Martian Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 First let me say this is a first for me and I will give an account of my mistakes or erros Years ago I started to build a Spitfire but gave up but I have always liked the Mosquito and when Tony's plan appeared I thought that's the warbird for me, now I have never built a warbird of any description and never built from a Tony Nijhuis plan but although not brimming with confidence with your Guidance and help I'm having a good crack at it after all it's got to be better than watching tv right . So whilst plodding on with my Pilatus Porter I set about gathering all the bits over the past 6 months to limit the financial pain and no I haven't added it all up. First of all Tony's build blog is very good and has been read many times as has Martin Mcintosh's . Geoff Gardiner has just made a start on his so lots of visual leads to follow. After following advice early in the year I purchased the necessary bits to make the U/C units i'e oleos metal retract units wheels and ali bar. Diving in and making a start this is where I found my lightweight drill press and electric drill not to be accurate enough I also stupidly drilled the grub screw holes out to 4MM to take a 4mm die (not a success , a 3.5mm brand new metal bit did the trick. But the hard part is drilling out the holes for the pins the hopeless drill and stand allowed the bit to wander and try to take it's own path so back to basics I decided to drill very slowly with a bit of oil while holding my batt drill (it has a better chuck) it was better but not perfect . I have since found out my brother in law has a wonderful and solid proper job drill press so this little job will be revisited. I bought a pair of 5" Kavan balloon wheels they seemed to heavy so tracked some 5" foam wheels from China only took a week to arrive and are much better. To sum up it is not a big deal to make your own units just find someone with a decent drill press and give it a go ,both Martin and Geoff made a super job of theirs. Heres the pics of mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin McIntosh Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 You seem to be making an excellent job so far. Just don`t forget to increase the diameter of the u/c pins or they will certainly bend on landing. BTW, my drill press is only a cheapo from Amazon and does quite a reasonable job of these sort of things. Put three grub screws in to hold the legs if you can. Filing all those flats can be a real pain though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 Posted by Martin McIntosh on 22/08/2016 21:19:19: You seem to be making an excellent job so far. Just don`t forget to increase the diameter of the u/c pins or they will certainly bend on landing. BTW, my drill press is only a cheapo from Amazon and does quite a reasonable job of these sort of things. Put three grub screws in to hold the legs if you can. Filing all those flats can be a real pain though. Thanks Martin, all my pins are 6mm would you still recommend drilling out for 7mm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin McIntosh Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 6mm should be fine I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted August 23, 2016 Author Share Posted August 23, 2016 Some pictures of progress so far. as you can see I am using a SLEC jig in an attempt to keep it all true I'm also using the cnc pack bit of a problem I have found is the liteply formers flex very easily in the width direction and I did not realise until removing from the jig I have been able to ease the problem areas but still have some realignment to to the rear namely f8 and f9 ,something to watch out for, as I'm not used to round fuselage construction I am inclined to brace the formers for a similar build, anyway warts and all pics so far Battery box in place note my lovely coloured pegs as clamps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin McIntosh Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 I do not have a Jig anymore so just kept it straight by line of sight during planking using the longerons as a reference. Bit hit and miss but it turned out fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 Looking good so far Martian, you are catching me up. Out of interest, what retracts did you go for ? I ended up with these: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin McIntosh Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 They look to be very good but how do you propose to fit a 10mm pin into 1/2" sq. alloy bar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted August 23, 2016 Share Posted August 23, 2016 I used 5/8" sq. alloy, which is about 16mm sq. The finished retracts are very sturdy and hopefully not a 'deal breaker' with regards to weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted August 24, 2016 Author Share Posted August 24, 2016 Posted by Martin McIntosh on 23/08/2016 20:36:14: 6mm should be fine I think. Well I,'ll bear in mind your advice and look to redo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted August 24, 2016 Author Share Posted August 24, 2016 Geoff I get these **LINK**html I also got the 10mm pin one's to but opted for the 6mm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted August 24, 2016 Author Share Posted August 24, 2016 Geoff as far as catching up goes I think that unlikely 😕 slow going on this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted August 24, 2016 Author Share Posted August 24, 2016 It turns out only F8 and F9 are misaligned I can break those out and realign with the tail wheel retract in place just as well because I forgot to drill for steering connection durhh , anyway on with the sheeting using my coloured pegs trouble is when the sheet is wetted to curve the pegs indent as have other clamps I have used (at least the balsa is soft) so I'm giving zip ties a go with a stiff ruler underneath looks OK so far. I have a palm sander which is very good but you cant beat the feel of the wood under your hand so wallah enter the marigold palm sander spread uhu por and bond your chosen sand paper and of you go heres some pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted September 18, 2016 Author Share Posted September 18, 2016 