Armstrong Whitworth 3 seat triplane

[enathan]

Great progress Paul! The weird contraption is beginning to take shape

[NigelR]

Excellent progress, both inside and in the garden! I am really impressed with those slots for the engine/exhausts, that is some precision work there.

[Richtrad]

This is a creative thinking and problem solving showcase. Most impressive, and entertaining to boot.

Warren Q

[DaddyO]

That there, is some special work. Well done!

BB 

Cheers BB 

Great progress Paul! The weird contraption is beginning to take shape

Getting there now matey (and weird contraption is about right) 
Presently debating whether to add a couple of Lewis guns to the pods as intended, even if the only couple of photos don't show them fitted. I think it will make it more obvious how it was to be used.

Excellent progress, both inside and in the garden! I am really impressed with those slots for the engine/exhausts, that is some precision work there.

Thanks Nigel. Trouble with the garden is stuff just keeps growing 

This is a creative thinking and problem solving showcase. Most impressive, and entertaining to boot.

Warren Q

  Glad you're enjoying it Warren


Slight hiccup in the plan for this one discovered earlier today. 
The plan view and side view give different sizes for the length of the wing pods. I used the plan view to cut the top shape (logically enough) and took a number of fixed points from the side view to get the shape. Having trimmed the top of the pods to fix to the wing I've spotted that the pod is too long. It should finish in front of the rear strut so that it can attach to the wing (confirmed by a close look at the photo) Currently my pods are about 3mm too long which means the curve on the sides will also need adjusting to suit the new length. . . I'll have a closer look later to work out the best way of rectifying this.

[NigelR]

Slight hiccup in the plan for this one discovered earlier today. 
The plan view and side view give different sizes for the length of the wing pods. I used the plan view to cut the top shape (logically enough) and took a number of fixed points from the side view to get the shape. Having trimmed the top of the pods to fix to the wing I've spotted that the pod is too long. It should finish in front of the rear strut so that it can attach to the wing (confirmed by a close look at the photo) Currently my pods are about 3mm too long which means the curve on the sides will also need adjusting to suit the new length. . . I'll have a closer look later to work out the best way of rectifying this.

Oh dear. Definitely won't be ready for the Salisbury show then..... I'm sure you'll be able to fix this though, keep up the good work.

[lone modeller]

[quote/]
I managed to cut the cockpit opening in the wrong place on the removable panel

DSC_1672 by Paul S, on Flickr
[/quote]

You have not scratch built a model until something like that happens! Also the plan and side elevation giving different dimensions for the same feature - another joy of using plans which have been cobbled together by somebody in the past....

This really is going to be an interesting model when finished - I am really looking forward to seeing it.

Stephen.

[DaddyO]

 
Cheers Nigel & Stephen.
I expected something to go pear-shaped at some point; at least at this early stage I can make corrections without too much hard work (and it's all good practice)

[DaddyO]

Right ho a few early starts saw the nacelles reduced in length, shapes adjusted and the bottoms replaced with 5 thou card. 

This morning I cut out the slots in sides (for landing wires) after reinforcing the open sides with a couple of square pieces to make this easier. The cockpit positions were cut out after adding a couple of circles (cockpit padding) which were made from some tyres that came with the Eduard DR1 kit; the hub part needed cutting away and I sanded them to half thickness to get a semicircular section. I'd already added a back to the cockpit so next up is to slap some paint to cover the white of the interior before adding seats and some interior details.

FK Nacelles by Paul S, on Flickr

[Flamingo]

Great progress, really like to follow.
Joachim

[DaddyO]

Great progress, really like to follow.
Joachim

Cheers Joachim glad you're enjoying the build as well 

As promised this fella needs a couple of radiators to mount on the sides of the fuselage so next up was working out the best way of making them. Eventually decided that layering 5 thou plastic card gave the correct thickness and appearance so a bunch of strips were cut and then glued together using superglue since my normal Tamiya cement tends to distort the thin plastic which is definitely not required in this case
Radiator parts by Paul S, on Flickr

After gluing and a gentle sand to square up any edges I was very pleased with the effect (even had the correct number of fins based on the FK8 radiators which I was using as reference)
Radiator laminations by Paul S, on Flickr

A scrap block of plastic was glued to one end and then shaped
FK radiators by Paul S, on Flickr

Once that was done the process repeated for the other end and straps were added using self adhesive aluminium foil
FK finished radiators by Paul S, on Flickr

Incidentally although only two are needed I usually make a spare to practice the next stage on and act as a spare in case of any 'ahem' issues 

Now to finish the wings off (drill for stuts and rigging and add rib tapes)

Paul

[NigelR]

That is lovely scratchbuilding Paul, great skills evident there. But it's not going to be ready for next Saturday, is it.......

[DaddyO]

That is lovely scratchbuilding Paul, great skills evident there. But it's not going to be ready for next Saturday, is it.......

Cheers matey
Sadly I suspect it'll not quite be finished in time, but who knows . . . .

Having drilled the wings and added rib tapes I couldn't resist a quick mock up to see what the overall effect is like 

DSC_1684 by Paul S, on Flickr

DSC_1685 by Paul S, on Flickr

Long way to go, but certainly looks like something straight out of 'Catch the Pigeon' 
(which was a cartoon I grew up watching about vaguely WW1 type birds trying to intercept a messenger pigeon)

[NigelR]

Wow, that looks fantastic, this will be a great subject to see completed.

Long way to go, but certainly looks like something straight out of 'Catch the Pigeon' 
(which was a cartoon I grew up watching about vaguely WW1 type birds trying to intercept a messenger pigeon)

I think you mean "Dastardly and Muttley (in their Flying Machines)" - it was a spin-off from Wacky Races. And huge fun!

[Dirigible-Al]

CATCH THE PIGEON. Thanks for reminding me of that, I remember that cartoon. I am now going see if I can see it again on Utube.

[DaddyO]

CATCH THE PIGEON. Thanks for reminding me of that, I remember that cartoon. I am now going see if I can see it again on Utube.

I just did exactly the same 
The show was actually called 'Stop that pigeon' rather than 'Catch the pigeon' as I said (Although as Nigel mentioned there were a few Dick Dastardly spin off shows and the original title for this one was 'Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines'. All of them were great fun and perhaps had too much of an influence on my model choices since I do seem to be drawn to the esoteric) 

Next up modelling on this is to work out the undercarriage and since the top and side view on the plans don't quite agree with the couple of photo's of the full sized machine I'm going to have to wing it a bit (sorry I couldn't resist)