Spad A-2

[Skyking]

Still stunning, Mike. Question, though. Why the "mahogony" for the gondola, when it's to be painted yellow? Just for S&Giggles? :D

That's primer Matt :) It was handy. It's sanded off now and painted white for a base coat before I spray on the "Spad Yellow" I mixed.

Technically, I believe that isn't considered "flying". "Landing"....maybe. Or even "crashing". "Flying", as demonstrated by Lilianthal and the Wright brothers carries with it that distinct subcharacteristic known as "sustainment".

Thus, your models were really just not "flying" at all.

Great point Rusty. Thanks for the kind words.

That thing is well on the way to being the most realistic model of a Great War machine in small scale I have ever seen.

Thank you OldMan. You should check out Lance Krieg's Felixtowe, Sanjeev Hirve's RE8 & Moraine Type L or Robert Karr's HP 0/400 in the Gallery section of the World War One Modelers page. These guys are the level I strive to build to.

WW1 Gallery will get you there, then just click on their names in the list and see what I mean.

Cheers

Mike

[Skyking]

Tonight I fitted the rear trurtle deck in place and attached the front sides. I prepainted them with one coat of yellow so that I can mask around the open access panel on the left side without too much difficulty. I spent a lot of time sanding the edges for a good snug fit on the turtle deck. It was my third attempt at making the silly thing, you'd think it would be a fairly simple shape, but my first two I made two small in spite of making a paper pattern to begin with. Oh well, third time was the charm. The side panels are made from .010 sheet and the turtle deck is .005 with stringers and ribs embossed from underneath, painted NDL on the inside and CA'ed over the PE frame. I then used CA along the joint, let it cure and lightly sanded the edges to blend them. I will do the same for the front top peice after I determine my cabane strut locations and make the cutouts on the cowl to clear them. The interior is still fairly viewable, so I don't feel quite so bad about not seeing in there. I added a metal shelf behind the pilot on the top of the longerons. There was a canvas or fabric pouch there for stowage, I will make that out of either epoxy putty, or perhaps masking tape, which ever gives a better effect.

The compass to the right of the pilot's seat is readily visible, as is the Tach on the top right, and the airspeed indicator in the panel, control stick and control lines to the elevator and rudder. I have to add a mapcase and pouch to the instrument panel yet. I will add those before I attach the top cowl. I didn't bother adding the top to the fuel tank, only the bottom will be visible when looking in through the access panel. I hope to paint it and begin jigging for construction this weekend.

Cheers

Mike

Edited October 19, 2006 by Skyking

[Skyking]

The fuselage panels are all in place with the exception of the side baffles. I'll put those on after I paint the fuselage. I am beginning to lay it up in a homemade jig so I can start measuring and cutting struts. Not as fancy schmancy as Aeroclubs PE Alignment jig, but it works for me. I drilled through the fuselage in the front lower corner for a length of .020 steel wire to go through, and end drilled the lower wing root accordingly. This will provide a more positive joint than simply gluing it to the fuselage. I have the wings jigged to the correct incidence and blocked in place to keep them from sliding around. When I laid the top wing in front of the lower wings I noticed the strut locations weren't even close to being in line with each other, and the right and left aileron horn notches were way out to lunch. I filled the top wing notches and locating dimples, laid out new ones and drilled them with a .020 bit. I did the same for the bottom wings as they were not lined up or stright with each other either. If I had used the holes as they were my struts would have been leaning all over the place. The black pencil lines are the new and corrected locations, the black dots are where they used to be. I hope to have the struts cut and mocked up, and beging painting assemblies by this weekend coming.

Cheers

Mike

[Skyking]

Today I tried something a bit different. In the past I've always jigged the upper wing in place, then had to do all kinds of contortions and stand on my head to measure the strut length. This time I measured my wing struts from the plans and cut them to length. All 4 are of equal length so it was a cinch. To get my cabanes to the correct length, instead of using the wing, I cut a piece of .125 square rod to close to the correct length, then drilled holes the same distance of my wing struts. I used this jig to span across where the cabanes go, and found it much easier to measure to the bottom of the square rod than to try to measure to the bottom of the wing. It usuallt takes me about 3 or 4 attempts to get them right, but this time it took one cut each. I made the wing struts and caban struts from 1/32nd plywood, and I'll seal and paint them later. I like the plywood as it's easy to work with and it's strong to boot, and doesn't flex like plastic might. I'll repeat the procedure for the rear cabanes by moving the jig to the rear holes.

