1/72 Blackburn Twin

[lone modeller]

Evening All,

I have almost completed the Hansa Brandenburg W13 - I have to make a small base for it and am in the early stages of doing so and will put up photos when I have finished. The Britmodeller GB is continuing until late December so I have decided to attempt another contribution - this time a floatplane - which was originally suggested to me by Ralph (Softscience) last year. This aircraft certainly caught my attention and I duly added it to my list, so here goes.

You will quickly see that this is another of those wierd and little known types that fascinate me and for which there is no kit (at least as far as I am aware). Of course it has a spare wing but also two fans at the front: in fact it seems to have two of pretty much everything: wings, engines, fuselages, tails, main and tail floats, cockpits, etc. It was designed like this from the start - not a cobbled job from existing airframes like some of the WW2 types like Bf 109Z's, Mustangs. Heinkel Zwillings, etc. Blackburn's first design set a trend for unconventional, unorthodox and in some eyes ugly aircraft for the Royal Naval Air Service and later Fleet Air Arm, which continued to roll of their drawing boards for many years. It was called the Blackburn Twin and this what it looked like:



Yes it did fly - just - but more of that later. In the meantime I am off to cut some plastic - I intend to use up some of the scrap odds and ends which inevitably accumulate from scratch building - some has already gone into the H-B but I want to reduce the pile some more.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

[lcarroll]

Stephen,
    Yes, it is ugly in appearance however it looks like a great subject for a Build! You are certainly going to be scrambling to get it completed by late December however I know from your past performances that you'll make it. This is going to be pleasure to follow!
Cheers,
Lance

[Dave Brewer]

Fantastic subject Stephen,this is going to be a treat to follow.
Cheers,
Dave.

[AndRoby67]

Hi Stephen!
It seems a great challenge your choice, as usual I will follow your built.
I have to admit that is first time I saw this plane!
Cheers!
Roberto

[kensar]

Are you sure this didn't happen when 2 Sopwiths collided?

I like the design and I'm looking forward to your build.

[Bughunter]

I am always surprised how many types of airplanes there were at that time! (My german type book lists already 500 )
I know only some, and build a small number. So this is a great chance to get to know the next type and I will follow!
And done by a great scratch builder :thumbs_up: so it is a must.

Cheers,
Frank

[enathan]

Very interesting subject, good luck with the build!
Ehud

[Manni]

Fantastic subject. I allways love to see unconventional subjects. This will be a great fun to follow your build and a lot to learn from your skills.
Bye,
Manni

[Thumbs up]

Great subject,that will help develop our knowledge of these fascinating aircraft. I wish there were a dedicated section for these unusual aircraft to inspire other and future scratch builders! I shall be following closely.nice one Loner!

[RAGIII]

As always I am looking forward to watching this one appear from nothing but plastic!
RAGIII

[lone modeller]

Evening All,

First my tanks to all of you who have shown interest in this esoteric type - yuor interest is much appreciated. Lance I hope that I might, with luck, just get this one finished in time. Rick: it will not just be plastic - I intend to use wood for the propellors!

A little progress to report on this build - I have started to make the floats and have cut out the wing blanks. I reported above that I want to use as much scrap pieces of plastic for this build as possible, but the wings had to be cut from new card as they are so large. So I took a piece of 30 thou card which had been bent in a pipe as described elsewhere and cut blanks for the upper and lower wings. The upper wing was considerably larger than the lower as the photos show: the outer panels were BE 2c parts (Blackburn was building BE 2c's under licence in 1916), with a centre panel to join them:



I have added the ribs from 10 x 20 thou Evergreen strip and drilled the holes for the struts and kingposts.

I also started on the main fuselage floats and am constructing them in a standard box fashion with re-inforcing pieces and strips along the top and bottom of the sides to stop the upper and lower surfaces pushing though when I come to fix them:



I will need to make two sets of floats for the front and two for the rear - more later.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

[RAGIII]

Your usual Masterful work! I can't believe how fast you work!
RAGIII

[Ryan]

You will make this one a cracker Stephen!

Ryan

[bobs_buckles]

Hi Stephen,
I actually like the look of this aircraft and I like the look of your progress.
This will be a fun build to watch 

Cheers,
Bob

[lone modeller]

Evening All,

Thanks Rick, Ryan and Bob for the kind comments - as a scratch builder i always appreciate encouragement.

Rick: I am not working very fast really but as I have a deadline to try to keep I am perhaps working a little faster than usual.

The floats have been assembled and completed. These were two pairs (remember two of nearly everything....) front and rear. The rear pair are rather small and were made from 20 thou card rather than 30 thou. All needed a little filler around the edges but this will not show when they are painted.



I am making the fuselages one at a time to show the construction method and parts. The sides are 30 thou card cut to shape from the plans with a section cut and curved to fit over the lower wing.. I added some basic framework and a floor, seat and for the left (pilot's( side a seat and control column and IP. Card was used to make a series of bulkheads so that the sides could be cemented together: here is the partly assembled fuselage on the lower wing making sure that the fuselage/wing joint is not too uneven and the fuselage is the correct width:



A top and bottom surface was added. The I started to cut and assemble the observer's side which will just have a seat - I am not adding the fire extinguisher, (more of that later), as it cannot be seen and I am not sure what one would have looked like anyway!



The curved upper decking of the fuselage was push-moulded from 30 thou card. This mould was made a little too long so that I could also cut out the curved fairings which were fixed to the front of the fuselage behind the circular engine cowling. The mould was a single long piece which I cut to length and filed the rear end so that it slopes correctly behind the cockpit opening. the front end of the fuselage was blocked off with card to make a firewall. Liberal amounts of filler were used to complete the rear of the upper part of the fuselage and fill the odd gap between the curved upper decking and sides.



Finally the curved pieces which fit behind the engine cowling were cemented in place and more filler and sanding took place. Here is the completed pilot's fuselage and the semi-complete observer's. I also tried to mould some engine cowlings but after several attempts decided that I had not got the time to keep making awful units and so I dived into the spares box and found the last two which would be suitable:



More to come later.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.