1/72 RAF BE4

[Will]

Hi All,

I cut out the mainplanes and tail feathers for a 1/72 BE4 last night.  Set myself a deadline of the local placky Modellers competition in 2 weeks!  Army Aeroplane no.204 was first to (force-) land locally 100 years ago.

One week to go.  At the weekend I tried wiping sanding sealer on with paper towels to save brush cleaning - seemed to work.  Then I carved a fuselage on Monday night, reasonably happy but will need to chisel out a cockpit area, will have to "base" it on the BE1 or BE2 as I've only found 2 distant photos of the '4 (if I do any detail at all).  Wheels carved yesterday out of 2 laminates of 1/32 balsa, they're OK but the dished covers may need revisiting.  Totally blew the budget (£0.00) by buying some 1/32 brass rod for the undercarriage!  Tonight's challenge is the motor and cowling (very simplified, a la USN-ID radials probably).

All parts so far in balsa except for the 1/32 basswood rudder.  It won't be a masterpiece, but it might show the plasticators there's more than opening boxes  .

[Mark Braunlich]

Cool project Will.  Good luck with it.  I had these photos saved and while the detail isn't good, at least they're a decent size.

[Balsabasher]

Wonderful subject Will,this aeroplane has real character to it.
Barry.

[lastvautour]

Will, do you want a project board to post your projects?

Lou

Looks like you have been busy.

[Will]

Will, do you want a project board to post your projects?

Lou

Yes, please.  There's a few other early types I'd like to have a try at, once this is finished.

[lastvautour]

I passed on your request to Garet. Once set up I will move this post to your board. I am very happy to see building. If I can assist in any manner, please feel free to ask.

Lou

[lastvautour]

You are all set up for all those models you want to make. I tried finding some infor on your RAF BE4 and man there is very little info on that one. One comment that peeked my interest was that the aircraft exterior was identical to the BE3.

Lou

[Will]

Thanks for setting up my board Lou and Garet.

All parts now made up and currently being painted.  Burnt my fingers soldering up the undercarriage.  Just need to finish painting and assemble.  Hopefully it will come together in time for Wednesday evening.

I will write up more and load some photos afterwards.

Cheers
Will

[Balsabasher]

Look forward to seeing your model Will,you have obviously worked very hard to do what you have done.

Barry.

[lastvautour]

Thanks for letting us in on your BE4. I too, am looking forward to seeing your work.

Lou

[Will]

Another coat of "clear doped linen" at lunchtime at work.  Due to time constraints I've had to dredge the goop from the bottom of the tin to get reasonable covering power!



Will

[lastvautour]

Will, you had enough goop. Seeing the photos, it looks great.

Lou

[Balsabasher]

Great work Will,stretching that dope worked.
Barry.

[Will]

The next job will be fitting the undercarriage.  This is likely to need more tolerance and concentration than lunchtime at work allows.  I thought you might like to see some of the work to date.

Inspiration
A month ago the local paper's "100 Years Ago" column recorded the first landing locally of an aeroplane.  This was obviously big news as earlier columns recalled the first 'plane being seen flying over, and a local man who built a model aircraft (a twin-stick pusher flying type rather than a scale model).
The pilot and passenger had to put down due to engine trouble.  The paper said it was near a village pub, whether this helped them choose the actual field is unrecorded.

The Aircraft
The plane was no.204, the crew being Army.  I thought it would be a BE2, but a check in J.M.Bruce's "Britain's First Warplanes" at the city library (I subsequently got a copy on Amazon for one penny!) showed it to be the BE4, twin of the BE3.  The follow-on design (BE8) development of rotary-engined plane was known as "the Bloater", presumably due to its corpulence compared to the svelt BE2s, so you can imagine the BE4 is not the most beautiful aircraft.  The Putnam book of the Royal Aircraft Factory provided a drawing of the BE3 and some history.  The crew landing locally may have been lucky as 204 later crashed fatally when the all moving rudder snapped off, an early victim of metal fatigue.

Modelling the BE4
Having seen the newspaper story, I thought it would be fun to build a model for the annual competition at the local model club.  Unfortunately by the time I'd done the research there were only two weeks or so to go!
A closer look at the plans and photos showed that the fuselage was mid-mounted between the bays adding a complication to mounting.  I decided to build the model from balsa as it was to hand and I can carve it quietly in the living room alongside the rest of the family.  The parts were cut out (I glue-stick photocopies onto the wood) and given a couple of coats of sanding-sealer (needless to say that's NOT done in the living room!).


Ribbing in progress - I cut 1mm strips of sticky address labels and stuck them in place, then sealed in with a coat of cellulose dope.  Possibly the label-glue and dope didn't get on as a couple of ribs moved around or came adrift, but are now firmly stuck.


Parts primed using aerosol car paint.  The prop is carved from laminated coffee stirrers - free with free coffee from the local supermarket!  The blade shape may be a bit wide and the pitch is too fine, but it looks like a prop.  The BE3 had a two-blader but at least one photo of the BE4 shows a 4 blade.


The undercarriage was soldered up from 1/32" brass rod on this former/jig as I couldn't work out the relative angles and lengths in 3d any other way.  I still burnt my fingers holding the last member in place to stop the rest falling apart as the heat went round the earlier joints.  The tail skid was complicated on BE types, but provided steering.  Unlike the main undercart, this soldered together easily first time.


Fuselage and main planes joined together.  The struts alongside the fuselage had to be bent slightly in situ to get the two wings parallel and at right angles to the fuselage.  I know I should have used a jig to do all this but it would have got in the way of moving 2 wings, the fuselage and 12 struts all into position at the same time - a third hand might have been useful though. The rudder is 1/32" basswood, the serial is pasted on with Klear, hopefully it will snuggle down.

One day to go...
Will

[Mark Braunlich]

Looks good Will.   Nice to see someone doing models like this (1:72 biplanes).  Are you going to rig it?   I just bought some 42ga copper wire for that purpose....as small as a human hair and flexible enough to "sew" thru tiny holes.