Cheers

Mike

[Old Man]

It is great to see you making such progress, Mr. King! This is coming along famously, and at an excellent pace to boot.

The measuring to a heavy rod idea is an excellent one. I have used it to a similar purpose, checking the level of already placed struts.

Those were some excellent models indeed you refered me to earlier, Sir. I had seen Mr. Hirve's extraordinary R.E. 8 before, but not the others. The big ones are amazing peices of work!

[Skyking]

The Fuselage is just about finished, as is the Gondola. I just have a few things to paint yet, and then start putting it together. The wings were full of pinholes on the right end of the upper wing so filling them has been a challenge.

The details on the Gondola are all scratchbuilt except the seat, that came from the Part PE set. The Gun Ring is soldered copper wire with brass detail bits and a length of Lycra thread for the bungee cord. The cooling baffels on either side of the seat, and the Observers camera are made from .005 plastic card, with a lens made from a piece of clear sprue shaped and polished into shape. The coaming is rolled epoxy putty, and the Observers head guard is from the Part PE set as well.

The fuselage has all the cowlings, covers and side pieces in place, and I am pleased with how much interior is visible through the open side hatch, all the effort won't be for naught after all. I made the headrest from rolled .010 plastic, and I have a headrest pad and coaming made from epoxy putty similar to the Gondola's coaming. All the cutouts for the struts are done, and I have the struts made, so I can begin putting this together fairly soon. I have to drill all my rigging holes yet, and also paint the tricolor chevron on the aft section of fuselage.

The jury is still out whether I am happy with the overall model yet, as I've had to make more concessions than what I normally would because of the fuselage being built mostly from brass. I didn;t have the flexibility to "hack" at it as I would if it was plastic, but I'll wait and see how it looks when it's finished before I give it the green light to see the light of day, or condem it to a back corner of my display cabinet. :lol:

Cheers

Mike

Edited November 2, 2006 by Skyking

[Skyking]

The Gondola is finished. I added the Gondola struts, PE braces, steps and brackets to the struts and to the "beaks" on the landing gear struts, and overcoated the entire Gondola with flatcoat to even everything out. A length of .020 brass wire is used for the axel between the two, enabling me to drop the Gondola down into the service position. Whether I keep it that way or not remains to be seen. I will probably end up glueing it into position. There's only two tiny bits of PE that hold the whole thing together, so I will want it as strong as I can possibly make it. Next will be to finish the fuselage, paint and mount the wings and tial and begin rigging. I've settled on doing "Ma Jeane" using the kit decals, as I am afraid that when I remove the masking tape from masking the Chevrons, it will remove either a side skin or turtledeck. It should still be somewhat colorful.

Cheers

Mike

[geedubelyer]

Jeepers Mike, this beggars belief :D

Marvellous work.

I've seen your posts of completed builds before and been awed by the finished article but this is a true eye-opener. Those etch bits must only be 2-3mm long!

Where's all the splodges of cyano that the rest of us lowly mortals get?

I am both daunted and inspired by your work sir. Part of me thinks: "I'll never be able to achieve that level of quality finish..." but the other half thinks: "strive to make your model even half as good as that and you'll be happy..."

This is absolutely superb and a joy to behold. Please keep us updated.

[mbittner]

Mike, Mike, Mike...

Don't you know the finger chopper has your name written all over it?

Seriously, though, beautiful job. <_<

BTW, get the package yet?

[Old Man]

Coming along famously, Mr. King!

Great to see your further progress. It really is a thing of beauty.

[Skyking]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Hopefully today I can get the wings painted and I have a few more small bits to add to the fuselage.

I've seen your posts of completed builds before and been awed by the finished article but this is a true eye-opener. Those etch bits must only be 2-3mm long!

Where's all the splodges of cyano that the rest of us lowly mortals get?

I am both daunted and inspired by your work sir. Part of me thinks: "I'll never be able to achieve that level of quality finish..." but the other half thinks: "strive to make your model even half as good as that and you'll be happy..."

