Author Topic: 1/72 Blackburn Twin  (Read 5114 times)

Offline RAGIII

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #30 on: December 04, 2019, 10:47:02 PM »
Amazing! Really looks terrific with markings and all of the wings in place.
RAGIII
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"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline kensar

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #31 on: December 04, 2019, 10:56:59 PM »
Wow, Stephen, you're really knocking out these scratchbuilds!
This is a really interesting plane.  Thanks for sharing it with us.

Offline coyotemagic

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #32 on: December 07, 2019, 01:12:40 AM »
Truly spectacular work, Stephen!  As usual, you are blowing us away with another one of a kind masterpiece!
Cheers,
Bud
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream in the dark recesses of the night awake in the day to find all was vanity. But the dreamers of day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, and make it possible." -T. E. Lawrence

Offline Alexis

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #33 on: December 08, 2019, 11:14:47 PM »
Man , she looks awesome Stephen , such a neat looking bird . Looking forward to the next installment  :)



Terri
Hurra ! , Ich Leben Noch
Body and life is a vessel we use to travel the planet . Femininity is the gift , The miracle comes from what we do with it .

Offline lone modeller

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #34 on: December 10, 2019, 08:07:36 AM »
Evening All,

Thanks Frank, Richard, Manni, Rick, Ken, Bud and Terri for the encouraging remarks which given recent circumstances I appreciated more than usual. I have been experiencing the dubious joys of a very heavy cold during the past few days and this has been detrimental to both my ability to concentrate and my levels of patience. If it were not for a looming GB deadline I would probably have waited until I was better before attempting this stage, but I had not anticipated the difficulties that I was to encounter, and being the stubborn fool that I am I carried on....

The rear pair of floats were fixed using 20 thou rod cut to length: first one side was fixed and then the other was made so that it matches from the side and longitudinally. The struts are not vertical so this operation would have been tricky even if I had been feeling normal. As it was it took three attempts to get the second float properly aligned. The struts were painted after I had calmed down.





That left the two large floats at the front. These too had to match both from the side and be properly aligned longitudinally and again the struts are not vertical with respect to the bottom of the fuselage or thrust line. There is also a cross strut between the forward and rear pairs and there were fixings on the floats to allow the angle of incidence to be changed - this was an experimental type. Knowing from experience that fitting one float would be relatively straightforward I decided to tackle one side and then wait until I felt better before tackling the other. I will not give a blow by blow account but Burns' memorable lines about "best laid plans of mice and men" assumed significant proportions while I was trying to get even the first float properly aligned. The second finally submitted after a real struggle: I have not had such problems that these presented for a very long time. But they are there now....and the aircraft is a tail sitter! But I have a cunning plan - to which I mean that I intend to mount the model on small carriages and trestles as per the photos of the machine represented by the model when it was at RNAS Grain in 1916.







And before anyone comments I have still not properly softened the cockades on the upper wing: I have not had the patience left to deal with that yet!

When I am feeling considerably better I will rig this model and add the final details. In the meantime I am making a small base and the carriages and trestles which require much less concentration and can be picked up and put down easily.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

Offline RLWP

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #35 on: December 10, 2019, 09:09:17 AM »
I'm impressed you managed to get even one float mounted, let alone two identical pairs! I find I have to make jigs for that kind of job - otherwise the aeroplane gets severely in danger of ending in the bin  :o

Richard
Hendon for flying - the fastest way to the ground!

Offline RAGIII

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #36 on: December 16, 2019, 03:03:26 AM »
Brilliant Modeling in all respects! I am in Awe of your skills!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline Alexis

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #37 on: December 16, 2019, 04:57:55 AM »
Just gets better and better with every up-date  :) Hope you are feeling better soon



Terri
Hurra ! , Ich Leben Noch
Body and life is a vessel we use to travel the planet . Femininity is the gift , The miracle comes from what we do with it .

Offline lone modeller

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #38 on: December 20, 2019, 07:06:28 AM »
Evening All,

My thanks to Richard, Rick and Terri for dropping by and leaving your positive remarks.. I have been struggling with a cold/cough - the latter developed into a mild form of bronchitis which I am pleased to report has now almost gone, but it completely stopped me from modelling for a few days. I have a personal deadline as well as the GB deadline to keep to, so I have rushed a little to finish the model and put it on a base. I will do the necessary tidying up and finishing at my leisure after the seasonal upheavals are past. In the meantime here are some notes on how I finished the model and made a base for it - there will be more photos and some historical notes in the completed models section later. I just want to finish this before I am overtaken by the GB deadline!

The first task was to rig everything. This was straightforward as it is basically a standard biplane rather than an early monoplane or pusher which tended to have rather more wires. I used rolled 40 SWG copper wire attached at the ends with CA. I am not sure about the tail control wires as I cannot see them on photos and they are not on any of the drawings so I have added what I consider to be the most likely pattern. The propellors which were carved from wood were fitted last so that they did not get in the way and thus knocked off.

The base is a piece of painted hardboard with an attempt to represent a strip of grass and a muddy track which is visible in the photos of the aircraft when it was at Grain. I will add some more weathering to the concrete base later - I will probably weather the Hansa- Brandenburg base at the same time. The trestles were made from 20 x 30 thou Evergreen strip and the wheeled units under the main floats were from scrap: all are based on those seen in the photos alluded to.



Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

Offline RAGIII

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #39 on: December 20, 2019, 09:13:36 AM »
Really awesome results even without the promissed tweaking! Love the rigging and base!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline kensar

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #40 on: December 20, 2019, 10:37:52 PM »
A little weathering and this will be a jewel!

Offline Squiffy

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Re: 1/72 Blackburn Twin
« Reply #41 on: January 07, 2020, 05:26:35 AM »
I haven't been on this forum for ages and the first thing I do is to come and look at what's going on in Scratchbuilds.

Stephen, this is another superb build and one that I've never even heard of before. Well done!