1:32nd scale Phonix D.I

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Hi Spyros.,
I also have the JAPO publication and did look through the various photographs for clues.
However, I've looked again, especially the photograph of the empty engine bay.
What you say does make sense.
I've modified my original post.
Thanks for your sharp eyes 

Mike

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Hi all,
The fuselage is now ready to be closed up.
As the fuselage and internal parts are 3D printed, there are no locating stub or recesses for most parts.
Therefore they have to be individually test fitted between the fuselage halves, then all secured to one half before closing up the fuselage.
So aligning the various parts as you close up the fuselage can be tricky.
Due to the deep fuselage, most of the internal detail, as usual, can't really be seen.
Like the cockpit frames, I found that the instrument panel was too wide to allow the fuselage halves to fully close.
So that had to be reduced in width.
The only extra details added are:
 The control rod from the engine speed selector
 The two trigger cables from the control column
 Rudder control cables
 Elevator control cables
The ailerons were operated by control tubes, so will be added later in the build.
These tubes were between the cockpit control lever on the torsion bar of the control column and the underside of the upper wing.

Mike

[NigelR]

Lovely work Mike, you are doing a great job on this one. It will be nice to see this built up as it's an interesting subject IMO.

[RAGIII]

Excellent details and painting on your interior Mike!
RAGIII

[AngryJazz]

Stunning work as always Mike! 

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Hi all,
The kit supplies 1.2 mm diameter steel rod for use as the supports for the lower wings.
However, once the fuselage is joined together, I found that rear rod locating holes on both sides of the fuselage were obstructed by the internal cockpit bulkhead.
Therefore, new locating holes needed to be drilled,

Mike

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Hi all,
The closed up fuselage.
I've added the tail skid, head rest pad and the rectangular panel and small intake under the nose of the fuselage,

Mike

[NigelR]

I was going to say this is progressing nicely, but you have had a few challenges to overcome on the way so maybe "nicely" isn't the right word..... But it's looking really good.

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Hi all,
When the upper and lower wing halves were laid on a flat surface and viewed from their leading edges (front), I found that the wings varied noticeably in thickness.
The upper left wing half was thicker than the upper right wing half.
The lower right wing was thicker than the lower left wing.
Given how pronounced the different thickness of the wings was, I decided the only option was to remove, as necessary, all of the surface detail then re-profile the wings.



Apart from the upper wing sections, lower wings and tailplanes, all other flight surfaces and the fin are intended to be 'butt' glued.
Being resin held with CA adhesive makes for a weak joint.
Therefore I pinned them all.
Only the 1.2 mm diameter Steel rod is supplied in the kit for supporting the wings.
For the other parts I used 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 diameter Brass rod and 0.7 mm diameter Brass tube.
Care is needed when drilling into the thin resin parts to avoid the resin from breaking away,

Mike

[NigelR]

Nice modelling Mike. You really overcome these challenges impressively.

I can see I am going to need a new set of drills when I get around to their Oeffag Albatros......

[FAf]

Sorry Mike, I understand that you did something to the wings in order to fix the thickness issues, but what did you do actually?! Because to me that wing detail looks very good, and I can't understand how you managed to create that. Or, haven't you done anything to the wings yet?!
/Fredrik

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Sorry Mike, I understand that you did something to the wings in order to fix the thickness issues, but what did you do actually?! Because to me that wing detail looks very good, and I can't understand how you managed to create that. Or, haven't you done anything to the wings yet?!
/Fredrik

Hi Fredrik,
I've detailed this in my to be released build log.
As you can see from the following photographs, the upper left and lower right wings are too thick compared to their opposite wings.
I think the problem may have be caused by the close proximity of the internal reinforcing rods to the leading edges.
Possibly during casting the rods caused the resin to build up at the leading edge?
Anyway, I scrapped away resin from the underside of the affected wings to reduce their thickness.
That made the wings thickness closer to their opposite wings.
This necessitated removal of the rib tape detail, which I'll reinstate later, maybe using photo-etch or tape.

Mike

[FAf]

Ahh... the underside makes sense. 🙂
Thanks for a detailed explanation.
/Fredrik

[Mike Norris (UK)]

Hi all,
It was necessary to add support rods to more parts.
Some parts were again only 'butt' joints.
I've added support rods to the tailplane supports, landing gear axle and struts and the fuselage cabane struts.
These rods were a combination of 0.4 and 1.0 mm diameter Brass rod.

Now onto the interplane struts,

Mike

[NigelR]

More impressive engineering work Mike, well worth the effort.