realworkingsailor

Looks good Nils! Before you get too far ahead, you should sand the bar keel down the centre line flat. I think I read you based your build on plans for the wooden version of these ships, which had the old style keel, but that shouldn’t feature on this sort of steel ship. Andy

Yup: https://www.sunwardhobbies.ca/revell-eurofighter-typhoon-black-jack-1-48-scale-rvg-03820/ Andy

I looked on Scalemates and couldn’t see anything amongst the listed AM sets. Could you scratch build the fishplates from thin brass or styrene stock? Andy

Nice! Do you know his plane(s) number/code? The 1/72 Airfix kit that I’m building comes with markings for 404 squadron. (EE-F). My build is on a bit of a summer stall at the moment, but I’ll pick things up when the weather starts to cool again. Andy

I’m in! That’s quite the collection of extras that you’ve amassed! Looking forward to watching your progress at whatever speed you comfortably attain! Andy

Just for fun, here’s the sleeve valve timing gear train of a Bristol Hercules engine: It looks a little insane at first glance, but if you take your time and pick through the gears, it does begin to make sense. Andy

Yep! We just took slightly different roads to get there 😁 Andy

There was a little government assisted industrial espionage. From what I understand, the Air Ministry passed on quite a bit of the Napier’s technological information along to RR… The sleeve valve came about after a 1927 paper by Harry Ricardo that calculated a maximum HP limit for poppet valve engines. (Not sure if that was for single or multi valve engines, the prevalence today of DOHC multi-valve car engines might suggest only the former). The sleeve valve was a workaround that allowed greater optimal airflow, thus bypassing the theoretical HP limitation. Ultimately, as you say a turbine engine will always outperform a comparable reciprocating engine. Partly due to fluid and thermal dynamics, but also due to the energy, and therefore efficiency, loss caused by converting reciprocating motion to rotary motion. I think it’s more fair to think in terms of relative efficiency, rather than absolute, and the Sabre delivered in spades. Andy

Look up Rolls Royce Eagle 😉 Andy

Not arguing that technology leapt ahead during the war and that jet propulsion far outclassed anything that piston power could put out. My point was more towards the fact that, when you look at engine development, other engines were further ahead in development by the time war broke out. The RR Merlin was first run in 1933. They had 6 years to work out kinks and improvements before the outbreak of the war. Six uninterrupted years to commit resources and personnel to refine the manufacturing process and develop effective mass production strategies, and even develop potential successors. The Sabre first run in 1938, and at the time Napier was basically a “boutique” manufacturer. All their engines were hand built by craftsmen. They had no experience with mass production on the levels required by war demands. They also had minimal experience with other new technological elements of the Sabre engine, like the sleeve valves. And they had all of a year and a half to figure all these things out before the buzzer went off. Oh, and RR was slagging Napier at the Air Ministry, because they were legitimately afraid of what the Sabre could do. Napier didn’t finally catch a break from the government until Beaverbrook arrived in 1940. Andy

Napier was messing around with adding a multi stage turbo to their engine for high altitude performance, unfortunately this came at the detriment of remedying the flaws of the engine. When English Electric bought Napier, they scrapped the turbo project and concentrated on fixing the engine issues (I suspect the British government may have had something to do with the EE takeover, or, at the very least, the removal of red tape to accelerate the process). I suppose if it wasn’t for the necessities of wartime, the real untapped potential of the Sabre could have been unleashed. Andy

Thanks Alan! I was vaguely aware that there was something going on with a Typhoon resto, I didn’t know they were actually trying to get it not only airworthy, but with a Sabre engine too, if I catch the gist of your article correctly (repop or resto, doesn’t matter, it would be a thrill just to hear one start up after, what?, sixty something years, @egilman probably knows when the last Sabre engine flew). Andy

That planking looks fantastic! I trust that nary a copper tile will ever obscure any of your hard work? Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t say thanks for the “new” word to add to my vocabulary! Andy

Hmm… I guess you could try some appropriate diameter styrene rod perhaps? Andy

Is it even a part? Are parts 34 b c and d meant to form a hollow tube with part 34 e meant to be a capping piece? Andy

At this scale, probably the only thing that needs to be done is to pop the head off of a champagne cork and you’re good to go. 😉 Andy

Looks pretty darn good Kev! Slow and steady and you’ll be adding the last tiles before you know it! Andy

