Sopwith Batboat

[g_kandylakis]

Thanks John, Konrad...

K, you are right in a sense, there is a considerable amount of specialisation that was accumulated over many years, so that helps in that direction, but for similarily sized models only, of course.

As an example, it became necessary to drill some tiny 0,4mm holes in a hard to reach place.

I do most of my drilling with carbide drill bits, have quite a set of them, from 0,1 to 4,0mm in 0,1mm increments. Plus some in 0,05mm increments,

But the 1/8" shaft was too thick for this application, plus the carbide bits brake very easily, zero bending tolerance.

So, I did my own 0,3 and 0,4mm drils, broke the ends clear and glued them to piano wire extensions with 0,5/0,3 mm aluminium tube lengths (0,6-0,4mm for the 0,4mm). Some CA and I had a long flexible drill. Took some time and patience to drill the plastic parts I wanted to, but it worked in the end.

[g_kandylakis]

A fine task, but this is not always the case. Some time it can get pretty un-elegant.

For example, a wing panel somehow got quite distorted after painting. No gentle spraying or treating it carefully. Under the fauchet it went for a bath. When completely soaked it was pined to a flat balsa base to dry.

I use the same delicate application of water for my pre-shrinking...

[g_kandylakis]

I mentioned masking the wings for the rigging painting in my previous post. Here is the masking and why I did it.

No amount of care can prevent a mess-up. A paint loaded paintbrush only needs to slightly move out of the rigging and you have paint droplets flying everywhere. Were it not for the masks...

[g_kandylakis]

Coming futher along, aileron control cables.

A solid base was made to place the model nose down, 20gr. weights were hanged to get even tension on all 4 aileron pull cables and when sure everything was aligned, tiny amounts of CA to finalise the "cables". The outer cables were done later at a lower tension to avoid distorting the first ones.

An immediate test afterwards showed a very responsive aileron control. It helps to have the parts moving as freely as possible. The pull-pull system worked well.

Next, no photos yet, the tail assembly.

George

[OZPAF]

That's a dedicated approach George - from extended small drills, masks for rigging painting and working aileron pull control cables.

Top marks for effort and a clever practical approach.

John

[g_kandylakis]

Thanks John,

a few days later and it finally is in one piece, ready for test flying. Just a quick photo for now.

Weight will be slightly under 80 grams giving a wing loading of about 8,3 gr/dm2. I was hoping for 8,0 but that will do too. The balance point seems to be ok and I can still move the battery around a bit.


Still to do for the model,
dummy engine
pilot and seat
some minor decorative rigging and painting

George