Author Topic: 1/72 Morane Saulnier Type L Parasol (Read 3978 times)

lone modeller · « **on:** May 24, 2021, 05:36:11 AM »

Evening All,

I thought that I would amaze you all by building a tractor monoplane for a change - just to show you that I can do it! I have chosen this subject because I want something simple for a change: in addition this is another type which has been on my "to do" list for a long time. The Morane type L Parasol was widely used by RFC, RNAS and French and Russian forces in the first two years of WW1. The Pfalz Company in Germany also built many of these under license. Perhaps its most famous moment came in June 1915 when Lt Warneford managed to down Zeppelin LZ 37 by dropping small bombs on it. The French pilot R Garros had steel deflector plates fitted to the propellor of his MS L so that he could fire a machine gun forwards along the line of flight and in doing so caused others to investigate more seriously the interruptor mechanism for machine guns firing through the propellor arc.

I have made a small start by cutting some 30 thou plastic sheet for the fuselage sides, top and bottom:

I have started to modify a cowling from an Airfix Avro 504 which I found in the spares box and did not know I had! I have cut off the rear to narrow the chord and glued a piece of 20 thou card on the inside of the opening to make that smaller. Later I will reshape the front of the cowling:

The green stick is an old cocktail stick, (again found in the spares box), which I intend to use to make cylinders for the rotary engine. The other pieces are also for the engine.

The engine crank case was made from a disc of 40 thou card and the cylinders were mounted around the edges. A smaller disc of card made up the front of the engine and push rods were made from 20 thou Evergreen rod:

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More to follow in due course.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

Rookie · « **Reply #1 on:** May 24, 2021, 06:27:56 AM »

I love the Saulnier aircraft Stephen.

I'll be on your tail for this build

Willem

Rip Van Winkle · « **Reply #2 on:** May 24, 2021, 08:10:37 AM »

Looking forward to this project.

Alexis · « **Reply #3 on:** May 24, 2021, 11:29:09 AM »

Tagging a long on this one and by the looks of things you are well underway

Alexis

RichieW · « **Reply #4 on:** May 24, 2021, 05:40:20 PM »

Am going to follow this very closely from the start.

Richie

kensar · « **Reply #5 on:** May 25, 2021, 09:34:47 PM »

I'll be following along as well.

RAGIII · « **Reply #6 on:** May 25, 2021, 10:43:52 PM »

Excellent start as always Stephen. I am looking forward to watching this one develop!
RAGIII

Bughunter · « **Reply #7 on:** May 28, 2021, 06:03:48 AM »

You're away for a short while and you almost miss a new project by Stephen! nice start, I will follow of course!

I have this type in my cabinet and this is still the favorite of my wife.

Some small light remarks allowed?
Tthere is a typo in the subject, the company was Morane.
I know, you like the scratch work, but have you ever tried a Small Stuff engine in Gods own scale?

Cheers,
Frank

DaveB · « **Reply #8 on:** May 29, 2021, 01:28:53 AM »

Excellent, Stephen!

Your off to a great start and I will follow this with interest

Regards

Dave

lone modeller · « **Reply #9 on:** June 01, 2021, 04:34:49 AM »

Evening All,

My grateful thanks as always to those who have left your kind comments - they are all much appreciated.

Frank: thank you for commenting on the spelling of "Morane" - I have corrected the error. (That was caused by my geological background - my specialist field of study was interpreting glacial landforms and I had the wrong spelling for the aircraft manufacturer).

Yes I have tried Small Stuff engine kits: they are the bees knees in any scale but I am a bit tight for cash at the moment so I chose the poor man's alternative!

I have finished painting the interior and rigged the parts of the cockpit sides that will be visible with copper wire. I used strip and rod for most details, some of which I have not shown yet. I will put a bulkhead in the rear fuselage so I have not put any details in there: they will not be visible and I wish to keep this as a fairly quick and simple build. In addition I have painted the engine: as this will be largely obscured by the cowling and propellor I decided that this too would suffice for this model:

I have still got to finish shaping the cowling and add a firewall, make some seats and controls and other minor details and then I can assemble the fuselage. I hope to show that stage in the next post.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

RichieW · « **Reply #10 on:** June 01, 2021, 05:34:50 AM »

I love that tiny engine you have made Stephen. In 1/72 that is perfect. It's all looking very neat, are you sure your bench is as untidy as mine?

Richie

RAGIII · « **Reply #11 on:** June 01, 2021, 10:49:19 PM »

Your interior and engine are looking Excellent Stephen!
RAGIII

Alexis · « **Reply #12 on:** June 01, 2021, 10:51:05 PM »

Your builds always make me smile

Awesome !

Alexis

Rookie · « **Reply #13 on:** June 02, 2021, 06:15:54 AM »

I admire your detailing on this small scale Stephen.

Keep it up!

Willem

lone modeller · « **Reply #14 on:** June 07, 2021, 04:47:46 AM »

Evening All,

Thanks Richie, Rick, Alexis and Willem for your support - I really appreciate your kind and encouraging comments.

The fuselage is assembled and nose added. I decided to put in a couple of pockets for the pilot and observer on the starboard (right) side of the fuselage - not sure why as they can barely be seen and usually I do not bother with such details these days as I consider that if it cannot be seen on the completed model then there is no point in putting it in. I also added seats, an oil and fuel tank, controls for the pilot etc. After the fuselage parts had been glued together a small amount of filler was run along the joints just to ensure that there were no gaps.

The images also show the upper decking of the front of the fuselage and engine cowling prior to fixing to the fuselage. The decking is 20 thou card which has been gently bent over a paintbrush handle. The cowling has been modified by sticking some 30 thou card in the front apature and then filing and sanding until I achieved the correct shape. The firewall at the back is 30 thou card. The interior of the cowling assembly was painted in aluminium and some wash of brown/black applied to represent the oil thrown off the engine. The fuselage assembly is now ready for paint:

I have cut the wing from 30 thou card which had been bent in an old pipe and plunged into very hot water for about 10 seconds. The ribs have been applied (10 x 20 thou strip) but not sanded when I took the photo. Similarly I cut the horizontal tail surfaces and added the ribs:

The model is about ready for paint - just have to make the wheels from discs of 60 thou card and tyres from 40 thou rod.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.