Wingnut SE5a in progress

Kitboy · 14 July 2009, 02:27 AM

Hello,

I 'd like to mention one particular "thing" with this kit. The fabric wrinkling goes to a certain point of the fuselage. A friend of mine told me that there's a straight sort of "gap" between the wrinkeld part and the stitching on the fuselage. Most pictures show that at this place there is not such gap but the wrinkling should go a further on right untill the stitches (bit hard to explain for me in English). I am considering trying to fit this with woodglue. Anyone dealt with this?

Cheers, Nico

Kofoed · 14 July 2009, 05:25 AM

Thank you, Pez.
Good to hear you're on the same track. However, I don't seem to have much problems with the engine hood.

Nico, thank you.
I think I understand, but isn't it so, that there is some kind of straight piece of wood or metal that the stiching are going through? I don't know, perhaps someone else here knows?

Thank you,
Kofoed

Kofoed · 14 July 2009, 05:31 AM

Hi again,

Just some minor updates.
All along I have wondered what to do about the RAF wiring. Help came along. Dave Brewer very generously shared his knowledge that correct wires are being made by a guy called Radub. You can see about it here:

New1/32 British rigging product:

There’s a link to his business site on the first post by Dave.

There’s even both ¼” and 9/32” wires available. The ¼” wires look like this:

They come in a fret, appr. 20 cm long. The 9/32” have a red cardboard backing, a most practical measure.

I got the idea to mount Bob’s Buckles as usual and then glue on these RAF wires so that they rest on the eyes of the buckles in both ends and then paint the buckles and the tips of the wires black.

On the tail, it looks like this:

And here’s the painted airscrew. I did this by first painting it nicely with a mid-stone. Then two layers of Tamiya clear orange and finally a thin layer of mid-stone, carefully dragging lines in it.
The wires for the undercarriage are also visible.

Kofoed · 14 July 2009, 05:35 AM

Here’s a test fit of the top wing. Again, the fit is phenomenal, No glue.

And with some decals on the fuselage:

A close-up of the front:

The reason for this is that I need a piece of advice. I can’t make up with myself whether to fix the hood hiding the beautiful engine forever or to leave it open. I think leaving it off will spoil the neat look of this beautiful plane. In my Squadron/Signal on the SE5a are some pictures of post war SE5a’s exported to the US. Texas, more specifically, and the heat there made them fly without the hood. But nothing of that in France during the war.
I had the idea to leave it unglued on so that I could take it off at times, but this idea was spoilt by the fairings, sitting in front of and at the rear of the cylinder blocks. When these are in place, it’s impossible to get the hood off.

I have thought about a third option, and that is to leave off these fairings so that I can take off the hood. I don’t know though, whether this is an option. I can’t make it out on the pictures I’ve seen. The Wolseley powered machines had no such fairings, at least not all of them.
Does anyone here have evidence showing that the Hisso powered SE5a’s ever flew without those small fairings?

Thanks in advance,
Kofoed

nigelrayner · 14 July 2009, 05:46 AM

Wow, looking good! I am going to be working on this kit and have some of the RAF wire you have used, which looks great. I had decided I was not going to use something like turnbuckles because RAF wire does not use conventional turnbuckles. However, yours looks really good so I might give the turnbuckles a try. What scale of Bob's Buckles did you use?

I'm going to leave the cover on and not bother about going to town on detailing the engine.

Cheers,

Nigel

bobs_buckles · 14 July 2009, 06:06 AM

Kofoed,
Simply superb. I wish I never sold my SE5 now... DOH!

Model on!!

Cheers,
Bob

mgtaylor · 14 July 2009, 06:51 AM

Dear Bobby I understand ! Se5 OverLoad Like Lars, in addtion to 2 Roden Versions (Probably not as "Easy OOB" as this Kit) I have this one too AND the New Encore Se5a On Reserve !!

THE DAY I Ever get around finishing all Four ? I may well have to Dipslay them as part of a RAF Squadron FLight ? Hey I know I could put a Voss F.I in hte center and WHOLLLAH !! A IPMS Group build entry ? Hmmmmmmmmmmm?

The Flying wires Came Out Great ! I am not sure although FLAT RAF Wire went Everywhere on the Plane ? I assumed only for the Wing s ? I always thought Landing gear cross bracing and Tail Feather Wires were all single round Flying wire ?

I have pics of the USAF Camel which I need to upload to a Web host before I can post them ?

Yours mIke

Kitboy · 14 July 2009, 07:18 AM

Hello,

I also just ordered this RAF wire. Wonder what it turns out!

Cheers, Nico

Pez · 14 July 2009, 08:32 AM

That RAF wire looks excellent, I think I may have to try that out when I start the rigging (I'm still worried about doing that bit!)

Wienne · 15 July 2009, 05:50 AM

One thing I'm afraid of with these wires is how they behave with changing temperature. After all most metals have a larger expansion than plastics...
The Tamiya Swordfish also uses PE wires and these have a tendency to come loose and begin drooping after a while...

It won't be that much of a problem with the small lengths on the tail, but the interplane wires are long enough to become a problem, I guess...

BTW the guy (Radub) now also has PE anchoring points and plates.

Wienne