Detail for model builders
Every model builder likes to incorporate plenty of detail into his or her model,you can never have enough photographs to help guide you when adding those details,here is a selection of such material to study and use in your models-
Cockpit of the Waco YMF-5C biplane.
B-17 Nose detail.
B-17 lower gun detail.
B-17 Cockpit detail.
B-17 wartime Interior.
More B-17 interior.
Useful instrument selection for use with scale models.
Fuselage section on the Me.109 fighter.
F-86 Sabre tail section.
Mig 21 tail markings.
F-4C Phantom.
BAC Strikemaster tail section.
Bucker Jungmann strut attachments & wing rigging.
U6A Beaver U.S.Army.
Caudron G3 French biplane.
CH53.
Finnish Air Force insignia on Gnat.
Auster J/5G Autocar.
'Little Nellie' Wallis Autogiro.
Beech 18.
Robinson R-22.
Machine guns for Fokker Dr.1 Triplane.
Robinson R-44.
Lancaster turrets.
Lancaster turrets.
Rotary engine from Fokker Dr.1 Triplane.
Meteor T.7.
PBY 5A Catalina.
Tail fin from ?
Vampire T.11
Percival Prentice tail.
Percival Prentice nose.
Chipmunk fuselage section.
Chipmunk/Gipsy Major engine.
Dragon Rapide.
Percival Provost T.1
Westland Wasp helicopter.
Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.14
Chrislea Ace fuselage structure.
Pereira Osprey amphibian.
Shestonov radial engine on Antonov AN-2.
Bleriot monoplane wing warp lever.
Bleriot underside showing once again the wing warp lever,wing warping came in before ailerons and was used on many pioneer aeroplanes.
Boeing 314 engine nacelles.
Beautiful Miles Magister showing to good effect the split trailing edge flaps.
Curtiss Pusher.
Westland Widgeon.
Mig 21C Undercarriage.
Miles Student fuselage.
Prototype De Havilland Heron fuselage.
Westland Whirlwind ( S-55) Helicopter.
Stearman company logo.
Rutan SS-04
Insignia for American Railway Express.
Wing struts for Fokker Dr.1 Triplane.
HH-43 Instrument panel.
Twin Otter instrument panel.
Jet Provost nose section.
Curtiss Jenny control system.
North American T-6 Instrument panel.
Useful National insignia sheet,this was originally produced for use in Flight simulator design.
Stinson Reliant special cockpit layout.
Delightful shot showing the wing and internal structure of a replica Bleriot monoplane.
WOODEN WING CONSTRUCTION.
In order to understand better how to incorporate scale detail into our models it is a good idea to carefully study the way full sized machines are built,once more when we can see how the parts are put together we can get things into perspective and reproduce them in miniature.One of the best places to see old aeroplanes is in museums or places like the Shuttleworth collection at Old Warden,Bedford,UK.here you will see aircraft in various states of restoration that reveal their inner skeletal construction,take your camera and sketch book with you to record these precious details for future use in your models.
Lets take a look inside a typical early biplane wing in the drawing above,firstly the spar will one of two forms,it can be a basic spindled wooden spar that has been drawn through machinery to ensure that it is dead true,once the blank has been cut the spar is further lightened by removing more wood from the portions between the wing ribs,the wood is effectively scooped out to save precious weight,next we have a box spar,this is normally built up from sections of timber carefully glued together in a jig,the box can take the form of four pieces but not always,longitudinal strength is gained from the glue up process which is done under controlled conditions,the timber must be fully seasoned before hand and be of the finest quality available.
The wing spar is the part which every small rib and gusset is placed to build up the wing,spars are stressed to be adequate for the particular application of that aeroplane,ie a fully aerobatic machine would have a much stronger and highly stressed component to withstand the stresses and strains,everything around the spar is required to build up the wings particular shape which consists of a leading edge normally made from timber,a trailing edge constructed from laminations of wood or on very early types of aircraft piano wire attached to the trailing edge with small fittings,the leading edge and trailing edge are spaced out via the wing ribs which are slid over the spars,tacked and glued into place with brass brads.On later aircraft torsional internal bracing was added to further strengthen the structure,this could be made from piano wire with swaged ends at just the right tension,or alternatively metal rods with threaded ends are placed criss cross within the structure of the wing,these are attached to metal fittings which are in turn bolted to the spars,these rods cater for the rearward forces placed on the wings especially in a dive,all aircraft have a maximum dive speed that must not be exceeded otherwise the structure would break up.
