DH 82A Tiger Moth S Rhodesia 1943

[LSP_Kevin]

Expert progress, Max! And great inspiration for my own build, too.

 

Kev

[mozart]

Still working on the back end!!  Playing around with the design of the metal "shield" between the fuselage and tail fin, I drew out what I thought was about right:

 

 

and that proved to be just about ok, so I thought I'd try cutting it on the Silhouette using lead foil....worked perfectly!  The settings I used are shown above.

 

 

and with a bit of fettling:

 

 

 

 

The final, final part of the tail area concerns the support bars between the leading edges of the tail plane and the fuselage:

 

 

Problem 1: identifying the parts, given that some of the undercarriage struts are very similar, and 2:  they are too short:

 

 

 

or more specifically, the resin parts are.  I have several options to rectify this, time to mull it over!! 

Edited October 6, 2020 by mozart

[mozart]

Probably the easiest solution; I'm going to use the supplied support arms and add a further section of Milliput or similar to cover the wire, this will give me the necessary flattened section which is then bolted either end.....that's the theory! 

 

[Alain Gadbois]

Very good solution to make the "shield".

Maybe I look at your reference pictures too attentively, but I wonder why the shield strips go down much lower on the left side of the fuselage compared to the right?

Hard to tell if the two photos are of the same aircraft of course, so there could be variations...

 

Alain

[mozart]

And there you’ve hit the nail on the head Alain, they are different Tiger Moths! When you look closely there are lots of subtle variations between them. 

[mozart]

Not my best piece of work ever, but it will do for the support bars with added nuts!! 

 

 

That wraps up the tail end, on to the wings next.

[mozart]

Hmmm, the lower wings are going to be challenging, the more so since their correct alignment and dihedral will directly affect the upper wing and hence the overall "look" of the aeroplane.  The instructions are simplistically vague:

 

 

The problem starts with the small spigot on the wing which is supposed to align with a boss on the fuselage:

 

 

but I think the boss is too thick for the wing to mate with the fuselage, and the spigot inadequate in depth:

 

 

 

 

The leading edge of the lower wing has to have a sweep back of 9 deg (which it isn't in this pic!)

 

 

and the link between the bracket on the fuselage and the mating part on the wing needs a spacer.  So the wing only interfaces directly with the fuselage on the front half (roughly), the lower half gradually dropping below fuselage level:

 

 

Should be an interesting hour or two coming up! 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by mozart

[Alain Gadbois]

Interesting for sure, and there isn't much for the lower wings to hold onto the fuselage! 

This model will require very gentle handling when those wings are attached.

 

Alain

[mozart]

57 minutes ago, Alain Gadbois said:

Interesting for sure, and there isn't much for the lower wings to hold onto the fuselage! 

This model will require very gentle handling when those wings are attached.

 

Alain

Slightly worrying Alain isn't it, that's the reason why I'm taking a lot of trial and error fitting not to mention cogitation to get this as right and as robust as possible!  So I've drilled out the wing and fuselage and inserted a piece of rod into the wing.  The aft brackets now line up well, I may well pin these for extra strength:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by mozart

[LSP_Kevin]

Love it, Max! It's making me think a little bit about how - if at all - I can improve the look and accuracy of the Matchbox wings.

 

Kev

[mozart]

Well it’s all good fun Kev isn’t it! 

[LSP_Kevin]

32 minutes ago, mozart said:

Well it’s all good fun Kev isn’t it! 

 

Apparently so!

 

Kev

[Chek]

Looks like you have the space to epoxy another couple of invisible brass rods aft of the 'authentic' one to beef up the strength of the attachment there, Max.

[mozart]

Yes I think are a few ways to make the arrangement sturdier, though the photo below shows just how little "contact" there is 'twixt wings and fuselage, this is replicated on the kit:

 

And another key photograph at this stage of the build before the lower wings are fixed, the entry/exit points for the aileron control wires which I'll be drilling out shortly:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 9, 2020 by mozart

[mozart]

Lower wings are on!!  I wasn't particularly looking forward to this job, but it was surprisingly easy and trouble free, all aligned well and hopefully at the correct angles of dihedral and rake......or thereabouts!  And, fortunately, secure though I plan to pin the aft brackets tomorrow.  Praise for SW, they certainly have got the geometry of this part spot on (after my modifications!  )