Andy

Everyone who I’ve seen building a model with invasion stripes (myself included) works diligently to make the stripes to exact width and straightness, with perfect colour separation etc. When the fact of the matter is, when the ground crews actually applied the stripes, there was no such attention to detail. I’ve read reports of the stripes being applied to aircraft on the day before D-Day with a mop! (Some weren’t even fully dry the day of). Your striping looks pretty great to me! Andy

I don’t think you’re too far off in your guess. I looked back at the photos you posted at the start of your log, and those truss masts are not there on the ship. Your recent photos look more like they were taken on a movie set. Everything looks a little too clean for a working ship, and the angles a little too perfect, (aside from the fact that it looks almost utterly impossible to launch that lifeboat). It’s probably either a lighting rig or for weather effects (rain tower). Andy

I think the concentration of acetic acid in Micro Set is too dilute to be of any significant use other than for decals. Most household vinegar is about 5% acetic acid by volume, Micro Set might be somewhere around 2 or 3 percent (I’m no chemist, just my own personal guesstimate). Andy

Happy to hear you’re okay after such an eventful winter, and even happier to see you’re back at the bench! Looking forward to seeing more of your brilliant handiwork! Andy

Nice job! A great result from an older kit! Andy

Thanks everyone for the likes and kind comments! I have not been idle over the past ten days, although build time has been interrupted on occasion. Picking up from where I left off, the final elements of the cockpit went together nicely. The resin control stick supplied from CMK had to be shortened by 3mm. I found when I first dry fit it in place, the pilot would have looked like he was riding on a Harley with a set of ape-hanger handlebars. A cool look for the highway, but not really practical for a heavy fighter plane. I didn't paint the PE control yoke, instead I decided to blacken it, as well as the tiny switch/lever that attaches to it. Not sure entirely what its function was on the prototype. Following the instructions, the fuselage halves where first glued together. The Yahu models control panel was then glued to the resin backing supplied by CMK for their own PE panel, and the rudder pedals painted and glued on (for all that anyone can see of them!). The interior section was now slotted into place and glued. The last little resin bit to be added is that large hose to the right of the pilot's seat. I'm assuming that was the line for the cockpit heater. The CMK instructions would have the builder add it earlier, before the interior was installed. A little trimming was needed, so it's best to leave this piece off until after the interior is in place. Hard to see much of anything, really, but I'm happy to know the bits are there! A quick view down into the observer's position: After the fuselage was buttoned up, the belly plate was added. I first drilled out the openings for the 20mm canons. I think it looks way better than having the shallow moulded dimples. Following the belly, it was time to assemble the wings. First up, there is a small fairing on the inboard section of the wing that needs to be removed: This is only needed for the version I am building. This does not need to be done for the thimble nose variant. After trimming and sanding smooth, the panel line was re-scribed and the wings assembled and attached. The stabilizers are then added. This is nicely made as a one piece assembly, so there was no need to muddle with the dihedral. This was then quickly followed by the tail fin and rudder: Starting to look like an airplane! I've also painted the front of the engine nacelles green. Although this area isn't particularly visible once assembled. Skipping ahead a little bit, I added the rocket "panniers" to the wing undersides. I reasoned that these parts, at least, would have been swabbed with the invasion stripes when they were added. Finally, I have begun work on the engines and cowlings. If there is one shortcoming of the Airfix kit, it is here. Although I didn't have any trouble figuring out which cowling piece went where, there is a small gap that must be accounted for as the cowling pieces are cumulatively just a hair too small. The best trick is to assemble them so as to have the gap line up under the area that will be covered by the exhaust pipe when it gets added later. Finally, I was not really keen on the appearance of what I'm assuming is the landing lights (or spotting lights, maybe) in the port wing. For such a large, eventually glazed opening in the wing, the inside was rather devoid of any detail I remedied that by using some bits of clear sprue nubbies. I painted the back side white and the sides silver in order to simulate some kind of actual light fixture. At least now there's some detail in there rather than some bizarre, purposeless bite out of the wing. That about brings everything up to date. Hopefully by the next update, I should be starting to get some paint happening. Thanks again to everyone who's following along, or just dropping in for a visit! Andy

Very nice! Your older model holds up pretty well when compared to the new one. Congratulations! Andy