Blackburn B2 - a 30's bipe with a whole lot of shiny bits!

[Tim Hooper]

Package received and waiting for testing. Thank you Malcolm!

 

Red letter day yesterday in that I stopped shilly-shallying about with a pencil, and exchanged it for a scalpel instead.....

 

First off was a set of 1/32 ply templates for the rib fronts and middle sections. I glued these to balsa 'handles' , and then spent a couple of hours knifing out the ribs from 3/32 and 1/4 balsa sheet.

 

Construction proper starts with the upper and lower wing centre-sections, with the 6mm ID aluminium tubes being sandwiched into the 1/4" spars.

 

The upper CS is built onto a 1/16 sheet base, and the ribs and LE added. The top will be sheeted over later after I install all the ply-work for the cabane mounts.

 

The lower CS is built onto a 2mm Liteply base. This unit will be built into the fuselage itself later, and will house the undercarriage mounts as well.

 

Just to give a little idea of the scale of the project, the CS's measure 8" across.

 

tim

Edited By Tim Hooper on 23/10/2011 18:08:03

[Danny Fenton]

Is that the balsa I caught you selecting at SLEC (LMA Gaydon Event) this afternoon Tim

 

Bloomin quick if it was........

 

It was good to see you and Netty

[Tim Hooper]

Hiya danny! Good to see you too! I thought it was a very good show. I didn''t buy any balsa, but I got a good deal on 3 rolls of silver Solartex though....

 

tim

[Danny Fenton]

I didn't get on with silver solartex, it was like rubber when it got hot.

 

This should be even nicer than the Cygnet, and that is lovely

 

 

Cheers

Danny

 

[Tim Hooper]

I recognise that woman!

Now you've got me worried about the Solartex. Damn you, Fenton.......

Given that the wing spars will be fitted with 5mm CF joiners, it seems sensible to get these installed and out of the way before I engulf the spars with wing ribs etc.

So with the lower CS on the board, and a long ruler pressed against its LE, I made up a jig out of scrap balsa sheet to jack up the ends of the main and aft spars at their tips. There's 30 mm of both dihedral and sweepback here. I was then able to push the joiners through the CS tubes, and mark their positions directly onto the spars themselves.

The spars were then slotted, and the joiners CA'd in place.

 

I'll add further reinforcement as the build progresses.

tim

Edited By Tim Hooper on 24/10/2011 19:06:27

[Tim Hooper]

At the risk of labouring this thread, but to help anybody who's a bit new to the build process, here're a few pics of the first wing panel to be built. For no particular reason I've plumped for the upper left-hand panel to begin with.

 

I made a quick tracing from the plan, to avoid all the pin holes, glue and coffee stains .....

 

First items to be laid down are the trailing edge and lower capstrips.

The previously fabricated spars are glued to the capstrips.

Just to make sure it fits fits, I slipped the centre-section over the joiners. Seems OK so far!

The final stage this evening was to add the middle sections of the wing ribs. Apart from the 1/4" root and strut ribs, the ribs are 3/32" sheet. All simple so far, yes?

 

 

tim

 

Edited By Tim Hooper on 25/10/2011 21:21:08

[Tim Hooper]

Not much progress over the last couple of days - a couple of rock gigs (Southside Johnny and Alice Cooper) took precedence!

Never mind - I have to day off work, so I'm spending a few hours in the workshop to compensate for my musical self-indulgence. And also to let the ringing in my ears subside after last night's absolutely stunning show by Alice.....

I'm addinf a couple more detail shots of the upper left wing panel, just to aid anyone who gets a bit stuck or is unclear.

With the little triangular rear rib sections added twixt TE and rear spar, I set to on the front of the wing. 3/32" shims were pinned to the board followed by the 1/2x5/8 LE. The the rib front parts followed shortly behind.

The spars were tapered at the tips, and the 1/4 tip plates added. The tip ribs are around half the depth of the rest of the ribs.

 

At the root end of the panel the ends of the CF dowels were shaved back flush with the faces of their spars, and then hard 1/8 webs were glued over the top, and clamped overnight.

 

Not content with all this progress, I also added the 1/8 ply interplane strut plate, and some triangular balsa reinforcement.

 

When the LE edge glue had dried, I planed it level with the tops of the ribs (together with the spars), and aded the 1/16x1/4 capstrips. Purely for aesthetic reasons alone, I like to have the capstrips pass over the top of the LE - when it's all sanded later, you end up with a sort of 'knobbly' effect at the front edge of the wing, which looks a bit more interesting than a plain LE. But that's just me....

 

Once the wing is lifted from the board, then I'll tuck the fronts of the lower capstrips in behind the LE and secure with CA.

 

And then it'll be time for the next panel - the lower left. It's pretty much identical to the this one except for the servo mount and inset aileron, so there's no need to go into great detail.

 

tim

 

[kevin wild]

Hi

 

your builds are a pleasure to watch. Knobbly effects are nice

 

I recon you'll have it flying before Santa's been

 

nice one

[Stefan Hafner]

Looks like its gonna be a good one, carefull on gray days tho, somone at my old club had a chrome plane and lost sight of it about 30 seconds after take-off

[Tim Hooper]

Posted by kevin wild on 28/10/2011 17:17:57:

I recon you'll have it flying before Santa's been

 

nice one

 

You might be right Kev!

