Bleriot XI in 1:32 scale

[bobs_buckles]

Beautifully engineered tanks & nice framework, Des

 

VB

[Jamo]

Some art to celebrate your build Des







Have you seen this book Des?

[Pete Nottingham]

Stunning work as always Des, superb.

Cheers

Pete.

[Zabu]

Superb Des!

Cheers

[Des]

Thanks very much for all the kind words, they are much appreciated and thanks for the art work James, very fitting.

Des.

[Des]

After a lay-off for a few days I finally got back to the bench today. I fitted the turnbuckles and rigging to the sides of the fuselage frame, still need to do the top and bottom of the frames. I also fitted the main and auxiliary fuel tanks and the small floor in the cockpit, using solid brass for the fuel tanks has added quite a lot of weight to the model.

Des.

[PrzemoL]

Great modelling, Des. I know, I am repeating myself, but your recent scratch-builds deserve many more repetitions. It is a pleasure to admire your work!

[IFF1418]

Hello Des,

(Wonderful)⁹

Kind regards
Patrick

[Chris Johnson]

Man! I look at your work here, as with every other scratch build project of yours, and I never cease to marvel at the dexterity you must have. In this case, your fuselage framework looks so clean and precisely square. If I was doing it, there would be blobs of glue here and there with uprights at every angle except 90°.    How did you manage to get that the rounded framework in the pilot's position so nice and regular looking? Beautiful workmanship!

Cheers,

Chris

[lone modeller]

Wonderful work Des. As usual your standards are of the very highest which mere mortals like me can only aspire to - but then you are an inspiration.

[Ernie]

Gad Des, the Bleriot is looking so good! The engine and fuel tank are superb and
the interior rigging looks perfect.  Are the turnbuckles brass tube?  This is such
an interesting project.

Cheers,
Ernie

[Des]

Chris - the piece of plastic strip used to form the curved section of the cockpit was simply cut to length then placed inside the fuselage framework, it formed its own circular shape.

Ernie - The turnbuckles are 0.5mm brass tube cut to 2.0mm in length, I insert an eyelet into each end, these are made from twisted 0.13mm copper wire with a 0.3mm eye, CA holds them well into the brass tube.

Des.

[Des]

I have only taken a few small steps lately but at least it is forward progress. The seat, which is a very basic tube frame and timber seat, has been fitted along with the rudder bar made from a tooth pick and the control column, the wheel did not rotate but was pushed side to side and forward and back just like a control column. I also added the rear wheel support post and I glued a sheet of 0.25mm styrene sheet to one side of the fuselage just to add a bit of rigidity to the fuselage frame, the transparency looks pretty good 

Des.

[IFF1418]

Hello Des,

Very nice work on the seat and control "stick". The transparency looks really great, like the real thing. What a wonderful build this is again. Many congratulations.

Kind regards
Patrick

[Chris Johnson]

The bracing looks exquisite Des and those tanks are beauties. After all that painstaking work, I can well imagine that you'd want to move onto another aspect of the build.

Cheers,

Chris