1914 Lee-Richards Annular Monoplane - done!

[frank2056]

I haven't posted a build here in a while.
This is the Avis 1/72 Lee-Richards Annular Monoplane; I plan to build it as an early (1914-1915) WWI observation plane. This isn't too unreasonable - the Lee-Richards was apparently a stable, easy to fly plane and there were plans to continue the design past 1913.

The boxtop:


The kit has few parts and looks good in the bag. Unfortunately, it's a short run kit, with some impressive mold misalignment:



Some of the smaller parts will have to be remade; the prop spinner sides were off by almost 50%!

Despite the short run nature of the kit, the fuselage breakdown is designed to hide some of the low tech shortcomings. Here is what I have so far:



The kit doesn't include a passenger seat, so I added an old scratchbuilt seat from the stash. The curved plastic piece in front of the pilot could work as an instrument panel (there are no details on it) but I think it's main purpose is to spread the fuselage sides just enough to fit the top part - which fits surprisingly well.
I added some fine brass mesh to the engine and the steel ball is to keep it from being a tail sitter. I'll adjust it once the landing gear is on.

I thought of 3D printing a Lewis MG for the observer, but he would have to stand up to fire it and get past all the rigging. I'll add a couple of cameras or a camera and some small bombs or illumination flares.

The markings are still up in the air - This early roundel wasn't widely used until well into 1915



I may go with these markings:



Or just add the Union Jack to the sides and wings.

[philp]

I would go with the Union Jack or no markings at all depending on how early in the war you are depicting it.

Also probably no need for the Lewis as they were still gentlemen flyers early on until someone grabbed a shotgun.

[Rheged]

My first thought was that this was a Whiff-in-a-box, but then I looked it up and found it was genuine.   I'm fascinated as to what you plan to do with it.   

[frank2056]

I'm going for all linen (with a slightly different shade for the plywood nose) and the Union Jack on the tail.

I'll skip the gun - I'm not sure the plane would take off with two pilots, a camera, a gun and spare ammo. One odd feature of this plane is that the rotary engine was buried a ways into the nose (where the teardrops are on the fuselage)

[The Rat]

The kit has few parts and looks good in the bag. Unfortunately, it's a short run kit, with some impressive mold misalignment:

Yep, that's impressive. To my mind, mold misalignment is perhaps the most unfuriating thing we have to deal with, and even mainstream manufacturers can have it. On small thin parts like gear legs it's a killer.

[NARSES2]

I'm going for all linen (with a slightly different shade for the plywood nose) and the Union Jack on the tail.

Spot on IMHO 

Mike McEvoy has built the improved anti-Zeppelin version  http://www.grumpyoldmodeller.com/

Bottom of the page, click on the pic. for a larger image.

[Tophe]

Weird shape, interesting subject: go on!

[Tophe]

And thanks for the inspiration: I just added a few minutes ago two Lee-Richardstang of 1944 at https://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=4461.2505
Thanks again!

[frank2056]

Chris - the Mike McEvoy model looks good, although I'd hate to be the guy in the front office when the pilot's guns go off!

Tophe - the Lee-Richardstang 51s, (especially the D) shouldn't be too hard to build. Especially with the then new Laminar Flow Annular wing...

Despite this kit's low tech molding, I've managed to get to the "time to paint and rig" stage. The wing had two helpful pins at the rear to help set it at the right angle and height. Really helpful!

...Or it would have been, had the mold maker remembered to add the holes to the fuselage. Instead, I used a picture of the real plane to locate the height of the rear section of the wing. There were some minor gaps that some putty took care of. The rest of the build was uneventful, with some minor trimming and sanding to get the wing on and level with the front of the fuselage:



The landing gear was less of a nightmare than I had expected. I enlarged/opened the atom-deep dimples on the bottom of the fuselage. The kit supplies two thin strips of plastic for the front support struts- which will hold most of the weight of the plane. You can see one of the struts on the sprue at the upper right - it's the longer piece of plastic. The shorter piece of plastic is the rudder pedals, which I didn't add.

Instead of starting a battle that I would surely lose, I found some brass tubing of the right diameter and cut a length equal to the two struts. I flattened the tube and bent it in the middle, where it promptly broke. So I superglued a thin wire into the squashed tubes and bent them to the correct angle. They're the V shape in the picture above.

I ended today's work by applying the linen color (equal mix of Badger's Stynylrez mustard and white primers). The Stynylrez really sticks well to the plastic. I also did some slight post shading with Tamiya smoke:



What looks like splotches on the wing are the locators for the bracing wire. I was going to drill them before I started the build, but I managed to break the only drill bit that fit. I just got a replacement set today, so I'll start the drilling and rigging torture tomorrow.

Thanks for watching and following along!

[Tophe]

Good, up to now!

[NARSES2]

Chris - the Mike McEvoy model looks good, although I'd hate to be the guy in the front office when the pilot's guns go off!

Nor would I 

So I superglued a thin wire into the squashed tubes and bent them to the correct angle. They're the V shape in the picture above.

Never thought of that, thanks for the tip 

That's looking good. Nice shade for the linen 

[stevehed]

What a wonderful kit. I'm sure something like it flew backwards in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. Tony Hancock springs to mind.

[Mossie]

Watching this with interest, always liked this machine.

[frank2056]

The landing gear was a female dog to attach. The brass struts for the nose wheel definitely helped with the overall strength and stability. I did slice off one side of the fuselage while deepening the slot for the struts, but I think my fix looks OK.

Despite the large nose weight, this plane is a tail sitter. I gave the plywood sections a slightly different shade of yellow:



This is a rare example where the plane looks better in the picture than in person. I took out a 5mm dia slice from the side of the fuselage and gluing it back on left a mark; you can just barely see it above the forward gear strut:



My fix - a small round Meng bolt head over the strut connection point (the real plane has something similar there) and a large venturi over the divot. I guess it's to power the batteries for the camera shutters:



The cameras - just some styrene and more Meng bolt heads:



I've since found an picture of a real WWI aerial camera, so I'll have to make some mods. I won't taper the body, but I may remove the handles and add some boxes:



Still to do is clean up the Citadel shader now that it's dry and some touchup work on the paint, especially the wheels. Then the cameras and mount and what I'm avoiding the most: rigging.

[NARSES2]

What a wonderful kit. I'm sure something like it flew backwards in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines. Tony Hancock springs to mind.

Yes, that scene comes to me now 

I gave the plywood sections a slightly different shade of yellow:

And it works really well 

That WWI camera is amazing.