Build-Along-With Wonwing-The West Wings ARIES biplane.

[wonwinglo]

This attractive little biplane caught my eye,it was made by West Wings and although their kits are no longer made they can still be picked up on occasions,this one is very well die cut with sharp rather than the usual blunt tooling used on many other kits which makes them die crushed !
A start has been made on one fuselage side this morning.



Good old traditional kit construction.



One side laid down and being given plenty of time to dry out.





Additional finger hold area has been sheeted,well worth it as it stops putting fingers through the tissue on launching the model.

 

[Mickc1440]

Love watching your builds

 

[wonwinglo]

Love watching your builds

I enjoy sharing them with you Mick,thank you.

 

[wonwinglo]

The two sides are built one on top of the other with a thin membrane of clear plastic sheet keeping them from sticking together,then two main formers are squared up and the fuselage is joined.



Cellophane gift sheeting makes ideal separation material.



The pins are placed around the wood rather than through the wood,however sometimes as can be seen here a piece needs the odd fine pin to hold things down.



Once removed from the board the sides are carefully cleaned up,then two main formers are trimmed for fit and glued onto one side.





Now the sides are joined at the two formers checking for squareness,this time honoured construction is very light and strong especially when covered with tissue and doped up.

 

[wonwinglo]

And so this little biplane that holds so much character starts to take shape.



The to sides are carefully pulled in at the nose and tail with the use of small clamps,masking tape and pins,eyeball from above and make sure everything is symetrical,allow to dry out before proceeding.



Now the cross pieces and nose upper formers can be added,use a pair of tweezers to position these and keep checking to make sure everything is nice and square,once again put the fuselage aside and allow to cure properly.



The nose area is built up,I opted to sheet in the front portion of the nose for strength where it is required.



All of the various dowels have been cut and fitted for wing bands,motor hook rear and instead of a pin to band the tailplane on I have fitted a piece of cocktail stick,lower area of the nose has additional sheeting added.



Upper nose sheeted,ply front for holding nose plug cut to shape and glued in place,wire undercarriage bent to shape and fitted between former and a piece of wood trapping into place.



The balsa block nose has been drilled and brass bushed plus the standard kit plastic button lined up,a non standard luxury teflon washer completes the assembly,propeller has a simple freewheeling device so when the rubber motor unwinds the propeller still spins and does not stop abruptly as a brake,cockpit has been modified with two side frames which will be covered in or I may even sheet them with balsa for additional strength,cabin mounted wings need all the support you can give them.

 

[wonwinglo]

And onto the flying surfaces.



The stripwood is sorted out and the excellent die cut ribs pushed from the sheet balsa,the trailing edges are marked and notched to take the ribs.





Two wing panels and the tailplane underway,remembering to angle the inboard ribs for the dihedral angle where the panels butt up to the centresections.



Two centre sections are required,very simple construction.



The swept tail fin just does not look right on this vintage subject,so I designed my own de Havilland shaped unit,this will make the model look more period like an Hornet Moth.



The modified nose block has a deeper insert by adding one extra piece of ply,not yet drilled in the picture but since bushed with brass tubing.

 

[scottie3158]

Barry,
Nice work. It reminded me of a plane a FW190 my dad and I built when I was a kid we spent hours cutting and shaping and putting it together. we took it up the orchard near us wound up the elastic band and launched it where it flew straight in to the ground and snapped a wing. I think my dad was more disappointed than me.

 

[wonwinglo]

Barry,
Nice work. It reminded me of a plane a FW190 my dad and I built when I was a kid we spent hours cutting and shaping and putting it together. we took it up the orchard near us wound up the elastic band and launched it where it flew straight in to the ground and snapped a wing. I think my dad was more disappointed than me.

Yes these type of models are not for the feint hearted,here is my recent Fw.190 made from an old 'Aeromodeller' magazine plan circa 1944.Waiting for decent weather to test fly her.

 

[wonwinglo]

And so the wings get joined at their centre sections.



Three quarter of an inch blocks are placed under each wingtip and the wings glued to the pre built centre sections,tailplane in the foreground all shaped and sanded.



Everything is pinned down to avoid movement whilst drying.



The leading edges of each wing panelwas planed and sanded down before the wings were joined together.



Miralyte ply panels have been added to the nose where the model is held for winding up the rubber motor,the fuselage is now ready for covering with tissue.

 

[wonwinglo]

We are now getting to the covering and assembly stage and out comes the tissue,the fuselage is covered in best quality Osaki tissue and the upper surfaces orange Osaki,the lower wings are covered with the standard kit white tissue the idea was to see if the orange looks brighter from the upper surfaces,I think it does.



The fuselage water shrunk but not yet doped up.






Upper wings undergoing covering in orange Osaki.



Tailplane covered top and bottom,the tail has a 'flying' aerofoil meaning it produces lift that lifts the tail in flight.



Undersides covered in ordinary non wet strengthened tissue which has to be handled with great care.

 

[wonwinglo]

She flies ! first maiden test hop of the Aries in the garden with 20x winds on the rubber motor.

 

[wonwinglo]

Some stills from the video of the ARIES maiden test hop.

 

[flyjoe180]

Looks great in flight Barry. As always, enjoying watching the build processes.