David Boddington Centurion (4th try)

[Alec Turnbull]

Since I had no idea whether this paint is compatible with Solartex I decided to try it out on the wheel spats first, before commiting to large panels, since Solartex has a weave I didn't think ordinary masking tape would be suitable in terms of bleed through, as luck would have it when bargain hinting in Lidl or Aldi ( I forget which it was) I spies some Frogtape, never used it before but I have heard its good, bit expensive but hey ho.

[Alec Turnbull]

So here is my attempt on the spats, copied a design that I found online on a full size Stearman.

I found it takes four coats, brushed on, to fill the weave and to get a slightly glossy finish, but it takes well to Solartex so I am happy to proceed with the wing panels next.

The instructions on the tin say to leave the paint for two hours between coats, but in actual fact I have found that in a warm room it can be recoated in about an hour.

I used a small artists brush for these but will meed a much bigger one for the rest of the model.

When dry the Poppy Red dries to slightly darker hue more like the dark red I imagined

 

[Alec Turnbull]

I have always likes the sunburst paint schemes found on vintage aircraft so I have tried to emulate that, one slight snag is that it is only possible to paint one stripe at a time as the masking tape gets in the way, so it is a bit time consuming, at four coats it works out at one pair of stripes per day!

Using the softest 1 inch brush I could find, (a Harris window sash brush) I brushed in the thinest coat I could, which aids drying and the brush marks are only very slight.

The Frog tape seems to work quite well as long as attention is made to ensure the edge is well and truly stuck down, made a few slip ups there but not to bad.

The last stripe is being applied today, tail section and fin tomorrow.

[Alec Turnbull]

I couldn't resist putting the wings on the fuselage just to see the finished result, very pleased as it is more or less the rusult i was looking for, looks good from 6 feet away!

 

On with the tail tomorrow then.

[Alec Turnbull]

Have you ever started a job and then regretted it? but had to carry on............I lost count of the hours I have spent this week on this, still the weather is freezing what else could I have been doing?

So anyway here is an update on the painting of the Centurion, I decided that there was a bit too much red so I have put a bit of black in to break it up. Here I am painting fuselage and marking out and masking the side flashes.

 

[Alec Turnbull]

Then on with the black side flashes

 

[Alec Turnbull]

And here she is loosely assembled, painting operations complete thank heavens! Next I have to complete the glazing, then final assembly and complete to airworthy standards, looks OK from a few feet away but does not bear scrutiny!

 

[Basil]

Alex, how did you attach the struts to the fuse' sides please. I have seen a couple of ideas and am interested in what method you used please.

Bas

[Alec Turnbull]

Hi Basil

 

I used the method as shown on the plan, alloy strips laminated and epoxied in to the struts, fixed to inserts in mounting plates fitted into the wings and at the bottom end into inserts fitted into a hardwood crosspiece, If you look back in the construction pics you will spot these.

[Basil]

Hi Alex, I have been looking for a solution for some while. Firstly I dont have the plan, saw your post. Looked back at this post but cant seem to find the fuse fixing to hardwood xmember, is the another thread. Bas

[Alec Turnbull]

17 minutes ago, Basil said:

Hi Alex, I have been looking for a solution for some while. Firstly I dont have the plan, saw your post. Looked back at this post but cant seem to find the fuse fixing to hardwood xmember, is the another thread. Bas

Hi again Basil

 

It is all here in this thread, I will find the photo I was refering to and post it again, I have also taken a pic of the relevant part of the plan and the underside of the nearly completed model (it only shows a couple of holes as it is that simple)

I hope that helps, are you any where near Lancashire? You are welcome to pop round.

 

[Basil]

Thanks Alex, I misread that part as part of the U/Carriage. Many thanks. I must get my brain fixed some time.!!!!!

Bas

Edited January 20, 2023 by Basil

[Alec Turnbull]

The cockpit glazing is done now, the plastic sheeting I used was delivered rolled up, no matter how I tried I couldnt get the curve out of it, so it was a right pain to fit, a few weights did the trick. I used canopy glue to stick it down, says on the label dry in 3 hours but it takes a lot longer than that, dries clear eventually but at least 48hours.

The windscreen part was much more difficult than the side windows, got there eventually, pays to not look too close! Sealed the bottom edge with a half inch strip of clear Gorilla tape.

[Alec Turnbull]

Time for final assembly, the plans call for bracing wires on the tail, so this morning that has kept me busy, getting the wires to a correct tension and making sure that the fin and rudder are perfectly at 90 degrees to the horizontal stabiliser, I used stainless fishing line and solder tags. The tensioned wires play a good tune, the tail is now very rigid.

[David Davis]

On 25/01/2023 at 12:22, Alec Turnbull said:

The cockpit glazing is done now, the plastic sheeting I used was delivered rolled up, no matter how I tried I couldnt get the curve out of it, so it was a right pain to fit, a few weights did the trick. I used canopy glue to stick it down, says on the label dry in 3 hours but it takes a lot longer than that, dries clear eventually but at least 48hours.

The windscreen part was much more difficult than the side windows, got there eventually, pays to not look too close! Sealed the bottom edge with a half inch strip of clear Gorilla tape.

 

I've been having similar problems with my little Guidato!

[Cuban8]

Alec, you say that your efforts don't stand up to close scrutiny.....well, you do yourself an injustice...........they look pretty good to me.

