A little more progress, due to the fact that I've been off work with a sore throat and hacking cough...hopefully I'll be back at work tomorrow!
oh, and the obligatory "step back" too - I managed to knock the torpedo off! I'd thought long and hard about the order in which to do things, and I think the torpedo should have gone on last, just because it's so difficult to handle the fuselage with it sticking out along the underside. No major damage though, it came off cleanly, even if I did lose a couple of the small brackets. Nothing that's not repairable.
I've got the upper centre section fitted and, finally, square! It seemed that no matter what I did, there was a slight twist to the piece and I couldn't get it to square up. In the end I made another simple jig by gluing a small piece of plastic rod to a piece of card. I made 2 of those, then clamped them to the fuselage sides, one with the rod at the front, the other at the back, to push the centre section square. Then I tightened the stagger wires, clamped them with small clothes pegs, and CA'd them in place. When the jigs were removed the joints held so I made sure the holes through the wings were filled with thin CA to give the joints as much grip as possible. All now dried and trimmed, I just need to touch up the wing surfaces. A little heat treatment sorted the cabane wires underneath which had slackened due to the twist. This is why I prefer to use the drill and thread method of rigging - it adds so much structural strength, just like the real thing.
The elevators and rudder are now rigged. I had to use .004" wire instead of the .002" as I couldn't get the thinner wire to roll straight. It's too springy, and too thin to heat. It doesn't look bad, in fact it's hard to notice the difference except at certain angles.
I still need to add some more wires to the fin - there should be 2 more each side from the top of the rudder post to the horizontal stabiliser (1 each side of the elevator horn) which will of course need to be duplicated on the underside, and 1 more from the front rib to the fuselage. Then I need to add 4 bracing wires to each of the wing locking bars.
Finally I added the last of the detail to the radiator in the form of the front and rear pipework. Unfortunately I didn't notice until the fuselage was all together that there should be slots in the top of the cowling through which the coolant manifold extends slightly, to join the radiator plumbing. It's way too late to change that now so it will just look as though the pipes go straight down through the cowling top.
and of course I had to place it in position to see how it looked.....
Today I hope to get the tail rigging finished off.....
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
