DH87B Hornet Moth

Dragon Rapids. A lovely aeroplane. That is also on my wish list. I have the chippie to finish and then I am going to make a start on Gordon Whiteheads unpublished Tiger moth at 1/5 scale. Another stunning model from the Whitehead stable this has to come first I need it finished by the end if Feb.

I'm a bit of a DH fan too David.

Ivans Plans (from Canada) has a fair selection of DH types in his collection of offerings. He seems to know his stuff too. I think he has a nice Rapide in there as well........

I too love D.H. but when I finish my Tiggie I will build it;s much a like Blackburn B2 Have a Google and see how you like it

Thanks for the Ivans Plans reference Percy - I've looked at them before, but they're all electric and I want to stick with i/c. I have the very detailed Jerry Bates 1/6 scale DH89a plans (re-badged Sweitzer plans) - old design, heavy build - and the Nexus plans service Martin Tuck plans of a similar scale - although they are not much more than an outline and some rib drawings.

I'll probably work something out from the two, probably for a pair of Laser 70s.

Anyway, shouldn't clutter Martyn's thread with this.

Very nice Martyn K, this is just my cup of tea. I have just setup email notifications so I can follow your build.

Thanks Richie

Thats great. Glad you are enjoying it.

Manish. I am pretty sure that Gordon said the design was unpublished.. Here are a couple of jpgs of the wing and fus. The plans are very detailed - even down to artwork. Gordon is a real master at his art.

and

It is indeed 70" span ( or thereabouts)

Don't worry about cluttering up me thread BTW, I enjoy blogs that meander

Martyn

Still feeling absolutely dreadful. Spent a couple of hours last night tweaking a couple of spacers and then started fitting the stringers. Cut from 1/16 x 1/32 of very soft wood they are very fiddly to fit. 5 fitted last night and this morning I have realised that 2 are the wrong size..

So they need to be replaced later - a case of 5 steps forward, 2 backwards

I also need to start work on the cockpit detail next. The doors will be non functional so the seats and interior detail will have to go in from the base. I am going to try and make most of the cockpit detail from a polystyrene party plate. I think that I am looking forward to trying that.

and

The offending stringers are the upper one on the side - should be 3/32 x 1/32 and the centre top one - should be 1/8 x 1/32. Both are very tricky to fit..

More to come

Martyn

Edited By Martyn K on 10/01/2017 11:49:46

Martyn,

That is indeed, the Gordon Whitehead 70" Tiger Moth that was published in RCM. As it is now, all that is documented is a substandard scan of the plans from the magazine. Here is the link to the RCGroups message.**LINK**

As of now, most all of the plans published in RCM have been documented and have been posted to Outerzone. This would be an invaluable addition to the collection.

Regards,

Mike

Still not 100% but I have made a bit more progress.

Still adding and sanding down 1/32 stringers and I also have a door frame. The door frames took me an evening to fabricate...

The cowl upper deck sheeted from thinned 1/64 balsa. It took me nearly 450mm to produce the upper 75mm deck

Its thin..

Parker for a day or so as the coughing fits were causing me to damage the fuselage so I had a crack at the interior. Fabricated mainly from Depron on a 1/32 balsa base, the idea is that I can pull this out and add even more detail when I am feeling particularly masochistic..

and

and

Needs painting. Shame its not white leather... I have got the instrumentation to add yet. The blue dot represents a fuel level indicator between the seats, the control column is meant to be that shape and the little white disk is the base for the compass - which I still have to make. Also need to add seat belts/harness and a pilot.. The cockpit weighs 2.01gms

I started back on the woodwork again today. The wing ribs are halved - upper and lower. I have cut a moderate number of upper curves - still thinking about the lower ones which are mainly - but not quite flat. I do have a cunning plan to jig the LE while building which I'll explain more when I try it.

So while I am scratching my head over the wing, I have started work on the tailplane. It has been suggested offline that this is not the best way of doing this as it is heavier than it should be but I want the appearance of a scale structure so am not really sure the alternative will give me what I want.

If its too heavy, I'll scrap it.

Needs the other side assembling and then sanding down and then most of the centre sheet will be cut away. Hopefully, I'll be less than 3gms ready to cover..

More to come

Martyn

Coming on well Martyn, don't sneeze whatever you do

John

Tell me about it. I have had enough of 1/32 x 1/16 balsa to last me a while..

One of the problems that I am having with the wing ribs is getting the ribs small enough so they look realistic under the covering material. I then need to add the stitches and rib tapes. Pointless having wing ribs wider than the tapes

Hi Martyn, nice one, I like what you're doing with the Hornet Moth, lovely job..

Re the Tiger Moth plan, it seems It was published in RC Scale International in the September/October 2003 issue and is plan number MW3050 originally designed for a Maxicim N32-13Y motor, a lovely design that has been on my build list for a while. I have the magazine and can scan the article if you wish.

Regards, Andrew.

(Your images look identical to the plan I have and it is listed as a current Traplet plan).

Edited By Andrew Ray on 15/01/2017 23:28:53

Thanks Andrew

I would appreciate a scan of the article if possible

Martyn

Just look at all of that beautiful wood. When people say aero modeller, this is what I see in my mind.

Richie

Looking good Martyn, I would have thought an open structure would be lighter than a solid core?

Cheers

Danny

Hi Danny

My solid core will be hollowed out considerably before it gets covered. Andy S did suggest the same thing, but I couldn't work out how to get those half ribs to locate with a laminated outline. I would need to have added a curved laminated spar as well. That is plan B if this turns out more than a couple of grams. The core is 1/64 balsa BTW - quite decent quality and I have no laminated LE or TE to worry about.

Sanding it down is tricky though

Martyn

Hi Martyn, I will be interested to see how heavy it works out. But yes, no laminated leading/trailing edges to worry about, they are however very strong and not too heavy

I think to achieve what you need with tailplane half ribs/riblets I would have used a partial core that went from the leading edge to the back of the riblets, the rest open. But the beauty of this hobby is that there is no right or wrong way just our way

Keep it up, I have just mentioned yours and Colin's build in the March issue's "Make it Scale" column..... no pressure

Cheers

Danny

That's nor pressure - that's enforced commitment