Silver Wings Gauntlet II

[LSP_Kevin]

Love what you're doing on this one, Max.

 

Kev

[mozart]

Thanks Kev. The kit is presenting many new challenges for me which I’m really enjoying trying to solve! 

[dennismcc]

That's a real work of art, the various finishes look really goiod.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[thierry laurent]

This is nicely taking shape...

[mozart]

Been a while (busy on the golf courses!) but it's finally time to address the elephant in the room.....the engine and its exhaust ports!  You'll remember the Silver Wings ones were too short and didn't quite reach the collector ring so I cut them off.  Since then I've given shed loads of thought and several "experiments" with different materials  including wire, resin, plastic and brass tube in order to solve the best way of replicating the distinctive appearance of the Gauntlet nose:

 

 

I finally settled on 1.6mm plastic rod, having first fixed the engine in its position in the engine cowling.  Only by firstly doing this could I determine the length of each piece of rod, it worked out at approximately 4.5mm, but it did vary slightly.  18 of these were required, final result isn't perfect but looks ok to my (only slightly jaundiced) eyes!

 

 

All that remained then was the tripod arrangement in 3 positions around the engine/cowling:

 

 

It all looks quite business-like, I'm looking forward to getting this onto the front end of the fuselage, hopefully on Wednesday.

[europapete]

Well done Max! that looks great.

[Archimedes]

What was that sound that was like a bag of spanners hitting the floor? Well, that would be my jaw dropping. Wow Max! That is really great work on your Gauntlet. I particularly admire the work on the engine. Well done Sir!

 

Best regards,

Paul

Edited October 4, 2022 by Archimedes
Typo

[mozart]

Although it looked "OK", I wasn't 100% happy with the engine/cowling unit, so I "deconstructed" it!! One of the inherent problems with the assembly is that the outer circumference of the engine block over the cylinder heads is smaller than the inner circumference of the cowling......there's an awkward gap!  To fix the exhaust port pipes a couple of days ago I put lumps of Blu-Tak behind the cylinder heads to hold it all steady, but today I decided to take it all to pieces and start again.  

 

A couple of reason for this:  firstly I'd glued the oil drain unit back to front (no guidance on this in the instructions) but the front end should look like this:

 

 

Then studying the few available front end pictures I decided the supporting "tripod" arrangement was wrong, the rear two stays needed to be further back on the engine block and the front stays vertical rather than angled forward (as seen on Gladiators):

 

 

And finally I think I can make a better job of the pipes now that I know what I'm doing!  "Progress" today, amended tripods and drain sump:

 

 

The "backside" with that gap!  I mixed up some epoxy and whacked it in the spaces, though the tripods also served their purpose in securing the engine to the cowling:

 

 

Letting the epoxy dry supported by some sanding blocks:

 

 

Looking for good pictures never stops, they're getting harder to find but one or two excellent ones here:

 

 

 

 

 

[Archimedes]

You are doing sterling work on the engine Max! When I compare the first picture of the real thing with the last picture of your engine the attention to detail you have shown is evident. Great work and keep it up! I am really looking forward to seeing this one done. 

 

Kind regards,

Paul

[Fanes]

I'm running out of compliments here, Max!

I really like your approach building with attention to detail and the readiness to take all things apart to get closer to the real thing.

Whenever I feel confident to tackle my own Gauntlet, your build will be my reference.

[mozart]

Now here's a thing, some might say, of beauty!   Second iteration of the engine completed and the prop plus spinner finished in Bare Metal Foil:

 

 

I couldn't resist temporarily putting the engine unit onto the fuselage, not even correctly orientated but you get the drift.

 

Hoping to do the empennage tomorrow but getting worried about the replacement struts, still seemingly languishing in the Polish postal system....been a week now!

[geedubelyer]

Looking cool Max. 

Is it the lighting or does some of the fuselage look a little yellow?

 

That whole engine,  cowling and prop are superb 

 

Looking forward to the next exciting update.  

[mozart]

Low sun evening lighting Guy. 

[jbrennan]

2 hours ago, MARU5137 said:

STUNNING.it is  a thing  of BEAUTY indeed.

     

Your photographs  gives the fuselage and engine a look of iridescence. 

IMPRESSIVE  work  Max.

 

It gives a superb glow about it.

Kudos Sir.

Yes but you could have done the latter MkII tree bladed prop ! Sorry I joke Mozart it literally is a thing of beauty I only wish I had your patience and skill to achieve what you have done here. Modelling to a new level ! 

[Archimedes]

That is really impressive work Max!

 

How did you do the shading on the collector ring? That is the best I have seen when I compare that to the real thing. My only piece of constructive feedback would be that I’d suggest just knocking back the panel shading on the fuselage a touch and it will be perfect. The whole thing is a hair away from looking like a real one.  Really phenomenal.

 

Kind regards,
Paul