Author Topic: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d  (Read 4665 times)

Offline Alexis

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #15 on: February 19, 2020, 12:53:07 PM »
Wow Stephen , you are making nice progress on this even with your mishap .  :) You rock !



Terri
Hurra ! , Ich Leben Noch
Body and life is a vessel we use to travel the planet . Femininity is the gift , The miracle comes from what we do with it .

Offline kensar

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #16 on: February 19, 2020, 10:26:42 PM »
Nice work on the fuselage nacelle.  The wheels will look great when painted.  Do keep showing and explaining your techniques for fabricating the parts.

Offline ondra

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2020, 03:57:37 AM »
As usually I will be following your build with great interest, Stephen, excellent progress so far!

Cheers

Ondra

Offline William Adair

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #18 on: March 08, 2020, 07:11:39 PM »
Nice job!  The poor old Dee never seems to get the attention it deserves.  I'm really looking forward to following its progress.  :)

Offline lone modeller

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #19 on: March 09, 2020, 03:38:09 AM »
Evening All,

Thanks Rick, Frank, Terri, Ken, Ondra and William for the kind comments: as things are going at the moment these remarks are extremely encouraging!

The Fee Dee saga continues - and continues to test my patience a little. I will not belabour you with the painting - it was a pain for a variety of reasons and took much longer than it should reasonably have done. But it is done now - in acrylics with hand painted markings. I have found that I do not have suitable letters or numerals for the serial so the rudder will remain blank and the model will represent a type rather than a specific machine.

Normally I try to take photos of the stages of putting on the top wing and struts, but again because this model has been a pain, I only took the photos when the top wing and many struts were in place. This is what happened: I fixed the booms (florists wire) to the wings before I started painting. To do this I use two-part epoxy for the wing joint and CA at the V at the rear. I use a simple method to get the angle of the boom to the wing right:

a. from the side elevation drawing I draw a line under the wing which touched the leading and trailing edges and runs to the rear;

b. on this line I measure a distance - eg 4 cm rearwards from the trailing edge of the wing (distance x);

c. I measure the vertical distance between the boom on the elevation drawing and the line which has been drawn under the wing (distance y);

d. set up a simple jig so that the boom parts are laid on a support which is distance x from the trailing edge of the wing. The height of the support will be y. The upper and lower wings need different jigs but they are quick and simple to make.

After painting I usually I fix the rudder on to the v of the bottom boom and then put two outer forward struts into the lower wing. This makes a three legged triangle which is stable if I lower the top wing on to the struts and rudder. Well I did so - only for the rudder to drop out!! I managed, just, to get the rear outer struts in place while holding the wing - don't ask how! I decided to add the middle pairs of struts while I could - and for once the plan worked - again don't ask how or why!! Finally I added the forward inner bay struts and left the b@**%!@ thing alone to dry out overnight. In the morning the top wing was rigid so I took the opportunity to take a photo before the model could fall apart:







So I had a structure which was stable enough for me to be able to add the boom struts, remaining wing and cabane struts and the b@**%!@ rudder.







Needless to write the cabane struts were also a pain to get into place because the exhaust has got to fit around them later and so I had to keep offering the exhaust pipe to make sure that it will do so.

Next update should include the Trafford undercarriage.....

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

Online lcarroll

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #20 on: March 09, 2020, 05:04:06 AM »
   Great outcome Stephen but it sounds like it gave you a pretty rough time! Forgive me, I had a really good laugh following along as you described the mad contortions of trying to keep it all together as the sequence progressed; a really bizarre Monty Python scene came to mind, mostly because I've been there too, as probably have most of our contemporaries here! All's well that ends well and the "Dee" is looking very fine, I'm looking forward to the rest of the saga as you tame this beast! :)
Cheers,
Lance

Offline Alexis

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #21 on: March 09, 2020, 09:31:58 AM »
I see you made a big leap in the progress department Stephen , she is shaping up awesome ! Funny how some builds give us no issues at all while others will fight us hand tooth and nail , kicking and screaming across the finish line . Looking forward on the next up-date on this wonderful build  :)


Terri
Hurra ! , Ich Leben Noch
Body and life is a vessel we use to travel the planet . Femininity is the gift , The miracle comes from what we do with it .

