Nieuport X 1:32

[Juan]

Great start to what I am sure will be another beauty.  Looking forward to your progress.

[Des]

You have made an excellent start Richard, I will be following your build with great interest.

Des.

[coyotemagic]

You're off to a brilliant start, Richard.  This is going to be an exciting build to follow.
Cheers,
Bud

[Old Man]

Excellent start, Sir.

Glad to see you off the mark so quickly.

Those RC fellows are an excellent resource, I often find myself on that site when looking for information on favorite oddities from the 'Golden Age' and earlier.

[RLWP]

Excellent start, Sir.

Glad to see you off the mark so quickly.

Those RC fellows are an excellent resource, I often find myself on that site when looking for information on favorite oddities from the 'Golden Age' and earlier.

Thank you

I was getting worried about you, you seemed to have disappeared for a while

No progress tonight, I have been out with friends, drinking beer and setting the world to rights

Richard

[Old Man]

Thank you

I was getting worried about you, you seemed to have disappeared for a while

No progress tonight, I have been out with friends, drinking beer and setting the world to rights

Richard

Been working on another scratch-build project, but OT for here: a pair of Fairey Flycatchers.

Strongly doubt the world can be set right anymore, but it was a hot day here yesterday, and I did allow myself a beer....

[lcarroll]

Thank you

I was getting worried about you, you seemed to have disappeared for a while

No progress tonight, I have been out with friends, drinking beer and setting the world to rights

Richard

Been working on another scratch-build project, but OT for here: a pair of Fairey Flycatchers.

Strongly doubt the world can be set right anymore, but it was a hot day here yesterday, and I did allow myself a beer....

    I tend to agree (an age thing perhaps?? ) however a cold beer at the end of a long day, hot especially, does help!
Cheers,
Lance

[RLWP]

Bearing in mind the amount of beer drunk, the world seemed a much better place by the end of the evening. Good beer and good company has that effect

Richard

[RLWP]

I have had some lovely photos of a Nieuport IV courtesy of the Swedish Air Force museum.

Richard

[RLWP]

I need some advice from old hands

Whilst waiting for a few more photos from Sweden, I'm working on the floats. I've cut a balsa blank for this and I'm sanding it to shape

Now, I was thinking of vac-forming a skin for each float. It's a bit tricky because of the various curves

Is there some way of treating the balsa so it is hard enough to avoid dents, and so I can paint and glue things to it?

Richard

[IanB]

I've not tried it, but have seen people coat the balsa with thin ca mixed with talc then sand it smooth when dry.

Ian

[RLWP]

I've had a change of plan. The float isn't as complicated as I thought, just the nose. All the faces have a single curvature, it looks like it had a beaten metal nosecone

So, I've shaped them and coated them with clear sealant. When that is dry I'll clad them in styrene held on with tape - much like Harry Woodman makes wings. I can make the nosecone by adding styrene and filing the corners round

Thanks Ian

Richard

[RLWP]

Balsa wood, shaped from paper templates, sealed with lacquer then clad in 0.010" styrene sheet. The sheet is stuck to the balsa with double sided tape, and the joints glued.

Some of the liquid poly got under the styrene causing distortion, so the grey stuff is filler

This is two floats being made end to end. It gives me a bigger bit of balsa to hold when shaping, I'll saw it in half soon. Next step is adding bits of strip to smarten it up, and forming the nosecone with it's characteristic 'wings'

Richard

[RAGIII]

You are a Scratch building MACHINE! The best part is you are FAST and do Beautiful work all at the same time!!
RAGIII

[RLWP]

I have said before, I find scratch building much quicker and easier than kits. My problem with kits is, as soon as I have one, I find an example of the prototype to build, then a set of plans, then compare the kit to it. Inevitably (because of the examples I choose) I end up cutting bits off, making good, adding bits and so on. It takes time and a lot of thinking

Scratchbuilding, I only have to make it once

The top surface of the floats are done:



Richard