 

I hear you on the grey plane against a grey sky warning. Many's the time where I've lost orientation with a silver model. I stopped panicking years ago though!

 

Just a couple of shots from todays session. The lower left panel is pretty done and dusted, and is very similar to its upper brother, except for....

 

...the servo mount and inset aileron. I've also fitted substantial 1/4" gussets betwixt the root rib and the spars.

Further outboard is the 1/8 ply mount for the interplane strut - this time fitted to the upper surface of the wing. Once the 3mm blind nuts have been fitted then I'll add some scraps of balsa to fair it into the upper outline of the capstrips.

 

tim

 

 

 

[Seamus O'Leprosy]

This months Aeroplane monthly has a feature on a Blacburn Bipe, I dont think its yours though.

Good luck with this one.

[Tim Hooper]

Seamus,

 

Their website only shows June as the latest issue......

OK, one final shot of the upper and lower panels flying in close formation just ot highlight their differences.

Now I just need to knuckle down, turn the plan over, and build the right-hand panels!

 

tim

 

[Ton van Munsteren]

Tim,

 

Thats going to be another great model looks like your building the model in a showroom.

Great pickies and just to let you know Iam enjoying the build.

 

Ton

[Tim Hooper]

Posted by Ton van Munsteren on 31/10/2011 20:40:07:.....looks like your building the model in a showroom.

Chance would be a fine thing. You can't see the constant mayhem that's just out of shot....

 

Anyway, I'm delighted to report that the wings are pretty much completed!

 

Not only that but I've installed the M3 blindnuts that will eventually hook up with the struts....

.....and then strengthened the mounts with some 3/8 block balsa to spread the flight loads.

 

Right-oh, we're off to the cinema to watch Tin Tin....

 

tim

[Stephen Jones]

Hi Tim ,

 

How was Tin Tin

[Tim Hooper]

Tin Tin was great! We saw the 3D version - which was a first for me.

 

Wierdly I've no problem with watching a film that's 100% CGI, whereas I find it awkward in a film where it's mixed with real actors. Recommended.

 

tim

[Stephen Jones]

Thanks Tim ,

 

Looks good from the clips , but you can never be sure it`s just the best bits they show .

 

I`ll have To see if i can get the misses to take me and kids to see it this weekend ,

We could all do with a bit of cheering up .,

 

[Tim Hooper]

Stephen,

 

It's a feel-good film, and it's pretty obvious thatr there's going to be a sequel or two n the way fairly soon.

 

Back to business in the workshop sees the tail surfaces rough-hewn from chunks of 1/4" strip and sheet.

 

tim

[cad]

Hi Tim

Once agin impressed by your build blogs, and the draughtmanship in turning a small A4 drawing into large scale plans. There is a photo of two fuselage sections set about the vertical and horizontal axsis. Is there a short answer as to how you use the radial lines to set out the sections. are the lines used to set out the small sectiion from the large one or vice versa? Later photos show what appears to be a hard surfaced work board for building up the wings, not a softer surface to enable you to fix pins more easily. I always find that using hard boards tends to end up with bent pins, and sore fingers.

regards cad

Edited By David Ashby - RCME Admin on 08/11/2011 12:55:05

[David Ashby - Moderator]

I've moved your post to Tim's existing thread cad

 

 

[Tim Hooper]

Hi Cad,

 

Thanks for the interest! You've got the general idea about using radial lines to find the proportions of the intermediate formers along the fuselage. The large former is already defined, and the radial lines emanate from the small former at the front of the tailplane. The intermediate ones are simply measured along the radial lines. In real life, I'll fiddle with them later on to get the final fit sorted, and alter the plans to suit!

 

For the photos;

 

I draw the plans on a normal office desk (annoyingly finished in a confusing 'woodgrain' finish.

 

The wings and tail are built on a solid balsa building board, which takes pins quite easily. The reason it looks dark is simply because I fiddle with the image contrast in Photoshop for clarity!

 

The backdrop for the finishd items is a sheet of white paper some 8 feet wide, and lit by a pair of studio flashes in the attic!

 

Simple, eh?

 

tim

[Tim Hooper]

More work on the tailplane this morning;

 

1/8 capstrips were added top and bottom.

 

Then a few minutes of focessed rage with a plane and Permagrit block sees the tail sanded to section.

The final stage this morning was to cut the elevators free and install the 12 swg wire joiner with epoxy. Only then could I get rid of that shaded portion of balsa.

Right then, next stop;- fuselage!

 

tim

 

 

[Danny Fenton]

Thats an interesting way of doing the joiner Tim, obvious really, and saves messing around alligning the two seperate halves.

 

Looking good

[Steve Hargreaves - Moderator]

Just adding a post so I can share in Tims wonderful building before heading back to my workshop & smashing up my part built models because they are not as good as Tims......grrrrrrr!!!

 

The Ten Commandments tell us "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbours ass" but I sure wish I could bdesign & build as well as you Tim.....

[Stephen Jones]

Yes you can tell that not only does Tim like building models He is also very methodical on his build .

 

Keep up the good work Tim .