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1:32 scale Ansaldo 'Baby'


sandbagger

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Hi all,
I'm waiting for the propeller to arrive to complete my Siemens-Schuckert D.III model.
Therefore I'm making a start on the 1:32nd scale resin model of the Ansaldo 'Baby' by 'Lukgraph'.
I'll be modelling the first 'Baby' built (Ser No: So 5005) by the SA Aeronautica Gio Ansaldo of Turin.
This aircraft was fitted with a Le Rhöne 9J rotary engine (120hp) with a circular engine cowl.

I've made a start on the 3D printed engine, which I must say is the best finish I've seen thus far from a model company.
The surface shows very little, if any, of the layer striations seen on some 3D printed model parts.
Cutting the parts from their support trees is a bit tricky and because the material is quite hard, removing the tree stubs on such small parts is difficult.

 

Mike

 

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Hi all,
The 3D printed Le Rhone 9J engine is complete.
Painted with 'Alclad' Steel lacquer and weathered using by sponging 'Tamiya' Weathering Master Burnt Blue, Gunmetal and Silver.
Complete engine washed with 'AK Interactive' Kerosene, thinned with White Spirit.
Spark plug leads twisted from 0.125 mm diameter copper wire.

 

Mike

 

engdone1.jpg 

 

engdone2.jpg   
 

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The engine (and cowl) have fine detail with no surface anomalies at all. Very good for 3D printed parts.

The tricky bit was separating the parts from their support trees then removing the residual 'stubs'.

Other than that it's a straight forward build,

 

Mike 

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Hi all,
I've been sorting out certain anomalies with the primary parts of the model.
The details will be covered in the PDF build log, but as a heads up:
The resin locating pegs for the fuselage halves cause the assembly to be misaligned, as do those to locate the wings to the fuselage and upper wing centre section. 
These pegs were removed and replaced with 0.8 mm diameter brass rod, which with the kit original steel pins provide a better joint and alignment.
Even so I found that with the wing leading edges aligned, the trailing edges were not. It seems the wing chords are slightly less than their mating faces.
Therefore some sanding of the trailing edges of the upper wing centre section and lower wing roots was required to align correctly to the wing sections.
Resin surface irregularities, such as blow holes, chips, edge delaminations and joint seams, needed to be either filled and/or sanded. 

 

The two fuselage halves have pre-moulded external linen stitching, which is not very realistic. Also the stitching at the sides of the cockpit was not present on the aircraft.
In addition, the removable rear fuselage was attached to the forward fuselage at a joint to the rear of the cockpit.
This joint has been moulded on the fuselage halves as a thick ridge, but in reality did not look like this (see the following photograph).
The joint at the fuselage sides was covered with a strip.
These details were scraped and sanded away, in preparation for being replaced with photo-etch (‘Eduard’ WW1 Stitching (EDP32228).

 

Mike

 

fusjoin.jpg  

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Hi all,
The pilot operated the ailerons on the wings by turning the pilot’s wheel on the control column.
The typical aileron control from a pilot’s wheel was effected by cables.
The control column would be fitted with two cable pulleys, one from the wheel and located on the top of the control column and a second pulley located at the bottom of the control column.
The aileron control cable run was routed around the top pulley then down to the bottom pulley, where the cable run was crossed.
From the bottom pulley the cables were routed out of the cockpit and through the lower wings to their respective ailerons. 

 

Unfortunately these pulleys are not supplied in the model kit, so had to be made.
Each pulley is a 2.5 mm diameter disc, cut from 0.5 mm thick plastic card, and sandwiched between two 3.5 mm diameter discs.
These represent the basic 'grooved' pulleys, around which the aileron control cable run will be routed,

 

Mike

 

cockpit5.jpg  

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Hi all,
The fuselage halves had two pre-moulded resin location pegs only and when the fuselage halves were located together, the pegs did not align correctly.
Also, as noted by 'PrzemoL' during his build of the Sopwith 'Baby, once the cockpit if fitted and the fuselage closed up, the fuselage seam will be seen from inside the cockpit.
Therefore I decided to sand away the resin location pegs and drill three 0.9 mm holes into one fuselage half, then fitted 0.8 mm brass location rods.
To align the rest of the fuselage halves I added short strips of 0.8 mm thick plastic card to the fuselage half, in positions that would not interfere with the cockpit fit.
Finally to hide the fuselage seam and to add to fuselage halves alignment, I cut and profiled a single piece of 0.8 mm thick plastic card, which was secured to the cockpit floor area of the fuselage half.
The result is a much better alignment of the fuselage halves wih the seam below the cockpit hidden,

 

Mike

 

fus1.jpg  

 

fus2.jpg  

 

fus3.jpg  

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Hi all,
The inside of each fuselage half has been painted and side frame outlines added with oil paint.
The frame cross bracing is 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament with 0.4 mm Nickel-Silver tube and 'GasPatch' 1:48th scale resin turnbuckles.
The bracing still needs painting of the tubes and turnbuckles,

 

Mike

 

frameshade2.jpg  


cockpit8.jpg  

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Hi all,
The basic cockpit assembly is ready to be fitted into the fuselage.
Control wires are 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament, cross bracing 0.12 mm diameter mono-filament.
Turnbuckles are the 1:48th scale resin versions from 'GasPatch'.
All tube work is either 0.4 mm or 0.5 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tube.
Seat belts were replaced with spare Sopwith F.1 Camel kit from 'Wingnut Wings'.
Fuel tank pipe and throttle control rod are 0.4 mm tube.
Aileron control line pulleys scratched from cut plastic card discs, with spacer discs to allow the control line to be able to wrap around them.
Seat cushion made from 'Milliput',

 

Mike

 

cockpit19.jpg  

 

cockpit20.jpg  

 

cockpit21.jpg  

 

cockpit22.jpg  

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On 8/9/2020 at 7:09 PM, scvrobeson said:

Excellent.  Taking notes on this one.  Have to figure the Sopwith Baby shouldn't be too different except for around the engine and cowling.

 

 

 

Matt 

 

Hi Matt,

Yeah apart from the cowl and forward fuselage, they're pretty much the same.

Take a look also at 'PrzemoL's' Sopwith build:

 

https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=10753.0

 

Mike

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5 hours ago, scvrobeson said:

I saw that build on there. It does look like an excellent kit.  Going to be a tough decision between the Lukgraph one and the forthcoming CSM one.

 

 

 

Matt 

 

Yeah, but I think anyone thinking of the aircraft in this scale may wait for the CSM version.

It'll be injection styrene, not resin, so easier to work with and also cheaper - we'll see.

I just think it's a pity that two companies go for the same aircraft in the same scale.

We've seen this before:

CSM and WNW and the Hansa-Brandenberg D.1 'Strutter'.

WNW and HK Models with the Lancaster.

There are so many other worthy aircraft that could be considered in what is after all, a niche market,

 

Mike 

Edited by sandbagger
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