forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
The Coronavirus locked down theme build => The Coronavirus special theme build => Topic started by: Old Man on April 21, 2020, 09:02:07 AM
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I am reviving this project for this group build, after letting it lapse a couple of years ago when my health got to be too much of a distraction.
Here is a link to the build thread from back then:
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8476.0
Here are a couple of photographs of the beast, one of those pre-war 'wings and some sticks' items so common then in the United States....
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/book_scratchbuld_proj/el_sonora/construction/El_Sonora_zpsztkllkxa.png)
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/book_scratchbuld_proj/el_sonora/construction/massonsonorasky_zpshdy4q7ny.jpg)
Here is how it stood when I halted work...
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/book_scratchbuld_proj/el_sonora/construction/IMG_9709_zpskozt6oy6.jpg)
(http://i1220.photobucket.com/albums/dd447/vieuxhomme/book_scratchbuld_proj/el_sonora/construction/IMG_9717_zpsduhw74ga.jpg)
I expect the first thing I will be doing is is fuel tanks and plumbing. I will probably wait on seating arrangements, as photographs show these differed over the life of the machine, and I will have to decide at what point in its career I wish to depict it.
The great step is attaching the upper wing, and if I am going back to this, I will want to do that in fairly short order....
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Good to see this one back again
Richard
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An amazing interesting flying machine! Watching the intricate construction will be a pleasure! More power to your modelling arm! Regards, Marc.
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I m looking forward to your revival build! Really looks awesome where you left off!!
RAGIII
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Hi
I don't know if this helps but I put one of your images through some photo enhancing software and here's the result:
(https://i.postimg.cc/wvY1MRKr/massonsonorasky-zpshdy4q7ny.jpg)
Your scratchbuild looks awesome. Looking forward to the completion of this one.
cheers
Dave W
Gold Coast
Australia
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I am really pleased that you a picking this up. It is such an interesting machine and an interesting a slightly challenging subject to build. Really looking forward to seeing this progress.
BTW who is mad to try this one?
Stephen.
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Glad to see you continue this, some really cool stuff coming up in this GB :)
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A rare bird! These very old machines are always fascinating with their look, and you choosen a really nice one and made a great work so far. Nice to see another "set aside project" coming back to life.
Ciao
Giuseppe
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Thank you, gentlemen, for the kind comments and interest in this project, and particular thanks to Dave for the helpful treatment of a photograph. There are no drawings, so pictures and eye are what I must depend on.
Putting the Junkers D.I together has got my hands and mind back into the groove, and I consider it a happy coincidence this revival of El Sonora will be my five hundredth post.
I have finally sorted out to my satisfaction the seating arrangements. In the four photographs I have showing the seats more or less clearly, three distinct arrangements are shown: one with a passenger's seat to either side of the pilot (1 photo), one with a passenger's seat only to the pilot's left, but with other arrangements the same as the two passenger version (2 photos), and one with only a passenger's seat to the pilot's left, but with some differences in how the seats are supported (1 photo, and that taken later than the others). I am going with the version there are two photographs of, which is taken in 1913, when a contract pilot, Didier Masson, flew the machine.
I wince every time I handle this thing, and it took a bit of figuring to be able to test fit pieces. I finally hit on the idea of tacking bits in place with white glue, so that things could readily be taken off and put back without need for much force. So here are the seats and supports, tacked in place as rough pieces:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_0763r.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_0760r.jpg)
You can see at lower right some early tries at the seats, that were a bit oversized for this, but may prove useful later for some other project. The two cylinders at the left are blanks for the fuel tanks, that were slung alongside the motor. They are made from sprue left from an ICM 'old tool' I-15bis, which was half round in section, and providentially the same width as 'what looked right' in the pictures relative to the size of the men (measured off a pilot figure) suggested to my eye --- about 4mm diameter. There are a couple of halves nearby, and an earlier effort that proved a hair too short for the purpose.
Here at the parts for the seats, and the fuel tanks with their sumps and fastening bands, ready for painting and assembly to the model:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_0765r.jpg)
The long bit of rod slats up and out from near the wheel to the leading edge of the wing. The short piece of rod goes across the main girder to the 'extra' brace. The pilot's seat goes in front of this, on supports which rest on the main girder, the front of the passenger's seat is set on this, and its rear is set on the leading edge of the wing.
When these are all attached, and a little more plumbing put in around the motor, I will be able to take the great leap and put the upper wing on....
(http://)
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Super work! i looked back and the wood on the engine mount really impressed me as do the wire wheels. I have made 3 1/2" wheels that way for RC models. Hats off to your ability to do it in 1/72. Amazing.
sp
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Doing a bit of scratchbuilding in 1/32 currently alongside my Corona-project, that's difficult enough for me, so all the more respect in 1/72!
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Excellent research and results on the seats and supports!
