Morane-Saulnier G by Richard44 - FINISHED - WAK - 1:33 - CARD

[Richard44]

Ok, so Edward has caused me to get off my backside 😁, and add this build log of the Morane-Saulnier G monoplane that was built around 1912. A minor confession - I actually completed this model some weeks back, and the build was not as quick as this log might suggest.

 

The plane is a free download from the WAK site.

 

A Google search shows that the “G” model was actually a two seater, but this kit is for a single seater. So exactly which model the kit represents is a bit of a mystery. The kit depicts an aircraft in the service of the Russian Empire, and was probably used as a training aircraft as no armament was fitted. It would have been obsolete by the time WW1 broke out.

 

Once printed, there are three sheets of parts and three sheets of diagrams, but the only instructions are those indicating which parts need to be laminated to thicker card.The contents of the kit.

 

The basic parts of the fuselage that have been cut out after laminating onto 1mm thick card.

The diagrams indicate that these should all be glued together as the next step. This would have made it difficult if not impossible to add the inner skins and details in the cockpit area. So the skins were added to the sides and floor, then the seat, joystick, rudder pedals etc. were added.

The fuselage was then assembled.

The outer skins on the fuselage.

The cowling ring and cowl in place. Not as neat as I would have liked, and some damage is evident.

 

Cheers

[Canute]

Interesting, Richard. You bring up some fine points.

[Richard44]

Thanks for the comment Ken, and for all the likes.

 

There were 35 parts for the 7 cylinder rotary engine, plus another 10 parts for the propeller. The blades of the propeller are stiffened with short lengths of 1mm brass rod (and I should add here that there are templates provided for all the wire/rod parts). An interesting exercise in assembling the engine, and the diagrams had to be studied carefully in order to do this correctly. The engine parts, the completed engine and the engine plus propeller.

The tail skid is made up of a bracket and leg that support the card skid itself. The leg is 1mm rod, while the bracket has two parts of 0.5mm rod which I silver soldered together. This was my first attempt at silver soldering, and after attempts two, three…I finally managed to achieve an acceptable result.

The undercarriage is typical, two V-shaped struts plus axle. There are an additional three V-shaped struts through which the cables that controlled the wing warping run. One goes from the undercarriage to the bottom of the fuselage, the second downwards from the bottom of the fuselage at a point level with the rear of the undercarriage, while the third is on top of the fuselage immediately in front of the cockpit. All of these struts have a rod core with a card skin. I need more practice in doing struts such as this as my attempts are not as neat as I'd have liked.

There was a choice of how to build the wings. Either cut out 22 individual ribs, assemble with a “spar” then add the skin, or laminate a core then skin it. I went for the latter, easier method. The photo shows the four parts that are to be laminated plus the two 1mm diameter wire spars, one of which passes right through the fuselage. The tail surfaces are simple card cores that are skinned. The elevators have a rod joiner and there is a rod at the leading edge of the rudder (there is no tailplane or fin as such - the surfaces are all-moving).

The main components of the aircraft ready for assembly.

When the engine was slotted into the cowl, it was apparent that the propeller could not be attached to the engine without a spacer between the two being added. There was no way that the engine could be moved forward or the propeller moved back - the cowl was in the way. So a spacer was added. Attaching the wing to the fuselage was easy enough - the two wire spars ensured accurate location. The tail surfaces though were difficult. Both the elevators and the rudder need to be fixed to the very end of the fuselage, a gluing surface of about 10x2mm. There is also the problem of the horizontal rod of the elevators and the vertical rod of the rudder both being attached, to the fuselage and effectively to each other, by very small pieces of card representing the hinges. If I’d thought about it much earlier, I probably would have attempted to silver solder the rods together and then make the elevators and rudder, thus making the rear surfaces a single unit. I had to use epoxy and fake the hinges. The fuselage rear from underneath.

The control horns were added. All rigging was done with heavy EZ-Line. It is noticeable in places that the line is twisted as it is not round in cross-section but rectangular. I saw this too late to fix while rigging and decided that trying to correct it later was likely to cause damage. The finished aircraft.

Quite a nice little model. Not too difficult to build.

 

My apologies for the brevity of the log. I sort of got tied up with the building and forgot to make notes or take photos.

 

Cheers

 

 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Richard44

[ccoyle]

Nice work, Richard!

[Canute]

Looks good to me, Richard. Nice work.

[Edwardkenway]

Nice work, Richard. 

It's nice to see that model put together, and looking good!

For a free download, it does make a nice model.

I will definitely give my one a try.

 

[GrandpaPhil]

Nicely done!