Hans

This is finished after final additons 
I used Quickboost seat
 














 
 

Mike, I don't know how I do it: I start working with the table (a large technical drawing table) free, and I always end up locking myself in the space smaller than an A4 sheet!
Denis, thanks, but never say never: the ICM biplane series is really well designed, think about giving them a chance! 
I think the I-153 kit is the simplest, as a biplane... I'll be able to tell you hopefully soon, it's one of the next on my list of models to make.
 
well, after a few tweaks here and there and some unsuccessful attempts to take some decent photos, I'd say I can declare it completed.
be gentle... even though I used a reflex camera for photos in the lightbox, I'm still very poor at digital photography.
 
a few more shots in the RFI section:
https://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?/topic/99921-fiat-cr42-cn-mm7584-300a-squadriglia-167°-gruppo-autonomo-ciampino-spring-1942-pilot-cpt-corrado-ricci/
 
 
cheers,  and thanks to everyone, Paolo.
 

 

 

“The development cycle of the Staaken R-Planes reached its first plateau with the introduction of the Staaken R.VI. This aircraft was not only the largest aircraft to go into quantity production during World War I but it was also the best known of all the German R-Planes.”
George W. Haddow & Peter M. Gross ‘The German Giants.’
 
A year goes by and…life and other builds got in the way. I changed company and moved halfway across America, Pete completed another of his wonderful Triumph TR6 builds and wound down his business. Suffice to say, we’ve collectively had lots of stuff going on but not forgotten this build.
 
So, where are we now?  We now know a lot more about these birds than before. Great sources of information have included:
Grosz P.M. & Haddow G.W., ‘The German Giants’, Putnam & Co Ltd, 1969 (2nd Edition) ISBN 370-00037-4
Grosz P.M., Windsock Datafile 95 ‘Staaken R.VI’ , Albatros Productions, 2002, ISBN No. 1-902207-50-5
Rimell R. Windsock Datafile 123 ‘Staaken at War’, Albatros Productions, 2007, ISBN No. 1-902207-92 0
Herris J., Zeppelin-Staaken Aircraft of WWI: Volume 1: VGO.I/ R.VI R.29/16 (Great War Aviation Centennial Series)
ISBN No 9781935881759
Herris J., Zeppelin-Staaken Aircraft of WWI: Volume 2: R.VI R.30/16 – E.4/20 (Great War Aviation Centennial Series) ISBN No 9781935881766

 
The five books listed are essential source texts if one is to attempt one of these beasts. But we have also roamed far and wide over ‘t’interweb’ and found several people who have created CAD models of the R.VI, one who has done a dynamic finite element analysis on the R.VI stability in various flight conditions, a 1920 allied report on the Mercedes D.IVa engine’s performance and a host of other sites that each have a piece of the jigsaw puzzle necessary to make it.
 
We now know which airframes we will choose not to make: We’ve ruled out any of the Maybach Mb.IV engined airframes and the single Basse und Selve powered machine. The table below shows which airframes were powered by the Mercedes D.IVa, the Maybach Mb.IV and the sole airframe with the underpowered and unreliable Basse und Selve type engine. This table rules out five of the airframes from the get go as we will only be building Mercedes powered birds: R.28, R.32, R.39 and the Aviatik built R.52, R.53, R.54 machines are non-starters.

 
It has been with some relief that Pete and I have read some epic build logs that have taken a decade and more on this site (e.g. the B-17 ‘Sweating the Metal’ thread) but we have not been totally idle in practical matters though: Pete has been busy assembling kits of parts of brass tube for the fuselage and wing spars, and aerodynamic section tube for the interplane struts.
I have broken out my AEG G.IV kit and have begun the process of learning how to resin cast the Mercedes D.IVa Engine from the injection molded parts.  Pete and I intended to build one of these each but there may be a third (right @seiran01??  ). The WnW D.IVa engines are very nice and crisp in form but could use a bit of help with spark plugs, wiring etc so we’ll look into what Taurus or others may have for them and what we can fabricate ourselves.