Sorry GeeD, I aint buying it... I've been following your SU-27 in the In Progress section for some time. I've been taking notes, so it works both ways. Even though I wouldn't know an SU if it sucked me in and blew me out the afterburner, your model looks like the real thing sitting there and you can't get much better than that. You have every reason to be proud of that model. Outstanding work.

Yes you are correct, the PE bits are tiny. I have a very small pair of single action tweezers I ground to a square chisel point that I use to lay them in place with. As far as CA blobs, I get my share also, but a quick draw with an old #11 blade along the edge usually gets it off before it cures. Overcoating with FLatcoat then hides it so you can't see it.

Mike, Mike, Mike...

Don't you know the finger chopper has your name written all over it? :D

Seriously, though, beautiful job.

BTW, get the package yet?

That's OK Matt, I am ready. Maybe I can transplant some real ones on in place of the thumbs I have now :lol: After I placed the last post showing the finished Gondola, I dropped it as I was removing it from the landing gear struts. Fortunately no harm done other that the lower hinge point popped loose from the strut, but it could have been worse. Thank goodness it fell on my lap then all the way to the concrete floor.

And yes I did receive the package. Thanks Matt.

Coming along famously, Mr. King!

Thank you OldMan. Your 510 is also coming along nicely. I still don't see how you can work in 72nd scale the way you do. I have a difficult time enough with 48th.

Cheers

Mike

Edited November 4, 2006 by Skyking

[Pete "Pig" Fleischmann]

Good Lord Mike!

..Ya know Mike..I'm your biggest fan <_< I have learned so much from you-and here you are, taking me to school again!

This is simply stunning, impressive, delicate, fantastic craftsmanship..but that's what we've come to expect from you! :( Keep it up Mike...I'll be in the living room knitting if you need me....

warm regards,

Pig

[Denis]

C'est impressionnant !!! C'est magnifique !!!

It is beyond all I can say....

Denis

[Skyking]

Thanks for the encouragement Pete and Denis. I am needing it right now..lol.

This thing is really beginning to try my patience. I've had a few "issues" arise since I posted the last post. I had finished painting all the components, including the gloss so that I could begin decaling. I decided to build an aircraft called "Ma Jeane" - just a simple yellow and CDL machine with nothing more fancy than the name on the side and the French insigina on the top and bottom wing. Things began to unravel real fast when I started doing the decaling. The decals provided by Spin looked adequate, so I decided to use them, beginning with the tail numbers. I dipped the cut decal into my water, and waited about a minute, took the decal out, and laid it against the Rudder to slide it off. Using my normal #2 camel hair brush, I tried to slide it in position. It wouldn't budge. "OK. it needs more soak time" I thought. I redunked it, left it in another minute and tried again, same results... no budge. "Well shoot, one more time". This time I dropped it in the water and figured I'd leave it in there until I see it begin to lift from the paper. 10 minutes later... nothing. It didn't lift, curl, bubble, or give any indication it was ready to come off the backing paper. I decided to try to be a little more forceful, so I took it out of the water, set it in place and tried using my finger to nudge it loose. It nudged alright, into about a billion tiny pieces.

Needless to say, I was not pleased. I attempted the same with the other Rudder numbers, this time overcoating it with MicroScale Overcoat... same result, except it didn't explode, it just merely refused to come loose from the backing paper, even after 15 minutes of soaking. So much for Ma Jeane. Looking through my SPAD book, I found a color profile of "Mister Fly" that didn't need tail numbers, which I was out of at this point. Instead it has a tri-color chevron on the rear of the fuselage, and the tricolor also on the rudder. The gun mount is the early A-1 single bar design, but at this point I am not about to make a new gun mount, so it will have to have the later two bar style the A2, and it also has a mismatch in the serial number on the gondola, leading me to think it may have been an A-2, with an early A-1 Gondola hung on as a replacement. In any event, I am not about to change anything structural, so it's just going to have to have a minor inaccuracy. I have to make the "Mister Fly" artwork, but it shouldn't be difficult as the real lettering was rather sloppily applied to the aircraft. I masked off the tri-color chevron on the fuselage, painted the red and blue and allowed it to dry a couple of days. I then masked over the red/blue and shot the white in between, and immediately noticed I neglected to mask off the opened hatch on the port side, so now my blue chevron covered it when it should be yellow.

