Aerotech Supermarine S5

[TorbenD]

Lovely work so far. Although very rough kits that are very expensive, they come up nicely if you are prepared to put in the extra work, as you are doing here.

 

Look forward to more.

 

Eric.

 

Thanks Eric, I freely admit without looking through your previous Aerotech builds for inspiration and information I doubt I would have started this build. Much, much appreciated.

 

 

Torben

See, I already learned something I didn't know about the rivets!

Keep 'em coming

Peter

 

You and me both Peter, thanks for dropping by.

 

 

Great, and brave, work so far, Torben. Bravo! It's a beautiful airplane but, at that price ($217 at the moment.) I'm not sure the Aerotech kits are for me. I went through the 60s and 70s with tubes of filler and sandpaper in hand and am now spoiled by WnW. The S6B has always been my second favorite airplane (Mosquito being first!) so, if one pops up on eBay, as one did in October for $147!, I may snap it up and use your build for inspiration!

 

I look forward to following along here and am really enjoying all the help with videos and photos for the crew.

 

Cheers from NYC,

Michael

 

Thanks Michael - if you do, there's plenty of great reference out there as well as two survivors - a S6 and S6B. Now that sounds like a perfect excuse for a research trip this side of the Pond!

 

 

Never mind the basic kit price, that's going to be a substantial investment in Archer rivets!

 

You're not kidding - but she's worth it!

 

On with the build.

 

First up a minor bit of filing to remove the cowling Dzus fasteners and the too soft riveted flanges around the cowling edges. I had considered trying to keep these and sharpen them up with some careful scraping but realised I needed to do quite a bit more sanding and filling around this area so it would be better to fully remove and replace them... I hope I don't regret that decision later  - then out came my trusty Milliput...

 

 

 

More to follow...

[TorbenD]

Add then came the sanding!!!

 

Despite intensive searching and adding yet more reference books to my library I've really struggled to get any images or clear plans as to the cockpit details.

 

I tried to talk myself into the ‘fact' that the cockpit walls would be double skinned so that plumbing etc could fit inside so I could keep/adapt the kit's thick walls but as this was a going to be a big no no on a racing plane where every ounce mattered.

 

 

Aerotech have again gone for the robust approach thought quite how a 1/32 pilot with arms would fit in I have no idea...

 

 

 

So... deep breath... In for a penny, in for £160... out came the micro chisels and curved scalpel blades to reduce the cockpit walls down to nearer scale thickness...

 

Several hours later I realised I may have gone a bit too far   

 

 

but I wasn't too worried about the holes now appearing through the walls as I'd been planning to line the inner face with 10thou plastic card and with a bit of super glue, Mr Surfacer (and yet more sanding) these would disappear and stay strong enough.

 

The next few shots are post adding this card and repairing all the holes and rebuilding the sill height with 0.5mm square section Evergreen to give me a neat edge - back packed more Mr Surfacer which once dry was sanded to a nice smooth but sharp edge, again much more in scale thickness than the original sill.

 

 

 

As you can see from the shot below where the seat cushion used to fit snuggly against the sidewalls quite a bit of resin had to go!!!

 

 

more to follow later...

 

Torben

[Guest Peterpools]

Torben

WOW!

What a ton of work wrestling the S5 into ‘scale shape' - thank googness for Milliput. The front office surely has a lot of ‘fight' in her but your approach to bringing it into scale and adding the details is going to work wonders.

Keep ‘em coming

Peter

[Hans]

Hi Torben,

 

I am surprised with the rustic quality of your kit.

I have their S. 6 in the stash and it is far more refined: subtle riveting and almost to scale trailling edges. The only thing lacking are the hundreds of recessed rivets pn the wings and horizontal tails.

 

Perhaps another pattern maker?

 

Keep up the good work!

[Shawn M]

wow, heckuva lotta work required, but you're doing it well

[TorbenD]

Torben

WOW!

What a ton of work wrestling the S5 into ‘scale shape' - thank googness for Milliput. The front office surely has a lot of ‘fight' in her but your approach to bringing it into scale and adding the details is going to work wonders.

Keep ‘em coming

Peter

 

Thanks Peter, thank goodness for Milliput indeed!

 

 

Hi Torben,

 

I am surprised with the rustic quality of your kit.

