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1/3 scale Bristol Scout


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Building a 1/3 scale Bristol Scout has been one of those projects that has been gnawing away at me for what has probably been years. I decided I would finally scratch that itch and build one.

Initially I began drawing up my own set of plans but the more I searched for information the more I saw Brian Perkins' beautiful model of the Scout. Well, there's no point in re-inventing the wheel, so i made contact with Brian. In short order a package arrived at my door with a big set of beautiful plans. I just hope I can do Brian and his plans justice !

One thing to be learned about building what could be called un-conventional sized models is that you have to use un-conventional modelling methods. No pinning strips of balsa on to a board for this one. You can see in the photos I made a jig to build the fuselage sides so that they will be identical. I also cut out the two front fuselage doublers from 1/4" aircraft ply by screwing two blanks together and cutting them out similtaneously. I've also included two photos of Brian's model which provides all the inspiration you need. It looks and flies fantastic.

jig mod.jpgdoublers 1mod.jpgdoublers 2 mod.jpgopener.jpgimg_1293.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

A bit more progress done.

Fuselage is coming together. I slotted the rear section and put thin ply laminates in to get the correct curvature at the rear as Brian did on his. The tail skid slot is not completely cut out here as I kept a little bit for added strength while the clamping and gluing was going on. I also used a duplicate piece just for the shape on the bottom (top really) that wasn't glued in and will be removed when it comes off the board. Still to cut the front formers and add them next. Everything coming together nice and square.p8280621.jpgp8300630.jpg

Edited By Ian Easton on 01/09/2015 00:56:32

Edited By Ian Easton on 01/09/2015 00:58:09

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  • 5 months later...

It's been a while since I've posted anything and I have made a bit of progress. Here you can see the undercarraige wire ends ready to be brazed together. The UC wires took two attempts to get right. After bending they were sandwiched in ash wood legs glued together with aircraft grade epoxy. The legs were sanded to shape which took a long time. I had no idea how hard ash was as I had never used it before. The tail skid is done (photos to follow) and I deviated from the plan a little. I fabricated the steel mounting brackets for the front and rear of the legs too. Undercarraige  mounted on to the fuselage - just the ash spreader bar to add. I made the ash tail skid using the dimensions from the original 1914 plans. I found the drawings at the great web page "rebuilding grandas Bristol Scout." There's quite a few original drawings there. The skid came out a little thinner than is shown on the plans and I'm not sure I'll use it yet. I'll see how heavy the whole tali ends up, so I might change to Brian's original design. Shown here too is the MDF former I cut for laminating the rudder. The rudder is actually completed - photos to come.uc wire ends mod.jpg

uc wires mod.jpg

uc mod.jpg

uc clamped mod.jpg

uc mount mod.jpg

Framed up.jpg

rudder former mod.jpg

Edited By Ian Easton on 11/02/2016 16:35:13

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  • 6 months later...
  • 2 years later...

Gentlemen, thanks for the postings. Yes. I'm alive and well. The Scout is still under construction albeit rather slowly as I've been distracted restoring vintage motorcycles and playing around with a 1931 Form model A. The engine has been installed and the undercarraige is complete. I need to post a few new photos. David Bremner, the builder of the real Bristol Scout kindly sent me a piece of the material from his plane after stripping it down to recover. I'll be placing some of that on the model. I had all the ribs laser cut and just need to shape the spars and form the tips to start assembly on those. The bikes are mostly done so I'll be back to the Scout soon.

Dave your, correct in that it was Brian's model that was in the video. Mine is still bare frame at the moment.

I will be getting back to it soon and posting more photos. Thanks for bringing up the old thread again.

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  • 10 months later...

Well, It's been 4-1/2 years and despite having made a bit more progress on this model I decided to call it quits on it. Three reasons. 1. I've lost interest, 2. This model is huge -bigger than I imagined, 3. Moving to a smaller house. The biggest reason though is the size. This model is enormous. I'm a bit disappointed in myself because I always finish the models I start but this one takes a lot of dedication, is expensive to build and takes up a lot of room to store. I tried selling the unfinished project along with the brand new engine on various model sites and the dreaded feebay but no takers - no one wants it. So in the bin it went. Sad ending but I can't take it to the new house. I do have a brand new 111cc engine and prop available and a set of big wheels if anyone is interested! I can say though that once we get settled in to the new house I will be building another Scout, though quite a bit smaller.

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dc579ac7-a30e-4c86-9c70-4d2dcfddeb2f.jpegAs a bit of a consolation, here is my nearly finished Bristol Scout “C”, 1/10 scale all from 3mm Depron, 29” span weighing 170gms with a 2S 240mah Lipo, for indoors. From the free plan in December 2019 Flying Scale Models. For those still interested in a larger outdoor scale version but a bit more handy than the 1/3 scale version previously featured in this thread, there is also in the FSM December issue an excellent feature on a 1/4 scale Scout, which will be about 72” span. Excellent build article and also a full write-up and three-view scale drawings of the whole Scout series. Put these alongside the brilliant book “Bristol Scout 1264” by David Bremner and you have everything you need to build an excellent scale model of this really great subject. The 29” version I have built in three weeks is designed by Mike Roach, the quarter scale model by Gary Sunderland. Either design could be easily scaled to a different size. I am sure the larger would easily scale down to 1/5, making it about 58” span. 090b5bb8-587b-4fae-aad1-2678df8fb44b.jpeg

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  • 1 month later...

Nice Scout. I have all the references and plans etc you mention , plus more, so another Scout will be built. Here's some photos of my Peter Rake designed Scout. I flew this model for years and put many hours on it. A couple of years ago it was "shot down" by someone switching on their radio without checking on frequencies . We were both using pre 2.4g systems.p5120004.jpgdsc02566.jpgdsc03072.jpgdsc03077.jpg

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