1/72 scale F.E2b

[RAGIII]

Terrific job of getting all of those struts glued and aligned by eye! The rigging looks outstanding.
RAGIII

[radio]

Squiffy,
it is a very great build and an exellent rigging.
Cheers
Martin

[WarrenD]

Squiffy, you've done a fine, fine job on that. That stage on this type of kit scares me to death, as I don't possess a jig either. You achieved a great result in my humble opinion.

Warren

[coyotemagic]

Brilliant work on the struts, top wing placement and the rigging, Squiffy!
Cheers,
Bud

[Squiffy]

Thanks, chaps. I think that that what I've done so far is going to look easy when compared with what is to come. Building and rigging the tail boom is going to be rather challenging!

At the moment I'm thinking of using copper and brass tube. Copper tube for the longerons and squashed brass tube for the verticals. I'm going to try soldering it all but if that fails I'll go for plastic rod. I've got to wait until my local model shop opens after the holiday before I can get any more supplies.

[WarrenD]

Very interested in how you do this Squiffy as I have the Formaplane vac in the stash somewhere.

Warren

[Squiffy]

Plan A is progressing.


The longerons are brass rod and the struts are crushed copper tube. The jig is simply a piece of card that has been cut from measurements on a 1:72 scale drawing.


As I progressed with the soldering I cut the jig down to be able to line up the centre strut.


Offering up the boom. The drawing and model parts are placed on a piece of 2mm steel sheet so the boom parts can be held in place for soldering. The square is to check the vertical alignment before soldering the two halves together.

[WarrenD]

Brilliant Squiffy, brilliant!

    I have been wanting to try my hand at this for a while, and was cautioned about the heat being applied to new joints bleeding over and melting the prior joints. Did you encounter this problem?  If so, how or what did you do to overcome it?  (Some have suggested moist paper towels laid over the object in between the new and old joins to act as a heat sink. Thoughts?)

Warren

[radio]

Exellent work!
Cheers
Martin

[Squiffy]

Brilliant Squiffy, brilliant!

    I have been wanting to try my hand at this for a while, and was cautioned about the heat being applied to new joints bleeding over and melting the prior joints. Did you encounter this problem?  If so, how or what did you do to overcome it?  (Some have suggested moist paper towels laid over the object in between the new and old joins to act as a heat sink. Thoughts?)

Warren

Hello, Warren,

I use a resistance soldering unit so heat transfer and other, previously soldered, joints coming apart isn't so much of a problem because the heat application is very quick and the steel plate on which the soldering is done acts as a massive heat sink. When making these joints I was able to pick the piece up with my fingers almost immediately after the joint was made.

I don't think I would have considered attempting to build this with an ordinary soldering iron. When building model railway engines, before I bought the RSU, I would use tweezers and pliers as heat sinks to prevent the iron's heat from spreading previously made joints as well as wet paper towels, as you mentioned.

[WarrenD]

Thanks Squiffy. A resistance unit is beyond my means, won't do enough soldering to merit the expense. However, as a model railroader, I'm sure you get more than enough use out of it.

Warren

[Des]

Lovely job with the booms Squiffy, the brass and copper soldered together will make a very strong unit.

Des.

[RAGIII]

Outstanding craftsmanship Squiffy! The booms look excellent!
RAGIII

[TobyCoulson]

That's progressing very well and like the way you're going about it. Great skills.

[Squiffy]

The boom is now in the process of being attached to the wings. I've put it on the steel plate so the magnets can hold the boom down whilst the epoxy sets. The rudder and tail planes are not yet fixed but have been placed for effect. Once the top plane/boom is set I will glue the bottom plane/boom.

Rigging this boom is going to be difficult with monofilament so I'm experimenting with 0.2mm nickel silver rod. So far the experiment is proving to be extremely trying! I think elastic will be better but I don't know where to get hold of any that's suitable.

Preparing the prop and bombs. The Cooper bombs are spares from Roden kits and the large bomb is from the Airfix DH4. It's not like any bomb I've seen but it's the nearest thing short of making one completely from sctrach (which I may yet do). The prop has my usual trick of a dressmaker's pin and brass tube so it can freely rotate when fitted to the engine.