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G-EBLV DH60 Cirrus Moth 1:32 scratchbuild


RLWP

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I finally got my hand back  - temporarily - on Wednesday. The physiotherapist is allowing me to take my splint off and use my hand carefully during the day

 

So I have managed to cut and rough out the balsa cores for the wings. Now my hand is tired so I'm not going to sand them to thickness today

 

Pictures tomorrow, perhaps

 

Richard

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Right, this morning I shaped the balsa cores for the wings, and here they are:

 

Wings-2.JPG

 

When the balsa is thinned to nearly nothing at the edges, they often go ragged like that. As they are sandwiched between the styrene skins, it doesn't matter. They are being sealed with acrylic varnish of some sort as we speak

 

Richard

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Great to see this one moving on Richard - how's the hand?

 

Torben

 

Today, pretty good. The scar is quite tight, that will improve, and it isn't easy to hold my hand flat to use a ruler

 

Otherwise doing stuff is good physiotherapy as long as I'm careful.

 

Richard

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While the balsa hardens off, on with the fuselage:

 

Top is two strips of 0.010" tacked together with a tiny drop of glue each end. Bottom is the drawing I'm using scaled up to 1:32:

 

Fuselage-1.JPG

 

I only need this bit:

 

Fuselage-2.JPG

 

taped to the styrene:

 

Fuselage-3.JPG

 

so I can cut around the edges:

 

Fuselage-4.JPG

 

which gives me the two fuselage sides. I was going to take more pictures of the next step, I got carried away

 

The longerons are 0.040" square, the rest are 0.030" square apart from the two blocks:

 

Fuselage-5.JPG

 

There's a stiffener for a step at the front, it's only on the starboard side. I didn't check first, yet somehow I go it right. I'm a bit confused by this, Murphy's law should really have applied here...

 

That's about it for the sides, and that's as much as my hand wants to do for now

 

Richard

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Geoffrey DeHavilland did a neat job designing this aeroplane. The seats, joysticks and rudder bars all attach to this neat plywood box that sits in the bottom of the fuselage:

 

Cockpit-1.JPG

 

Not a great picture, white styrene is hard to photograph

 

I should have listened to myself yesterday. I had a go at fitting the balsa core to the upper wing, got it in the wrong place and destroyed the core trying to remove it. I'll make another. Fortunately I saved the wing skin

 

Richard

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Guest Peterpools

Richard

Good news that you are healing and can model during the day.

Enjoying your project and amazed by the skills required to do this type of detsailed work

Keep 'em comin

Peter

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Great work, Richard!  Are you thinking of using anything from the Matchbox Tiger Moth, or will this be 100% scratch?

Alain

Hi Alain, no nothing from the Matchbox moth. The engine is tempting, except it isn't much like the Cirrus

 

I have been generously donated the resin heads from the Encore Blue Max Pfalz, which is also a Gypsy Major like the Matchbox moth. Not ideal as it has enclosed rockers, the manifolds are both on the same side - and it is the wrong side! I need to put it next to some photos to decide what to do

 

Richard

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A bit more done:

 

Cockpit-2.JPG

 

The centre box is stuck down to the floor and some of the cross ribs are in. And a bit of brass for the pilot's joystick.

 

The passenger's joystick (the front one) is detachable and the hole where it passes through the centre box has a lid. I've modelled it closed. It doesn't show up in white on white

 

I'm being very restrained here. Normally by now I would have the whole fuselage glued up as a box and be wondering how to get the fiddly details in. I'm holding back so I can attach parts to the sides, it's paying off so far

 

Richard

Edited by RLWP
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An in process shot:

 

Cockpit-3.JPG

 

The seat in the front cockpit has been a challenge for a couple of days now. De Havilland put it into an angled bulkhead with a curved front edge. And the seat is curved, and has an angled base

 

I finally worked out how to do the bulkhead last night (there's a failed attempt sticking up in the air on the other end of the bit of styrene) and tonight started to get the seat assembled. The curved back is held in place with a bit of BluTac as I tack glue it in place

 

Richard

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