Macchi M-5

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
After finishing the wing floats it was pointed out the they seemed too short.
After re-checking the drawing I realised that in fact they should span the chord of the lower wings and also that the sides of each float were angled in towards the nose.
So back to the drawing board.
As the micro-tube struts were already fitted and matched the location recesses I'd created in the wing, I didn't want to start the floats from scratch.
Also, because of the struts, I couldn't really cut and insert an extension to lengthen the floats.
So I stepped the top and bottom surfaces and added 0.5 mm thick plastic card strips.
The bottom of the floats had a packing piece of 0.5 mm thick plastic card to help create the shallow curve on that surface.
Once that was done I filled the sides with modelling putty and once set, sanded it all to shape.

 

So not perfect, but I think close to the correct size etc.
The second shot shows the floats test fitted to the underside of the lower wing halves,

 

Mike

 

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The upper wing has now been joined and the lower wings secured to the fuselage (with the required 3 degrees of dihedral angle)
The shots below show the upper wing dry fitted with only the unfinished 'V' interplane struts located.
The unfinished engine is just positioned onto the fuselage 'Z' support struts.

The two upper 'Z' struts from the engine bearers to the underside of the upper wing still need to be drilled into the bearers and upper wing.
NOTE: The unfinished engine is positioned further rearwards than it will be when finally fitted.

 

So far both wings appear to be correctly aligned when viewed from the top and sides.

 

Mike

 

 

 

[monthebiff]

Beautiful work but one weird looking aircraft. 

 

Regards. Andy 

[sandbagger]

Hi all, 
The ‘Isotta Fraschini V4B’ six cylinder engine for the Macchi M.5 is more or less completed.
There are engine controls and pipes to add, but these can't be done until the engine is fitted to the model.
The only change I made was to replace the spark plugs and leads I'd made with I think better versions.
The plugs are 0.5 mm diameter tube with 'RB Motion' Aluminium nuts at the base. The HT leads are 0.2 mm diameter lead wire.

 

Mike

 

 

 

 

 

[CZPetrP]

The engine looks great. And the propeller is amazing.

[Jeff T]

Beautiful work Mike!

 

The ghost roundels are really effective.

 

Cheer's,

Jeff.

[sandbagger]

Thanks.

The propeller was made for me by Alex at 'ProperPlane' - I just basically applied a tinted 'varnish effect' sealing coat.

Sadly, unless you flip the model onto its back you'll probably not see the 'ghost' roundels - hey ho,

 

Mike

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The kit illustration showing the rigging for the engine support 'Z' struts is wrong.
It shows correctly bracing rods fitted midway up the struts and routed across the fuselage between the front and rear struts of the two 'Z' struts.
What is not correct is that it shows a bracing rod fitted along the left and right sides of the 'Z' struts, spanning the front, centre and rear struts of each.
In reality a bracing rod was fitted across the fuselage between the rear struts, centre struts and front struts.

I've pre-rigged both 'Z' struts, which will be finally rigged once fitted to the fuselage,

 

Mike

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The engines bottom support frame is complete.
The rigging is 0.12 mm diameter mono-filament, with 0.5 mm tube and 'Gaspatch' 1:48th scale Type C turnbuckles.
The three bracing cross bars are 0.4 mm diameter tube, with twelve end brackets from twelve plates (item 43) from (‘PART’ photo-etch for Fokker Dr.1 -S32-023).
The bars have an ‘RB Motion’ Aluminium Nuts Hex 0.79mm (1281-A) at each end.

 

The struts are reinforced with solid steel rods, so careful drilling through struts was required to avoid hitting them with the drill!!

 

On this particular aircraft, the wind driven pressure pump for the fuel system was mounted on the centre cross bar.
I discard the kit supplied photo-etch item and made a pump from sprue and a propeller from the 'spares' box. 

 

Next up is to fit the engine then add the various controls and pipes to the engine, including those from the cockpit and fuselage fuel tank.

 

Mike

 

[Troy Molitor]

Wow.  That engine support mount isn’t going anywhere soon.  Looks awesome and really well built stronghold.  

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Well just for a change ----

 

The lower engine support 'Z' struts support the radiator/engine cowl and the engine itself.
When I test fitted the lower 'Z' struts into the fuselage, I found they were leaning rearwards when in fact they should be perpendicular to the fuselage.
Therefore I 'tweaked' them to correct that. 

 

A second pair of 'Z' struts are bolted to the front and rear struts and span up and forwards to attach to the underside of the upper wing, forming the central support structure.

 

 

 

I decided not to use the kit supplied upper ‘Z’ struts and replace them with struts created from micro-tube and rod, for the following reasons:
The photo-etch engine bearer plates and top of the lower engine ‘Z’ support struts have no locations for attaching the upper engine ’Z’ struts.
When test fitted into the location holes in the underside of the upper wing I found that the bottom of the struts on the two upper ‘Z’ struts were way too far rearwards and therefore not aligned with the tops of the lower ‘Z’ strut assembly, to which they should be attached (probably due to my correction of the lower 'Z' struts).
The actual upper ‘Z’ struts were made of three separate struts, not one combined assembly as provided with the kit parts.

To do this I drilled three 0.5 mm diameter holes through the lower 'Z' struts and the photo-etch engine bearer plates.
Then I created four support rods from 0.5 mm brass rod.
Finally I created four brass aerofoil sections that slid onto the support rods.
The upper wing now locates correctly onto the wing 'V' struts and the created brass struts.

 

Now I have to create the single struts that span between the top of the rear struts and the bottom of the front struts.

 

Remember - modelling is meant to be fun

 

Mike

 

 

 

[Dutch Man]

Speechless.

What a great build.

 

Robert Jan

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Thanks for the encouraging comments - for this build I need them
I made the cross struts in the same manner but the locating rods for these struts were soft soldered for strength.
A 0.5 mm diameter hole needs to be drilled into the underside of the upper to locate the top of the struts,

 

Mike

 

[DeanKB]

There is so, so much to admire in this build.

 

The amount & quality of research is absolutely outstanding. It's rarely seen, except perhaps for very well know types like the 109 or Spitfire. To see it applied here - in an obscure WWI seaplane - is inspiring.

 

The quality of the modelling is second to none, especially the ease with which dodgy - or missing altogether -  kit parts are replaced with scratch built alternatives.

 

The painting is just superb. Having to sand the fuselage down & paint in place of the decaling would have finished me off!

 

The calm, patient approach really is exemplary, I am blown away by the entire build, which as if it wasn't hard enough already, stopping to take photos, upload research, and comment is above and beyond the call of duty.

 

All I can say about HpH is thank goodness they are moving to IP kits! Their resin kits are extremely tiring to build and full of errors and omissions. I for one would have abandoned this one not long after opening the box!

 

Thanks for posting your build. I can only imagine what you can do to a reasonable injected plastic model!

[sandbagger]

Thanks Dean - very nice of you to comment that way.

In fact the Macchi is only the third resin model I've built, the other two being the 'Planet Models' DFW T.28 (Floh) and the 'HPH Models' Aviatik 'Berg' D.1.

I did a 'Wingnut Wings' Sopwith Camel conversion to a 'Sopwith Swallow' and that build did involve some resin.

 

If you click the link below it'll take you to my site. There you'll find downloadable PDF build logs of my later builds.

I create them as I build the model, much in the same way I post here.

Although it takes as long to create the build logs as it does to build the model, I think it's an easier way for modellers to find out what I did on a build, rather than having to ask on various forums.

 

Thanks again - appreciated,

 

Mike 

Edited April 17, 2020 by sandbagger