Hi Nick,
Just been gazing at your progress in post 70 - looking very good, very De Havilland-ish! How are you getting on with her?
Paul W.

Hi Paul!

Thanks for your intererst. I'm now up to the stage where I just need to add the ailerons and nacelles to the wings and the observation bubble to the nose. Then it's servos and linkages, sanding and covering.

I've been sidetracked in the last few weeks, partly by another holiday but mostly due to a surfeit of projects, eg kitchen extension at home, moving to new premises at work.

I'm also working on a cunning plan to scratch-build a canard, twin engine replica of the Beechcraft Starship. My plan is not to build the Scale-ish model until after flying a crash dummy to test the principals and learn how to fly such a plane. This is for the scratch-build contest, which starts in December. My thread is here . I was hoping that I could build and fly something quickly and have some fun before going back to finish off the Mossie. Things never work out out as easily as that, but I am making progress.

cheers

Nick

Hi Nick,
Just had a look at your Starship thread - I have a video sequence on vhs somewhere that was part of the intro/credits on a flight documentary a while back. It is still so exciting to get off the beaten track, isn't it!? Very best of luck with the project.
I too strayed from my main project to have a crack at producing a one-off trainer with that 'cool' factor to look at - but also as '9 year-old proof' as I can make it. Build not quite yet finished, but soon!
Paul W

After loads of wasted efforts with cider bottles, hairdrier, blowlamp, oven, vacuum cleaner, male and female molds; and no success at all, I found this web site . Thanks to a thread started on here by Ziomatrixacs.

I borrowed some of their ideas and used what stuff I could find in the shed.

this looks promising, at last.

Impressive Nick, same with the cockpit canopy?

I've bookmarked that website. Thanks for the hyperlink.

Hi Nick,

It does look a lot easier than some of the contortions I've gone through to get moulded parts - many thanks, and it is on my favourites list too.

Mike

Hi Nick,
Just looked-in and found your moulding post - that is a very good result! What material is the tool made from?
Paul W.

Hi Paul

I don't think materials for the vacuum former are very critical. Just whatever you can find in the shed. The pattern was just a block of balsa. By the time I'd made several aborted efforts, it was scorched, bruised and filled in several places.

Acetate from the model shop is different stuff from whatever cider bottles are made of and I think it's easier to stretch for a difficult 3D shape like this, if you buy the thicker sheets. Something like a cockpit for a park flier is much less critical and pop bottles or thinner acetate would do for those.

For this cockpit I'm planning to build a frame out of 1/8" sq balsa, paint it black and cover it with clear film.

On construction progress, I've moved onto the nacelles now. They're quite time consuming and fiddly, being also 3D bends. I've used 1" planks of 1/16" balsa, with some diagonal cuts in them. I put small pieces of scrap behind the joints to keep them aligned. Even so I'm still going to need filler and a lot of sanding.

I'll post some photos, soon.

cheers

Nick

BTW, I found out after a lot of failed searches that mold is spelt without the "u". I first thought it was mould and that didn't get me very far when searching.

Hi Nick,
Nacelles - yes, I've got those still to do on the Sealand. Mold was in my head as something slightly different - we live and learn!
What did you use to put a surface finish on to the Balsa tool?
Paul W.

Originally Posted by paulbw

Hi Nick,
Nacelles - yes, I've got those still to do on the Sealand. Mold was in my head as something slightly different - we live and learn!
What did you use to put a surface finish on to the Balsa tool?
Paul W.

Nowt!

Nick

While you are doing the nacels, please consider adding a flange around the nacels at the wing surface level. I guess you want to know why?
Well I had a bugger of a job getting the film covering the wing to attach firmly to the sides of the nacels, so that when I shunk it, it did not pull away from the nacel surface.
I may well add just such a flange to my nacels over the winter to achieve the sharper joint shape I desire, I would suggest a 3/4-1" strip of 1/16" around the nacel.

Hah!

I remembered you mentioning that somewhere on LukeZ thread, I think. Also, I've had a problem like that somewhere before.

Done it, I'm on the case.

cheers

Nick

I was hoping to get away with those 85mm wheels, they're much lighter than the 100mm ones. However, they don't look right at that size. I have a cunning plan for retract doors.

I'm very chuffed with the bubble!

Cheers

Nick

Originally Posted by nickchud

I'm very chuffed with the bubble!

Some unintelligible ramblings here, as I tried to figure out what "chuff" means...

Luke