Hubert Boillot Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Hello guys, Ok, I have decided to give a try at this GB, vene though I preferred another one. let's say it is the emulation of this fine bunch of moedllers. As Harv is gone to a fairly recent "two-holers", I have decided to go down the time ladder to th early days of japanese naval aviation. In fact, the post on the next group poll in the general discussion triggered my interest. So I will try to scratchbuildan Aichi "Hanso", aka licence-built hans Brandenburg W33 (not W29 as stated in some publications). The W33 was basically a 117 % version of the W29. In 1/32, it is huge, with a wingspan close to 50 cms and overall length in the area of 35 cms. The fuselage shape should be manageable, being suarish in section over a great part of its length. The wings are fairly simple in planform also...The cockpit is simple, and should allow me to avoid the AMS syndrome. NAyway, given the scarcity of documents (btw any help welcome), thre should not be too many rivet counting on this one. On top, it is from a time when aerolpanes were les lethel looking than later, so it is more in line with my own tastes. Here is where I am standing on this project. I have found an old Airfix magazine issue with drawings of the W33 (thanks eBay). it is on its way home. I have started drwing scale plans anyway. I found on the net a sizeable buch of photos, including ones of the finnish licence-built W33, the I.V.L. A22, one example of which is still in existence in a museum in Finland. The japanese "Hansa" used a Hispano V8 built under licence. Roden had the good idea to issue separate engine kits, one of them the Hisso. This one is also on its way home... Still a lot of planning to do, but I am committed to start... Whetehr I will finish in due time for the deadline is very unlikely, but at least this GB will have triggered some interesting modelling, even though my stash of unbuilt kits is still in dire need of attention. Wish me luck guys... This is what I am aiming for : Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted March 6, 2009 Author Share Posted March 6, 2009 or this one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamme Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Whow, that will be nice! Welcome to the Group Build. Jamme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harv Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Wow. Another interesting, esoteric project. You guys are amazing. ...In awe 'plastic assembler'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Nice project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loic Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Wow Hubert, that is way cool! It sound so good that we now have 2 SB projects in this GB. That's just great! Cheers and good luck Loic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big matt Posted March 6, 2009 Share Posted March 6, 2009 Very sleek. I don't know how you guys do it. I have enough trouble with the easy kits. Good luck. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveJ Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Very sleek. I don't know how you guys do it. I have enough trouble with the easy kits. Good luck. Matt I'm with him. Should be a great one to watch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r0t0rdr1ver Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Very neat and unique subject! I love to watch these scratchbuilds! Looking forward to seeing some more, Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ruzlkampf Posted March 8, 2009 Share Posted March 8, 2009 Can't wait to see this one come together! That is an awesome watercolor of it flying over the fantail of that battleship. Very cool. I was reading that Japan received a Fok-DVIII for war reparations, which I was toyng around with the idea of doing for this GB. Couldn't find any pics though. Japan had some really interesting pre-war aircraft, and I never realized they had W-33's. Excellent subject. Russ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hi guys, I was off for the week-end. Many thanks for your encouragements. That is the spirit of the GBs, to drive motivation for building and to encourage stretching one modeller's limits. The HW W.33 is actually a fairly simple shape, without the such niceties as Karman fairings or complex compound curves. Even the floats are quite simple, at least a lot simpler than what was done later. These were the reasons for my choice, plus I loved the truck-like look of the aircraft viewed from the front. Finally, this was certainly not a speed queen, but it has an interesting history. I hope the documents I have ordered arrive fairly soon so that I can start cutting some plastic. All the best to everyone. Hubert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted March 31, 2009 Author Share Posted March 31, 2009 I have been off this topic for some time, but not quite idle...Yet I feel dwarfed when I see the speed of buildling of some members of this GB (and I am not only talking of Russ' legendary "faster than his shadow" speed ) ... So this is just a "pride reaction" with this quick and small update to show that I have made some progress and doing something... The issue with off-beat subjects as the one I have chosen is the lack of documentation. I mentioned that the "Hansa" was a licence-built Hansa-Brandenburg W33, on the basis of