I had this brainwave to cover the entire structure with sheet balsa one thirty second thick,laying the first piece along the fuselage I carefully marked the shape,then soaked the wood with water and carefully wound the first piece around the ageing structure,the adhesive used was aliphaetic resin adhesive which grabs quickly and is easier to sand than conventional PVA glue,after several hours I had a close look at what had been achieved,the formewr fragility of the old wood had been helped with the new sheeting,now I was in with a chance to fully restore the airframe to some dignity.
So instead of scrapping her off which would have hurt to do I am now on the way to rebuilding an historic model very special to myself,once that new wood went on I then realised that there was a chance to save her and above all make something out of the model.
As soon as I get something substantial in the jigs I will take some pictures for you to judge the results of my labours,wish me luck as I am going to need it on this one.

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'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

Bluewavestudios

Nice to hear that you have managed to save it, looking forwards to seeing the pics. I'm sure Dad would be proud too...!!!

Regards...........Mark

wonwinglo

Thank you for the kind comments Mark,I am going to work a bit more on her today so better take some 'before' pictures to show the extent of the restoration task.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

Well here are some photographs taken this morning of the 50 year old Hawker Typhoon restoration project,as I was taking these pictures bit were dropping off her ! the structure is very weak and brittle and is needing the patience of a surgeon to get her shipshape once again,she had been stored on top of a wardrobe in direct sunlight and years of nicotine floating around in the air ( my father was a very heavy smoker ) has done untold damage,coupled with being assembled with balsa cement and Durofix adhesive ( remember that ? ).
Anyway the good news is that since these pictures were taken she now has 80 per cent of the fuselage recovered in thirty second sheet,the upper surfaces of the wings have also been clad and a new tail assembly have been made,as the pins were pushed into the structure I could hear it creaking,it was hit or miss but now the new surface is in place she has got some rigidity back.
The model was designed by C.Ruper Moore ( see our Pioneers of aeromodelling progress for a resume about Mr Moore ) and incorporated a device called the Moore Diaphram,the idea was that to preserve the centre of gravity the rubber drive was in the front of the model,very clever,also she had a working retractable undercarriage which worked from a sort of arrestor wire,as the rubber was wound tight it remained in the down position,as the motor unwound the undercarriage lowered,clever eh ? the mechanism now rusted up was a maze of wire work,linkages and cams,really heath robinson but I have photographic evidence that it did work.
Well some will think that I am mad restoring something like this but it presents a real challenge in terms of preserving a little piece of modelling history,it was either this or in the bin for it,a sad end to such a lot of initial work.
Once a picture restorer said to me,if ever you restore something it must be tackled in the spirit that it was built by that person,you must have the empathy to carry out the work just as if you had painted it or in this case built it,I think he has a point.

Attached Images

	Typhoon fuselage#before#R.jpg (3.9 KB, 27 views)
	Typhoon wings on#before#R.jpg (4.6 KB, 27 views)
	Typhoon###wings before#R.jpg (4.5 KB, 17 views)
	Typhoon##fuselage before#R.jpg (4.8 KB, 21 views)

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

wonwinglo

Those pictures turned ot a bit small,here is another attempt at one of them of the Hawker Typhoon with wings held in place to give an idea of what she looks like.

Attached Images

Typhoon wings on#before##RS.jpg (20.7 KB, 30 views)

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/

adzam

looks like y0u have your work cut out there barry

wonwinglo

You bet Ad,I will just plod on and do a bit every day on her,watch this space as they say.

__________________
'And there I was oil on my goggles from a broken pipe,then I looked at the altimeter,all I could see was the makers name !'
www.wonwinglo.scale-models.net/