:huh: again.

I allowed it to dry a couple of days, sanded all the paint off the access hatch, masked around it and reshot it with my yellow. Removing the masking tape from around the hatch, the tape also removed bits and peices of the blue chevron, revealing spots of yellow underneath. I also managed to pull off some chunks of yellow on the brass PE deflectors along the edges, and cracked the right rear cabane strut loose, which is leaning backwards in the photo. So I have those to fix as well.

for the third time.

At this point I said screw it.... it is what it's going to be, and I used a 000 brush to dab the blue back into the cracks. It looks OK, but I may have to apply a couple of extra dabs to get them even with the rest of the surrounding paint. I have to keep telling myself that's it's only a minor setback and not all that serious. I hope I have the worst behind me now and can start putting the monster together.

I am ready for a beer.

Cheers

Mike

Edited November 12, 2006 by Skyking

[Pete "Pig" Fleischmann]

Mike,

OK...OK...so maybe..possibly..you are human. No big deal. These are the times when your talent will carry you through-don't sweat it. you'll fix what's bugging you and the result will still be mind blowing!

There are alot of modelers out there that would be reluctant to share their setbacks..But by keeping us in the loop we all get to see how you overcome them...expertly I might add..and it makes all of us better in the process. We all have setbacks. Remeber when I dumped the bottle of Tenax all over the bench and damaged the wing of the Hornet? ;) I invented new language over that one!

Thanks for sharing the whole experience with us. You are kicking butt on this beautiful masterpiece. Now get back to work!

Regards,

Pig

[Skyking]

Now get back to work!

Yes sir :) Pete. ( just had to find a way to use that one.. :lol:)

Thanks for the encouragement Pete. As it turns out it may have been a blessing in disguise as it has more color now and I think will be more eye-catching than overall yellow, so in retrospect it may have been a good thing.

I fixed all the gaff's and booboo's I did in the earlier post, and set about getting it ready for assembly. The fin is in place, lower wings set and epoxied in place, and the top wing is also glued in place. I use 5 minute epoxy for this as it gives me some time to nudge things around that CA wouldn't, and I also think it's a tighter bond. I pre-installed all my rigging into the top wing, as it's much easier to install now before the wing is in place, rather than try to stand on my head on the workbench and poke it in place while the model sits in the jig. That accounts for the "hairy" appearance in the pictures. I have to epoxy the front wing struts in place yet, the cabanes and rear struts are set, so I quit for the night instead of risking a mistake attempting to put the front ones in too soon.

This has more threads stuck in it than one of Pete "Pig" Fleischman's Viper posts. :lol: I drilled all the way through the lower wing so I can pull the lines taught before CA'ing them into place. There are small PE squares that will cover the holes after. I am using Nylon mono for this one to help keep the thin resin wings from (hopefully) twisting and warping with time. I've pre-weathered the fuselage sides and the wing centers close to the fuselage. All the pictures I have of these birds show that they were covered in oily grime from the spinning rotary engine, so I tried to capture that look without getting to carried away with it. The script for "Mister Fly" turned out to be easier than I thought. I just scanned the color profile in my SPAD book, touched it up a little with a photo program and printed it out on decal paper. I had the whole thing done in 15 minutes and it's applied to the gondola. By this weekend, barring any more catastrophies, I should be able to get this thing finished.

Looking at this picture it suddenly dawned on me that I neglected to paint the elevators. As Mr. Simpson would so eloquently say... DOH! Oh well, I have plenty of paint left over so it's not a worry.

Until next time

Cheers

Mike

Edited November 16, 2006 by Skyking

[Old Man]

Clearly a case of "All's well that ends well!" Mr. King. Because despite all the headwind, this is shaping towards the final stages of a beautiful piece indeed!

