Author Topic: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.  (Read 10663 times)

Offline smperry

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1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« on: July 04, 2016, 05:34:46 AM »
This project was begun circa 2003. It got as far as having the top wing glued on when something, a Datafile or magazine, fell off a shelf and removed said top wing. Being a 3 bay biplane, that's a lot of struts and strut holes to clean up. It has sat in a box ever since.

The PS.7 was a  French bomber of around 1917. My sole source of reference is French Aircraft of the First World War. I wanted my first scratch build to be something unlikely to be kitted, of simple design and have usable drawings available. The PS.7 fit the bill.

As I recall, I built the fuselage like an all balsa flying model using plasticard instead of balsa. The wings are as per Harry Woodman except i used styrene cores instead of balsa ones. Over the course of time the double sided tape has given way on the undercambered undersides of the wing. Looks more like an inflatable pool toy than a wing. Fixing that issue properly is going to make or break this model and will be the first order of business.

Not sure when I will begin in earnest, I may have to clean up the parts from a kit or two just to get enough sprue to rig this 3 bay spiders web. At any rate, it's time to finish this thing if for no other reason than to be able to say that i scratchbuilt one.

sp
There is something fundamentally amiss with a society which forces it's modelers to work for a living.

Offline IanB

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2016, 07:22:54 AM »
Interesting project, it'll be great to see it saved!

Ian

Offline Des

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2016, 08:27:07 AM »
It will be great to see this model saved and bought back to life again, it is quite an attractive aeroplane.

Des.
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Offline lone modeller

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2016, 02:27:36 AM »
Never heard of this type (nothing new there!) - this means that it is an exciting project because there will be much to learn. It looks to me as though this should be salvable and will build into a very attractive model. Do give it a try and keep us posted with progress.

Offline ermeio

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2016, 05:29:08 AM »
Nice scratchbuilt, please save it
The problem with double sided tape is a common one... at some time it releases the plasticard and you end up with an inflated balloon.
You can try with an hypodermic syringe and liquid cyanoacrilate, but at the end of the day it is better to leave everything as is
looking forward to the completion of this build

Offline smperry

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2016, 06:03:35 AM »
Thanks for all the kind words and encouragement y'all. I work an hours drive south of where I live. I keep our camper trailer about 5 min from work and stay there during my work week. I brought the PS.7 with me this time so I can work on those wings.

My plan of attack is to open up a slit in the underside between each pair of mainplane struts. Easier to get the CA in and since it  is on a rib, it shouldn't leave any noticeable scars. Then again plans of attack rarely hold together after first contact. The model is definitely worth finishing and I'm glad I took a friend's advice to put it away in a box until I got over pouting about breaking it. Hey, a 13 year pout, that even has the wife's record beat.

I work nights, so I'll try to make a start tomorrow and take some pics as I go.

sp
There is something fundamentally amiss with a society which forces it's modelers to work for a living.

Offline Borsos

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #6 on: July 05, 2016, 06:46:56 AM »
At first: Finally a Paul Schmidt! Wonderful, you'll manage these problems. Don't bin it!!
Secondly: "There is something fundamentally amiss with a society which forces it's modelers to work for a living." I feel humble and deeply touched by this extent of pure whisdom.
Borsos
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.

Offline smperry

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #7 on: July 05, 2016, 07:31:15 AM »
Borsos
I'm not going to pitch this one after hanging on to it for all this time.

Glad you like my tag line. I'm too old not to call it like I see it.
I'll have to find a translation program on line to figure out your lines. I have enough trouble with English, other languages are a mystery to me.

sp
There is something fundamentally amiss with a society which forces it's modelers to work for a living.

Offline Borsos

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2016, 08:58:08 AM »
You don't need to browse the net for that, if it's interesting for you: The first is literally "two armies fighting each other in battle is like one single army comitting suicide", it's from H. Barbusses famous anti war novel le Feu ("the fire"), that really touched me. The other one is from our German 'counterpart' E. M Remarque (from All Quiet on the Western Front) where the soldiers discuss the reason for the outbreak of the war. One says, one country had insulted the other. Another refuses to get that and states "But a mountain in France cannot insult a mountain in Germany, or a river or a forest or a wheat field". Remarques novel was the first contact that I had with the first world war. I read it about 100 times...
But I actually like your tag line much more  :)
Regards
Borsos
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.