I have their S. 6 in the stash and it is far more refined: subtle riveting and almost to scale trailling edges. The only thing lacking are the hundreds of recessed rivets pn the wings and horizontal tails.

 

Perhaps another pattern maker?

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Thanks Hans, and very interesting to read that. From the images I've seen the S5 and S6 seem to be fairly similar in terms of treatment of the rivets etc.

 

 

wow, heckuva lotta work required, but you're doing it well

 

Cheers Shawn, much appreciated - no gain without a bit pain eh?

[TorbenD]

As mentioned previously I've really struggled to find decent references for the S5's cockpit. The best so and possibly most accurate I've found so far are from these plans which I can only find in relatively low resolution so the detail is pixelated:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure but think these may even be relatively contemporaneous from Flight magazine(?) Can anyone out there help and point me in the right direction for a higher res version or any potentially more accurate reference? Any and all assistance truly welcome 

 

 

At least the thinning of the cockpit sides has opened up the space for the instrument panel to match the space and shape on these plans.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in

 

Torben

[RLWP]

Here's a start:

 

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1927/1927%20-%200715.html

 

Richard

 

MORE: I'm guessing that plan came from here: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2071730-Supermarine-S-5

 

There's lots of useful stuff on that site

 

EVEN MORE: this looks useful: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1928/1928%20-%200111.html?search=supermarine%20s.5 starts on page 94

 

and I love this: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1928/1928%20-%200309.html

Edited December 29, 2017 by RLWP

[LSP_Kevin]

Terrific work, Torben!

 

Kev

[BradG]

Great work.

[TorbenD]

Here's a start:

 

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1927/1927%20-%200715.html

 

Richard

 

MORE: I'm guessing that plan came from here: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?2071730-Supermarine-S-5

 

There's lots of useful stuff on that site

 

EVEN MORE: this looks useful: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1928/1928%20-%200111.html?search=supermarine%20s.5 starts on page 94

 

and I love this: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1928/1928%20-%200309.html

 

Hi Richard, thanks ever so for these links - I've managed to glean various sections of the Flight pdfs before but this has given me access to so much more so plenty to read up on...so far no cockpit plans or images but you never know...

 

That RC site is one of the places i got the plan from - its one of those jpgs that have been posted on Pintrest and various other sites - passed on and passed around -  but only the same low res file.

 

Love that LION engine plan too - if I was after even more of a callenge I'd have been tempted...

 

Cheers again

 

Torben

[TorbenD]

Terrific work, Torben!

 

Kev

 

Thx Kev, enjoying your resurrection resin in WIP - 5 years eh? sounds like one of my builds but without the break! 

 

 

Great work.

 

Cheers for looking in Brad

 

Torben

[RLWP]

Hi Richard, thanks ever so for these links - I've managed to glean various sections of the Flight pdfs before but this has given me access to so much more so plenty to read up on...so far no cockpit plans or images but you never know...

 

That RC site is one of the places i got the plan from - its one of those jpgs that have been posted on Pintrest and various other sites - passed on and passed around -  but only the same low res file.

 

Love that LION engine plan too - if I was after even more of a callenge I'd have been tempted...

 

Cheers again

 

Torben

 

Flight is one of my go to places for 'research'*, as is the RC site

 

It looks like that plan came from one of the aero modelling magazines. It looks good enough in the absence of anything else

 

So, cockpit picture - I like a challenge

 

Richard

 

*It's also called daydreaming

[RLWP]

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/cockpit-of-supermarine-s6b-c-1930s-news-photo/90779778?esource=SEO_GIS_CDN_Redirect#cockpit-of-supermarine-s6b-c-1930s-picture-id90779778

 

Wrong plane of course, yours is an S.5. It probably won't be a lot different

 

Richard

 

MORE:

 

S6B again, from a weird place:

 

 

http://www.bentleyspotting.com/2012/09/s6b-phantom.html

Edited December 30, 2017 by RLWP

[TorbenD]

Flight is one of my go to places for 'research'*, as is the RC site

 

It looks like that plan came from one of the aero modelling magazines. It looks good enough in the absence of anything else

 

So, cockpit picture - I like a challenge

 

Richard

 

*It's also called daydreaming

 

 

Ha ha Richard so do I    

 

Yup both are great pictures of the S6 aren't they - already stashed from my initial internet trawl  . These are my fall back in terms of styling of inner frames and colour. You gotta love that weathered patina too!

 

Cheers Torben