[Skyking]

Well the bad luck gods have bitten me yet again. I made the fatal error of cleaning my bench and putting things away where they belong, and in the process, managed to loose one of the elevators. Fortunately the left and right are identical, so I used the one I have left for a master and it's in the rubber as you read this. I'll cast a new one from resin and continue. I don;t have any pictures yet, but the top wing and rigging is completed, landing gear is mounted and I stuck the gondola on temporarily to see how it all looks. I am not too happy with the "sit" of it compared to photos. It looks too low to me in relation to the fuselage, so I am debating popping off the Gondola struts and starting over, and make them about 2mm longer to raise the gondola. It's not that big of a job, maybe an additional 30 minutes of work, and I have so much time invested in this monster already what's another few minutes to get it right? I have to admit I am wanting to get this done and move on. For such a small model it's really taking me longer than I should have - most of it my own fault - but working with limited run resin kits can be frustrating. I'll try to post some pictures tonight.

Cheers

Mike

[Old Man]

Putting things in order can indeed lead to disaster, Sir. I am of the "I remember exactly where I put it" school of organizing myself, as opposed to the "It's in this drawer" style....

Most of the work you put into this was the result of a really creative idea aimed at increased realism, and I would it call it wasted or unproductive by any means. This is a really inspirational project, Sir, that I am sure has got a lot of thinking.

Congratulations are defintely in order, and I am very much looking forward to the finished pictures. I would bet you several beers you re-do the gondola positioning....

[Skyking]

You won the bet OldMan. I made the new Gondola struts and have them attached, and also after 5 tries making new elevators from resin, I finally gave up and made new ones out of the old tried and true embossed plastic card method. I think my resin may be old and contaminated with moisture, because it kept bubbeling up on me as it was curing. It looked more like styrofoam than cured resin, so after the 5th set that was thrown away I went back to what I know works. I also recentered the arm over the top of the gondola. It was slightly left of center, so I popped it off, redrilled a new locating hole and glued it back in place and redid the seam around it. There were more than a few anxious moments as I was merrily breaking off the attached struts and arm, as I wasn't sure how much of the gondola itself was going to come off with them, but the modeling gods smiled on me and the CA joints broke nice and clean, requiring only a touch with sandpaper to clean them up. The rigging is almost finished, I just have a couple of control runs to the rudder to do, make the struts for the horizontal stabilizer and upper gondola attachment points, put the hardware onto the new gondola struts, touch up some oops here and there and this thing is finally finished.

The old struts are in the foreground, as are the new elevators made from .005 plastic. After spending 3 days trying to make new resin elevators, I had these done in 20 minutes start to finish. :( Oh well, sometimes you have to stick with what you know works best for you. I have the gondola dropped dpwn into the Service position. This is how it appears when mechanics need to access the engine, buried in the fuselage. Oh yes I have to make a prop yet also.

Cheers

Mike

Edited November 23, 2006 by Skyking

[Skyking]

Well it's finished, for as much as I plan on finishing it. I just have to add the rudder cables and stabilizer struts, and it's done, and I have to admit, I am glad. This was an interesting experiment, but not sure it's one I want to repeat This is one that won't be any contest winner, but it is still an interesting subject, and it gave me a chance to stretch some techniques.

Cheers

Mike

[geedubelyer]

She's turned out beautifully Mike

From the photos, no-one would know the troubles you've been through. The finish is impeccable.

It's a strange looking aeroplane, reminds me of something Klunk would've dreamt up in the '70s cartoon "Catch the Pigeon"

A great inspiration to one and all and an obvious lesson in perseverance.(~makes note~....Biplanes require ALOT of patience. Don't build if at all stressed!!) It's making me shudder thinking about the Camel but your Spad looks so good it makes me want to try a "bipe"

Thankyou for taking the time to post this marvellous account of your journey. It's been a terrific read and I eagerly await your next project.

[mbittner]

My goodness, Mike. Not a contest winner? Looks quite stunning from here!

Excellent way to persevere. It came out wonderfully, and "Mister Fly" is such an awesome way to finish it. Quite colorful and all that.

My hat's off to you!

[Skyking]

geedub, Matt,

Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate them. It was probably one of the hardest little beasts I've ever built.

I remember that cartoon geedub. Wasn't Muttley in that too? I have a Lloyd CV that also looks like something that flew out of that cartoon. That's going back a few more years than I care to remember..lol

Cheers

Mike

[Old Man]

It looks great to me, Sir!

I am glad you kept at the project, and brought it to a successful conclusion. Certainly you met organized resistance (I have never bought this folderrol about 'in-animate' objects, myself), but with craft and cunning over-came it splendidly....