Offline smperry

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #9 on: July 05, 2016, 12:36:48 PM »
Thanks for the translations Borsos. Both very apropos. Always good to keep that in mind.
sp
There is something fundamentally amiss with a society which forces it's modelers to work for a living.

Offline RAGIII

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #10 on: July 05, 2016, 11:25:19 PM »
Steven,
What you have done on this one to date is exceptional. I am sure you will sort out the wing tape issue. I am looking forward to your restart of this one! It is kind of refreshing in this modern age of turnbuckles that someone still prefers stretched sprue as a rigging material!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline smperry

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #11 on: July 06, 2016, 06:09:42 AM »
RAGIII
I got the hardest part over with, this afternoon I set blade to model after what to my dim recollection is 13 years. Again, I want to thank everyone who encouraged me to get on with it. And as for rigging, stretched sprue and a blob of glue was high tech back in the day. Sprue's ability to pop taught in the proximity of a hot wire has always fascinated me in spite of it's equally (in)famous tendency to burn in two if that proximity gets too close. You should have seen my 1:72 I'lya Mourmets, by the time I got done, I think I rigged one and a half of them.

I started simple with the PS.7. Looking at the underside of the top wing, I can see that I didn't take much care of it after the accident past snatching the still attached struts of of it. Each one left a nice little blob of CA/strut material/paint standing proud at each strut location. What I need is a nice little hole at each location, so I twiddled at each one with  the point of a new #11 blade. This tended to pop the offending blob out in most cases. It also took a little paint with it, but not more than a little touch up will fix. Hey, it's the underside and not going to be looked at too often. It seems I had already cleaned up the holes on the top side of the lower wing before consigning the model to limbo in it's box. The first photo shows two holes cleared and the next two as they broke.

I decided not to mess with the loose tape issue on the bottom wing. It's there, but not nearly so pronounced as on the underside of the top wing. Any surgical scars would be very hard to hide there. The underside of the top wing is critical though as the skin needs to be bonded to the core or it will play hob with strut lengths and alignment, something to be avoided at all costs in a 3 bay wing cellule. The second photo hopefully shows the underside of a lower wing panel.

So I've made a start and fixed the strut holes that were clogged with glue, all with less damage than I'm known to be capable of. Next step is to cut chordwise slits in the wing skins between each pair of mainplanes on the underside of the top wing. I can use the way the skins have "inflated" and the slits to apply some thin CA and press the skins to the core as it cures one bay at a time.

sp

There is something fundamentally amiss with a society which forces it's modelers to work for a living.

WarrenD

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #12 on: August 02, 2016, 09:14:11 AM »
Steve,
          I remember when you started this a/c, and I also think I remember the disaster when it happened. I'm really glad to see it resurrected pard.

Warren

PS: Borsos, All Quiet on the Western Front was, and still is, perhaps my favorite piece of veteran fiction. I first read it when I was 12, I only wish my German skills would enable me to read an unedited German version.

Offline smperry

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #13 on: August 02, 2016, 01:05:09 PM »
Hey Warren

I have Diego to thank for talking me into saving the model. Just today I came home and found a framed picture fell off the wall and crunched my Pup cockpit. Much less damage.

I think I saved all the struts and as I recall there was a slight difference in front and rear mainplanes. No way am I sorting through that many pieces. I made them out of split bamboo. Having over a decade to mull it over, I think I figured a better way of making than what I first did. Maybe time to try it out because I don't feel like fixing the Pup right yet.

sp
There is something fundamentally amiss with a society which forces it's modelers to work for a living.

Offline Borsos

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Re: 1:72 Scale Paul Schmidt PS.7 First scratch build.
« Reply #14 on: August 02, 2016, 09:32:22 PM »
Oh no! Can you fix the Pup? I never tried bamboo,mbut it sounds like a good idea for wooden struts...

PS: Borsos, All Quiet on the Western Front was, and still is, perhaps my favorite piece of veteran fiction. I first read it when I was 12, I only wish my German skills would enable me to read an unedited German version.

Warren, I totaly agree, and I think I was about the same age :)
"Deux armées aux prises, c'est une grande armée qui se suicide."
Barbusse.
"Ein Berg in Deutschland kann doch einen Berg in Frankreich nicht beleidigen. Oder ein Fluß oder ein Wald oder ein Weizenfeld."
Remarque.