Scratch built 1/72 Admiralty Department Navy Plane

Evening All,

I have joined two GB's on other sites for which this next project will qualify: it is the Admiralty Department Navy Plane. As most people will never have heard of it (and nor had I until I came across a reference to it in the IPMS newsletter some years ago), here is an image of the same:

It was built in 6 weeks in 1916 as a reconnaissance machine for the Admiralty and was intended to be powered by the 150hp Smith radial engine - the same type that was to have powered the Blackburn TB, ( a model of which I scratchbuilt some years ago and can be found on this site if you scroll back far enough). Unfortunately the Smith engine failed to deliver the power expected and only one of these aircraft was built and tested. I believe Chorozy make a kit of this but I am told that it is not very good: however that may be I do not build kits any more.

I have made a small start - I have made three of the four floats and cut out and shaped the flying surfaces. The main floats were made from 20 and 30 thou card with internal supports:

A completed float is on the left - the grey on the plastic is there because it was cut from some scrap. The stretched sprue was used to put supports inside the sides to prevent small surfaces from sinking into the gap when applied to the rear of the floats. The large floats are finished: the rear floats were much smaller and were shaped from some laminated card that I also found in the scrap plastic bag:

In the image you can see that one of the floats had not been shaped - it is still in the raw laminated card state.

I have cut out and shaped from 30 thou card all of the flying surfaces - wings, rear stabilizer and elevator, and fins and rudders, although I have not separated the control surfaces yet, nor have I added the ribs, which will be 10 x 20 thou plastic strip sanded down:

Thanks for looking.

Stevef.

Evening All,

Progress on this project has been slow because life keeps getting in the way, and some of the construction processes take a long time. Ribs were added to the flying surfaces by glueing 10 x 20 thou strip to the upper surfaces. The strips were sanded down and Mr Surfacer 500 added to the edges: this too was sanded down when dry. The booms on the upper and lower wings were cut from florist’s wire and superglued to grooves filed into the upper surfaces of the wings, and slots in the leading edge of the horizontal tail surface. The crossbar at the rear of the lower box was also superglued in position.

The engine was made from 60 thou card for the engine block: I scribed a circle on to the plastic and cut and filed the circular shape. I drew a simple template to allow me to make the cylinders the correct length and angle - the cylinders are made from 40 thou plastic rod. Later I will make push rods from thin stretched sprue.

The nacelle has taken a long time to make because it had to be moulded. I started with the block of wood shown in the first photo in this post. I managed (just) to insert it into the chuck of an electric drill and with the drill turning I was able to round off the corners of the block to make a cylinder of wood.

The nacelle tapered to the front and rear, so I cut some card templates using a circular cutter - each template represented the diameter of the fuselage at measured points. I had to make the mould  slightly smaller than the plan because I had to allow for the thickness of the plastic. I turned the cylinder of wood between two fingers and thumb of my left hand while I used coarse glass paper to shape the other end. When one end was of the correct diameter I repeated the process for the other end. The process was a little slow but in the absence of a lathe it was accomplished. I did try to use the drill as a lathe but the chuck left indentations on the wood, even though I tried to use thick paper to prevent that from happening.

The two halves of the nacelle were moulded in the usual manner: a hole of the correct size was cut into a sheet of plywood, 30 thou plastic sheet pinned over the hole, the plastic sheet heated under a grill and the male mould used to push the softened plastic sheet through the hole in the plywood. The fuselage halves could then be cut from the plastic sheet.

I made a simple cockpit: two wicker seats from Barracuda, a floor and joystick for the pilot, an instrument panel and a bulkhead behind the pilot. I have no information on the interior of this machine so all is pure guesswork. I added a couple of strips of plastic to give the impression of internal structure to the fuselage sides but this again is pure guesswork. Before I joined the fuselage halves I cut out the two cockpit openings and the slot in the front of the fuselage which had a window for forward observation. The cockpit, bulkhead and instrument panel were cemented to the starboard fuselage side and then the fuselage halves joined and allowed to set.

The joints of the fuselage halves were cleaned up with a file and then the rear of the fuselage cut off so that I could add a piece of 60 thou card to the rear which can be shaped for the engine mounting.

Fuselage before surgery:

after surgery:

and with the 60 thou card in place.

Thanks for looking.

Stevef.