Bristol F.2B wing thickness

[Zero Enna]

I'm building an Airfix 1/72 Brisfit, but the wings look too thick for me, so as I'll scratchbuild a Martinsyde G.100, I decided to "practice" building new wings for my F.2B... I have no idea about the thickness of the wing, but I think it will be no more than 1.5 mm (I think I'll use the same thickness for the G.100 wings). Even the thickness taken from a 1/48 kit will work. All input will be appreciated. Best regards.

José.

[ross blackford]

:D, G'day Hose,

Something you could do is to thin the Bristol's wings down to what you think might be an acceptable thickness and then scribe the rib tapes on the wing or use thin strips of say .005 plastic card to represent the rib tapes. Years ago I had a mate who was a master modeller (although noone but his friends ever saw his work) and he used the scribe the rib tapes into the wings that he had previously sanded down so there was just a hint of the ridge caused by the rib on the real thing. He worked exclusively in 1/72 scale and his models were absolutely gorgeous, if he found a spray run in a paint job he would strip the whole thing back and start again, he was that fastidious. Sadly, when he got out of the RAAF we lost contact and I haven't seen or heard of him again.

,

Ross.

Edited January 20, 2012 by ross blackford

[Zero Enna]

Hahaha, I'm a little fastidious too, but I prefer accurate dimmensions than painting ;) Best regards.

José.

[ross blackford]

:D, Yes Zero Enna, Owen was also fastidious where dimensions and accuracy were concerned. He used drawings and photos to get everything accurate and in perspective.

,

Ross.

[Zero Enna]

Nothing yet? Then I'll have to abandon the project.

[Old Man]

Measuring off the airfoil-section of a reliable 1/72 scale drawing, Sir, the wing is 1.5mm at its thickest point. The wing has a fairly heavy camber, however, and the trailing edge is 1mm below a datum line, while the thickest point of the wing is 1.5mm above that same line.

I would begin with 2mm styrene sheet. Once it was cut to basic shape (best a little over-size), score it at about the mid-point of the chord, and bend it a bit along the score. Fill the score with a hard filler (CA gel, Milliput, that sort of thing). Get some serious cutting grit sand-paper (220 or even larger). Tape some to something like a paint-stirrer or a ruler, and tape some to a bottle or jar with a suitable curved surface (matching roughly the concave under-surface camber curve). Use the sand-papered jar to put the curve into the undersurface. Use the sand-paper glad stirrer to put the appropriate convex curve to the upper-surface. The highest point of the convex curve should be between a quarter and two fifths of the way back from the leading edge. It will take a good deal of time to get the shape right; perserverance is necessary. Once you have the shape, you can pay attention to smoothing down the surface, and putting in rib detail and such.