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STATUS REPORTS! ALL HANDS REPORT! :o
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Sorry I'm late Gents...
B-25B completed and delivered to my granddaughter. She wants another bomber for her next plane. Started work on B-25 for me. This one will have plenty of pics and will be the gunship type.
Ken Pugh
Well it has been a busy month with plenty of painting to do to pull models together to the completion stage,this past week I have been hand painting markings every day in order to get some pictures ready for the 2011 models section,you know what they say 80% finished with 100 % to go ! and that is so true the carving is nothing compared to the preparation and making them into neat models with the final results.
My plan for the immediate future is as follows-
1/ Complete markings and paintwork on the 'greys' currently on the workbench.
2/ Plan is in preparation for the long distance record cook up,my choice is the diminutive Comper Swift,thank you to Mark for the wonderful choice of drawings that he has kindly sent me.
3/ Templates have been cut for a Chrislea Super Ace to 1=27th scale.
4/ Templates have been cut for a Bell Airacobra to 1=27th scale.
5/ A commission model for a Heath Parasol is on the books,a plan will need to be drawn up as nothing appears available ?
6/ Work starts soon in making the booms for my 1 to 1 Tawney Owl,the wings were removed today and the fuselage pod swivelled around in my workshop all ready for work on those booms and fitting them,everything is on schedule the winter lay up has proved that the 50 year old tyres have held their pressure,and pusher propeller will need to be carved.
So enough to keep me busy and out of any mischief for the next month at least,over and out.
Barry the Balsabasher.
The painting of the 1:72 Strombecker P-80A should be completed this weekend. The making of the decals is, shall we say, in an experimental stage.
The 1:72 Fairey IIID for the Long Distance Flights cookup needs ribbing of the top wing and the making of many struts before painting. Pictures soon over on my board.
Barry,
Regarding your Heath Parasol project, I've done quite a bit of information collecting for a flying model project. Some findings; there were five basic versions, not counting the hundreds of one-off modifications. They are:
1. Heath Parasol (late 1926-mid 1928) factory or home-built with Thomas Morse S4C lower wings as the main planes.
2. Heath Super Parasol, new Clark Y wing (mid 1928-1930), mostly home-built, various engines
3. Heath V-Strut (or Model V) Parasol (intro. late 1930), featured in Popular Aviation series starting 12/30, Heath B-4 engine.
4. Heath LNB-4 Parasol, (ATC 456 issued late 1931), Henderson-Heath B-4 powered
5. Heath LNA-40 Parasol, (ATC 487 issued 1932), Continental A-40 powered
Of these, Ed Heath had involvement only with the first three. The company's founder was killed in a crash in early 1931 and the certified Parasols were the products of a reincarnation of the Heath enterprise formed in Niles, Michigan. The LNB-4 and LNA-40 are bigger and heavier airplanes.
I have 3-views of versions 1 thru 4 and #5 is basically the same as #4 but with different engine.
Mark
Not much for April so far. The Beaufort and Super Sabre are coming along. The wing to fuselage fillets have been stalled on the Argus until I go down to the museum and get some detailed photos. The weather is suppose to improve later next week.
Lou
Mark this one is G-AFZE with a Bristol Cherub engine and built in 1939,I would love to have a plan to start building this project,the wings are Clark Y parrallel chord.
Barry.
I think Paul Matt did a drawing of the Heath LNB-4 that might be useful. I don't have a scan of that one though.
dave_t and Barry,
G-AFZE is a modified Model V Parasol based on the single photo I have of it. Barry, I sent you a Heath Company 3-view of the Model V. Please let me know the original colours if you know them.
Cheers,
Mark
It looks like it went through some changes along the way...
http://www.abpic.co.uk/search.php?q=G-AFZE&u=reg&sort=reg_z_a (http://www.abpic.co.uk/search.php?q=G-AFZE&u=reg&sort=reg_z_a)
http://www.laa-archive.org.uk/results.php?q=G-AFZE&fields=reg&page=0&sort=laatypeno_0_9&ft=&limit=10 (http://www.laa-archive.org.uk/results.php?q=G-AFZE&fields=reg&page=0&sort=laatypeno_0_9&ft=&limit=10)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwhitworth/5505801574/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwhitworth/5505801574/)
Nice pictures Dave. The Flickr photo (1951) shows it with a 22hp Blackburn Tomtit engine. I have another photo of it with that long nose in a book published in 1958. It would make a nice flying model with that long nose IF we knew the colors. Owner is said to be F. G. Lowe in the caption of the photo I have. The wingtip shape is definitely non-standard Heath and much more blunt shaped in plan view. Some of the photos show non-standard tail shapes as well.
