My FE2b reproduction..

[Koloman Mayrhofer]

hallo,
absolutly amazing john.
god i m thankful to work on austrian or german designs. you british are only happy if it is as complicated as possible.
thanks for sharing .
whats your next project?
cheers
koloman mayrhofer

[John McKenzie]

Possibly due to the perhaps opperational requirement for greater "ruggedness" within the design of this "workhorse"...The rudder bar is additionaly stabalised by rollers , either side of the central pivot . These are carried in forked bolts , passing through the rudder bar...being prevented from turning by their fitting into a square holed washer screwed on the underside ....The rollers ride on (black painted) sheet melal supports , the top of which is machined true (on the lathe ) so nothing binds..........The central cone is constructed in 3 pieces of Dural'...The main cone part is machined from solid billet (it was originaly a spinning )....Then there is the base plate of 12swg material , with the central pillar between . These are riveted together , being located together by spiggots either end of the pillar , which carries through it , the High Tensile Steel (S96) spindle on which the rudder bar swings...A phospher-bronze flanged bush is interposed...This may be noted on a general view of parts posted previously......4..1/4" BSF bolts (to AGS spec A25 if I remember correctly ) hold the cone while 3/16 (2BA)..4 each secure the (black) sheet steel supports to the floor boards with washer plates underneath......The sheet steel supports are each in 3 parts..Inner & outer..Welder together, with an additional plate fitted on top.(this is the part which is "skimmed" on the lathe set-up to true flat the assembly as the "Roller-way" ).....Quite a complicated piece of equipement to perform ,what seems on the surface , to be a simple task !

[John McKenzie]

Hello Koloman, Thanks you for those nice words , you are too kind. .............When you wrote about "complicated" (..As we say here )......"you took the words right out of my mouth ",because , I was also writing the same thing at exactly the same time also.........I do not have a next project in line at the moment......RAFMuseum have made it quite clear "In Private" ,to me that they are unsatisfied with my performance..(Even though I am MUCH cheaper than others in UK )....Unfortunately , ( unlike your discerning customers )...RAFM seem to have the idea "Never mind the QUALITY........Feel the Width ".......It would be great if I could find someone close by over here to work with on a project , as it can get a bit "solitary" working alone.....Best regards...John.

[John McKenzie]

[Koloman Mayrhofer]

hallo,
what is puzzling me is how reliable the drawings are you have on hand that it is possible to produce kit which fits during assembling. my expierience with german and austrian drawings from that time is that they are notorious unreliable and it is impossible to manufacture in the way you do it. also the completly different approach that metalparts has to be made to fit an already glued up wooden structure does not help. so i am forced to work in a much more organic way.

i just got the official british parliamentary report from 1916 about the royal aircraft factory in which especially the quality of the drawings was accused for big problems in production.
how do you handle this problem?
i have made it mandatory that i redraw nearly everything which is critical to fit in the structure just to make sure that any flaws in the drawing will surface before i build.not alwys successful i must confess.

so the raf museum is not happy with your performance. what a snobby bunch
of people.
cheers
koloman mayrhofer

[John McKenzie]

The main shaft of the controle column is a Nickel bronze alloy known as "Delta" metal...(Very strong and does not effect compas )...In order to make it more complicated (or to save weight ?* )...The shaft is parallel at the bottom 1/3 , then it tapers down in diameter over the next 1/3 , and then is parralel again...So you start off with about 10swg tube ...into the lathe ...and its about 16swg at the top.(dimensions from memory)......At the bottom is a fork piece . This I made on the lathe with the fork cut by "hand" method...It is from a billot of High Tensile steel (S96)..and this gets soft soldered and Taper Pinned to the bottom of the tube.........Just above this is the H.T. (S96) steel bracket / lug for the attachment of aileron cables.....Note that there are two posible positions available to vary the sensativety of this control . ...Again , this part had the basic internal dimensions machined on the lathe , and then the outside shape finished off by hand .........A little way below the top handle is the (revised position ) Bowden lever for throttle control....(Not duplicated/in tandem however..like German machines )....Description of this comes later on....It is mounted via a small Dural clamp bracket to the tube shaft...........Above this is the "Handle"...........Cont,.

[John McKenzie]

[John McKenzie]

Hello* Koloman .....Yes...the drawings are not* 100% accurate but because I* experience this with BE2 drawings also ,...I treat all the drawings / dimensions as "Suspect"....For reasons of ££ , I can not afford to make any mistake.....So I must ,for example , check dimensions and angles etc,. of one drawing against the corresponding drawing of the part to which it will fit ....and add corrections to suit.....(there are 100's of these ,my ,corrections )...As you and all sensible people will understand , this all takes time....but not so much time as a mistake , and have to make a new part........Among the missing drawings are the "Bottom Outrigger / Tailbooms"...I do have the drg. for TOP one and so have to calculate dimensions for the Bottom part from these...( 7 pages of calculations for these parts )..During this I find that the struts between these outriggers are wrong dimensions also ,..This would make them go "up and down"..not strait.....so these are now correct.....For the standard (1916 / 1918 ) parts I have only the help of my own archive and also from dear (late) Philip Kraus,RIP, who was very helpfull.....From these drawings and information I can make all the small parts.......My way is always to do metalwork first , mainly because ,for example , If I have the wing or body in the workshop , ..then there is no room left for me to make the petrol tanks or body pannels* etc,. also my hands are dirty from the metal and I am sure to place a finger print on the clean wood , and spoil it .....When the wings are done , I store them in the house untill the time of collection ........Back to the drawings.....Considering it to be wartime emergency ,the actual "quality of draughtsmanship" was* excellent....The main trouble , then as now , was with Governments , they had told Royal aircraft Factory what they wanted ,(as if* they knew ) ,and they got what they asked for.......Government attitude then as now is not "Honourable".....Why take the blame if you can put it onto someone else ! With continuous developement, drawings were updated all the time , however because of +- tolerances on every thing . ...A wing made by* JJ weir would fit a body made by Garrats.....(not so with sopwith...Worse still from Shorts....Chalk on the floor drawings there.)...So there is very much to say in favour of the"Factory".....It invented "standardisation" and AGS system we have today (sic)...........You are correct to say it is mandatory to think and plan ahead.....I also after calculation , do alterations to dimensions and re-draw* & new drawings when necessary. ...P.S. .....Always was intending to do a German airoplane at one time ( Did research on SSW.DVI..RolDVI..Halb.DII/V..and Fok.EV...) but somehow other things got in the way....(did do some work on DrI about 30 +years ago).......Beautiful Albatros work..Most impressive..Best regards...John.

[John McKenzie]

[John McKenzie]

At the top of the control column is the 1" dia. brass tube (bent)handle...This fits to the phospher- bronze ( Gunmetal originaly,which is a bronze ) socket into which the top of the control column fits. ..two sockets grow out of this and over these , the brass handle fits....All joints are taper pinned and then sweat / soldered ........In "Theory".....The handle is supposed to be able to be " SPRUNG " over the sockets..However this is patently impossible , and so it has been made in three parts with an additional tube liners at the joints which are (hopefully) invisably braze/welded together and cleaned up after.......The actual Bronze socket was originaly a G.M. casting , however in this case I decided it more economical to machine this from solid bar , and finish with file etc...than to make up a complex pattern , for a one off part , and then this would require a machineing fixture to hold it...etc.etc. .....Anyway .here are more photos ..JM