Zenrat's Flying Circus

[zenrat]

Colours were inspired by one of Andy Warhols camo paintings.
I'm off down there later to remove the elastic bands.  Wish me luck...

[zenrat]

No problems with security of the gluing.  Rigging on the other hand...
I must remember to use thin superglue.  The thick stuff just doesn't cut it for rigging.  Unfortunately I didn't remember this until I only had 2 lines left to glue and had been struggling with the rest.
And then I glued on the third wing.
At which point I remembered I had intended to rig the tail before gluing any wings on.  Tail now has a post it attached saying "RIG TAIL"

[ericr]

it *is* going to be impressive
(even with no floats  )

[Captain Canada]

Ermagerd ! That is just awesome. Love how it looked with only 2 wings.....the third makes it 3 times better I guess ! The camo and colours really look good as well.

[zenrat]

Glad you like it.

Rigged.

Rigging phase 2 was easier than phase 1 as I used runny superglue.  Not plain sailing though.  But I think I have identified the problem and have a solution to try on the next biplane.

Now comes a pause with the Henfield while I organise the many crew members and paint them and sort out all the little fiddley bits like tailwheel and ladders and props and bombs.

[NARSES2]

So how many flight engineers does it have ? 3 ? One per engined wing and then a Warrent Officer 1 in charge ?

[PR19_Kit]

That is truly amazing, WAY out in left field. 

I can only imagine how it would have sounded during a low fly past, an entire squadron of them would shake the very ground! 

[Captain Canada]

The rigging looks great. Is that the stretchable thread stuff ? I had some at one point but never tried it, and now have no idea where it went....


Going to be interesting to see how many crewman you can stick on her !

[Go4fun]

So how many flight engineers does it have ? 3 ? One per engined wing and then a Warrent Officer 1 in charge ?

I can't wait to see the wing walking strips and tie downs for the top wing engineer! 

[zenrat]

It is indeed the stretchy stuff.  My problem has been getting the zap stuff soaked end of the line into the superglue filled hole at the right angle.  Next time I am planning to try glueing short lengths of very fine brass tube onto the ends of the lines which will make them easier to handle.
I think I have enough engines for them to leave any maintenance until they are on the ground.  I will however be fitting a ladder so Cap'n Fat Hamster can climb down from his flying bridge and get inside the plane to use the dunny.
Crew will be 1 commander, 2 pilots, 6 gunners, 1 radio operator/bomb aimer, 1 chef, 1 engineer and a cabin boy (Roger).

[Captain Canada]

zap stuff soaked ?

[NARSES2]

zap stuff soaked ?

I assume the honourable gentleman means accelerator

[zenrat]

Thats the stuff.  Couldn't remember what it was called.
I must stop using those aluminium saucepans.
Thank you Chris.

Note to self.  When  turning pvc plumbing fittings on the lathe in an attempt to make engine nacelles don't forget heat build up.

[zenrat]

Got on with the Henfield's crew today.  I dobbed small amounts of filler on them to cover up where I had removed and reattached limbs at new angles.

More filler on the tail joints of the XFV-1.

Primer on the He-51 which is coming together very easilly.  Probably because it's OOB being a paint only whiff.  I also finished off designing the decals.  Italianesque smoke rings and Aryan Sudreich Luftwaffe roundels (a variation on the Italian & Spanish 1930s fascist bundle of sticks and an axe design).

Played with the TurboStuka.  Did a bit more on the engine cowling (added an underslung inlet - oil cooler maybe?) and assembled the fuselage so I can see how it'll all go together (it's an Academy "G" kit which i've already pinched the cannons from).  I'm thinking i'll give it a twin tail and a pair of spare Heyford spats.  Mig 29 canopy was an option but turned out to be too wide.

Car wise i'm very close to finishing both the Edsel Starcruiser and the BMW Dixi dragster.  I'll take both of them to the model car club meeting tomorrow night to show the real modellers and get the usual puzzled looks from the die-cast collectors.

[PR19_Kit]

XFV-1?

Which kit are you using for that build?