John

Me too, I just wish I had the skill to make something from scratch, but unfortunately kits are the best I can do.

As for the attachments, that's up to you, you can attach them or embed them in your posts, all I ask is that they are no bigger than 640px wide, it just makes the forum look odd and takes a lot longer for the page to load, especially for those on 56k.

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Grahame

Personally I prefer to have the full res picture with the text without having to click the thumbnail. At the end of the day, assuming you want to see all the pictures, it will take about the same time overall.

It's nice to see with all the ARTF stuff on the market that the skills are still around to scratch build such a model from an inaccurate plan, a trip to the Shuttleworth collection and the few photos of the Elf that are still available.

Keep it up.

David

wonwinglo

Grahame that sure is a neat idea to do the cabane struts,I will almost certainly use this idea myself in the future,the adjustment is just what is needed.
It is nearly impossible to bend piano wire as accurate as to be spot on for the required decalage on a biplane.
I cannot believe that the plan showed a Tiger Moth tail,just shows the lack of research by that person.
What a pleasure it is to see these constructional pictures of your model,you are a very skillful modeller and we all value your contributions to the forum.
If only more would pick up the digital camera when building their models,it is also good to look back on the construction.

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Greyhead

Thanks for the replies, I'll certainly now carry on with the thread. I prefer the full size photos to thumbnails but I also wondered about the download time, it's amazing how soon we forget what it was like before broadband. I'll use thumbnails, at least for the next few posts, and see if there's any negative reaction, it also makes it easier for me to upload.

duncan

Personally I like the full pic first time rather than the thumbs BUT just keep them coming. A great article, as I said in a previous post ..more please. Great solution to wing fold.

wonwinglo

Your wing folding is just spot on,and above all it is functional and practical,you just cannot beat hands on looking at the real thing to see how the designer did it,for anyone who has not attempted a biplane you just dont know what you are missing out on,once built they are very strong and great fun to fly.
Grahame dont let the lack of feedback put you off sending in this info,rest assured there are lots of people interested,it is not that they are ungrateful,think of these excellent practical contributions as assisting people who are perhaps thinking of building their first scale subject,it is all being archived for future posterity,everything that you write will appear on the search engines,so if someone is building a Parnell Elf it will lead them here ! after you have dealt with this one then you can tell us about your Albatross,now there is a tricky building subject.

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Phoenix

cool dude i prefer the pics in with the text stops you getting lost

this is a really cool porject dude keep up the good work

Greyhead

Back to plan A, from the replies it seems that embedded photos are preferred, 3 for, 1 neutral and 0 against. As for the Albatros, that was built in 1998 before I went digital so no construction photos and as I’ve just sold it, no chance of any more. There is however quite a story to the development of the model but it will have to be 99% text. But first I'll finish this thread!!

Greyhead

At this stage I’d made the hinges and satisfied myself that they would work but hadn’t started the wings so the photo above is really out of sequence but it’s the only one I’ve got of a finished hinge showing the bolt.

The next job was to furnish the cockpit; one advantage of these early planes is that they were very basic in the instrumentation department. The throttle and fuel switch etc. were made from scrap aluminium or plastic tube and balsa.



As mentioned above the floor is yet to be added.



I hoped that it would be a simple job to use the photo of the full size panel but unfortunately because of parallax (hope that’s spelt correctly!) some of the dial faces are partly hidden by the bezels and whilst not obvious at first sight, perspective has made the outer dials oval.



After spending many a happy hour on Photoshop I produced acceptable dials etc. These were correctly spaced using Publisher and printed out on “Glossy Photo Paper”. The control panel itself is made from card covered with litho plate, the dial printout, a sheet of clear acetate and finally another layer of card. The bezels are cut from card and the “level flight” indicator is a length of Bowden cable outer.



The clarity possible using “cheap” technology is amazing, this photo doesn’t do the dial faces justice. I used a high-resolution setting when printing out and, although way “over the top”, it is possible to read the serial number on the rpm indicator using a magnifying glass!

Greyhead

Onto the cowl, my favourite part of any aircraft, they are so individual and have lots of lovely fixings, bumps, air scoops and other odd appendages to stretch our modelling imaginations.

First a photo of the finished article, it can appear a daunting task but taken step at a time it’s OK.



A decision has to be made as to whether to cut non-scale holes or use scale inspection hatches to gain access to the engine for choking and adjusting the needle valve etc. In this case the sides are hinged so the choice is fairly obvious although it does complicate the build somewhat. The first step is to make ply formers for the front and rear, with this cowl it was slightly more complex, because of the hinges there are actually 3 formers, top and left and right sides, for both front and rear. The formers are then joined with balsa “longerons” and covered with 1/16th balsa. Wetting the outer surfaces where there are tight bends helps considerably.

The next problem is the long hinge. Commercial “piano” hinges are just too big and won’t bend. You can make your own quite simply by soldering brass tube to brass strip and cutting into suitable lengths.



The hinges are glued using epoxy.



The result is a very neat joint.



That’s enough for today, next time it’s fixings, louvers and exhaust pipe.