Fuselage is all sheeted now planed and sanded but some filling still to do and more light sanding, tailplane and rudder built still shaping the rudder. I had a problem with the bomb bay doors I built them in situ as advised but they buckled on release same problem as Martin poor bending balsa I get all my balsa from SLEC and its excellent but no matter what you specify there's no way to ensure you get bendy balsa , best to go to my LMA and select what I want but it's 30 miles away anyway I rebuilt them using stiffer liteply and planning I'm happy with that now. I would like an opinion on the elevator Tony,s plan depicts an open construction to simulate fabric covering but that was only used on the prototypes all production aircraft had metal covered elevators so if I'm to try and do this scale should I make the elevator to reflect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 7, 2016 Author Share Posted November 7, 2016 I've been plodding along not entirely happy with fuselage as the balsa sheets sunk in a little lengthwise so it fill sand fill sand I used sanding sealer to help prevent removing balsa I also painted it with some yellow silk emulsion to help I'd e notify the low spots bit of a mistake that because it clogs the sandpaper ah well live and learn. I've completed the tailplane and elevators also the fin and Rudder both gave been hinged and are ready to fit. Another mistake was deciding to use a canopy from Mr Taylor's ninth scale reckon bomber version mossie and deciding to let it into the fuse rather than on top roof the skin more rework the canopy is to flimsy to do that. Tail wheel complete with addition of plastic sprue to make it a little more scale like , anyway some pics to date 4 This last pic shows the New Zealand restoration F for Freddie featured in an article of Fly Past I'm basing my model on this plane as it's an actual airworthy plane ,the original F Freddie crashed and written off in Canada at the end of the war Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin McIntosh Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Best of luck guys, the `interesting` bits are yet to come, but very good work so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted November 7, 2016 Share Posted November 7, 2016 Hi Martian. Looking very good. I like what you have done with the tail wheel. I think you have overtaken me with my build. Keep posting. Geoff... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 7, 2016 Author Share Posted November 7, 2016 Posted by Martin McIntosh on 07/11/2016 19:29:12: Best of luck guys, the `interesting` bits are yet to come, but very good work so far. Much appreciated from you 😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted November 7, 2016 Author Share Posted November 7, 2016 Posted by Geoff Gardiner on 07/11/2016 21:00:57: Hi Martian. Looking very good. I like what you have done with the tail wheel. I think you have overtaken me with my build. Keep posting. Geoff... thanks Geoff I am no way ahead of you to have only just started the wings and nacelles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 Right at the outset I never underestimated the amount of work and patience would be needed for this build it is doable though and hopefully worth it, there seems little point in giving a running commentary on every bit of progress for one thing this TN mossie has been covered far better than me and I don,t feel there is an awful lot of interest however I may as well see it through to the end. Because I wanted my model to be based on the fighter bomber variant MK IV there are some differences and not all that easy to do namely the perspex bomb aimer nose and the canopy I,ve got the Brian Taylor canopy but it is a little big and I'm still considering making a smaller plug with more detail. Only the prototype had canvas covered elevators as depicted on the TN plan I've made mine to represent ali covered ,the rudder is canvas covered I've built that and covered with solartex it looks ok, there has been a struggle to fit in the big 5 inch wheels by others and because of that I've spent a lot of time studying pictures of the real mossie and it looks to me as though the wheel doors are raised at the wheel location when looking at the side view I wanted to stick to the 5 inch wheels so have built up the wheel door depth by about 7mm then shaped and blended in to the nacelle I hope it looks authentic,I have carved out the inside of the still joined doors quite extensively then smoothed with a dremel flap wheel while quietly choking on the dust even with a mask on. one wing half is covered as is its nacelle the rear of the nacelle is made from blue foam to try to cut a bit of weight. flaps and ailerons to make next . Anyway all the pics up to date to follow. Anything that looks wrong please tell me and any question please ask. Thank you Martin Mc for your excellent build blog it's been really helpful. Geoff notice any similarities in the pics if you cant work it out ask and I will answer Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Gardiner Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 That looks magnificent Martian. Are you putting lights in the wingtips? You appear to have nicked my dinning room chairs. Geoff... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 Thanks Geoff , yes the chairs you spotted them weird or what, yes I'm putting in nav lights and a formation light and you may have noticed the landing light although I may revisit that when completed that is why it's made to be removed, the real landing light drops down and forward I'm not sure how to do that but it will to b e servo operated, I appreciate you looking in Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Carpenter Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Superb!!! DH at its best ! Colin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted December 11, 2016 Author Share Posted December 11, 2016 Posted by Colin Carpenter on 11/12/2016 20:05:35: Superb!!! DH at its best ! Colin Blimey praise indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Fenton Posted December 11, 2016 Share Posted December 11, 2016 Looks really nice indeed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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