Author Topic: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch  (Read 48946 times)

Offline coyotemagic

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #90 on: October 11, 2016, 01:14:56 AM »
Extraordinary work, Ondra!  I've gotten dust in my eye bigger than that Lewis!  It looks amazing!
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 lone modeller

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #91 on: October 11, 2016, 02:00:40 AM »
I agree about the guns - the Lewis in particular is just mind blowing. How can you see that it is slightly asymmetrical? -your eyesight is much better than mine!!

Stephen.

Offline ondra

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #92 on: October 11, 2016, 02:19:09 PM »
Thank you all for your positive and encouraging feedback, it is highly appreciated!

OK Ondra, I was super impressed up to this point but that tiny Lewis Gun has completely blown my mind! You are truly doing magic here, a master of sub miniature art..................what are you going to use for turnbuckles when you rig this beauty??? :o ;)
Cheers,
Lance

Fair point, Lance, I wanted to use the same method as on my Albie for the rigging, i. e. Uschi's elastic monofilament glued on black stretched sprue (see attachment). The problem is, the english turnbuckles had different construction compared to the german ones and did not really protrude from the wing... I still keep searching for the correct method, currently I am going to test a combination of a very thin copper wire (to be glued in the holes drilled in the wings) and the elastic monofilament. Will see. If any of you has any suggestions, many thanks in advance for your help.

That Lewis is both fantastic, and tiny!
Makes my 1/72 flare guns look both clumsy, and huge!

I think you are too generous, Jeroen. ;) What thread can the flare guns be seen in?

Exceptional, beautiful work Ondra!  I'll definitely have to get some of that stain from Sergey. I wonder if their US distributor has it yet?

Warren

The stains are not in the assortment yet, Warren. I will have to ask Sergey about future plans with this product. As far as I know, currently Sergey is fully busy with the preparation of the calendar for 2017. http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=7749.0

Cheers

Ondra

Offline ondra

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #93 on: October 31, 2016, 04:00:48 AM »
Hi everybody,

today I finally managed to drill out the opening for the cylinder heads in the cowling in acceptable shape. Touch-ups will be needed, but all in all it seems to be a solid base to me. The scribing is not complete yet and the lines already made will require a clean up anyway.




I also started working on the cylinder heads.






And this is what the corrected Lewis gun looks like with primer on.




Cheers

Ondra

Offline coyotemagic

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #94 on: October 31, 2016, 04:15:01 AM »
Everything looks fantastic, Ondra!  That Lewis is absolutely amazing!  I've had larger splinters.
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 RAGIII

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #95 on: October 31, 2016, 04:18:06 AM »
Amazing modeling Ondra! Your work on the panel lines and lewis is fantastic. Your cylinder heads are shaping up nicely!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline ondra

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #96 on: November 01, 2016, 04:12:16 AM »
Thanks for following the build and leaving such nice comments, Bud and Rick, your support is highly appreciated!

With the S.E.5a (yes, it has been my favorite WWI aircraft since I first saw Aces high...) I would like to face my biggest weakness, which is landing gear and upper wing alignment - the upper wing of the Biff is sitting too high, the landing gear on the Brandenburg D.I is way far from the original, the upper wing on Nieuport XI is not aligned correctly and the landing gear on the Albatros D.V is awfully misaligned. So, this time I will do my best to get it right.

In the first step, I drilled slightly oversized holes in the fuselage for the interplane struts. Afterwards I filled them with green stuff and pressed in "dummy" struts measured based on the Roden kit made of brass. Afterwards I will sand the green stuff down and correct the scribing. This should give me a good stable base for the interplane struts to sit in.



Not suprisingly, the upper wing does not fit and sits too high, but at least I know about the problem now. The lower wings are only dry fitted without proper dihedral, but the problem is pretty visible just from the position of the upper wing above the fuselage.







The cylinder heads got a coat of primer and look quite acceptable, I have to say. :)



And I made the first attempt on the Aldis sight. Will see, what it will look like after primer.




Cheers

Ondra
« Last Edit: November 01, 2016, 04:45:31 AM by ondra »

Offline Juan

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #97 on: November 01, 2016, 04:38:08 AM »
My hat is off to you Ondra, I have issues with 1/32.  Great work!!!

Offline coyotemagic

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #98 on: November 01, 2016, 04:39:27 AM »
Please stop, Ondra!  You're testing the limits of my vocabulary!  My stash of expletives has been exhausted!  I'm forced to resort to emoticons. :o
Cheers,
Bud

PS my next response will be two of these  :o
"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 andonio64

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #99 on: November 01, 2016, 07:16:47 AM »
Wow Ondra, I keep looking at your work and imagine the problems I would have in doing the same in 1/48...

:-O

Offline RAGIII

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #100 on: November 01, 2016, 08:30:18 AM »
The sight looks fantastic! Like Bud I am out of Superlatives  ::)
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline ondra

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #101 on: November 02, 2016, 02:59:01 AM »
Many thanks for your nice comments, Juan, Bud, Antonio and Rick! As always highly appreciated.

Not much time for the workbench today, so I just did what I was postponing for a long time - made the propeller hub and fitted it.

Next will be weathering with oil paints, hopefully it will look acceptable (the propeller hub seems slightly oversized, but will see what it will look like on the plane once fitted).

Cheers

Ondra

Offline lone modeller

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #102 on: November 02, 2016, 06:55:32 AM »
That Aldis sight has blown my mind away for the last time…. Like Bud in future I will only use emotions …… lots of them!!

Stephen.

Offline markleecarter

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #103 on: November 02, 2016, 09:49:40 PM »
Incredible! May I ask how you made the propeller hub?

Offline ondra

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Re: Edward Mannock's S.E.5a 1/144 scratch
« Reply #104 on: November 02, 2016, 09:57:44 PM »
Thanks for your nice comments, Stephen and Mark!

As to the propeller hub: a few years ago a friend of mine made a fret of tailor made photo-etched propeller hubs for me. They are not of industrial quality, as they are home made, therefore out of a set of 20 just about 1/3 is usable, but I use them nevertheless, even though they need some additional care (drilling the holes through, sanding to round shape etc.).

Currently I am facing the problem, that this was one of the last usable pieces, so I will have to start looking for a new source.

Cheers.

Ondra