Author Topic: 1:48 Eduard Albatros D.III (Read 15670 times)

RAGIII · « **Reply #120 on:** July 05, 2020, 08:22:36 AM »

Coming along nicely Steven!
RAGIII

smperry · « **Reply #121 on:** July 05, 2020, 01:45:43 PM »

Thanks y'all. Yeah it's a blast to see the laminations come out when you sand it. I will definitely be carving my own, at least light and dark laminated ones, from now on. Just need to work at thinning the blades more, but that will come I expect.
sp

t have to work at

Bughunter · « **Reply #122 on:** July 07, 2020, 04:38:40 AM »

Hmm, looks like a missing picture?
Good luck and have fun with carving!

Cheers,
Frank

smperry · « **Reply #123 on:** July 07, 2020, 02:25:42 PM »

No missing picture, I must have leaned on the wrong key.

After a careful re-read of Lance's article on carving wooden props, I adopted some of his tricks and added a couple of my own.

First I marked the exact center of the blank. The lengthwise center line is important in a couple of steps.

Next I used a circle gauge to draw a circle around the marked center. It needs to be the size of the kit prop's hub.

Then I clipped one blade to the blank, making sure the hub is centered in the circle and that the lengthwise center line bisects the blade tip. Trace around and repeat with the other blade. The center line through the tips keep the blades at 180 deg apart.

Here is the outline drawn in.

And here the blank is cut to outline with a Dremel and sanding drum. You need to remove wood to the inside of the marked line or the blade will be fat.

The front and rear faces of the blade are carved and sanded to a taper. (I got ahead of myself and sanded a twist into the other blade which is why I covered it)

This is my little invention. The curve of the blade is quite pronounced near the hub. Make a sanding stick out of something round and use it at an angle and it makes short work of the job.

Here is the nearly finished prop. I just needs more orange Future and light grit sanding. The thickness of the laminations is critical to the scale. In 1/32 the nominal 0.6mm (about 1/64") is good using 7 layers. In 1/48 the veneer strips need to be sanded down to about 0.45mm also 7 layers. In 1/72 scale 5 layers of 1/64 ply will do nicely. The two props I made out of the veneer I ordered were 1:48 and as you can see in the photos the laminations are a bit thick for the length. I will know better next time.

I decided to use the prop I made from the 1/64 ply strips since it was my first and it is as imperfect as the rest of the model. However, I just tack glued it to the spinner and fuselage and it will be no problem to change props if I take a mind to.

A final shot with the top wing on the mainplanes and the rigging wiskers all a flutter.

sp

Alexis · « **Reply #124 on:** July 07, 2020, 09:17:47 PM »

Really nice job on the prop SP

Terri

RAGIII · « **Reply #125 on:** July 07, 2020, 09:23:37 PM »

Excellent SP! Your Albatros is looking Fantastic!
RAGIII

RichieW · « **Reply #126 on:** July 08, 2020, 05:10:50 AM »

I think it looks superb SP, I don't see any imperfections. All I can see is a beautifully made model of a very colourful Albatros with an excellently made prop.

Richie

smperry · « **Reply #127 on:** July 08, 2020, 05:28:13 AM »

Thanks so much y'all.
I have the rigging to attach and a radiator pipe to add and it will be done. Being 1:48, I didn't go with the turnbuckle style of rigging. Rather, I drilled 0.4mm holes and inserted the end of the line and added a tiny drop of CA. I tried two ways with the CA. First was to dip the end of the line in CA and try to stick it in the hole, The other way was to stick the line in the hole and add a tiny drop of CA. I found the former method was more likely to make a mess unless you hit the line exactly in the hole on the first try. (right) It turned out to be neater for my shaky hands to add the tiny drop of CA after the line was in the hole. As for securing the other end of a run, I use tweezers to hold the line to the hole at the end of the run and then cut it a quarter of an inch or so long.That end gets stuck in the hole and CAed. I have a digitally controlled soldering iron that I use to heat up the line and cause it to shrink taught. I still burn through some lines, but less than half as many as when I used a hot wire to heat the line. I can use a lower temp on the iron and simply hold it under the line longer whereas the wire would have cooled in that amount of time.

Hopefully I can finish this one in the next evening or two.

sp

RichieW · « **Reply #128 on:** July 08, 2020, 05:46:29 AM »

That was my experience too with rigging, I had a really bad shaky hands day when I was rigging my Tripehound and made a bit of a mess in places. My inflamed guitarist's tendons won't allow me to thread lines through turnbuckles when they are playing up so gluing lines directly to model are my only option.

Hope you continue to be pain free after your recent trials and tribulations. Would love to see your RC planes some time. It's a hobby I would like to take up when I retire in a few years time

GazzaS · « **Reply #129 on:** July 08, 2020, 07:29:50 AM »

Nice process on the new prop! Everything looks good!

smperry · « **Reply #130 on:** July 08, 2020, 11:34:02 AM »

Well it was starting to look good until I tried to get the cabanes to fit. Just a little too much pressure and top wing and the lower left wing panel parted ways with the fuselage. The root cause is a bad fit on the lower left wing to fuselage joint. That needs some structural surgery to correct the geometry and some cosmetic attention as well as. The wing panel had developed a slight sweep back instead of being 90 deg straight out from the fuselage. That moved the mainplanes back a fuzz and made it impossible to fit the cabanes in the holes. Trying to force the issue broke it. I'm pretty peaved with myself as I should have stopped a while back and dealt with the bad lower wing to fuselage joint instead of whistling past the graveyard as it were. It will get fixed, but it may have to sit a day or three as I won't do proper work until I get over being mad about doing this to my self :-)
sp

GazzaS · « **Reply #131 on:** July 08, 2020, 03:18:02 PM »

I've done the same thing, mate! It always comes back to bite you.

RAGIII · « **Reply #132 on:** July 09, 2020, 12:22:23 AM »

Sorry to hear of the mishap SP! I had an issue with one of My SPADS yesterday so I know how you feel! More on My thread later today about the SPAD. Hang in there as I know you can get it fixed once you "Cool" off

RAGIII

lcarroll · « **Reply #133 on:** July 09, 2020, 12:26:48 AM »

sp,
Giving it a day or two before you restart is a good plan, we've all been there before and I know for certain I have more times then enough! Going back a bit your prop work is impressive and you'll be amazed at the progress you'll make with more experience. I've found that since I first did the article on hand laminating and carving props I've nearly completely changed my methods; I started with a heavy reliance on the big drum sander, transitioned to using the Dremel in lieu, and now find that carving and sanding completely by hand is my preference.
As for shaky hands you are certainly not alone either. I am seriously limited now by shaky and inflexible hands/fingers and expend great efforts on just steadying and working around the barriers to what used to be easy work. Aging is merciless and I am not a fan of the process!!

I hope your return to this project works out well, they usually do!
Cheers,
Lance

RichieW · « **Reply #134 on:** July 09, 2020, 02:11:24 AM »

What a shame SP, stuff like that can be so maddening. I usually take a few days off too and the fix is usually never as bad as it first seems.