KiwiZac Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Hi all, Seven months ago I decided to scratchbuild a model of a Skycraft Scout microlight, inspired by Jonathan Mauchline's (chief flying instructor at my local aero club) resurrection of Mk.III ZK-RWW. When I saw how simple the real deal was I figured it wouldn't be that hard to build my own in scale... I started with a three-view drawing from the internet, suitably scaled to 1/48 (chosen because I found a seat so scaled in my spares that looked about right) and printed off to act as an assembly guide. From there it was a matter of cutting strips from corrugated styrene sheet for the wing spars and ribs, and using a rectangular section of scrap styrene for the fuselage keel. I then hunted through 30yr of spare parts for various elements I couldn't make myself - wheels and prop chief among them - and other parts that could be combined for elements such as the distinctive tapered tuned exhaust. For the wings and control surfaces I decided to roughly approximate the real deal by laying down a sheet of thin clear styrene, adding the spar and ribs, and then a top sheet of clear styrene. Originally I smothered the inside face of each wing sheet but this resulted in slight warping. I tried to fix this with hot water and a couple of books but the result was an even more warped and shrunken pair of wings. Disheartened, I put the assembled fuselage with tail and other parts aside while I focused on other projects. I then replicated the original wing idea minus the excess glue, ie only applying glue to the ribs. This means a non-prototypical open trailing edge but a much nicer appearance. When rigging a 1/1 scale Scout someone of my height can just fit under the wingtips - it turns out Humbrol tinlets are perfect for the job in this scale! I reckon rigging RWW for flight takes about half as long as it did for this model. The elastic is overscale but I feel captures the look well. Add the prop (cut down from a Fokker Dr.I) and distinctive motorbike fuel tank (in this case a blister from...something. Fw190?) and voila! Mini-RWW! I was dropping off a commissioned model at the airport this afternoon so figured there was no time like the present to reveal my secret project to an unsuspecting Jonny, who had been out Austering. He was floored and rather taken by the model, which was a very humbling reaction. He has recently returned to the hobby himself and made a couple of display bases for 1/72 WW2 fighters, one of which he quickly evicted so it could be repurposed! Now to figure out a way to display the two ZK-RWWs together...and find a come-back for those smart alecks who immediately say "Well you have to build the other two he owns..."!! daveculp, denders, Phantom2 and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LSP_Kevin Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 Excellent work, Zac! Kev KiwiZac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrish Posted January 30, 2023 Share Posted January 30, 2023 That’s a thing of beauty! intricate work! I once did a Lindbergh Line 1/48 deperdussin, couldn’t find anything “to scale” to rig it with that looked right until I came across my wife’s lost hair…hers is about 24” long and I have none…anyway… I rigged my deperdussin with long blonde hair…even made the wheel spokes with it. retasking so to speak Oldbaldguy and KiwiZac 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archimedes Posted January 31, 2023 Share Posted January 31, 2023 Phenomenal! Clearly the scout is a modern interpretation of a Demoiselle. Great scratchbuild! Kind regards, Paul KiwiZac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiwiZac Posted February 1, 2023 Author Share Posted February 1, 2023 Thanks folks, your words mean a lot! Paul - it even has wingwarping! It's truly a delight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Barry Posted February 5, 2023 Share Posted February 5, 2023 Yea! Scratch! Way to go. KiwiZac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now