Topic: Clives Strutter Build

Once the stain had dried I fitted the front of the dummy tank. Once I'd got the tank in place I was able to fit the next former(the centre one in last shot)

Tomorrow I move on to building the pilots seat and some of the cockpit detail.

Clive

Here you go Alan, this is a picture of the tin for the stain I'm using. Needs 4 hours between coats but I find the first coat is usually dry within an hour.

Clive

Those seat rails............ do they support anything other than the seat as they appear to be ply?  Seems a bit OTT and heavy for a seat    other than that.......... woow love it 

Hi Norfolk'n'Good ( you got to have a shorter name than that, takes me ages to type it )

The seat rails are spruce. The seat is removable on the plan, it will be held with 4 small Mick Reeves 000 screws.  So you can get to the batteries. As I will also be fitting an on board glow driver for the Laser I will also need access to that (battery) as well.

My thoughts were that anything less than spruce would probably fail after loosening and tightening the screws a few times, particularly with my lumps of meat going in and out of there (I'm not renowned for my finesse ).

Clive

Hi Clive

I thought you would probably have a good reason after seeing your weight saving and quality of build 

Shaun

I started work on the pilots seat today.

It has taken me most of the day to cut the base from thin ply and make a cardboard template for use in cutting the seat back.

The longest job was to get the template the correct shape and work out all the angles so when bent around the base it forms the correct shape with the correct amount of rake. I must have worked through several ? worth of card to get this right.

The next job will be to cut the back from very thin ply and then pre bend it prior to joining it to the base.

The picture shows the base at the bottom and the card template above.

Clive

Thanks for the info on the stain - a trip to B&Q is called for I reckon.

The longest job was to get the template the correct shape and work out all the angles so when bent around the base it forms the correct shape with the correct amount of rake. I must have worked through several ? worth of card to get this right.

Been there, done that albeit at 1/3 scale!



If it's any help, my seat parts were cut from 1/32 ply and Cyano'd together.   The beading is the edge of some soft 1/8 balsa sanded to a half round section, trimmed from the sheet and then Cyano'd to the seat back.    As the balsa was soft it readily followed the complex curves.

Alan

Hi Alan, Thank you that info on the seat is really useful  . I'll store it away in the filling system for the next one I build. I managed to cut the 1/64th ply with my template and cyno it to the seat.

I'll post some pics later.

Clive

This is where I have got to with the seat.

After cutting the base from ply and working for some time on a card template for the back (think I used up a forests worth getting the correct shape) I cut the back from 1/32 ply.

The full size has a rolled edge around top. I decided to try out slitting the outer insulation on some very thin electrical cable and pushing it over the edge of the ply then used cyno to hold it in place.

I then put the first coat of grey on.

In the morning I'll put the second coat and a clear coat on and fix it in place and make the cushion.

Clive

Looks good Clive - more than one way to skin a cat! (Oh, is that PC?)

Alan

Well, finished the seat and fitted it. I'm not happy with the seat cushion, it didn't turn out quite as I wanted  so I will probably redo this but not until later in the build.

I have also painted the elevator actuation bar satin black.

Clive

Next on the agenda is to make and fit the dummy fuel tank front and rear. These hide the view of the servos from both cockpits.

I was going to make this out of litho plate but on weighing the litho and comparing it to medium thickness card the card won as it is about half the weight. Mick suggests making it from card on the plan (should of just done what Mick did.

Clive

Depending on what thickness your litho plate is.
I have some 0.15mm  thick which only weighs 370g/m2 (grammes per square metre) against card at 330g/m2
give me a shout if you want some.
Martyn

OK, I know I said that I wasn't going to re do the cushion on the pilots seat until later in the build but having thought about it for a while I decided to do it now.
I think the "tweak"is an improvement on the first version as it makes the cushion look deeper as per the full size.

What I want to do now is find a way of putting upholstery buttons on the cushion. I thought of using small pins but the heads are to small and don't look realistic. I think its off to the local hardware store tomorrow to see if they have something that will let me do the job.

Clive

I've managed to find some pins from picture hanging hooks that look like the correct size for the seat buttons. Unfortunately, we had a blizzard here on Saturday  >:(so I've been clearing snow from the road and drive and haven't had time to get in the workshop.

I'll get back to it tomorrow and post some pics of how it worked out.

Clive

I finally managed to sort out the seat buttons

I used brass pins from picture hanging hooks and painted them with Humbol enamel.

Clive

I'm not going to have much time to do any more until after the Christmas break . I have to go visit my mother in law on the Isle of Wight .

I couldn't resist putting it all together before I go and thought you might like to see some pics.

A Happy and Merry Christmas to you all.

Clive

Hope you all had a great xmas and new year.

OK, xmas presents bought, rapped (two days work), given to the kids (10 mins work) and ripped open and discarded in 0.5 seconds (sure I at least played with my presents for a day ). Eaten and drunk too much , cleaned the house, did the new year thing, cleaned the house again, kids back at school today. So, I can finally get back to the workshop .

Will post some pics on progress soon.

Clive

OK, on with the build.

The next thing to tackle are the two wheels in the cockpit.

The one on the port side is to adjust / deploy the flaps/airbrakes (not sure what I should call them, in my mind if they go up they are air brakes and if the go down they are flaps but perhaps someone has a more defined view?).

I turned the rim of the wheel from brass and soft soldered the X bars to the rim. I then turned the pulley from aluminium and mounted it all on a frame bent from very thin brass with a 2mm screw as a bearing.