 
I am responsible for fabricating the wheels also. it looks like the main wheels were 3'4" diameter and 6" wide at the tyre and the nose wheels were 2'6" dia, and 4" wide at the tyre on the full size machines. So we are delving into whether there is any already exiting suitably sized wheels from another kit we can buy and take casts of (doubtful but you never know) or I need to make these bad boys from scratch. For each airframe there will need to be 18 wheels (yes in true U.S. style the R.VI is an ‘18 wheeler’). So, in total, we will need to be a minimum of 54 finished and usable wheels if nobody goes for a floatplane version and a minimum of 12 cast engines (and more likely 16 to allow for muck-ups). Gulp.

 
We have both got the necessary 1/32 scale general arrangement drawings set up and so are basically ready to move ahead with some basic construction. Onward.
 
Kind regards,
Paul & Peter.
 
 

Finally, I painted the whole thing with light brown Arcyl paint to imitate wood.
Despite the filigree structure, the skeleton is surprisingly stable. Of course - it is a HURRICANE ! 
Until next time! Thomas

another round of sanding and priming, still lots of little blemishes
 

 

Gloster Gladiator. Cowling and engine (ICM, 1/32) Set contains 3D-printed parts for detailing of cowling with engine for the aircraft model Gloster Gladiator (ICM).
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pratt & Whitney R-2800 late (1/32) Set contains 3D-printed parts for detailing 1 engine of the aircraft.
 

 

 

 

https://aeroscale.net/news/ju-88-a-1-f-a-5-f-ju-88-d-5-conversions-released
 
John must be feeling better.  That is great!!!!
 
Greg

They have some very knowledgeable people onboard their projects, so maybe it's a reflection of tiny explosions of happiness in customers brains.

No rest for the wicked they say, so with the paint drying on my S6B it's time for a new project..
 
I built a Hobbyboss Sea Fury back in the day and added loads to it including a visible engine and I have always wanted to make a large scale one. The problem was (and is) it doesn't fit in my display cabinet. I remeasured it the other day and somehow got my sums wrong and thought it would fit so off I went and started researching.. Turns out I was right the first time, the airfame is a beast and won't fit so will need a home once complete (or I get a bigger cabinet..)
 
My last one was the civil demonstrator G-AKRY, but now I just proved to myself I can paint an aeroplane, this one will be a service machine. Choosing one is harder than I thought - it's got to be RN, but to be honest, they were all painted the same
 
for now I chose this one VX620..
 

 
I started with Jumpeii Temma's plans and checked these with Will at DBMK on the one they scanned - they were bang on, so I designed the parts for my cutter..
 
also made a 3D cowling..
 
..the brass bar is to keep the keel rigid..
 

 
..the keel was taped to a flat sheet of acrylic and all the formers added - I also 3D printed a wingroot section to help alignment..
 


 

 
..I have had problems with plastic card cores flexing during construction so I clamped an ali bar and added the other side, moving the bar as I went..
 

 
..very quickly the fuselage took shape - it is huge..
 
..the floor is too high here and had to be chopped out and lowered - this is the problem with not having drawings
 

 

 

 
..having designed the cowling, I spent some time doing the prop, spinner and a basic engine front..
 

 
I think it came out pretty good - it defines the aeroplane so has to be right..
 

 

 
..starting to look like the brute it is..
 

 

 

 
..so thats it - off and running with a new build
 
..A plea for help - if anyone has any good interior pictures of the cockpit, seat, seat bulkhead, rollover structure, please drop them here or PM me
 
also if there are more unique RN schemes out there I am definately open to a rethink
 
TTFN
 
Peter
 

It's finished!
 
The build thread is here
 
 

Well, funnily enough, I've had Tony very much in my mind whilst building this! 
 
I knew him when we were both members of IPMS Thames Valley, and his work was always an inspiration.
 
He was always happy to share techniques and always hugely self-deprecating.
 
I'd like to think/hope he'd approve of this one...
 
Iain
.
 
 

I really hope you don't! Your model reminds me of the scratch-built De Havilland Moth models by Tont Woolett, regularly featured in the eighties Scale Models magazine and much admired by me. 

Congratulations on a very fine model, and the well done combination of old- and new school modeling, Ian! 

