1/32 Handley Page V/1500 scratch build (slowgress report)

[Borsos]

And it's also therapeutic for me. Forgetting the world around me and concentrating on 0.5 square mm fiddling 

You summed up all what modelling is about for me, too!

Andreas

[Davos522]

Absolutely, I'm with you both. The Zen of Modeling.

And Willem, your comment about not knowing where you're going to put this great beast when it's done reminds me of my constant attempts to talk myself out of buying a WnW Felixstowe... "I'm pretty sure my wife is going to notice if I start building an addition onto the house"...

Dutch

[Rookie]

Thank you guys!

I have a four-day weekend ahead of me and I hope to finish the steering column in the next couple of days. I know, I promised that before, but time is limited for reasons I have explained here:

https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12587.0

I've changed somewhat into a "lurker", and although I haven't commented on all the beautiful builds as much as I would like, I am still in awe with everything that is shown by my friends here on our forum!

Cheers,
Willem

[Rookie]

It’s been a while and I’m happy to be able to show some results.

Control column

The control column is assembled, it just needs some cleaning up (soldering point’s need filing and sanding) and then I can put some colors on it. The levers that handle the control cables for the rudders and elevators will be added when the control column is mounted to the cockpit floor. These levers will protrude through the cockpit floor, so that part will have to wait.

In the picture it looks weird because of the angle. This was the only shot where I could get the lighting right.



Cockpit and forward gunners position

This is a complicated section. I have looked at the instruction for the WNW HP O/100, the windsock data file plans and the factory drawings and then made my own working drawings.
 


Figuring out the positions of all the different components was time consuming, and I made a styrene mockup to work from. I don’t want to use the wooden floor I made because I’m a afraid I’ll ruin it.





More later.

Cheers,
Willem

[DaveB]

Wonderful work, Willem -

Love your control column and rudder pedals.

Regards

Dave

[KiwiZac]

Excellent progress Willem and I like the mock-up idea. Nice work and thanks for sharing your progress!

[Tim Mixon]

Magnificent detail!  I’m really looking forward to seeing more of the cockpit area.   

[Rookie]

Wonderful work, Willem -

Love your control column and rudder pedals.

Regards

Dave

Thanks Dave. Making the control column took a lot longer than I expected. I ended up replacing the styrene parts, because they would melt with the other soldering work. I CA-ed the pedals to the rods to avoid them ending up as just unrecognizable blobs of solder. It still looks a little crude, but once it is cleaned up and painted it will look a lot better. 

Excellent progress Willem and I like the mock-up idea. Nice work and thanks for sharing your progress!

Thank your for the kind comment Zac,

The mock-up gives me room to experiment with the location of all the stuff that needs to go in the cockpit and the gunners position. Only when I am certain that a certain section is right, I'll duplicate it to the wooden floor.

Sometimes it is hard to keep the mojo (I started 3 years ago with this build) but the encouragements of the fellow members keep me going  And for me it is not a speed contest, but and endurance test 

Magnificent detail!  I’m really looking forward to seeing more of the cockpit area.   

Thank you Tim.

    "I’m really looking forward to seeing more of the cockpit area."

So am I 

I am getting there step by step, and I have a lot of intricate details to figure out and implement.

Thanks for looking everyone!

Cheers,
Willem

[lone modeller]

It may be a long distance project Willem, but it is certainly worthwhile. The cockpit floor is a work of art in itself, but with the controls it will be even better.

Using mock-up parts is the only way to get things right. They do take time but they save a lot of tears!

Keep up the excellent work - this is so interesting to follow.

Stephen.

[Rookie]

Thank you Stephen.

I was able to do a little work this weekend, but I'll wait with posting until I have something substational to show. 

Willem

[NigelR]

Coming late to this thread, but I am in awe of what you are achieving here. Keep going!

[Rookie]

Thank you Nigel, I will keep going!

Willem

[Rookie]

Hi all,

Again, some great documents on the HP O/400 and HP V/1500 have surfaced.
A fellow modeler, active on Britmodeller found these at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia in the United States.

Thank you Joshua!

This is primarily a promotional document, advertising the Handley Page  O/400 and V/1500 in English, French and Spanish:



Then there is this document with the easy-gong name “GUIDE TO THE ASSMBLY AND ERECTION OF THE HANDLEY PAGE TWIN TRACTOR BIPLANE, TYPE O/400":



And last but not least a folder with miscellaneous report on engine tests with Rolls-Royce, Liberty, and Hispano Souza engines, technical data of the electrical installations and armament (confirming a ventral gun position), and reports on the visits to the William Beardmore facilities in Glasgow and “trips” made in Handley-Page V-1500 serial 4305 from Harland & Wollf, Belfast (some cut short because of weather conditions and minor engine trouble):



Some of the documents were typed on stationary marked:

Headquarters Base Section 3. Line of Communications, A.E.F.
Office Aviation Officer,
35, Eaton Place
London S.W.1.

All the document in this folder were compiled by Howard C. Marmon  Lt. Col. A.S., A.P.  for Lt. Klemin, stationed at McCook Airfield in Ohio. They are dated 1918-1919 and were not declassified until December 1957.

I realize these documents contribute little (if at all) to building the model, but to me they are gold!

Cheers,
Willem

[KiwiZac]

What a great find! Congrats to Joshua for his efforts, these will be a very cool addition to the model when she's displayed.

[Rookie]

Hi Zac,

Yes this is indeed a great find. I just got word from my friend that has taken over 600 photographs of docs on the HP O/400, which he will share with me too.

He intends to scratch build a 1/48 skeleton model of the O/400, and in his research he's struck gold.

It surprises me that so many documents on these HP bombers are found on US soil, although we know that a number of the were build there by Standard Aircraft Corporation.

But as far as we know, no complete set of plans was ever sent.