Armstrong Whitworth 3 seat triplane

[Borsos]

I am always deeply impressed by you scratchbuilding folks. I love your work.

[DaddyO]

I am always deeply impressed by you scratchbuilding folks. I love your work.

Cheers Borsos 
Learning new stuff all the time since this is the first time I've started with a pile of plastic and a set of plans. Taking it slowly and just tackling each stage and problems as they occur seems to be working so far . . .(famous last words)

[macsporran]

Paul, this is brilliant. Exactly what real modelling is all about.
A few sheets of plastic, some old wing bits, rod, strut, glue and lots of ingenuity and chutzpah and ....  an unknown behemoth starts to appear.
Magnificent, my friend. Can't wait to see what the finished beastie will look like.
Sandy

[DaddyO]

Paul, this is brilliant. Exactly what real modelling is all about.
A few sheets of plastic, some old wing bits, rod, strut, glue and lots of ingenuity and chutzpah and ....  an unknown behemoth starts to appear.
Magnificent, my friend. Can't wait to see what the finished beastie will look like.
Sandy

Cheers Sandy. 
Got to admit that all these supportive comments really help keep projects on track when problems crop up and the encouragement and knowledge of everyone here is a real inspiration

Paul

[lone modeller]

Been away recently and have just caught up. Excellent radiators and nacelles - and the mock up of the model so far is inspiring. Just shows what a few sheets of plastic card, rod, and spares can do with a little imagination.

First class in every way.

Stephen.

[DaddyO]

Been away recently and have just caught up. Excellent radiators and nacelles - and the mock up of the model so far is inspiring. Just shows what a few sheets of plastic card, rod, and spares can do with a little imagination.

First class in every way.

Stephen.

Many thanks Stephen 

Certainly enjoying it and it's always fun to create something different. There's quite a lot of 'ponder' time because of the lack of references trying to interpret what would have been likely, but that fits in with my current time for building so the project isn't slowed at all.

Current 'ponder' is the pilots cockpit. This is a vast fuselage for one seat with a rather large opening; when I placed the seat in the space there appeared to be acres of room around it which will need some interest adding. Behind the seat my original plan had been to have a fabric screen to save a bit of detail work (a bit like a Fokker DVII, but also seen in the FK3 cockpit) When I added the seat it was clear that wasn't going to work so the bulkhead had to be cut away and some stringers/ribs were inserted through the bulkhead hole into the rear of the fuselage which was an interesting exercise  I'll post a couple of pics when I get the chance although it's all white on white so might not show very well until I've managed to get some paint on it

[DaveB]

Oh wow - that is a strange looking aeroplane and one of not come across before but what great work so far!

Regards

Dave

[DaddyO]

Oh wow - that is a strange looking aeroplane and one of not come across before but what great work so far!

Regards

Dave

Cheers Dave
The plan was published a couple of times in the old Windsock magazine (and interestingly I'd earmarked both issues when searching for a new project not realising it was the same aircraft)

Anywho as promised here are a couple of pics showing not much progress, but if you look carefully you can see some evidence of the structure that was fitted through a hole cut in the cabin bulkhead (Honestly I sometimes wonder if I make things difficult just to see if I can do them)

Other (not very interesting) work has been tackled as well - Holes for cabane struts and rigging, air holes in the nose and at the tail end as well as the start of the undercarriage (which is another story) and the rather vast cockpit starting to be, if not filled then at least populated with some of the usual items. Given how wide the cockpit is I think I'm going to make the dashboard more of a bulkhead for fitting the various pumps and wheels that are usually found on the cabin sides otherwise our intrepid pilot will need arms like Inspector Gadget

I opted for the easy solution for the stringers on the turtle deck and simply sanded them in once the solid piece was in position. For the cockpit padding Duro putty rolled into a sausage and then worked into position reduced the vast opening slightly (If you struggle to get the still soft putty to stick just use a spot of superglue; a tip I picked up from Rob Lane of Elan 13 a few years ago at one of the last EuroMilitaires)

FK interior rear 2 by Paul S, on Flickr

FK Interior start by Paul S, on Flickr

FK fuz by Paul S, on Flickr

[NigelR]

Are you sure you didn't put a 1/144 seat in it? I see what you mean about the vast cockpit space....... This is indeed a big beast. But it's looking really good, real high quality scratchbuilding work.

[DaddyO]

Are you sure you didn't put a 1/144 seat in it? I see what you mean about the vast cockpit space....... This is indeed a big beast. But it's looking really good, real high quality scratchbuilding work.

  Yep I wondered the same (it is 1/72) and it had me rushing back to the plans to double check the scaling (which is right as far as I can tell)

The wheels, incidentally, are exactly the same diameter as found on the DH9/9a which is another clue that everything scales correctly. Apparently the test pilot was rather corpulent or the designer scaled the fuselage to suit the width of the rather large lump of engine

[Dirigible-Al]

If memory serves me correct, the Albatros WE.1 has a massive space for the passenger/observer in its nose and would look not dissimilar to yours. I tried googling it before this post but for some reason it didn't come up.

Edit: Albatros Wasser Eindecker HE https://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft28893.htm#gallery-12

[lone modeller]

It looks as though the pilot had enough room for a bed in that cockpit opening....

Thjis is shaping up very nicely indeed.

Stephen.

[bobs_buckles]

You the Daddy!