forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: Brad Cancian on December 17, 2012, 07:25:18 PM
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Seeing as I started my Christmas holidays this weekend just gone, and have 4 glorious weeks off work, I decided I'd try my hand at this little limited run kit:
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/bradcancian/M1C01.jpg)
It's the Spin Models 1:48 Bristol M1C "Bullet". The kit itself is mainly resin, with some etched bits thrown in for the cockpit, struts and other details. The kit is good in terms of the basic outline of the aircraft and the subtlety of the fabric surfaces, but some of the details need some finesse, and things like the control surfaces are all cast in place.
First up for some work was the kit engine, which looks like this....
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/bradcancian/M1C02.jpg)
I thought about dressing it up, as I have a couple of photos of the aircraft I want to model (which is actually the aircraft on the box art) without any spinner fitted, so the engine would be loud and proud up front... but I had a vector 1:48 Resin LeRhone that I wanted to try out.... all I can say is that the vector engine is a gem and comes out nicely, I think.
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/bradcancian/M1C03.jpg)
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/bradcancian/M1C04.jpg)
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/bradcancian/M1C05.jpg)
Test fitting shows that the engine is going to be too big for the thin resin cowl, but not by too much. Hopefully I won't need to take too much off some of the cylinder tops when it comes time to fit the engine under the cowl.... :-[
The kit supplies the cockpit as an etched frame. It was a little two-dimensional for me, so I scratchbuilt the frame. The fit is snug but shouldn't interfere with closing the fuselage by my test fittings.
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/bradcancian/M1C06.jpg)
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/bradcancian/M1C07.jpg)
Well that's it so far... next up is to paint the frame and interior and get some interior details together....
All feedback welcome!
Cheers,
BC
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I envy you holidays... Very nice project for this lovely time, Brad. I am looking forward to see it unfold. The engine is like real!
Building the internal structure, have you kept it to the scale or is it diminished to fit in the fuselage? In other words, the question is, how thin are the walls of the fuselage halves?
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Between you and Des, I'm really feeling motivated to build my Blue Max M1C. That Vector engine looks fantastic. I hope you can get it to fit without too much damage to the rocker arms. I have a couple Spin kits, so I know that the cowling is probably too thin and fragile to thin it down much more. I wish you luck with it, mate.
Cheers,
Bud
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Brad,
Fantastic first progress my old friend. Love your LeRhone she's a real gem. Outstanding cockpit frame,do you use some sort of jig to get your sections straight and true? Looking forward to an awesome project from your bench.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
Merry Christmas to You and Yours
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Excellent start Brad on a lovely aeroplane, the Vector engine looks superb and will certainly enhance the appearance of this model. Your cockpit frame has come together very well, looking forward to your next update.
Enjoy your holiday Brad and Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Des.
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Thanks folks! To answer some of the questions -
PrzemoL - The internal frame is not quite to scale - it is a little reduced in terms of width to fit inside the fuselage, mainly to fit around the "shoulders" of the interior, as can be seen in the photo below. The resin fuselage is actually quite well cast and reasonably thin, despite a few mould flaws and some air bubbles (indeed the flying surfaces are also replicated nicely - you can see a wing below (I removed the aileron, which was tricky as the resin is quite hard)). The framing is still wide enough to comfortably fit the seat, so to me that is always a reasonable mark of whether the interior is roughly "to scale".
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/bradcancian/M1C08.jpg)
Bud - I think in fact that the Blue Max kit might be easier, as I think Blue Max mould the wings and upper decking as one piece? The only negatives with the Blue Max kits tends to be that their wings are quite thick at the trailing edge. The Spin kit has some nice thin trailing edges, thankfully! Yep I really like the detail in the vector engine.... Alas there will be some damage to the rocker arms as the cowling is already quite thin, but I have a semi-cunning plan in mind to possibly address this... not sure if it will work out yet. Ideally, I would have trimmed the bottom of the cylinders before I glued them in, but in my usual careless way I just jumped straight in without thinking! ;D
Gregory - the frame is all eye-balled, that is, I didn't use a jig. What I did was to make both "side wall" frames first, making sure they matched up, and then added the span-wise cross-members (which are all the same length). Some fiddling was required to get the right length of the cross-members so that they didn't buckle when the fuselage halves went together. The fit is now snug, but it doesn't bend the frame.
(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b387/bradcancian/M1C09.jpg)
Des - many thanks! I actually used your build of the Alley Cat kit as a reference for the internal framing (don't tell anyone ;) )... beautiful build you did there too. That's what I love about the M1C, so many cool schemes to choose from!
Cheers,
BC
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Nice start to this one. Love the engine colours/tones.
Steve
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Nicely turned out engine Brad, you guys sure turn out some quality work in a short space of time!!
Andrew
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Nice star so far. The engine is fantastic ;)
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From what we already see here another BC Masterpiece is imminent! Looking forward to this one, a less common subject and different Type of Kit all in one!
Cheers, and "All the Very Best" at Christmas!
Lance :)
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Hello Brad:
An interesting subject you have there, and you are certainly doing justice to it. I noticed the Dragon scheme. That must have been popular on all sides as it appears on German A/C as well. In North Carolina there is a road called the "Tail of the Dragon", a bunch of curves. For those hearty motorcyclists who complete it, they get a dragon decal, very similar to the one on your model.
Naturally, I am looking forward to your build and how this turns out.
Best
Mark
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Brad
A really interesting topic you have chosen here. After seeing Des`s M1C I could only think I want one too...
Not now however. I have Spin`s Spad SA2 and I must say that by the looks of it I assume it may turn out as a pretty good model.
I like your approach to the idea of modelling - scratch building the interior is my kind of thing.
I love what you have done already. Can`t wait till I see more. Forgive my darn uncoherent post ;)
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Beautiful.