Mark I have it on good authority that it was overall silver with a red nose and black registration letters,it would make a very attractive model in its many forms.
Barry.
The last owner was the colourful character the late K.C.D.St Cyrien,he was responsible for rebuilding a Sopwith Pup G-APUP now in the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton,plus making two Bleriot monoplanes,one of the later was rebuilt by the Shuttleworth Trust many years ago,when he passed away the Heath Parasol aeroplane vanished and has never been seen since ? who knows one day it may come to light.
Barry.
Thank you very much Ken. I tried the spinning plastic disc to make my props look better. The Dremel tool worked well.
Lou
1st photo Clear plastic disc
2nd photo Frosted disc spinning after using 150 grit paper
3rd photo Frosted disc standing still. Not much difference between 2nd and 3rd photo
4th photo Placement trial.
Now that does look effective,I must give this a try myself,the Beaufort is coming along nicely Lou.
Barry.
That's the trick, right there. Looks good, Lou.
Ken Pugh
April 2011 Ping:
This month, I'm helping my three children with their pinewood derby cars:
7-year old's car is complete (his race was a few weeks ago)
9-year old daughter, and 11-year old son's cars have their first coat of paint. The race is only six days away.
My daughter (she's not in Boy Scouts, but attends every meeting and wanted to build a car) is working on a scale model Smart Car. I did the initial shaping, but she did all of the final shaping and sanding. We used an airbrush to put her custom blue paint on last night. We used Delta Ceramcoat craft paint thinned with Wagner Paint Easy -- this worked really well. That was the first time I've airbrushed a model with craft paint.
My son's car is painted with Krylon gloss white. He plans on a gold-colored canopy (he liked the look of my VKA-23 spaceplane).
I've been cleaning out old jars of hardened Future, paint, etc. The small plastic jars I use seem to be fine for acrylics, but lacquers dry out after a few years. I used lacquer thinner to bring those back to life, though. I also transferred my automotive spot compound (nitrocellulose putty) to several jars -- the tube developed a crack and the putty was starting to harden. I found lacquer thinner can be used to thin the putty.
I also prepared several flip-top dropper bottles of helpful liquids:
honing oil
alcohol
water
acetone
lacquer thinner
I need to make another containing the Paint Easy paint additive. The Model Master thinner is already in a large dropper bottle.
I need to make a holder for my airbrush to use when I need to put down the airbrush. I use a paint cup rather than a bottle, so it doesn't stand up on its own.
Garet
Let's have some pictures of the Derby cars.
Lou
They sound like real fun,bring them on Garet.
Barry.
I've taken a few photos of the cars under construction and will upload them this week. And, hopefully, I can post photos of the finished cars sometime after that ;)
Garet
Barry, I have seen those commercial here also. To the first to try the frog tape, please let everyone know if it works as advertised.
Lou
You have to check this guy out. A Michaelangelo is an understatement.
Lou
Frog tape work well however pending more experimentation. I am cautiously optimistic.
Not having anywhere else to put this, I played around with a paper hangar found on line. There are others and this one is intended for 1/144 scale, however due to my lack of heavy bond paper it was done at about 1/300 scale. I posed it with my 1/144 Kittyhawk. I await the purchase of heavier paper.
Lou
That is a neat little hangar Lou,can you please give us the link to download the patterns ? thank you.
Barry
Barry, this is one site.
http://www.tomtom-net.de/resources/cardmodel/hangar/hangar_f.htm
Lou
I think this is the hangar, along with a control tower and other buildings- http://kampfgruppe144.com/downloads_All_00.htm (http://kampfgruppe144.com/downloads_All_00.htm)
Thank you Dave. I had lost that link. I will place it in the link post.
Lou
I posted a link a while back for model builder software. It's a really easy to use program for designing card model buildings. You can choose any scale you want even custom scales. I believe the link is in the pilots lounge. It could easily be used for sesigning entire airports.
Lou, I haven't finished the P-40 yet. I have fallen into the age old modelers curse of working on multible projects at the same time. The P-40, a basswood towboat kit, Klings racer from the plan on this site. I've also purchased basswood egg from Michaels Craft store I'm thinking of using as a starting point for the Space Ranger plan in the file section.
Peter
Peter, as long as it makes you happy, do it. We await your results.
Lou