aviaamator

Congratulations on finishing this very interesting build.  Looking forward to your next project.

There has been a slight problem with the kit. The cowl that goes over the fuel tank etc sits a wee bit too high at the back. It fits fine at the front and I notice on the instructions photographs that the discrepancy is there as well so it's not my fault. As a result the machine guns also sit about 3mm too high so I have had to modify their mounts somewhat. It's taken me ages but I think they look ok now and won't look too noticeable. I should say that the guns themselves were an absolute beast to make up. Rolling brass is great fun and those cross hairs are so tiny they would break in a breath.
 
 
 
 

Nice!
 
Michael

Michael, Druxey, Aviaamator, thank you for looking in and for your supportive comments re my recycling efforts. More to follow:-
 
I finished refurbishing the lead screw, reassembled it and mounted it in the column.

I had been giving some thought to the design of the milling head and in particular the type and arrangement of the bearings. Anyway the other night I was lying awake mulling it over when I remembered that I had a broken router in the garage. The router was little used in its first year - probably less than a couple of hours. Early in its second year it developed a winding fault and wouldn't self start. Its was just out of warranty and the cost of repair was nigh on the same as replacing it - so a replacement was bought and it found its way into the rainy day store. The speed and power rating was well in excess of my mini mill requirements and I thought the shaft, bearings and collet chuck would suit my purposes rather well.

Stripping down was relatively straightforward and soon the rotor and bearings were out.

Removing the rotor winding wasn't easy at all but it was eventual "hacked" off after an hour of sawing.


I did a redesign of the milling head after looking at the arrangement of a couple of commercially available mills.

I decided to make the bearing housing out of a 2"x2"X3.5" square aluminium bar.  I ordered a piece for the purpose - 8 inch long and £13 from fleabay.
 
Chopping off the required length was another hacksaw marathon.

The cantilever stem supporting the bearing housing was cut from 2" X 1" aluminium bar from my metal stock. Both items were faced off square using a fly cutter. I love flycutting its so satisfying to see the almost mirror finish appear.

Its going to fit together something like this:-

There trick to making this work is to machine the bearing housing accurately - so that the shaft runs true. I took a lot of care when mounting the bearing housing in the mill. As bought the bar had a good surface finish and was square and parallel. I used a .0005" graduation dial gauge to check verticality on two adjacent faces. A lot of tapping with a hammer and checking and rechecking using the dial indicator finally got both vertical faces to within .0005" over the 3.5 inch length.

I drilled through the 3.5" length of the bar to take the shaft. A bit of a heavy job for my mill which complained quite a lot. This operation wasn't helped by my smaller twist drills being somewhat shorter than the hole being drilled. However eventually I got through.

I then had the job of opening out the ends to take the bearings. The bearings needed to be a very good fit so I took it real slow using my boring head - that is the head in the picture and not the head on my shoulders.

Having done one end I flipped the bearing housing over and went through the whole laborious process with the dial gauge once again. This time it took even longer - probably about an hour (although my wife tells me time is distorted in the black hole of my workshop). Each end has 4 holes which will take a plate that clamps on to the outer race of the bearings.


I managed to get the bearings nicely fitted with no slop.

I need to give a bit more thought to the arrangement of the belt drive - maybe in the early hours of tonight.

I have been working my way around the deck fitting the many rings and other bits and pieces required for rigging connection. Quite a bit of time and not really much to see. 
So I decided to complete something that has a bit of visual impact, davits and tackle for the jolly boat at the stern.

Deck fittings.
 
The deck fittings are now pretty much complete and stepping of the masts and commencement of the rig is getting closer.
Before this major step I need to do a deck rig layout to ensure that I fit any rings, blocks etc that are required where lines run down to the deck before belaying. On my Bounty build I omitted this step and had to drill holes and fit blocks and rings once the masts were in place, not easy.
 
Cheers, David.
 

A great situation when it is possible to use donor machines! I have such an opportunity, and I use it.

And in my Blog you can see...

Here it is:

A great situation when it is possible to use donor machines! I have such an opportunity, and I use it.

A great situation when it is possible to use donor machines! I have such an opportunity, and I use it.

Thank You, Dave!

Well re-cycled, Keith. I shuddered at your description of running the lathe at 200rpm to start off with!

Wonderful use of broken parts on the mill. Love the tripod parts for the third hand. I sent my one similar to that to my Son in Whitehorse.
 
Michael

I do believe the comment was just a poor joke,observe the winking smiley. Aviaamator,your workmanship is superb.
 
Dave 

And then what????!!!!! ( to make a milling machine-need a milling machine!)  In the photo my homemade milling machine.

O. K., Dirk! This will not happen!

O. K., Dirk! This will not happen!

A little more, a little more...

O. K., Dirk! This will not happen!

Anchor, until only experimental. If you do not like me , then make out of steel.

Hi Aviaamator - 
 
Thanks for looking in and enjoying my journey.  I hope the machines and devices can make your own modeling a bit easier.
 
One small note - almost all of the rigging, with the exception of the smallest seizing line, is museum grade linen line from a supply that I have been carefully hoarding for years.  Only the color has been changed from natural to black for the standing rigging with fabric dye.
 
Be well
 
Dan
 

looks marvelous, caan't wait to see the third ...

Just like that, good old tissue and dope. I did try painting the side without dope. Disaster ! I had to rip it off and start again. Dope first, paint second - lesson learnt.

Well so much for my covering skills ! The next stage as far as I was concerned was to cover the tissue with dope and then paint it. Bad mistake.
 
I am sure that is how I did it when I was making flyable planes in my youth. Anyway I had to rip it off and do it again hence the delay in a post.
 
The way to do it is as follows. Cover the wing with tissue as tight as possible without tearing it. Wait for it to dry. Then paint it gently with dilute PVA. That makes it go all soggy and look dreadful but, when it dries you have a lovely tight smooth finish. Then apply two coats of dope/laquer and then paint it with the required colour.
 
So, my third attempt looks like this and at last I can start putting bits together.