RAGIII
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This really is a delicate build - and a real testament to your scratch building skill, not to mention patience. The airy character of these early machines is being captured magnificently in this build. Good luck with putting on the top wing.
Stephen
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What a superb demonstration of how delicate 1/72 details can be made out of styrene, a real masterclass!
Richie
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Thank you, Gentlemen, for your kind words and interest in this project.
The new bits and bobs are on and in color...
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_0789r.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_0791r.jpg)
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/dd447/vieuxhomme/IMG_0792r.jpg)
This clears the way for getting the upper wing on. My usual course is to assemble from the center out, rigging as I go. I use EZ-Line elastic, attached with CA glue. People say this doesn't lend structural strength, but it does add some. The rigged wing-cell is usually much easier to handle than either of the individual wings.
It will, however, be a couple of weeks before I can get back to the bench, owing to family priorities. Things should go briskly then. I have a reasonable measure for gap, and can count off ribs to determine where struts go..
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Great look at the monoplane stage, looking forward to the next updates.
Ciao
Giuseppe
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That is certainly looking very good at the moment. Putting the top wing on this one will be a bit of a challenge, but I am certain that you will succeed - and continue with your mini-masterpiece. Looking forward to more.
Stephen.
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Thank you, Gentlemen.
I am fairly used to assembling a wing cell separately, though it has been some time. It is useful with mid-gap designs.
I am taking 19mm as my strut-length, based on a measure of 54" from a Mexican site where they have run a clear photograph through some program that corrects for angle and distance and gives measurements. It feels right enough. It seems six rib spaces separate each pair of interplane struts.
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Getting more awesome with avery update. I look forward to more, in due time...
Jeroen
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Getting more awesome with avery update. I look forward to more, in due time...
Jeroen
Thank you, Sir.
More coming now.
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All right, my friends.
The upper wing is on!
(https://i.imgur.com/rGL1vK8.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cNK6mSn.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/lc4YqnJ.jpg)
Everything is not quite all Sir Garnet, but it is acceptable, and most adjustments will be minor.
I dropped the booger twice, just in my lap, mind, but that was enough to spring things, as miniscule amounts of glue are all that is employed. The second drop came as I was trying to adjust position on the last strut (of course), and that one was bad enough I popped the wing off, and made new struts, which went on without further incident. As you can see I did not rig as I went, the thing was much too wobbly with four, or even eight struts in place, to hold while doing things like incidence wires. With sixteen struts in, it can be handled with care. Painting struts, and rigging, are the next step, and this will include some minor strut adjustments, as things stiffen up with the pull of the elastic.
Once that is done something quite delicate will be needed. You may notice the radiator is off. This is because its position, relative to the forward tube supports of the motor's cradle, is too far back, and interferes with the proper forward 'cabane' structure (which two parallel tubes, with a cross-piece and triangle at the top. The lower tube supports will have to be removed and placed a bit further back, and the cradle extended a trifle where the radiator goes. I feel reasonably confident I can manage this without undue difficulty. A new, thinner radiator piece may be needed.
I may also have to redo the rear outermost interplane struts, as these support (and go through) the mid-gap ailerons. It is just behind the leading edge, mind, and a notch with white-glue filler might suffice, but a hole may prove necessary. I confess I had not considered this when assembling the wing cell, but better to have plowed ahead and got the thing into one piece when the fit was on me and my blood was up.
Hope to have more progress in a week or so, as I am back on the bench now.
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A strategic retreat has proved necessary here, but with reinforcement most of that has been retrieved. I expect much of the difficulty was that I am out of practice. My attempt at rigging this was a fiasco. I botched most attempts to attach the end of a line, and between cleaning up after failures and over handling of a quite fragile assembly, I was beginning to do harm. I stopped, and took off the wing.
I made stouter struts, and using the traces of previous attachments, put in some real locator holes, to receive a pointed end put on the struts. I took advantage of the monoplane interlude to re-position the front supports for the engine bearers
I have put in the first eight struts. The outer ones on the port wing have proved a tad longer than the rest, but this has been fixed subsequent to the pictures. Doing so benefited greatly from the greater solidity. The rigging towards the center is the most tricky, because the places you naturally want to hold to keep things steady you can't, because the fragile undercarriage is in the way. While I have not completely got the knack back, things did go easier once the inner incidence wires were in place.
At any rate, here it is as of a few hours ago...
(https://i.imgur.com/8HtXrW2.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/1hIWMXv.jpg)
Once the struts in place are fully rigged I will add the next bay, and then tend to the tubular bracings in the center. I think I should leave off the outermost pairs till I have the mid-gap ailerons sorted out.
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Nice save!
Those guys flying this must have been quite brave, looking at those exposed seats!
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Looking awesome! I have trouble figuring out where to hold a normal bi plane while rigging. I can't even imagine doing this one 8)
RAGIII