Offline RAGIII

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #22 on: March 10, 2020, 01:20:20 AM »
Once again you have conquered the issues that beset you! Your Fee looks Marvelous!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline RichieW

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #23 on: March 10, 2020, 08:46:25 AM »
Wow, Stephen this is an incredible build of a very complicated subject. I said I was interested in scratch building techniques and this is a superb demonstration of what's involved. Will follow the rest of the build with keen interest!

Offline kensar

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #24 on: March 10, 2020, 09:42:38 PM »
You're conquering a difficult build, with all the struts and booms, etc.  It's shaping up nicely.

Offline lone modeller

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #25 on: March 15, 2020, 10:40:08 PM »
Evening All,

Thanks to all of you who continue to give me moral support for what is turning into one of my more trying projects.... Lance I can understand your mirth with my struggles - truly I have not experienced such a complex series of actions as when I mounted the wing on this one. I have made 13 pusher models in this scale to date - and NONE of them have caused me as much grief as this one! As I indicate below I am already think of something very different for my next build as I need to get away from this asap.

At last I have fitted the Trafford-Jones undercarriage. This was not a long task - it was just that in order to try to restore my mojo a little I have been toying and practising with some ideas for my next project, of which more later at an appropriate time and place. When I did get around to this one things went smoothly for once.

The undercarriage of the FE series went through three stages: the first was a complex affair with a nosewheel to stop machines tipping over when taking off or landing on the rough grass strips that acted as runways in the very early days of aviation. I have represented this on my 1/72 scale model of the FE 2b at the start of this thread. This layout was both heavy and drag inducing on a machine that had plenty of other headwind built into it, so aircrews were eager to try to remove both weight and drag in order to gain speed in the air. A relatively simple solution was devised by Trafford-Jones who removed the small wheel and bracing struts from the undercarriage - this is what I am putting on my model. For completeness of the record, later machines were either converted or built with a simple V undercarriage: this allowed an extra 5 -10 mph gain in airspeed over the original design, demonstrating the importance of weight and drag on these early aircraft's performance.

Construction was simple enough as I had already built the more complex design as described above. I made two sets of legs with oleo springs by shaping two pieces of 30 x 60 thou and 20 x 40 thou strip and cementing them together to form the main legs. These were drilled at the end to take a 20 thou length of rod which forms the axle. The axle was inserted into the holes in the legs and the legs cemented to pre-drilled holes under the nacelle. Two pieces of 30 thou rod were cemented to the axle where it joined the main legs, and another set of holes in the underside of the nacelle. This was allowed to harden completely:





Two lengths of 30 x 60 thou strip were cut and shaped and cemented into a third set of holes drilled in the nacelle - these had to form a V above the axle so a bit of trial and error was employed to get these right. Liquid cement was used to secure the apex of the V. I had already cut and shaped two more pieces of strip to fit between the ends of the axle and the apex of the V - these were also fixed with liquid cement and the sub unit set aside to harden again:





I have also made the tail skid but the structure at the rear is both complex and fragile so that will only be fitted when I have almost finished the model. I will paint the undercarriage next and then start the rigging.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

Offline Alexis

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #26 on: March 15, 2020, 11:27:28 PM »
Undercarriage is coming along well Stephen and will look great once painted !



Terri
Hurra ! , Ich Leben Noch
Body and life is a vessel we use to travel the planet . Femininity is the gift , The miracle comes from what we do with it .

Offline kensar

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #27 on: March 15, 2020, 11:58:39 PM »
Seems everything is complex on this one.  Great execution, Stephen.  Looking forward to seeing more.

Offline RichieW

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #28 on: March 16, 2020, 12:30:23 AM »
What an exercise of skill and patience Stephen, it is looking fantastic so well worth the effort. I'm learning a lot from your excellent work, nearly there!

Offline Borsos

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Re: A different FEE: 1/72 FE 2d
« Reply #29 on: March 16, 2020, 01:34:49 AM »
What a pity that it causes you so much trouble, Stephen, as it looks so nice! I am sure it will stand out as one of your most fantastic builds when finished. If it helps... when I built my Fe2d, and I didn’t do it from scratch like you but with a 1st class WNW kit, so it was much easier, I also needed several breaks and wasn’t sure if I‘d finish it at all.
Best regards
Andreas
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