Silver Wings Gauntlet II

[Archimedes]

Really super work Max! I very much admire how neat your rigging looks! Nice to see you closing in on completion!

 

Best regards,

Paul

[mozart]

Work on the Gauntlet continues but nothing worth photographing at the moment, but here are a few sad pictures:

 

 

A camouflaged Gauntlet of 17 Squadron based at Kenley, South London.  It was coming in to land, side slipping as it did so, and suddenly stalled.  The pilot fortunately survived but K5359 was not surprisingly written off! 

[mozart]

Checking references, as one does, and a little bit of a conundrum has come up.  This photograph of the only surviving Gauntlet in the world shows side to side bracing wires under the top wing centre section:

 

 

also just visible here:

 

 

but then this aircraft doesn't have the Bristol Mercury engine, nor the associated large external oil cooler on the top of the for'd fuselage.  

 

Trying to solve this using period photographs is difficult because none is quite clear enough, but the position of that oil cooler to my mind makes the existence of those wires highly improbable:

 

 

 

I think I can account for each of the wires visible in these "confusing" shots, so these wires are NOT going in on my Gauntlet!

 

 

The Silver Wings instructions are rather vague! 

Edited December 23, 2022 by mozart

[mozart]

Ok, so after extensive research it appears those bracing wires were there. In a moment of serendipity I had a little “incident” with the top wing centre section which ended up with its (temporary) removal.  Not a catastrophe but allowing me the chance to put these wires in, and to correct the gunsight arrangement. 

[Out2gtcha]

Very cool Max! 

 

The wheels do look a bit odd when compared to other planes with the very square profile. 

[mozart]

57 minutes ago, Out2gtcha said:

Very cool Max! 

 

The wheels do look a bit odd when compared to other planes with the very square profile. 

Nothing I plan to do about that Brian, never occurred to me. 

[mozart]

I've been struggling to understand the exact arrangement of these gunsights:

 

 

so this was my interpretation:

 

 

but Christopher over on iModeller posted this:

 

.....which started to make a lot more sense of the top photograph.  A little more research revealed:

 

 

Love it when something comes together like this!  So the present (and future) arrangements this:

 

 

This is going to be such a busy area because I've got to fit in those bloody bracing wires which I thought weren't there as well as the (refitted) cabane struts and their associated longitudinal bracing wires!  Biplanes.....ggrrrrr! 

 

 

 

[mozart]

You’re very welcome Maru…….glad you found it edifying! 

[LSP_Kevin]

Nice discovery, Max - and makes perfect sense! Good work, too.

 

Kev

[Fanes]

Good find a nice fix!
May I aks a (maybe stupid) question, since the center wing section is now off again:

What's the idea behind fitting the center section first and then installing the wings itself later?

In my mind fitting all the top wing parts together and then installing them on the struts seemed easier.
 

[mozart]

Not a stupid question at all Joachim, I’m trying to make fitting the top wings more manageable so that I “only” have to locate four struts at a time instead of twelve (3x4) if I do the whole top wing in one go. There’s also the question of getting the correct dihedral on the top wing if it’s assembled on the bench in one piece, and having easy access to fit the side bracing wires. 
 

I’m not 100% certain about doing it “centre section first” though, the jury is still out! 

[jbrennan]

On 10/30/2022 at 6:48 PM, mozart said:

Work on the Gauntlet continues but nothing worth photographing at the moment, but here are a few sad pictures:

 

 

A camouflaged Gauntlet of 17 Squadron based at Kenley, South London.  It was coming in to land, side slipping as it did so, and suddenly stalled.  The pilot fortunately survived but K5359 was not surprisingly written off! 

The pilot was incredibly lucky then. Interesting pictures of a pre-war (just) camouflaged Gauntlet though. 

Regards

jon 

[mozart]

So true Jon! 
 

The die is cast:

 

 

The base of some of the struts will need a bit of work once the rigging is complete, the fit’s not great. So the plan is tomorrow the port top goes on…..squeaky bum time. Bit of a compromise with the “under centre section” bracing wires, the front ones were easy but I cannot for the life of me see how to wangle fitting the rear ones with the oil cooler extending up to the centre line and the gunsights in place…..so I’ve not even tried to include them! 

Edited December 23, 2022 by mozart

[Oldbaldguy]

I think the root cause of your issue with the rigging around the cabane struts is the size of the radiator.  From looking at the available photos, I’d opine that the top edge of the radiator does not extend as far as the centerline of the fuselage but stops more or less even with the windscreen frame on that side, leaving enough real estate in the 1:1 airplane for all the widgets and gizmos to pass through the sheet metal there.  I easily could be wrong, but that’s the way it looks to me.

[mozart]

That’s pretty much the conclusion that I had come to OBG, over-sized radiator.  I didn’t think it was worth disturbing all that’s in that congested area just to get a couple of minor bracing wires in though.