statements I found on the net. This actually is not true, and I started to have doubts when I blew up to scale-size the photo in my firts post. The engine at this legnth was way too long for a V8 Hispano-Suiza (more on this issue later). Then I stumbled upon the ARAWASI magazine (www.arawasi.jp and their #7 issue had an article about the "Hansa". This confirmed that the Japanese acquired the licence for the W29, NOT the W33 (the W29 was roughly one-fifth smaller than the W33)... A quick look at the very nice ARAWASI magazine : But I had started to draft drawings of a W33-based "Hansa", using the Harry Woodman's plans I got from a June 1978 Airfix agazine issue :angry: :angry: :angry: ! So When I received the ARAWASI issue, I had to start my drawings all over again ! Then there is the engine question...The power range indicates a "B" or "C" version of the Hisso. On the other hand, Japan started to build the "Hansa" in 1921, at about the same time as they started production under licence of the Nieuport 29, which had a 300 HP "F" engine, with a bigger bore (140 mm vs 120 mm) and stroke than the earlier "B" version, and the engine was manufactured by Mitusbishi as the type "Hi" (same designation for the Hansa and the Ni 29). The "F" was 30 cm longer overall than the "B", i.e. close to 1 cm at this scale ! I had ordered the Roden V8 engine, but when I received it, started to doubt whether it was right for the "Hansa" . The cylinder block of the Roden is less than 2cm long...There is no way a cylinder block this short could accomodate 4 cylinders with 140 mm stroke :huh: Then maybe Roden's rendition is a bit "underscale"... I am still pondering this one, but in the meantime have decided that maybe the Hisso for the old Revell SPAD XIII would be a better choice. . Most likely, I will use a bit of artistic licence and use this one rather than Roden's kit .... Fortunately my wife does not know how much I have spent already for just getting documentation and now two engines... So I have redone the drawings (finding drawings of the W29 was not easy either, as the Windsock issue is out of print but I finally found some I could blow up to scale..)...I have just drawn what was specific to the Hansa, and produced some "plastic cutting" blueprints out of those... Here is my work to date ...As I drafted on calc paper, with my old tubular pens, I have had some "ink-bleeding" , and the drawings are not as tidy as they should be, but they will do the job anyway... And I have started cutting some plastic ! The structure for the floats is just visible besides the cover of the ARAWASI issue ... More to come (hopefully not in 3 weeks' time ) Hubert. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big matt Posted March 31, 2009 Share Posted March 31, 2009 That is going to be cool! Unpainted floats? That might look pretty neat. Looking forward to more. Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hubert Boillot Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 Allright, it seems I am working on a 3-weeks schedule in the end, when it comes to updating this thread.... Anyway, those have not been idle weeks, even though I have little time to work on this kit, and just during the weekends... I have completed the floats: I built the structure out of 0,5 mm plasticard, adding lead eights in the front of the floats, as I suspect the Hansa would be a tail-sitter otherwise... The top of the floats was shaped in 2mm-thick plasticard, sanded to a round top shape. There were some kind of caps on the floats. They were slightly recessed. After unsuccessfully trying to mill this shallow circle, I resorted to scrap 0,5 mm-deep, 6mm-square recesses in the thick plasticard, in which I subsequently glued thin plasticard squares, with a 5 mm centre punched with the punch'n'die set...To decrease the depth of the circles, I then glued inside 0,25 mm circles punched in the same way... Once the float shape was achieved, I glued the anti-skid strakes. They were fairly prominent on the original, being thick wood strakes. They were done using Evergreen 30-thou square strips.... The caps on top of the floats are rounded and metallic, whereas the floats were in wood...The scale versiuons have been turned in an aluminiumu rod, on my old, but faithful, Unimat-1 lathe, as were the struts bearings points on the floats. These were conical-shaped, set at a 45° angle. Turning the cones was lengthy...but cutting them at the right angle and achieving a consistent size was a real PITA ... This is where I stand today (the aluminium parts have not been glued...) Next step is painting the floats and cutting the struts, before moving on to the wings... Next to the floats is an attempt at doing a wood propeller. At same stage in their career, the Hansas were fitted with 4-bladed propellers (the head -blurred- photo of this thread shows actually the profile of a 4th blade...), whereas they initially had 2-bladed ones... I was fairly happy with my work, when I realised I got the pitch wrong ! The Hisso used on the Hansas was apprently a geared version, turning clockwise when viewed from the front, and not anti-clockwise as I assumed initially... More to come...in-three weeks time ! Hubert. 109 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Fantastic work, looking forward to the next instalment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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