Danny Fenton

This may interest you, and perhaps those in the know will comment as to whether all tape is a standard size? These are the dimensions of rib tape applied to Jacqui Sephton's Auster during a re-cover. Cheers Danny

Thanks guys. I measured the tpi of Mick Reeves 1/4 scale tapes and they came out at closer to 1/5.... So thats what I used.

Added some rivet/screw detail to the cowl. moved on to the sticky out bits. Rib tapes done, just periphery tapes left, then the other wing. I will add the tapes on the underside but not the stitching ? Cheers Danny

I am not sure if anybody else gets this but there comes a point where a model suddenly comes alive, and that was this morning for me. Can't wait to get some paint on the beastie. Cheers Danny

Woke up this morning to find an Auster on the bench....

Fantastic news Nick, really wonderful achievement!! Cheers Danny

I know often it seems as though stuff goes to plan and it seems unfair, but just to prove it doesn't I applied chart tape to the cowl and when I fitted it to the model the lines were not the same on each side. This pic shows the cowl just after the tape was removed. And this just after I sanded the lines off again and re-applied more Chart-Pak tape. Using 1/32nd for this as the cowl lines are much more pronounced. The camera angle makes the lines look less than parallel, they are parallel...... Ah well I couldn't have just left it that way. Not sure how the error crept in. Cheers Danny

Thanks Geoff, the Auster has always been a favourite of mine, my Dad learned to fly in one, and there were always one or two at Sherburn, where my Dad ran the maintenance outfit on the airfield, so they were always around. I didn't realise the Aiglet was aerobatic, that's something I wasn't aware of! Cheers Danny

Hi Matt, and I am really pleased that you have enjoyed the thread. My goal when writing the scale column for the magazine, posts on here, and the videos, is to inspire and show how stuff can be done and its not too hard with patience and care. This post has made my day thanks If I can offer some advice on the choice of subject, keep it fairly simple and easy to fly, there is nothing worse than building something gorgeous and then you are too afraid to fly it. My first real scale model was a Hurricane and its lovely, but still hasn't flown. The Chipmunk is an excellent choice, great flyer, fixed undercarriage. Other good choices are many of the high wing cabin models just watch the amount of glazing. I did a Super Cub for indoor scale and it was a great choice. I too peered into Pete's DH9 (or was it Micks??) and seeing the half eaten sandwich and mug of coffee made me feel quite inadequate. Cheers Danny

Well done David, your persistance has paid of ? Cheers Danny

Anchored the exhaust firmly but not rigidly to the airframe. The exhaust I made, including flexi was lighter that the Saito supplied one! I also milled the wheel centres so that the wheels could sit further over the piano wire axle, a bit of a soldering mess, and now the wheel hides some of it ?

You could be right, but a flat three section windscreen does seem to have been fitted to some later ones... This is Andy and Jacqui Sephton's Auster and it has additional uprights and a three section screen. Cheers Danny

Thanks ? but the judges would drive a bus through the errors. Many think you can take a kit and compete, but to do really well the outline first has to be accurate, detailing doesnt get you much. Well apart from the "oooohhh" factor, which is nice. Do you or any others want a copy of my windscreen template? Sorry but the flat sided one just looks wrong imo. Cheers Danny

Just came to the same conclusion David, as Alan says its just for fun and wont be competing so doesn't really matter, and if you guys weren't sure I am sure others wont have a clue ? It changes daily, but keep coming back to G-AGTO..... my one concern is it looks more grey than silver. KlassKote silver is more like the Chippie in the background. There again its only fun scale.......... Cheers and thanks for the help, much appreciated.

It is interesting that you say that David, it is quite difficult to tell from profile shots which most on the web are. I thought I saw one with the exhausts on starboard. I wonder if they had a variety of power plants? I found one good shot (above) on the web from the underside of a J1, and the exhaust was on port so assumed I had got mine wrong. Thanks for the info, I will dig a bit deeper Cheers Danny

So after much thought and two choccy biscuits, plus one coffee, I decided that the exhaust can stay on the wrong side, not many will know ? So with that decided it was on to chop the cowl to allow the exhaust to poke through, made doubly difficult as the cowl has to be removable for maintenance. I had hoped to make four holes, but that didn't work as the cowl wouldn't go past the exhaust stubs. Some Auster's have a section removed from No.1 exhaust to No.4 so I opted for this. Anyway that's where we are at so far. Cheers Danny

Well that's the last we will see of the pilot until the airframe is in paint ? Onto the cowl now, seems I have made an exhaust with an exit on the wrong side of the cowl. *****SIGH***** Cheers Danny

Thanks chaps, we are in the UK don't forget, the sun rarely comes out and when it does the Auster is so draughty you would soon cool down ?

A bit more done. I spent a while shaping/annealing/shaping/annealing a section of lithoplate for the join between the windscreen and fuselage. Fortunately just before fitting I checked my reference pics, and they all seem to have a half-round alloy strip attaching the screen..... Much easier than I expected, 2mm half round styrene to the rescue. Cheers Danny

The rear top section is awkward because you have no idea how much of the vac-formed section you need to trim. Eventually nearly all the straight sides are removed. I was quite worried about gluing the top section on, as this would restrict access to the inside of the cockpit should anything come loose or even fall off! I needed a beam across the cockpit to hold the forward screen flat, and stop it from bowing upwards. This was also used as a means of attaching the rear canopy. The beam was made from 3mm square carbon tube. Glued to the underside of the forward section and duly threaded and 7 Mick Reeves "Cor Blimey" screws used to hold everything in place. Two slightly larger screws at the rear keeps that from coming off. (I hope!!!) Now to the alloy cover around the forward perimeter, between the screen and the fuselage. Remember all this on the "Devil is in the Detail" You Tube Channel ? Cheers Danny

The following morning all was good and when the clamps were released the canopy and model remained as one!! Now for the upper moulding....

Well that was not fun and needed three pairs of hands, umpteen bits of tape, two rather stout clamping strips and a huge pot of patience as bits flew around the workshop. There is a fair bit of tension involved. The supplied PETG was not used, two reasons, 1. it was .56mm thick and too stiff. 2. it was the wrong shape, and too small to use. I used .46mm in the end, and managed, with a fair bit more trimming of the thicker piece. But it is attached, lets see what happens when the glue dries and the clamps are released hopefully it wont fly-off! Cheers Danny

There will be an opportunity for more rivets I am sure! Looks like No 5 is a winner Cheers Danny

Started again with the windscreen, shapes were wrong on version 4 so started again using a different approach. Chatting to others there is no secret technique and all you can do is trim, add, until you have a template, then pray that transferring to thicker material doesn't mess it all up! It certainly helps to break it down into smaller chunks. Cheers Danny

Depends who you ask.... it really needs clarification.