The wheel has then been painted in enamal to try and "age" the look. The mount needs to be painted black as does the rim (on the full size the rim was made of a non slip rubber matirial.

I will add a dummy cable to go around the pully later.

Next I have to make the wheel for the starboard side which is the elevator trim wheel.

I have had to compromise on the diameter of the wheels, they should be slightly larger and mounted lower so the bottom of the wheel goes below the floor as per full size. However as I have put the fuel tank under the floor I dont have the room for this. I should have made the tank slightly narrower but that would of required thinking a bit further in advance than my brain power allows

Clive

Can some one advise on attaching pictures please.

 At the moment I am selecting "in line mode" from the drop down box. Is this the best way or would one of the other options be better?

Clive

Next up, I've painted the wheel rim and bracket on the port airbrake wheel.

Clive

Following on from the airbrake actuation wheel I made and trial fitted the elevator trim wheel.

Clive

Elevator trim wheel removed and painted ready for final fitting tomorrow.

Clive

Stunning detail, kinda makes me want to bin my efforts    Hope we get to fly alongside this masterpiece in a Dwarf Patrol slot at a fly-in 

Thanks Shuan

From what I've seen of your build thread its up there with the best in my opinion so dont bin it just give ot to me

Whats the dwarf patrol then?  I thnk it must of past me by somehow.

Clive

Next was refitting the elevator trim after painting. I also added the strop over the top of the wheel which I think was there to indicate nuetral trim to the pilot.

Clive

Following on from fitting the trim and flap wheels I added the cables from the wheels to the flaps / trim device in the tail.

Fitting the cables on the elevator trim wheel was particularly difficult as its a "balanced wheel", it has a wire to each side of the pully and getting these to the correct tension was difficult ans much blue air passed my lips in the process
Clive

Whats the dwarf patrol then?

Clive

Just people having fun with WW1 aircraft usually around 1/4 scale meeting up at warbirds fly-ins.  We usually manage to get at least 4 up together and I believe as many as 7 in the past which look great flying in a loose formation and especially synchronised (ish) stall turns etc.

From what I've seen of your build thread its up there with the best in my opinion''

It certainly is

Clive - are you going to have it finished by Barkston Warbirds in April?

A Strutter would make a rather nice and unusual addition to the Dwarf Patrol and also provide some more Fokker fodder

Alan

Alan / Shaun,

I would love to come and fly with other WW1 enthusiasts

I'm not likley to have the Strutter ready in time for April , it's more likley to be nearer the end of the year or post next Christmas. As soon as any decent flying weather arrives I tend to get out of the workshop and therefore the build slows down.

Not so sure about Fokker fodder, my rear gunner is pretty good when he spots the hun

So, does the dwarf patrol have any rules I should be aware off

Clive

OK, I need some advice / help as I've hit a bit of a brick wall

I decided to move on to fitting F5 and detail and fit the instrument panel which butts up to F5.

Heres the section of the plan showing F5 and the instrument panel.

Mick only supplies a side elevation on the plan, there isnt a plan view.

The problem, I assumed that F5 and the instrument panel would have the same dimensions, but they dont

They even have different top proifiles and as they butt up to each other only one profile can be correct unless I'm missing something very obvious (wouldnt be the first time)

The photos proberbly give a better idea.

Any views?

So, does the dwarf patrol have any rules I should be aware off

1) Have a 1/4 scalish WW1 flying machine
2) Have an interest in WW1 flying machines
3) Be prepared to have fun and enjoy yourself with other like minded nutters
4) Turn up at any of the excellent Fly-Ins that are arranged by the likes of Pylon, nmacwarbirds, RAFMAA, the Langer Mob etc etc
5) Join in

Think that's covered it

Alan

OK, I'm in , I'll work as fast as I can to get the strutter in the air.

Clive

After sorting things out with Mick re positioning etc (If I had studied the plan for a bit longer I would have answered the question for myself). I've now fitted F5 and am working on the instrument panel.

Clive

OK, the instrument panel screws to F5. It doesn't follow the outline of F5 completly so part og F5 will show, therefore  I needed to stain F5.

Clive

Next up was to stain the instrument panel.

Clive

This is the instrument panel layout that I'm trying to achieve, it's the one Mick has drawn on the plan.

Clive

The kit includes some plastic instrument bezels. I'm not sure if I'm going to use them as often plastic can look like plastic even when painted.

So I decided to try and make some out of aluminium, if I don't like what I make I'll revert to using the plastic ones.

First I turned down a piece of bar to the correct O/D

The next job is to drill out the centre to 22mm, I have turned my workshop upside down looking for my 22mm MT2 drill bit and haven't found it , so I've ordered a replacement from Tracy tools which should be here in two days . I bet the original turns up as soon as the new one arrives . Whilst I'm waiting I'll get on with some of the smaller bezels and switches.

Clive

I had a go at producing two of the smaller bezels today, one for air pressure and one for oil pressure using the dial fascias supplied in the kit. I then mounted them onto a scrap piece of ply so that I can work out all the instrument positions before mounting them on the actual instrument panel board.

I'm reasonably happy with them and I think they will look OK once painted satin black. I need to get better at judging where to drill the holes for the mounting screws .

Clive

This is the instrument panel layout that I'm trying to achieve, it's the one Mick has drawn on the plan.

Clive

Nice job Clive, I also have this drawing of the panel

Steve