1/48 DHC-2 Beaver

[Gearup]

Hello All. I have actually  been working on the model for a period of time, albeit in fits and starts. It has been a fall of health issues within my family that have thankfully been fully resolved. I have commented on the on going work by the members (great stuff by all!), but obviously have not kept up the updates with the beaver project.

So I will catch up with the Beaver construction and challenges met.

Fraser

[Gearup]

As you may re-call earlier I had some reworks to do on the wings due to the airfoil error. Well I guess looiking at something long enough shows up some un anticipated problems. 
I had carved the fuselage with the nose as one piece. I didn't like the shape of the nose and inlet, so I made a new cowl, turned from a piece of maple. I cut the original nose off and fitted the new cowl in place. It was faired and looked pretty good. Since I turned the cowl separately I thinned out the wall of the cowl to give the inlet lip shape (smaller than the inner cowl diameter). This looked better so I pressed on to making the engine and propeller.

Well of course the engine diameter is bigger than the inlet of the cowl. I had originally planned to assemble the engine partially, install it to the model then attach the remaining cylinders. After making the engine I decided that was not going to be good idea. So i had to cut the nose off...again.

The attached pictures show the removal of the new maple nose cowl. The cut line was marked out using a pill bottle cap as a guide. I used a block of wood double taped to the inlet to provide stability to cut the nose off using a scrollsaw. It actually went very well.

I glued the engine to a black paper disk that i then dropped into the cowl and glued ithe assembly into place. I reattached the nose and faired it in again to the fuselage. Prior to this I double side taped a disc over the engine inlet to allow painting and not wrecking the engine as well.

[Gearup]

cont...
With the nose looking proper now {i hope} I reprimed the model with grey primer. Now I was ready to start putting the white down. I am a bit disappointed with the white coverage. It still wanted to look a bit grey due to the primer color underneath.  Well I kept adding more coats until it looked pretty much white.

So now I thought I would start to assemble the struts for the floats. I queried Lou about the alignment of the fuselage and floats. I tried to do it with a block and rubber bands. The problem i had was as i approached the fuselage to to mark, drill and align the struts was not working for to well for me.

I had previously  soldered up the forward "V" strut and needed a solid alignment of the parts so they could be measured and marked for fit.

I would equate the relative scale of my model assembly attempts as working on a full size aircraft trying to install the parts with a front end loader. I would bump the side and it would twist and roll on the blocks. So after a significant break, i decided to make a holding fixture for the floats and fuselage.

The picture shows what I came up with. I had a small length of 1" aluminium channel that I used as the base for the fixture. I positioned the floats on a wood block sized to fit in the channel so that could be moved fore and aft as required. The popsicle stick holds the floats to the block but will not interfere with removing the model after the struts are installed.

The vertical post has a slot that allows for vertical adjustment. The slot is wide enough to allow for a small amount of lateral movement of the horizontal bar. The horizontal bar can also be rolled to level the fuselage to the floats.The hand clamp s securely holding the fuselage in place and it can allow for a small pitch adjustment as well.

Once everything was in the proper alignment, I marked witness lines between alll the moving parts so it can be put back in the same configuration later. Yah, I know to looks like a lot of tooling around the model, but hey I really only needed the dividers and tweezers. The journey to find that out just what worked meant I tried different tools that kind of pilled up in the photo.

I also mocked up he "V" in wood to check the angles.

So i continued to fit up the struts. This aircraft has a different aft strut / step configuration . Many have a "V" style leading to the door. The problem is the bottom step is rather narrow and this other configuration is a bit easier for the walk ons to get to the door. Of course this configuration looks like a metal storage rack on the aircraft with all the longer step bars.
Fraser

[Gearup]

So, looking at the full size Beaver, the struts are not really faired and the fuselage connection is basically a fitting / fork and bolt out in the open. So I decided to attach the struts with pins into holes in the fuselage. Of course to drill the small .050" holes i wanted to use my dremel type tool. I've always used a large drill press, but I wanted something to work with on the bench. So I devised a sliding holder for the tool with a vertical bed to hold the parts to be drilled.

It works pretty good and is quite sturdy. Again it is an aluminium channel with a bracket on top to hold the tool. I cut slots in a piece of plastic cutting board that were a nice fit to the channel. I cut a groove to locate the parts to be drilled. I eventually just held them in place by hand rather than clamp them. As for the drill bit, I found after the first holes I drilled, a small centre drill was the right size and it did not wander as the jobbers drill did. Well worth using one of these centre drills for small parts and they are only a couple dollars. Plus they won't break so easily.


Well Im going to take a break for now. More details to come shortly!

Take care All.
Fraser

[lastvautour]

I found the struts to be the hardest part to do. Yours is coming along nicely. That jig is a model on itself. Nice work.
I look forward to more progress shots.


Lou

[buccfan]

Nice Job Fraser, and thank you for the detailed reports. Regards Paul J.

[Gearup]

The Beaver is nearly done! Once i have completed the display stand, I'll  post more photos of the last construction details and the finished model when ready for roll out.
Fraser

[lastvautour]

Looking forward to it. Will the Beaver be the last model of 2020 or the first of 2021.

Lou

[Gearup]

And so the Beaver is completed. The final assembly has been done and the stand for the model is completed.

I'll jump past the images of the painting as it is really just masking and stencils. Had a bit of an issue with the first prop..I made the blades too small. Oh well, popsicle sticks are cheap so I replaced the blades.

The Beaver I chose to model is the Harbour Air "Canada 150" paint scheme. This airplane was painted for the Canada 150 year celebration in 2017. It is still in this paint scheme as it really draws a lot of attention around Vancouver. It has a bigger brother, an Otter, painted the same. This airplane is also special to me as my daughter and soon to be husband chartered the plane to a secluded BC lake for their wedding engagement photos!

The photos show the  model finished now, both on and off the "stand".

It has been a fun build and it hope you enjoy the pictures.

Fraser

[Gearup]

Harbour Air Beaver "Canada 150"

[Gearup]

Harbour Air Beaver " Canada 150" on the stand. The aircraft are launched into the river from these modified trucks. Essentialy the front of a four-wheel-drive with a custom hydraulic lifting dolly. This is the fancy version:it has the roff. Some don't, but give the west cost rain, i don't think they are the favoured ones. Coolest one I saw many years ago was the front of an old Ford Torino. They were a v8 Front WD car.

The model was a basswood body and the dolly was built from 1/8 square brass tubing soldered. I turned the wheels from maple.

[Boomerang]

Fraser

Mate in a word Brilliant!. Absolutely brilliant . Love it . The trolley is a work of art in itself.

Well Done !

Cheers

Gordon

[Gearup]

Thank you Gordon. I thought it would be fun to use the beaching gear as a stand.

Actually I found a link to Harbour Air's Instagram  page and there is the engagement picture on one of their posts. https://www.instagram.com/p/BktdXpqF7Cg/?igshid=klj505dpibh0

And one of the airplane on the trolly ( beaching gear)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCG0jmYhI_O/?igshid=eu3j454xebxl

Fraser

[buccfan]

I think Gordon summed it up already, excellent job Fraser, regards Paul J.

[lastvautour]

Outstanding scheme Fraser. Masking must have been tough. An excellent addition to your collection.

Lou