Author Topic: SSW R 1 1/72  (Read 13689 times)

Offline lone modeller

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SSW R 1 1/72
« on: December 11, 2016, 07:46:38 AM »
Evening All,

Following Stevehed's remarkable scratch build of the DFW giant I too decided that it was time to go big and so I did some research on these early large German machines: the best source is The German Giants by P Grosz and G Haddow, some of which is available of the net. Then I found that DataFile no 89 is about the first of these machines, the Seimens-Schuckert R.1 (Riesenfleugzeug - giant aircraft), which was first flown in May 1915. I decided that here was a project which would be worth following because it is larger than any of my other scratch builds but still small enough to fit into my display cabinet. There will no doubt be some interesting problems to resolve as I proceed but that is part of the fun and challenge of scratch building.

For those like me who are not familiar with this design here is what it looks like (and of course this contains a set of plans in 1/72 scale which might prove to be useful).



I decided to start with the nose which looks like the front of a very large lorry with three radiators - one in the front and one on each side with a bonnet over them all. There were three engines in the front of these machines, two of which were between the side radiators and a third beneath and behind the pilots. I do not intend to make the engines as they cannot be seen on the completed model unless the top of the nose is left off. I cut three pieces of 30 thou card and glued lengths of 10 thou rod onto the faces of the card to represent the radiator pipes.



Strips of stretched sprue represent the steel bands holding the pipes in place.



Then I made a top and bottom plate to which I could attach the three radiators.



Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

« Last Edit: July 15, 2017, 04:02:20 AM by lone modeller »

Offline Des

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #1 on: December 11, 2016, 08:02:54 AM »
Really looking forward to seeing this on unfold Stephen, a very unique aircraft.

Des.
Late Founder of ww1aircraftmodels.com and forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com

Offline IanB

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2016, 08:03:39 AM »
Great choice Stephen.
I have thought about scratchbuilding this myself so I'll be following along to see how it goes.

Ian

Online lcarroll

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2016, 08:57:11 AM »
   Very unique subject Stephen and should prove a challenging and interesting Build as well. I'm looking forward to following along as you work your magic on this beauty!
Cheers,
Lance

Offline ALBATROS1234

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #4 on: December 11, 2016, 05:08:38 PM »
Very interesting subject. I think there is only 1 kit of this beastie a vac in 1/72 I want to say it's by blue rider. I almost won this kit one ebay a year or so ago. Will watch with intwrest

Offline Bluesfan

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #5 on: December 11, 2016, 10:14:15 PM »
Excellent idea! Can't wait to see how you get on with this.

There are several hair-raising stories of in-flight repairs on these machines in The German Giants...

Mark

Offline Juan

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #6 on: December 11, 2016, 10:24:12 PM »
Great choice of subject.  The best of luck with this construction.

Offline RAGIII

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #7 on: December 12, 2016, 01:46:06 AM »
Outstanding start on what is sure to become another beautiful scratch build! I will follow along as always!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline lone modeller

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #8 on: December 12, 2016, 04:22:48 AM »
Thank you gentlemen for the encouraging remarks - I just hope that I can fulfil your expectations. This one is going to present a very different set of problems to anything I have attempted before.

Scott the Blue Rider kit was 1/144 scale. As far as I am aware there is no kit of this in 1/72, but I am not the first to scratch build one in this scale so I know that it can be done. The question is how?

Stephen

Offline Manni

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #9 on: December 12, 2016, 04:13:57 PM »
Its wonderful to see, that some one is brave enough to start this monstrosity as a scratch build. I was always fascinated by this plane. May be I start one in 20 years....
Bye,Manni
"Ich hab' da mal was vorbereitet.": Jean Pütz
"Warum noch mehr Bausätze?!?": meine Frau

Offline uncletony

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #10 on: December 12, 2016, 10:29:56 PM »
Great project Stephen!

Offline Dirigible-Al

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #11 on: December 13, 2016, 04:15:47 AM »
I agree with everyone, this is a superb subject and 1/72 is the perfect scale. I think this when built will stand out more than most on a display table or your cabinet.
Alan.
I heard that it all started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry!

WarrenD

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #12 on: December 19, 2016, 12:47:38 AM »
Stephen, you never fail to amaze or disappoint with your builds sir.

Warren

Offline lone modeller

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #13 on: December 23, 2016, 08:45:59 AM »
Evening All,

Many thanks Manni, Bo, Al and Warren for your supportive remarks - I greatly appreciate them.

I decided to tackle the wings next as these will be an important part of the centre section structure. I am presently thinking of buildiing the nose and tail sections as units and then joining these to the centre section. In order that the latter is both strong and square I will need to have a top wing ready. Wings can be tedious and time consuming to make as I discovered with the Caudron when I had to laminate sheets of plastic and then use filler before I even started on the ribs. These wings will also need to be laminated and filled - so a long process is involved. I started by bending some 40 thou card to start the aerofoil shape and then glued a strip of 30 thou and 20 thou card to the top. The upper wings are in two halves because the card I have is not long enough to make the whole span in one piece. Similarly the lower wings are in two parts, this time because there is a marked dihedral and I cannot bend the card to achieve this.

The top wing halves were assembled first and when the glue was dry I sanded the top surfaces where I had glued the card so that an aerofoil section was achieved. I filled the uneven surfaces of the card joins with copious Mr Surfacer until everything was smooth. The process was repeated for the lower wing sections.



When the lower wing sections were ready I filed the butt joint surfaces until I had the correct angle for the dihedral. Then I drilled two holes in each joint surface and cut four pieces of rod to insert into the holes: these strengthen the joint. The rod was glued into the holes in the wings and the sections joined using ordinary cement. I added liquid cement to the joints just to make sure. When all was thoroughly dry I used Mr Surfacer again to fill any small cracks.



Thanks for looking.

Stephen.
« Last Edit: July 15, 2017, 04:04:07 AM by lone modeller »

Offline IanB

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Re: SSW R 1 1/72
« Reply #14 on: December 23, 2016, 08:14:54 PM »
Nice job on those wings. They should be good and strong too with all the laminations...

Ian