Appear to be on a bit of a Mojo roll with a number of projects just now - including the Andover.
 
Final priming/sanding of fuselage interior pretty well done now - and progressing on to the paint colours - white, light blue and grey.
 

 
And tail:
 

 

 

 
Blue skies,
 
Iain

That looks beautiful, Marcin! 

Tail position light. The master for these was turned on a lathe by Timmy! Years ago. I used the aluminum master to make clear resin copies for the wings and vertical tail. 

Here a finished in Flight Model , build by a friend of
mine Torben Weckeck

Haven't built a 48th bird in about 20 years,  just wanted an Expeditor and I know I'll never see one in my scale so took
  this down from the shelf that had been sitting for the last 3 years and dove in, reworked the whole thing to get it where
  We are. hope you like it.
   Bill.
 


    

Very nice 

Thank you
 
Test print of the engine:



 
Initial fitting for the model:

 
I'm making small details, now the control system:

 
This is what it looks like at the moment:


 
To be continued
 

Greetings all,
 
Time for a long over-due update on this build. Various other projects have been getting attention and to be honest, sorting out the nose on this thing was very nearly a complete mojo-killer for the whole project and has taken a lot of time and effort. But, no pain... no gain.
 
ID Models provide some very poorly shaped transparencies for the nose turret (this was more suitable for a MkI Halifax!) and the bomb aimer's windows, which sadly wouldn't be an accurate representation of the real deal. Luckily, when I inherited Cees' stalled project he threw in lots of HK Lancaster parts for the turrets, including all the internals and transparencies. Starting with the nose turret, as this would be the most tricky, I had the problem of the Lancaster turret being a lot wider than the Stirling nose. Whilst the internals are identical, the perspex was a different design but, with some gentle persuasion and some mods to the nose area, I was confident it could be made to fit. Therefore, my first task was to gently sand away all the raised framing seen on the Lancaster turret as the Stirling was devoid of any framework:
 
  
I then set about polishing this back to clarity, using a nail buffing pad (don't spend a fortune on 'modelling' buffing pads and get the cheap ones from the make up section in a chemist or the like!) as well as some of Microscale's polishing compound:
 
 
Turret internals are assembled here and checked for clarity:
 
 
With the glazing good to go it was time to check now the Lancaster part would fit to the Stirling nose. The answer was: not very well....
 
 
I had suspected that the shape of the nose was a bit off - the section between the turret and the bomb aimer's panels is too blunt and flat on the kit, when in fact it should be rounded and follow the profile of the lower part of the turret. This was corrected by first making a plastic card shelf and then filling and shaping this area with Milliput:
 
 
Once the nose was sanded to the correct shape, I began making the upper faring that wraps around the turret. I use card for this to make a template, which is a far cheaper option than wasting plastic card:
 
 
At the same time, I also made the framing for the bomb aimer's window from Evergreen - the glazing will then be made and added at a later stage, by dropping them onto the frames:
 
 
With majority of the hard work done, I then gave the nose section a coat of black to ensure none of the white plastic would show through to the turret or nose interior, and added the home-made turret faring - this time from plastic card. This was then filled with more Milliput, and the whole nose area blended to the correct shape with regular checking of photos and plans:
 
 
To finish off, the lost panel lines were re-scribed and another coat of black was applied:
 
 
 
I think I've just about got away with it...
 
Next up will be the rear end... oh er Missus!
 
Tom

Next week Kate will go to the market: 
 
https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=105045&start=5520
 
 
And first build:  
 
https://www.modelforum.cz/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=152261
 
I hope you will like it :-)
 
Regards 
 
Mirek

Going green by recycling old kits! Looks great already, Marcin. 

Hi all,
 
I'm temporarily locking this thread at the present time.
 
Recent interest is lovely to see, and really appreciated, but has been a catalyst to some self-imposed pressure/stress/anxiety which I could really do without at present, as I've been really busy on other things.
 
However, I have been honing my 3D design skills so, as soon as I can find some time to sit down and focus on the Liberator again, I'll hopefully have something closer to a solution.
 
And when I'm there I'll post here...
 
Thank you,
 
Iain