Battaille Scratch build in 1:32 scale

[Ernie]

Its ideas like the whole watch/clock parts thing that you never think of until you discover someone else who has done this, thanks a million Des!

Just what I was thinking...great idea!

Cheers,
Ernie

[Des]

I have the planking finished now on the fuselage, I still need to add the cover strips to the top half of the fuselage planks. I also made a seat from styrene sheet, I will fix some edge beading around the seat back. The fuselage is not far off being painted in a wood colour.

Des.







A temporarily fitted the wheels and sat the rear of the fuselage on ground level, I put the seat in the fuselage and threw a pilot onto the seat just to get a general feel of the size of the plane. Photos of the real aeroplane show the pilot sitting very high so the way my pilot is sitting is about right.

[IanB]

Great work as usual Des.
That first pic certainly emphasises how odd the design was - it looks as though the fuselage is in some sort of cradle for maintenance work, not a part of the machine itself!

Ian

[pepperman42]

Great update. The beasty is taking shape!!. I would feel extremely exposed sitting in it!!

Steve

[Adam]

Marvelous.

Adam.

[Ernie]

The fuselage looks great, Des.  What an unusual design.  Thanks for a
most interesting build.

Cheers,
Ernie

[Nigel Jackson]

Stunning work Des, as ever.

Best wishes
Nigel

[radio]

What a wounderfull work Des.
Martin

[Steven Robson]

Great scratch build Des.

And a very nice pilot by-the-way, where did you get him?

Steven

[ALBATROS1234]

thats really looking impressive. and i'm not just trying to stroke your ego. that is comin on very nicely. great job.

[lone modeller]

Wonderful work Des - I can only agree with all of the other comments.

Just a passing comment about the fuselage as I have been doing a little research on the Avro Triplane and type D biplane recently: both of these designs had a triangular shape fuselage (as per the frame on the Bataille, and both had a front end that resembles the bow of a boat. I note that the Bataille also has such a shape. Clearly at this very early stage of aero-design some people were treating the dynamics of airflow around the front of the fuselage as being similar to a boat in water. (This is not so surprising as air acts like a fluid). Obviously this was purely experimental and was soon abandoned but it does show how these designers were really struggling to learn how to cope in a novel environment.

[Cimmerian]

Superb.

[xmald]

Des it`s brilliant as always. Your skills match the ability to find the extremely interesting and unique subjects. All of the models you have built are the ones I would like to build myself someday!

[RAGIII]

Outstanding progress Des! Beautiful and skillful work as always!
RAGIII

[Des]

Here is a mock-up of the tail assembly, it is quite a large tail compared with the airframe. The shading has been done with a lead pencil and once the tail is painted the shading will be just visible. The timber colour on the fuselage is done with oil paints over a base of Gunze acrylic paint, the top of the nose section will be done to represent plywood. I made and fitted all the little metal brackets which run down the side of the fuselage, these are made from strips of brass sheet drilled, cut and sanded to size then fitted to the fuselage with a brass pin. They have been painted with the same green I used for the metal fittings on the undercarriage frame. The spoked wheels, a Steven Robson product, have now been fixed to the undercarriage frame.

Des.