Colin Leighfield

Thanks Chris, that’s worth knowing.

Thanks Danny. It would be worth finding out more about that. Diagonal joints are normally associated with bias cutting, I’ve seen it done where the cloth is pulled continuously across a knife at 45 degrees in rotation and the cut edges continually stitched into a tube, or a continuous “bag”. Looking at the photos in your build thread, you seem to have short, intermediate “nose ribs” between each pair of full ribs, which made me think I’d missed something out in the build. However, I’ve taken another look at the plan and I can’t see anything I have missed. Any ideas? The photo shows where I am, are the diagonal tapes repeated underneath? I assume they should be. I’m running out of tape, need to order some more. Also, these tapes have a slightly “pinked” edge, you can just about see it.

Thanks Danny. I can see that fraying the edges of the rib tapes is sensible, they will stick down better. You can’t fray a bias cut edge though, they must be plain strips along the weft. However, bias cutting on the wing fabric would give a much stronger stitched join than one on parallel longitudinal threads, which can pull apart under tension. Something I’ve never thought about before. I think the Fury is looking pretty good in the Spanish style. I’m going to see what with I can do with my air-brush.

Thanks to Danny for straightening out my understanding on rib tapes, something I’d never paid my attention to before. I’ve begun to correct my first attempt. I had never noticed before the diagonal tapes, which Danny told me are to cover the joins where the material had been cut. I can understand that they must have cut it on the bias, because that sets the weft and warp diagonally instead of parallel to the edges, meaning that the tapes can’t fray. I’m sure everyone else knew that already! Ah well, on we go.

Thank you very much Danny, I was trying to work it out. I am using Mick Reeves iron-on 1/6 scale rib tape. The edges are very finely pinked, but it’s hardly noticeable. As mentioned before, under a matt camouflage paint, they won’t be highly visible anyway. One stupid mistake I hadn’t noticed when I covered the wings was that I had missed out the intermediate leading edge riblets! However, there is no sag between the closely spaced ribs, so if I apply the rib tape in those positions, no-one will ever know! I want to get to the painting as soon as I can, it’s not looking too bad so far, although far short of your standard.

If Danny is looking in, I have been having a look at his build thread and noting the rib tapes. Am I right in assuming that he has run a single tape on each rib, looping over the leading edge and then back underneath to the trailing edge?

I had second thoughts about rib tapes, so here we go. I’m not going to attempt knots though.

A bit more done today. The Hispano engined Spanish Fury has a number of differences, including the exhaust layout. It looks as if the central four exhaust pipes in each cylinder bank are Siamesed, so there are four outlets, the middle two being larger. Also, there are small stub pipes protruding. I have made these by folding strips of 1mm Vector Board into the ports, I think it looks ok. I’m debating whether or not to fit the rib tapes, with a matt camouflage finish they will hardly be visible, and the model is hardly more than stand-off scale anyway.

I've deteriorated frighteningly in the last ten years! That's a super finish on your Pushy Cat. I'm getting withdrawal symptoms! I can't remember the power system on mine, it's lying around somewhere. It did shift though.

Two more shots of my Pushy Cat “Super Venom”. Loved it.

Memories! I built this (for a mass-build?) a few years ago, altered it a bit to make it look different. Flew really well, but I used a cheap receiver and wrecked it at Greenacres when I flew it out of range. Very silly thing to do! Perhaps I'll make another one day.

Thanks David, that might be right, although I was never aware of it. The rate of climb was non-existent with 30 degrees, in a go-round you immediately went to 20 and re-trimmed to climb out. I was alway surprised at how marked the effect was from just 30 degrees. I can imagine that 40 degrees would have been dramatic!

I recall that when flying Cessnas, mostly 152 or occasionally 172, 30/40 years ago, the flap settings were I think 10, 20 and 30 degrees. Generally used 10 for take-off, 30 for landing, don’t recall using 20 much, although you would go back to that from 30 in a go-round. Bearing in mind that Spitfires use 86 for landings only, 30 doesn’t seem like much. However, I recall that when selecting full 30 degree flap on finals for landing, the effect on trim was remarkable. A very distinct nose-down, which you balanced with elevator trim, it needed considerable control back pressure otherwise. It certainly made you aware that flaps have a marked aerodynamic effect!

It looks great Martyn. Mine won’t take too long now.

I'm catching up after laying-off from the models for a while. What a fantastic result. it really does show what the Whirlwind looked like in the air. Thank you Timo.