Be12b conversion

[NigelR]

Wow, that dashboard is amazing! And it looks like it won't be hidden by the top wing, so worth the effort!

[DaddyO]

Watching raptly, when I can. I've stopped commenting again because every few days I get prevented by Clodflare from accessing the site, for a week or more.

t'Other Paul.

That's a nuisance t'other Paul (Funny )
I know I'm always having to log in these days even on tabs that have been left open; if I've not used the tab or commented for a few hours I'll have to go through the whole login routine although I've never been blocked so far . . .
Nice to have you onboard in spirit at least 

Wow, that dashboard is amazing! And it looks like it won't be hidden by the top wing, so worth the effort!

Cheers matey. 
As you say you should be able to see it on the finished model which is a nice change (Hopefully distract the viewer from some less attractive bits)

[DaddyO]

We've got a new nose on our aircraft 

Few things to note - Having blended everything in nicely I could see from the photo's that the new noses metalwork was, shall we be polite and say a tad rough with a prominent overlap line at the back so a thin strip of 5 thou card was added to the edge and blended in.
The fuel tank on this one is reversed from the earlier versions so it slopes towards the nose rather than the cockpit; piece of thickish card and a sprue filler cap took care of that.
Straps holding the tank in place are a prominent feature easily dealt with.
When I fitted and blended in the manifolds and covers made earlier from the plan measurements they looked much too bulky (They were only actually about 0.75mm too tall) Nothing for it, but to sand them smaller in situ  I also used the back of a scalpel blade to cut a groove where the manifold meets the cowl to give the impression that there is something inside that protrudes rather than something stuck on.

Be12b new nose , on Flickr

Detail on the front of the cowl varied from aircraft to aircraft, but I based this one on one of the clearest photo's in the Datafile. Sprue dealt with the pully(?) and housing with scored card for the shutters. Photo blown up is very unforgiving, but I keep telling myself it will look fine under a bit of paint

Be12b new nose front , on Flickr




Moving further aft now does anyone know where the spare Lewis drums were stored?
I'm presuming that it would have carried some, but there's not much room in the cockpit and with the great lever attached to the right hand side for lowering the guns from above the wing they can't be fitted in the logical place. I've seen a couple of photo's of the earlier ones with external storage similar to the DH2 so in the event that nothing definitive turns up I'll add one of those somewhere . . .

[NigelR]

That's looking very nice to me, and it will look better under dark paint! No idea where the spare Lewis drums were stored I am afraid......

[DaddyO]

That's looking very nice to me, and it will look better under dark paint! No idea where the spare Lewis drums were stored I am afraid......

Cheers matey
Seems such a shame to paint it all dark green, I might as well build tanks (Okay bit tongue in cheek since there's plenty of interesting bit's and bobs on this one and unlike most of the German designs everything appears to be fitted to the outside so has to be added)

[DaddyO]

Added most of the final exterior details and got this one primed up at last (actually this is the second primer coat; as expected the first revealed a few areas that needed a bit more work)

Stitching was added using some Archer decals which are sadly no longer available and I'm nearing then end of my supply. Because of their age the seemed inclined to break up into tiny pieces between 2 and 4mm long so getting them in place was a rather protracted affair.

Be12b primed by Paul S, on Flickr

Be12b primed 2 by Paul S, on Flickr


Whilst idling away a few minutes yesterday evening re-reading some old Cross and Cockade magazines I came across an article about the Be12b - Excellent thinks I, more detail photos and a nice line drawing profile of the design. Written by Mick Davis and published in 2015 (much later than the Windsock datafile which was around 1997) it was very informative and revealed a feature not seen in the datafile or any other published drawing at the time - There's a stonking great oil tank between the undercarriage legs   

Of course with the excellent photograph quality in the mag it's obvious and I can't see how it was missed earlier, but I suppose if you're not looking for it  . . . With my eye 'tuned in' the tank can easily be seen in the appropriate Datafile photos now. Something to add to the model (luckily it appears to have been a bolt on affair around the width of the fuselage so shouldn't be difficult to add at this stage)
The other point to note is that there appears to be no separate shroud to the radiator. The new cowl made up of louvred side panels, a bottom panel and a pair of hinged top panels - again not too difficult to tweak at this point.

Onwards and upwards

[DaddyO]

Added the oil tank as suggested by the C&C article using a bit of plastic card, sprue and brass wire

DSC_2001 , on Flickr

[NigelR]

Excellent work, the stitching looks great and as for the oil tank, that's a really good bit of research! It looks good in place as well.

[DaddyO]

Cheers Nigel 

Been busy with the spray gun over the last couple of days. Just about visible are the rib tapes on the lower surfaces (Picked up the wrong width of tape initially and only spotted it when I had masked up the whole aircraft which led to a bit of soul searching before taking everything off and using the correct 0.4mm wide tape) The tapes look quite pale in this rather poor photo, but they are all there I promise you 
Still need to add the wrap around on all the edges which I'll do later this week by hand

I decided to go for a very basic scheme with PC10 and linen and no night flying equipment on this one. Reading the Cross and Cockade article it appears that the full night spec paint jobs weren't as common as I had originally understood on these and some were later retro fitted with RAF4 engines in place of their original Hispano Suiza engines because these were desperately needed for Dolphin and Se5a's (It'll also make a better contrast for the other versions of the Be2 and 12 that I'd like to make)

I also went for a slightly brown and paler mix of PC10 to contrast with other British kites I've already built

Be12b Base coats , on Flickr

[NigelR]

Those rib tapes are subtle but very nice. And it's good to have a bit of variation in all that PC10.......

[DaddyO]

Cheers Nigel 

With the paint being now on I was almost ready to prep for top wing installation.
Sorting out the struts I'd shown in an earlier post I realised I was somewhat short of the number required (Be2 wings being two bay affairs) and so I needed to make up an additional 4 before I could add the etch primer and get these painted up - Good grief Charlie Brown 

I also found a photo of a Be2 cockpit with a couple of Lewis drums mounted in boxes under the dashboard so one problem solved at least. I'll make those up first and then fit out the rest of the cockpit afterwards . . .

[Alexis]

Just getting caught up here , nice work so far .


Alexis

[DaddyO]

Just getting caught up here , nice work so far .


Alexis

Thanks Alexis 
(Been battling the 'wrap around' PC10 which isn't my favourite job it has to be said. Still beginning to look more like a Be . . .)

Slight delay in proceedings now because someone forgot to paint the wood grain on the struts 

Paul

[William Adair]

Fantastic work on this. I've been reading the Windsock volume, and the BE12 has been on my mind a lot lately. Thank you too for the heads up on the C&C article. I just ordered Volume 46 Number 4, so I'll be sure to check it out! 

[PrzemoL]

Spectacular work on an unusual project. I will be watching with great interest