1/10th scale Blackburn Beverley.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Made some dummy undercarriage for East Kirkby. I raided the fire wood box for some wood, a bit of glue and some small screws did the trick. I found some scrap stainless rod in the garage that is about the right diameter to make the axles. The wheels are not retained so could come off quite easily. The model actually stands on the pegs and the wheels are simply resting on the ground held in place by a screw through to the pegs. I have done this purely for effect to give some perspective to the model.

For the real undercarriage, I will probably get an expert to make this for me?

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

I did not display the model on the dummy undercarriage as it was too unstable. This workshop stand seemed to be the better option under the circumstances.

Many thanks to those of you who took a bit of time to have a chat, I learned a few things today.

[Alan Cantwell 1131]

Looks great, and so does that tank, thats a biggun, isnt it?

[paul needham]

Nice to see the Beverley in the flesh today, an impressive project.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Got over the week end, not so knackered now.

Following on from one of my conversations at EK on Saturday and advice given to me, I have added a couple of pairs of braces to the boom. This has given the boom some better stability and removed most of the flexing, rather than relying on the skin alone to do this. Of course the skin will form the monocoque structure that is all important, but I have the extra security of knowing that the flexing will be retarded by the cross bracing as well. The minimal extra weight is worth it!

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Plodded on with a couple more sections of skin today. There wasn't too much bad language. I had soaked the balsa sheets in the bath yesterday and the rolled them round some ally tubes (flag pole) and left them overnight to dry out. It seems to be enough?

I originally said that I would start skinning this section from the bottom, but thinking through the process it is better to start as I have because there are a lot of compound curves to negotiate and this is best done with narrow strips alternating top to bottom. I have left the sheets staggered to overlap the strips across the joints for strength.

[paul needham]

I had soaked the balsa sheets in the bath yesterday and the rolled them round some ally tubes (flag pole) and left them overnight to dry out. It seems to be enough?

Hi Malcolm, I have tried that way to bend balsa,found it better and a lot quicker to only wet one side (the outside as far as the model is concerned) then run a hot iron over the wet side, this 'cups' the balsa instantly and also does not soak it through.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

I tried this Paul, perhaps I did something wrong as it did not seem to work too well for me?

Had a bit of time off, got a bit of a mouth ulcer and feeling a bit rough.

However, I have marked out the next piece of skin for the boom with the window positions and one of the escape hatch windows. This will have the hatch scored around the window to look effective? I decided to stick some thickening pieces behind each window to help prevent too much shredding when I cut them out. Each patch has some glass cloth at the back to give extra support.

As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I originally intended to paint on the windows, but I got several screwed up faces at EK last week, and have decided to do the honorable thing? Looks like a Dremel job?

[paul needham]

pleased to see you back online Malcolm, seems a long time since your last posting on this thread. as for the windows, because of all the time and effort you have put into this model so far, it would be a shame not to glaze them.

[Geoff noble]

was certainly good to see the Beverly and chat

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Glued on the Port side panel today. Most time is spent waiting for the glue to get a grip! The picture shows the boom upside down on the bench with a fresh coat of G4 on the inside. The window backing pieces can be clearly seen, each one has a covering of glass cloth on the inside. The Starboard panel is waiting for the G4 to dry out then sometime tomorrow that will be glued in place.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Had a very good day progressing the skin balsa. The pictures show the two stages of sticking the side panel using PVA on the ribs and Cyano on the edge joint. I decides to do this as the Cyano sets quicker and the PVA is still fresh once the edge joints are set. This makes it easy to pin down the rest of the panel and leaves a reasonable curve, not too much sanding needed.

I have started the bottom skinning using narrow strips to negotiate the compound curves at the back end. I am expecting some reasonable progress in the next few days. There is still a bit of adjustment to do to the fairing parts of the frames. I am hoping that this will be easier with some skin glued on, the frames should not wobble about quite so much?

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Been continuing with the skin of the boom. Mostly used 1/2 inch strips and one piece was scribed in as the curves causes the edges to drift off line. I am reasonably pleased with the result, but as ever there will be the need for a bit of filler at some point.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Another reasonable day. The Starboard Side is almost done, just a load of fettling and filling needed, but the filling can wait till the Port Side is done. This is going to take at least two more days. Then there is the back end of the fairings to make, perhaps this can be done with some block balsa.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Did not do a lot today, had things to do to keep 'er indoors happy.

However, spent about 20 mins messing about with some sandpaper to get the fairing to its basic shape, still a bit of filling and rubbing down again to get is just right, but this will need to wait till both sides are done, so I can view both together.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

The workshop needs a bit of tidying up and organising again before I plod on with the skin. So I couldn't resist having a "play" in the meantime. I have been doing a little surface filling on the starboard side, and cut the window openings which I know will please some of you. I used a cutter that should go into a drill, but because of the delicate nature of the wood, decided to rotate the cutter by hand. The first few turns were rotated backwards to lessen the chance of ragging the edges, this clearly works very well. On the exit side of the cut, I held a piece of dowel against the back whilst still turning the cutter. This gave me a very reasonable edge on the inside, but needed a little fettling with a round sanding stick. I will now need to stabilise the edges of the openings with some Cyano glue or G4.

The Port Side skin will happen this coming week along side hospital visits etc.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

Had a dose of sleeping sickness this morning, it was lovely!

However, managed a bit of work on the model and have made some more progress on the Port Side. It rather looks as though I have made a small cock up that will require a bit extra filler on this side (near to the back), wish I'd noticed this before I started skinning! Not to worry, I'll deal with it later on!

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

More plodding today.

May not get much done tomorrow, hospital appointment and all that goes with that!

[Denis Brown]

This post gets better every day.

[MalcolmDouglasPorter]

An amazing visit to the Hospital, seen on time, dealt with properly and home again in time to do some stuff!

I mentioned a few posts ago that I will need to make some small adjustments to the fairing parts of the frames. Well it was just one frame that was badly out of line. Needed a small extension to the frame, a piece of balsa duly shaped and glued in. The other side of the frame just needed a little sandpapering to sort that out, dead easy!

The underside of the boom is more or less complete, just a bit of trimming and a few pieces of balsa strip to complete the fairing tomorrow! Then comes the filling and messing about prior to glassing!