1:32nd scale Hansa-Brandenburg W.20

[gedmundson]

Great start, Mike - looking forward to this one.
Cheers,
Gary

[Mike Norris]

Hi all,
A few updates.
This kit does not have any locating pins or holes for any of the flight surfaces.
These include the ailerons, fin, tail plane, elevators and the rudder.
These are all intended to be 'butt' glued only, which is never a good idea, especially with resin parts.
Although CA adhesive provides a strong bond, it is prone to 'break away' if subjected to shock loading, such as being knocked.
Therefore I reinforced the mating surfaces by adding either 0.3 or 0.5 mm diameter rods and associated holes.
The exception was the elevators, as the trailing edge of the tail plane is way too thin to drill.
For that I cut photo-etch strips to represent the hinges and to support the elevators to the tail plane.
I've also replaced the resin rear decking strips with sanded down plastic card.

The next job is to created rudder and aileron control cable horns and the associated control cable outlets, none of which are supplied or represented in the kit,

Mike






 

[Alexis]

Hey Mike ,

Wouldn't it have been easier to cut slots in the elevators for the pins , fill and sand smooth leaving the pins center , if you don't mind me asking ? 

Alexis

[Mike Norris]

Hi Alexis,
Good suggestion, but it's the trailing edge of the tail plane that's the problem.
As you can see it's very thin.
The elevators I could drill and pin, but not the tail plane.

Mike

[hrcoleman66]

See?

Problem solving.  My number three reason for modelling.

Nice work Mike.

Cheers,

Hugh

[Mike Norris]

Hi all,
I've added control horns and control cable ports for the ailerons and rudder.
Next up is to represent the aileron control inspection panels, fuselage rear grab handles, wing stacking pads and rib tapes for the tail plane, elevators and ailerons.

None of the above are represented or supplied in the kit.

Mike

[Alexis]

Thanks for the reply Mike , wasn't aware on how thin the tail is , that is thin !  So it makes sense now .


Alexis 

[Mike Norris]

Hi all,
The rudder, elevators and tail plane were linen covered structures with rib tapes covering the linen joins.
It is unclear if the fin was covered with wood paneling or linen.
The photographs available suggest that it was linen, as the fin structure can be see under the covering.
So I've gone for a linen covered fin.
Although rib tapes are represented on the wings and ailerons of the kit, they are not represented elsewhere.
Created using 0.2 mm thick plastic card which was then sanded ,

Mike

[RAGIII]

Excellent work as always Mike!
RAGIII

[Mike Norris]

Hi all,
The kit supplied lower wing needed some major changes.
I used the few photographs available for this aircraft and the drawings in the ‘Windsock’ World War Centenary (Spring 2015, Vol.31, No.1).

Basically the kit wing needed to be modified for the following reasons:
The wing leading edge had more of a swept angle than that moulded on the kit wing.
The centre section of the leading edge had a recess, to allow the forward wing struts and engine support frame to be fitted to the fuselage.
The lower wing and the upper wing had 'stacking' pads fitted into the wing leading edges (2 upper and four lower wing).
The centre cut-out in the trailing edge of the lower wing did not have square corners, but was fitted with quadrant fillet panels.
The upper surface of the lower wing had walk boards fitted at the wing roots.
The rear of the centre section of the lower wing had two slots through the wing to allow fitting of the wing rear struts into the fuselage.  
 
Mike

[Alexis]

Looking good Mike 


Alexis

[Mike Norris]

Hi all,
The lower wing was not fitted directly to the top of the fuselage but was located on four mountings and just clear of the fuselage.
The front a rear wing spars of the lower wing passed across the fuselage through these mountings.
The kit instructions show the mountings, but they are not supplied in the kit.
Therefore representations of the mountings need to be created.
The mountings were made from brackets in the ‘Jadar’ WW1 1:48th scale control horns (S48087) photo-etch set and 0.5 mm diameter Brass rod.
I also used 0.5 mm rod to make the grab handles for the rear of the fuselage, which again are not supplied in the kit,

Mike

[Fvdm]

Great progress Mike. I like your eye for detail and your research.

[hrcoleman66]

Attention to detail or what???

Cheers,

Hugh

[Alexis]

Thumbs up 


Alexis