Evening All,
Thank you EBF, Alexis, Dave, Richie, Rick, Frank, Ken and Willem for you kind remarks - they are all much appreciated.
Ken: there were no fairings fitted to the rear of the cowlings on many of the L parasols according to the photographs that I have seen. It does seem to have been an omission from an aerodynamic point of view, but the wooden sides to the fuselage and the raised strip on it are quite clear both on the photos and the drawings that I am using.
The first step was to fit the undercarriage. The tail skid assembly looks complicated but in reality it is 4 outer support struts with a central post on which the skid was mounted. The purpose of the outer struts was to keep the skid rigid. Similarly the main undercarriage legs were simple to make and assemble - I used 30 thou rod, (which is probably a little over scale but needed for strength), with plastic rod for the axle. The V struts for the bracing wires were also made from plastic rod and the undercarriage assemblies were painted after fixing in place:
Once it was on its legs I could finish the details in the cockpit and add the windscreens for the pilot and observer. They were cut and shaped from clear acetate. To fix the wing I drilled two holes where the main struts passed through and then enlarged them a little with the end of a round file. The struts were shaped from 20 x 30 thou Evergreen strip which had been filed to remove the corners. After several attempts to get everything correctly aligned I cut the rear struts and cemented these to the sides of the cockpit. The main struts were threaded through the holes in the wing and cemented at the top and where they join the wing. While the cement was still wet I lowered the wing/strut assembly so the the main struts were on the fuselage sides and the rear struts fixed against the rear of the wing. This was set aside to harden properly.
When the above had set properly it was a simple task to add the reinforcing front struts:
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All that remains now is to paint the struts, rigging and add the wheels and propellor.
Thanks for looking.
Stephen.