Gloster SS.37 (Gladiator prototype)

[mozart]

I don't know why I make life so hard for myself!   Delivered this morning from Jeremy was this:

 

 

Do I need a Silver Wings Gladiator in my life......? No.  Especially since there is the ICM Gladiator so freely available and easily built, been there......

 

 

.....done that!  But I couldn't resist, especially considering my warm feelings for the Silver Wings Gauntlet, the Gladiator's predecessor:

 

 

But it's a British biplane of the Golden Age so couldn't be ignored.  But then comes the (usual) complexity with my models, I've decided to finish it as this:

 

 

SS.37, the Gladiator prototype, which bears a lot of resemblance to the Gladiator but has the open cockpit of the Gauntlet:

 

 

 

Lots of further research and reading to be done first, so this hopefully is a fairly temporary place holder!

 

 

 

 

 

[Mal_Belford]

Oh Boy.....looking forward to seeing this build from you @mozart, allready assigned to follow indeed.

 

Cool aircraft, and some rigging involved later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mozart]

49 minutes ago, Mal_Belford said:

Oh Boy.....looking forward to seeing this build from you @mozart, allready assigned to follow indeed.

 

Cool aircraft, and some rigging involved later.

Cheers Mal…..and lots of shiny bits to have fun with! 

[Hubert Boillot]

 

Hubert

[geedubelyer]

Fascinating project. 

 

Go Max, go 

[Iain]

Most excellent choice there Max!

 

Iain

[scvrobeson]

Will be an interesting one to follow, especially if the caption is true, and it's a hybrid of parts from both planes.

 

 

 

Matt 

[mozart]

Thank you for your thoughts and comments chaps, it’ll be a fun build I’m sure. There doesn’t appear to be much info available online, that’s both a plus and a minus, ie where I don’t know what a, b or c is like I’ll have to make it up (pretty much the whole of the cockpit for instance) based on what is available for the Gauntlet and Gladiator. But who’s to say I’m wrong in what I do? 
Lovely pic I found last evening:

 

 

[mozart]

Another handy well-worn reference book: 

 

 

…..the fruit of my schoolboy labours 60 years ago! 
 

 

My “success” was never going to be in maths, still can’t add two and two together to get five! 

 

Edited August 29 by mozart

[mozart]

No resin has been cut yet, but lots of thought (dreams even!) about how to tackle the conversion.  

 

So, the three steps of 1) Investigation  2) Incubation and (this morning) 3) Inspiration! showed me how to achieve the major re-shaping area behind the cockpit, which was straight and smooth on the Gauntlet but much higher on the Gladiator once the sliding hood was deemed necessary.  I'm going to make a vertical cut separating the forward metal-covered section and the aft ribbed fabric-covered section, then glue the latter two halves together.  The plan then is to cut away the higher fairing, place something like lead foil which can be shaped easily inside the the fuselage then build up on top of that with Apoxie-Sculpt which can be applied quite accurately then finally sanded to finish.

Easy-peasy....what could possibly go wrong!? 

 

 

A couple of other observations from close examination of photos.  

[Furie]

31 minutes ago, mozart said:

Easy-peasy....what could possibly go wrong!? 

 

 

 

Is that a purely rhetorical question, or do you actually want me to give you the full list of everything that could screw up?  

[mozart]

15 minutes ago, Furie said:

 

Is that a purely rhetorical question, or do you actually want me to give you the full list of everything that could screw up?  

Well it’s actually a vain attempt to boost my self-confidence mon ami…..spare me the list, it would be too depressing! 

[mozart]

No sooner said than done:

 

 

So I guess we're underway! 
 

My Gauntlet model shows the smooth clean lines aft of the cockpit:

 

 

 

Edited August 30 by mozart

[mozart]

I really didn't expect to get this far today:

 

 

The Dspiae grinding tool is one of the best things I've bought for a long while, it made short work of the wider areas behind the cockpit ready for later shaping and refinement.  The top area to be filled is much less than I anticipated, which makes life a lot easier I hope, still planning to mix up some Apoxie Sculpt but I think the thin fairing will be made separately, this Gauntlet drawing has been superimposed over the side photo of SS.37:

 

 

Also, thinking ahead to the empennage I wanted to check the fit of the horizontal tailplane in case reinforcing rods were required.  What many modellers don't appreciate is that there is a noticeable gap between the fuselage sides and the tailplane:

 

 

and I wasn't sure about the timing of fitting the internal elevator control actuators:

 

 

which I now know is after the horizontal tailplane but before the elevators are fitted in place.

[Mal_Belford]

Allright some serious plastic surgery Dr Mozart, and yes...yes...corrections when its best, small things that ad to the whole.