Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch

[ondra]

Thank you very much for your encouraging comments, Stephen, Bud, Andonio, Manni and Wolf!

It is almost time to start assembling her, so I want to do a fit test first. I came to the idea to fasten the parts to each other with masking fluid, which turned out to be a viable idea. It behaves partly similar to epoxy glue. Before curing you have time to correct position and angle, even after curing it remains flexible and can be removed easily.

IMG_1614 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr
IMG_1613 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr
IMG_1613 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr

Cheers

Ondra

[Radarman]

Another great tool for my tool box. Thanks a million for the tip! This has been a fantastic build to follow.
                                                                         Kevin

[ondra]

Many thanks, Kevin! I am glad you find the trick helpful.

Today I did not really feel ready for assembling and rigging, so I decided to try something else and improve the propeller.

This is the prop I have now, actually quite nice from my POV, but you can always do better, right?

IMG_1626 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr

I cut stripes of brown and yellow paper and made a sandwich:

IMG_1616 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr
IMG_1617 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr

Afterwards I soaked it with ultrathin CA:

IMG_1618 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr

And sanded it to the basic shape:

IMG_1620 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr
IMG_1622 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr

In the last step, I sanded the final shape:

IMG_1624 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr

Lessons learned from this exercise: next time I will use a lighter tone of paper for the dark lamination, as the shade gets significantly darker when soaked with CA.

Many thanks to Warren Dickinson for the heads up on this method.

Cheers

Ondra

[Juan]

Thank you for posting the paper propeller technique, looks wonderful (and incredible at this scale).

[steveb]

Wow, so many techniques in this post that I must try!

Steve

[lone modeller]

That is a really novel propellor.

Stephen.

[RAGIII]

What can I say Ondra, you are the MASTER of beautiful detailed, TINY aircraft!
RAGIII

[ondra]

Many thanks, Juan, Steve, Stephen and Rick! It is a big pleasure for me.

Today I made a second try on the propeller, this time I used a different shade of paper for the dark lamination. The result is not acceptable yet, but still better than the previous one.

IMG_1628 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr

Cheers

Ondra

[lcarroll]

     Amazing work Ondra! I use the same technique with wood in 1:32 Scale and find it a challenge; you are getting great results in paper in a scale infinitely smaller, truly impressive!
Cheers,
Lance

[ondra]

Many thanks for your kind comment, Lance!

After a week of collecting courage, I turned her into a biplane today. The upper wing was held in place with masking fluid as well as the struts, the lower wing was glued in place with epoxy glue. The dihedral seems to be a bit too much... But I do not know where I went wrong and at this moment I do not know how to fix it.

IMG_1641 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr
IMG_1642 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr
IMG_1643 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr
IMG_1644 by Ondřej Mokrý, on Flickr

Nevermind, that's life.

Cheers

Ondra

[ondra]

Today I started rigging the tailplanes. Not as difficult as it might seem, but it definitely requires regular breaks, otherwise my hand get pretty shaky.

Cheers

Ondra

[coyotemagic]

Extraordinary, Ondra!
Cheers,
Bud

[lone modeller]

My hands become a bit shaky in 1/72 scale: how you keep your nerve in this scale is beyond me!

Stephen.

[ondra]

Many thanks for your support, Bud and Stephen!

Today I glued lower wings in position (again, the first try was not succesful and the dihedral was wrong). Tomorrow I can place the struts and start rigging.

Cheers

Ondra

[Bughunter]

I just discovered and entered this forum and found your build report. I had to read it form beginning to the end at once - because this project is simply fantastic! I'm building a SE.5a at the moment (the new 1/48 Eduard), but yours look really like a SE.5a even if much smaller.

And a rigging in 1/144: that really sound crazy, but I'm sure you will reach a great result!

Cheers,
Frank