Short S.42 1912 monoplane

[Pete Fardell]

I've gnow made a Gnome. I might still decide to dirty it up a bit.
For winding, the whole thing comes off but the front part also unplugs to enable static prop fitting and thrust adjustments. The cylinders are plastic tubes wrapped in paper, but I hid a bit of lead in each one as they're a good place to hide some of the inevitable gnose-weight.

[Pete Fardell]

More progress...
Covering went well, by my standards. Tissue is, I think, almost the last of my white Esaki. I'd already run out but must've got two more sheets from somewhere. It was possibly from the stock of the late Ralph Sparrow. (Thanks, Ralph, if it was!)
Anyway, there were fewer wrinkles than usual especially after being steamed twice. Two coats of thinned non-shrinking dope applied.

It's not all been plain sailing though. I noticed the aircraft was standing too tall, and the reason was that the u/c legs weren't splayed enough. Some fairly drastic surgery rectified this, and I'm happier now (last pic). The resulting wider track will maybe help with its ground handling too?

[Pete Fardell]

Colour spraying also went okay, although my airbrush keeps losing pressure so it was all a bit stop-start. Paint is the good old Xtracolor "RFC Doped Natural Fabric" from Hannants. Rib tapes are tissue strips glued on afterwards. A light spray of clear satin acrylic varnish took the shine off.
Nearly ready for rigging now.

[g_kandylakis]

That is looking very nice, Pete!

[Prosper]

Same as wot George wrote

Stephen.

[Squirrelnet]

Yep as above... Looking very lovely

[ramses]

Beautiful Pete!

[Jmk89]

Hi Pete

What tissue did you use for the rib tapes? More Esaki?  Did you colour it?

[Pete Fardell]

Hi Pete

What tissue did you use for the rib tapes? More Esaki?  Did you colour it?

It was grey tissue from VMC but before cutting the strips I coloured it with a brown colouring pencil. I'm guessing on the colour really- the tapes show up on most of the photos of the real aircraft but are not all that dark.

[Jmk89]

Thanks for the info, Pete

[Pete Fardell]

Well I'm calling this one done. Rigging is thread, and the pilot is carved blue foam.
Weight as seen is 84g. 26g of this is the prop and dummy engine/noseblock assembly, with a lot of lead incorporated. It'll need a bit more yet I fear, but maybe it'll still be under 100g at flying weight. My Bleriot balances at about 37% chord, so I'm hoping this will utilise a similarly rearward CG.
Some pics..

[Pete Fardell]

And I couldn't resist doing a few comparison with the real McCoy shots...

[Squirrelnet]

Great model Pete and I love the comparison shots. That's looking pretty good, best of luck with the trimming. I doubt you've tried a test glide yet in our soggy windy conditions ?

[TheLurker]

Lovely.

[MKelly]

Wonderful Pete. I really enjoy your pioneer-era builds - the Bleriot in flight always makes me inexplicably happy. This looks like it will be another good one.

Cheers,

Mike