Author Topic: Scratch build partial stripdown Vickers FB 5 Gunbus 1/32 scale: a tribute to Des  (Read 28033 times)

Offline gbrivio

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Truly amazing update, with a complex structure masterfully managed. Thank you for sharing.
Ciao
Giuseppe

Offline RAGIII

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Stephen, this is the most magnificent display of master modeling that I've had the pleasure of observing.  Thank you for this.
Cheers,
Bud

I can't say it any better than My Amigo. Like Bud I thank you for showing us this build!
RAGIII
« Last Edit: March 01, 2019, 09:48:57 AM by RAGIII »
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline Manni

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Beautiful work. This is a mixture of a museums display item and a piece of art.
Really great.
Bye,
Manni
"Ich hab' da mal was vorbereitet.": Jean Pütz
"Warum noch mehr Bausätze?!?": meine Frau

guitarlute101

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Most excellent work Stephen. I'm really enjoying your build. I really have to learn how to solder like that, looks flawless.

Mark

Offline kensar

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Like others have said, excellent scratchbuilding and attention to detail!

Offline Alexis

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Just awesome !




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 UFAG

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Just....amazing!

Offline Trackpad

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What they all said, Stephen. I would not contemplate even trying to do what you are doing. Excellent work in all regards! I'm just going to sit back with a Guinness and enjoy watching how you wield that magic wand of yours.  :)

Best of luck to you as you move forward with this impressive build!  8)
Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."

Offline lone modeller

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Evening All,

First my thanks to the many of you who have dropped by and left such encouraging and complimentary remarks: they are greatly appreciated especially at the moment as I have been struggling with this one rather more than normal recently.

I have not reported much of late because I have not had too much time for modelling owing to life issues which keep getting in the way. Added to that I have reached a stage where I seem to spend a great deal of time achieving very little - or a least very little to show. I am desperately trying to avoid adding parts which I will inevitably knock off at some time in the future, and almost every operation seems to require much time and patience. However here is some of the progress that I have made to date.

I have made the undercarriage skids and axle and completed this sub-unit. The skids are carved from thin basswood sheet, and the axle is shaped 60 thou card. I bound the axle to the skids with sewing thread which is about the correct colour: this represents the bungee cord which was used as a spring for the axles. I also added the metal bracing from thin wire:



I tried to make my own wire wheel but after several unsuccessful attempts decided that life is too short at the moment so I bought one of the superb Gaspatch sets instead. I used the tyre from one set and made my own disc from plastic card which had been laminated and the filed to shape, while I used the other unit from the kit. I painted the spokes black and tyres grey:



The marks on the disc are where I wanted to add the threads which held the canvass covers to the wheels but my first attempts to achieve this have not been successful either.... Looking at photos of the machine that I am trying to depict the threads are not very prominent so I may not bother after all.

The undercarriage legs have also been made and await being attached to the skids and nacelle, but not just yet as I am not ready to do so.

Another important step was to add the trailing edge wires to the exposed control surfaces, wings and tail unit. These were made from telephone wire which had been rolled with a brass strip and then carefully bent to shape and C A'd in place:





When the wires on the ailerons had been painted the units were put on to the wings:



I have been using EZ line for the first time for the control wires. I am using it because I know that I would not be able to get a consistent tension if I were to use monofilament thread as I am on the static rigging. The rudder wires were double on British machines and I have also added the elevator control horns and control wires to the pulleys at the rear of the wing. This means that the rudder bar has also been put into the cockpit, but it is very difficult to photograph:







The last image shows the rudder wires running between the two sets of pulleys at the trailing edge of the wing.

The engine was finished by adding EZ line for the wires to the spark plugs:



and then the engine was fixed to the rear of the nacelle:



I have rigged the first bay of the boom but more importantly I have put in the horizontal bracing in front of the tail: this is formed by 4 wires attached to a small ring. Once again EZ line came to the rescue so that I could get two symmetrical and even patterns:



Finally I have been working on the machine gun. This is a Vickers from Gaspatch, but unfortunately the guns used on FB 5's were of a slightly different pattern to that depicted by the AM issue, so I have removed some of the moukding and made an ammunition box and receiver for discharged cases as per a photo in the DataFile:



This will be painted later and will be one of the last parts to be added to the model.

I am still struggling with errant lengths of thread which will be attached as anti drag wires eventually, but cannot be fixed at present because they will get damaged if I do. So, ever so slowly and in a crabwise manner I am getting nearer to finishing this project. I do not know how long that is going to take but I will probably wait until I do before I make the next post. Hopefully that will not be too long now.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2019, 09:51:32 AM by lone modeller »

Offline Trackpad

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Stephen,

Best of luck to you as you progress with this very impressive build. Excellent work on the details as described in this update. You seem to have a good plan of advance, and I hope that it works to your advantage as you move to completion. I'm very much looking toward seeing this build completed.  8) 
Cheers!
Gary

"It was an adventure, a great adventure. And, like all great adventures, we never knew where it would lead or how it would end."

Offline ondra

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Very impressive work, sir! Excellent progress so far, I will keep watching with great interest.

Cheers

Ondra

Offline Manni

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Spectacular work! For me it is unbeliveable what you can do with some styrene, brass and glue.
Bye,
Manni
"Ich hab' da mal was vorbereitet.": Jean Pütz
"Warum noch mehr Bausätze?!?": meine Frau

Offline RAGIII

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I really can't describe just how impressed I am! Frame work, pulleys, rigging, markings etc. are all just brilliant!
RAGIII
"A man has to know his limitations": Harry Callahan

"Don't slop it on" Lynda Geisler

Offline Juan

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Truly impressive and jaw dropping work thus far.

Offline Borsos

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Absolutely fantastic, Stephen! I am blown away.
Andreas
"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.