Evening All,
I am not sure whether this should be here in scratch builds or in pre-1914 types: it can be reasonably classified as either, so if the mods think it is in the wrong place please would you move it.
This was a civilian machine, (as far as I am aware there was only one), built by the Grahame-White Company in 1913 for joy riding at the aerial displays held at the factory site at Hendon, (now the site of the RAF Museum), in north London. The aircraft was important for a number of reasons which I will describe later, but for me some very important reasons for it being an excellent choice is that it is a pusher(!) and there is no kit available. I suspect that most readers will be unaware of the type, (as I was until relatively recently), so here is a link to information about it:
http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft28796.htmI have made a small start by cutting the main flying surfaces from 30 thou card which had been bent in boiling water in a water pipe. The lower wing was one piece and had a shorter span than upper. The latter had extensions which were slightly swept back so I have had to cut these separately and will glue them to the centre section later when I have added and sanded the ribs. The wings and horizontal tail surfaces had a very marked curvature - as shown on the Flight drawings but also clearly visible in photographs. I have not cut out the rudders yet - I will do so later.
The above image shows the top wing sections (top), the lower wing with 10 x 20 thou Evergreen strip cemented on prior to sanding to represent ribs (centre), and the two tail surfaces, one with strip and one without (bottom).
I have also cut out plastic for the nacelle. I am using 30 thou card for the sides and 20 thou for the floor and nose, which is one piece.
The curves on the sides of the floor/nose are there because the nose tapered a little, the crosswise curve at the end is the pilot's position. I intend to make a simple box structure using card braces to make the nacelle and then remove the braces and replace them with wire rods when it is dry and firm. I have bought some wicker seats from Barracuda Studios which i will use for the pilot and passengers. It is my intention to scratch build all of the other parts.
More later when I have made the nacelle and finished the ribs on the flying surfaces.
Thanks for looking.
Stephen.