The wing ribs are normally made up in simple jigs and consist of a upper capping strip,a lower capping strip and torsional internal members retained with what are called 'biscuits' sometimes plywood ribs are used with upper and lower capping but the ptrinciples are the same in both cases.
The drawing shows four types of wing rib together with a selection of strut constructional methods,the struts are normally laminations of good quality timber held together under pressure in a jig with clamps,once dry they are individually planed and shaped into an aerofoil section,all woodwork is then treated with marine/seaplane varnish to make the wood waterproof.Once the struts have been completed woodwise metal end fittings are bolted into place,these fittings are normally stove enamelled to stop corrosion and avoid moisture attack from the wood itself.
If you look carefully at any biplane the structure is all based on the triangulation principle,even relatively lightweight structures can be made to be sturdy for the purposes of flight,combine lightweight materials with correct build techniques and the results are outstanding.
Here we see a Gipsy Moth with its wings folded,note that on the leading edge of the root section are placed 'Jury struts' these prevent the wing from collapsing on the ground when the wings are unpinned at the front,these struts are then removed once the wing is re-rigged ready for flight.
World War 1 Fokker wings with simple ply and spruce capped ribs,the leading edge wrap may seem strange but is very strong once in place,diagonal rib taps strung from the inboard ribs to the tip are purely for stopping the ribs twisting during the doping process,the wingtips are several laminations of spruce steamed and glued,the white areas are where cloth tapes have been wound around.
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AIRSCREW CONSTRUCTION.
There are different types of airscrews made of various materials,these materials are wood,steel,magnesium alloy,magnesium alloy and synthetic resin used in conjunction with laminated wood or layers of specially woven fabric.A large proportion of airscrews are still made of wood,next comes aluminium alloy,next comes aluminium alloy,and there is a small proportion made of magnesium alloy,steel,and compressed and impregnated laminated wood.
Wood originally formed the material for all airscrews;they were reliable,cheap to manufacture,they could also be made easily by skilled labour and had the advantage of not giving trouble due to fatigue.Wood had the disadvantage,however of being subject to distortion owing to climatic conditions,and was easily damaged by stones picked up on airfields or even water errosion on seaplanes and flying boats.
Further when wooden airscrews are damaged they are normally scrapped as they are not easily repaired,owing to the disadvantages of wooden airscrews,eforts were made to devbelop metal types,such as a hollow steel blade,built up of thin sheet which were either riveted or welded together.These blades had a certain amount of success,but were liable to distortion and fatigue trouble.A more successful metal blade was that made of aluminium aloy;this was a solid thin blade,and was designed as to be flexible ,advantagevbeing taken of the centrifugal forces to offset stresses due to the imposed bending moments.This blade had limitations,however,because it could not withstand high engine powers,a thicker and more rigid blade was necessary.The aluminium alloy airscrews for increased engine powers were developed,these had a detacheable blade clamped into the hub and capable of being set at any desired pitch on the ground before locking.With the development of the variable pitch airscrews came a vast change of design methods of hub attachments,the difficulty of holding blades into the hub so they were satisfactory under the high centrifugal loads and bending moments ,and at the same time be free to rotate,was considerable.The airscrew design went through various changes,and although blades of different material were tried,the development of the aluminium alloy blades seems to have met with the most success,the forging process being controlled so that the maximum strength is obtained at the root end of the blade giving good grain flow.
Magnesium has always been an attractive material owing to its lightness,but it was slow in being used due to failures,although when its properties were understood better,the results which followed showed that it was a promising material.
Laminated,impregnated and compressed wood is a materil generally well suited for airscrew blades,embodying the advantages of a wooden airscrew without the disadvantages.
Reinforced synthetic resin blades have been made and used on various types of engines,and with the improvement in manufacture and materials took their place as an accepted and approved material.
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Avro Lancaster flaps showing rear of cowling in drooped position.
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De Havilland Chipmunk instrumentation.
Instrument panel layout for the De Havilland Chipmunk.
Artificial Horizon.
The cockpit of Lindbergh's 'Spirit of St Louis' Ryan N-Y-P,note the sparse wickework seat with no seatbelts,plus the very functional fuel pipes and controls,literally a flying fuel tank.
Ford Trimotor engine detail
Avro Lancaster nose turret
BAC Strikemaster nose art.
Luftwaffe Direction Indicator