We can fall into the trap of trying too hard sometimes, and seeing some of the works of art and high precision workmanship that often graces these web pages or from highly capable builders in our clubs can make us feel a tad inadequate.

Depends what you're looking to gain from the hobby I suppose - I was following a build blog on here by one of our expert scale modellers, as I was intending  building the same model.

I began to get a bit paranoid because of all the faults that were being highlighted with the design (flaps not as the full size, some outlines not to exact shape, a couple of mm inaccuracy in the plan here and there etc etc). I almost gave up before I started.

I'm just an average modeller with average building skills, so I thought "what the heck".......the designer must have known what he was on about and hundreds of examples of the model have been built and flown perfectly well over previous decades. My mindset is not one of the perfectionist or 'rivet counter', so I completed the model as per plan, made a few alterations to suit myself and chose a simple colour scheme. It's now just waiting for a few last minute jobs to complete it and prepare for flight.

 

[Richard Acland]

Really needs something oily and noisy up front.

[stu knowles]

Looks excellent to me. Really like the colour scheme.

 

[Alec Turnbull]

19 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

Alec, you say that your efforts don't stand up to close scrutiny.....well, you do yourself an injustice...........they look pretty good to me.

We can fall into the trap of trying too hard sometimes, and seeing some of the works of art and high precision workmanship that often graces these web pages or from highly capable builders in our clubs can make us feel a tad inadequate.

Depends what you're looking to gain from the hobby I suppose - I was following a build blog on here by one of our expert scale modellers, as I was intending  building the same model.

I began to get a bit paranoid because of all the faults that were being highlighted with the design (flaps not as the full size, some outlines not to exact shape, a couple of mm inaccuracy in the plan here and there etc etc). I almost gave up before I started.

I'm just an average modeller with average building skills, so I thought "what the heck".......the designer must have known what he was on about and hundreds of examples of the model have been built and flown perfectly well over previous decades. My mindset is not one of the perfectionist or 'rivet counter', so I completed the model as per plan, made a few alterations to suit myself and chose a simple colour scheme. It's now just waiting for a few last minute jobs to complete it and prepare for flight.

 

I suppose its my previous work in classic cars, MG, Jaguar and Rolls Royce mainly, that I expect a magnifying glass on everything I do!

[Alec Turnbull]

16 hours ago, Richard Acland said:

Really needs something oily and noisy up front.

Yes, I am beginning to regret my decision to electric on this as I am completely out of my comfort zone, however I will see how it goes, if not satisfactory I will convert to a nice four stroke, I have been eyeing up some noce looking 91's!

[Alec Turnbull]

The one thing I havent done is to position the motor battery (a 6s 6500 mah lipo), I deliberately left this operation until last as I wanted to see where the C of G was going to come out, I made a battery tray out of ply with the idea thet I dould slide it back and forth to adjust the C of G as required the fix it in position, but since I have now fixed the glazing in position I cant get it in so will have to cut it down, best laid plans etc!

So I put the Centurion together and got my Multiplex balancing machine out, no way would the Centurion fit on! I need someting much more heavy duty, so back into the cold garage to raid the scrap box and knock something up, I had a set of pine shelves that I rescued when we emptied out my mother in laws house recently, I knew they would come in handy at some point, and a section of garden rake handle.

 

So this is what I made.

, just the job.

 

Should do the job, probably a one off as I dont envisage building another model as big as this any time soon.

[Cuban8]

55 minutes ago, Alec Turnbull said:

The one thing I havent done is to position the motor battery (a 6s 6500 mah lipo), I deliberately left this operation until last as I wanted to see where the C of G was going to come out, I made a battery tray out of ply with the idea thet I dould slide it back and forth to adjust the C of G as required the fix it in position, but since I have now fixed the glazing in position I cant get it in so will have to cut it down, best laid plans etc!

So I put the Centurion together and got my Multiplex balancing machine out, no way would the Centurion fit on! I need someting much more heavy duty, so back into the cold garage to raid the scrap box and knock something up, I had a set of pine shelves that I rescued when we emptied out my mother in laws house recently, I knew they would come in handy at some point, and a section of garden rake handle.

 

So this is what I made.

, just the job.

 

Should do the job, probably a one off as I dont envisage building another model as big as this any time soon.

Blimey! that's a bit posh................get away with my fingers myself, even on quite big stuff. Nice job though.

[Ton van Munsteren]

My compliments the a very nice model

[Alec Turnbull]

21 hours ago, Cuban8 said:

Blimey! that's a bit posh................get away with my fingers myself, even on quite big stuff. Nice job though.

Could have done it that way, but I would have needed a third hand to move the battery back and forward, and balacing the best part of 12-13 pounds on my 71 year old fingers did not appeal! Any way apart from a vist to B&Q for new drill bit it cost nothing as all the wood was in stock mostly scrap, only took an hour or so to knock up.

May come in hand again one day.

[Alec Turnbull]

13 hours ago, Ton van Munsteren said:

My compliments the a very nice model

Thank you!

 

We are on the last lap now with the Centurion, model is balanced correctly no more weight needed, just got to fix the battery tray in position and fit some hatch catches and the job is done.

Then wait for some fine weather ( when ever that may be!) for a test flight.

I hope the Blackburn club will be functioning again by then.

My next nostalgia build is a GiGi 36" Biplane from 1966, I have built 2 before and I want to do another.