wonwinglo

Grahame mentions the soldering of joints on his model at various stages of the construction,some people do not realise the destructive long term nature of caustic fluxes,if left un-attended they can easily weaken critical fittings.
A quick and efficent fix for ensuring that there are no traces of flux, is to brush baking powder into the joint,scrub with a stiff artists brush and dry off,paint the joint soon as possible.
Never under estimate the amount of damage surplus flux can cause.

__________________
'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/

Greyhead

I finally found the basis for the magazine, a ring cut from some 32mm waste pipe with a 1/64th ply top. I wasn’t sure how to make the “ribs” but taking inspiration from the excellent models produced by Johnny and GW, to name but 2, I decided to cut the “spokes” from card and it’s worked really well. I’m now on with a second magazine to fit in the holder attached to the instrument panel.



It’s amazing what a few bits of bent tin, half a dozen pins and a coat of paint can do; while there’s no way that this could be described as a “super-scale” Lewis gun it certainly looks the part, a bit of “dirtying up” and the illusion will be complete

alan2525

The Lewis gun looks great - looks great painted up, makes for a very authentic looking metal finish.

I really like your approach to modelling too and the use of everyday materials to solve tricky problems.

__________________

LINNEY

I started building in about 1937 (very young!) but not long after the war I discovered girls, motorbikes etc so did not get back to the hobby (I think of it as a hobby, not a sport) until about 5 years ago. I like building, I really love experimenting, but as a New Boy on your block I was fascinated to find Grahame's write-up on the Se5A - I decided a month ago to make my first attempt at a biplane, specifically this one. I have bought the Simmance plans, 71" model, and I shall follow Grahame's efforts with great interest. I am also looking forward to the Shuttleworth restoration being completed.
I shall have little or nothing to contribute to this "club" but I shall follow it with great interest. Thanks guys.

Greyhead

Linney

Welcome to the forum; if there’s anything with your SE5a that you think I might be able to help you with you only have to ask and why not start an “under construction” thread while you’re about it, it’s always interesting to see how other people do things. I could send you the jpegs for the instruments, which would certainly save you a lot of time and effort; if you want them just send me a PM with your email address.

Grahame

It’s been a monotonous few days but the last two wing panels are now stitched and the rib tapes applied, a lot of work with not a lot to show for it.

The emergency tank is from litho plate and shows the results of not following the old adage “ measure twice, cut once”!! The double row of rivets was originally embossed in the wrong place; when I put the litho plate in position it just didn’t look right and a quick check of the measurement showed where I’d gone wrong. Luckily annealed litho plate is to some extent “reworkable” and as the tank will be covered with Solartex a touch of filler completed the repair / alteration.



To work out the positions and sizes of the various bits I used several different photos as well as 3 view drawings; all the measurements required a different conversion factor to get to the actual measurement I needed for the model and I got one of them mixed up.

The retaining straps, which will be added after the tank is covered, are made from “bean tin” material, or to be more accurate corned beef tin material, joined by 14BA bolts, I didn’t think litho plate would be strong enough for this job because the ends are not fastened to the tank but left “floating”.

Bunkerbarge

Linney, don't put yourself down, everyone has something to offer and sometimes the fresh new approach of a beginner sometimes can take the old hands by surprise!!

Welcome to the forum, we look forward to following your experiences.

__________________

“Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack, Butting through the Channel in the mad March days"

Greyhead

Before I covered the tank with Solartex I added the flanges for the 2 sumps; it may seem a bit strange to do this but in modelling it is quite often better to do things “in the wrong order” and this is one such case. The sump and flange will look like a single unit in the end but doing things this way the covering was much easier to do and it’s made for an apparent neater edge around the sumps.

The rivets are a lot less obvious now the tank has been covered and the frayed tapes added; the reason the tank is from litho plate and not paper as I used for the Elf is because ironing the Solartex in place would have flattened the embossed rivets.



The sumps themselves were made using the plunge moulding method. They could just as easily been carved from balsa but I like to try out new techniques and although I’ve known of this way to produce plastic mouldings “for ever” I’ve never actually done it before. It really is simple and if you want to see how CLICK HERE. (Plunge Moulding)

Greyhead

The next job on the centre section is the Foster mount made from laminations of 1/64th ply. The inner section is 3 laminations with the 2 outer sections having 2 laminations each making 7 laminations in total, which involved some delicate work with the scalpel!



The Lewis gun mount is made from “bean tin” side plates joined by 14BA bolts with brass tube spacers; whilst it will run up and down the track as per the full sized I think it will eventually be glued in position otherwise I’ll have to make a working locking mechanism!



A general view of the Foster mount in position on the centre section.

alan2525

Looks great! That mount for the lewis gun is such a distinctive feature of the se5a. The view from the cockpit is really starting to look the part now - all it needs is a little silk scarf and a pair of flying goggles!

__________________

Greyhead

To ensure that the Foster mount is a good fit on the centre section I first covered the gluing area with cling film, applied a generous amount of 5 min. epoxy / micro balloons to the mount itself and then pressed it firmly in place. The mixture soon becomes like putty and can be moulded to a rough shape, then before it’s had time to fully harden it can be trimmed with a scalpel; it is then left to fully cure.



The Lewis gun mounting is a substantial casting so I’ve used aluminium sheet for the main hoop,



Painted matt black, given the graphite treatment and bolted to the Foster mount carriage it really looks like a substantial piece of metal.



Although not obvious from the photos the front section of the Foster mount has had paper sides added with rivets embossed, these will show up better when it’s painted PC10 and weathered. The gun carriage track is painted using Humbrol brass and brass / matt black