Rumpler "Taube" 1911 by Richard44 - FINISHED - HMV - 1:50 - CARD

[Richard44]

I happened to see this model while browsing a website and thought that it would be an interesting build.

Firstly, some information about the actual aircraft. The following is an edited version of an article in Wikipedia.

“The Taube was designed in 1909 by Igo Etrich of Austria-Hungary, and first flew in 1910. It was licensed for serial production by Lohner-Werke in Austria and by Edmund Rumpler in Germany, now called the Etrich-Rumpler-Taube. Rumpler soon changed the name to Rumpler-Taube, and stopped paying royalties to Etrich, who subsequently abandoned his patent.

Despite its name (Taube means "dove"), the Taube's unique wing form was not modeled after a dove, but was copied from the seeds of Alsomitra macrocarpa, which may glide long distances from their parent tree. 

The wing has three spars and was braced by a cable-braced steel tube truss (called a "bridge") under each wing: at the outer ends the uprights of this structure were lengthened to rise above the upper wing surfaces, to form kingposts to carry bracing and warping wires for the enlarged wingtips.

Later Taube-type aircraft from other manufacturers omitted the underwing "bridge" structure to reduce drag.

Like many contemporary aircraft, especially monoplanes, the Taube used wing warping rather than ailerons for lateral (roll) control, and also warped the rear half of the stabilizer to function as the elevator. Only the vertical, twinned triangular rudder surfaces were usually hinged.

The design provided for very stable flight, which made it extremely suitable for observation. The translucent wings made it difficult for ground observers to detect a Taube at an altitude above 400 meters.

Poor rudder and lateral control made the Taube difficult and slow to turn. The aeroplane proved to be a very easy target for the faster and more agile Allied Scouts of the early part of World War I, and just six months into the war, the Taube had been removed from front line service to be used to train new pilots.”

 

This model is a reissue of one that was released in, I think, 2000. It comprises 13 sheets of various sizes and thicknesses of coloured card and an A5 instruction manual of 24 pages (text and diagrams).

The coloured card means that no edge colouring will be required. The instructions are in German and no English translation is available so Google translate is going to get a workout. There are no lasercut pieces, and it seems that there are no tabs or strip joiners.

It appears that Google has done a more than reasonable job of translating the instructions, though there is some confusion in a few places. I feel that this confusion will be cleared up once I have cut the parts out and try to assemble them. However Google could not handle (read) the handwritten notes that are on many of the diagrams and these had to be entered manually into it.

 

So, onto the build.

The basic parts of the fuselage, with the engine bay already assembled.

There are also four bulkheads shown in the following photo of the fuselage.

This photo shows the fuselage with the engine bearers and floorboards in the two cockpits.

I added a scrap piece in the rear to strengthen this area as it was extremely flimsy. Also printed strips replicating the structure of the fuselage have been added.

Cheers

[GrandpaPhil]

Very cool!

[Jack12477]

1912 Etrich Taube flying at Olde Rhinebeck Aerodrome this past summer

[ccoyle]

Wow, that is unlike any HMV kit I have ever seen. It appears to be hand-drawn, and the overall look and feel of the kit suggest it may be a reprint of an even earlier work.

[Richard44]

2 hours ago, ccoyle said:

Wow, that is unlike any HMV kit I have ever seen.

There are a few other models in this series - https://www.kartonmodellbau.de/kartonmodelle/?cat=24&manufacturer=422

 

I don't know that I have the nerve to tackle any of the others, except perhaps for the Bleriot.

[Richard44]

The fuselage now has rudder pedals in the rear cockpit and seats in both. The engine is partly assembled. I couldn't form the engine cylinders from the parts supplied, the card was a little too thick for me to make a neat cylinder, so I wrapped thin paper around a styrene core. The large yellow cylinder is the fuel tank, which will go into the front cockpit just above the legs of the occupier. The small yellow cylinder is the carburettor. The pilot's control wheel is ready to be fitted. The small grey square with the brown lever is the throttle.

The engine completed and in place, though not glued, as I will remove it and fix it permanently later - it looks to be very vulnerable to a knock the way it sticks up. The other parts are in place. The engine looks very bare, no pipes or wires. There is nothing in the instructions and I couldn't find a suitable photo to show me what goes where. I'll maybe add some bits later.

Cheers

[Richard44]

The tailplane is a simple card piece. There is no seperate elevator as the trailing edge was warped to provide pitch control. And if there was differential warping here, maybe some roll control as well. The vertical stabilizer has a small, fixed triangular fin and two parts to the actual rudder, above and below the tailplane. The rudder was the only control surface that was actually hinged. The rudderpost extends quite a way above and below the tailplane and rigging wires are to be attached to the top. There are also horizontal kingposts (not sure if this is the correct name) extending beyond the tailplane, and rigging is to be attached to each end.

The rudderpost and the two kingposts should have been formed from rolled card as supplied, but trying to make these tubes between 2 and 3mm in diameter proved too much for my skills. I decided to use 2mm brass tube and glued small eyebolts into the ends to allow the rigging to be done easily. Rigging of the tail surfaces complete. There is a tailskid yet to be fastened to the bottom of the rudderpost.

Cheers

[Danstream]

Very cool model. Is the second last picture above showing some translucency of the side covers? The whole real plane looks quite flimsy although elegant in its way. I knew of this type, but never stopped to observe it in detail.

Following along, cheers,

Dan

[Jsk]

One of my favorite early aircrafts. It's looking charming! The engine bears a remarkable resemblance to a Wright 4-40 4-cylinder engine c. 1911, without the flywheel, of course. (see https://wright-brothers.org/Information_Desk/Just_the_Facts/Engines_&_Props/440_Engine.htm). If so, there was not a lot of wiring involved.

[Richard44]

10 hours ago, Danstream said:

Is the second last picture above showing some translucency of the side covers?

Yes, the sides are of very thin paper.

Cheers

[Richard44]

The engine in this version of the Taube was a Daimler/Mercedes design (E4F) of 70hp. Unlike the Wright engine, this one had a carburettor and a throttle. Other versions of the Taube (there were 14 or so different manufacturers) had 6 cylinder engines.

 

Cheers

 

Edit. Wikipedia lists 14 manufacturers but says the list is incomplete. Another site says "dozens" of manufacturers. 

Edited February 5 by Richard44

[Richard44]

Thanks everyone for the visits, the likes and the comments.

 

The wing was the next item. Very simple - skin, no spar and three ribs. I forgot to take a photo of the wing before folding and glueing the skin, but this image from the instructions shows the three ribs. These were laminated. 

Two short tabs that extend across the top of fuselage hold the wings - there is one at the leading edge and a larger one that slots through the gap in the first rib. Folding the skin and glueing it presented no problems, though the trailing edge needed some trimming as the upper and lower edges didn't always match. And this was very obvious given the scalloped trailing edge.

Beneath the wing is what was called the “bridge”, basically a steel girder that gave support to the wing and all the rigging that was required, including that for the wing warping. I perhaps could have made it using the supplied printed parts, but again the small diameter tubes that were required defeated me. So styrene sections were used. The parts of the bridge ready for fixing in place.

The four vertical pieces and the kingposts (all grey in the photo) were carefully drilled at each end to allow the diagonal bracing of the bridge to be done easily. There is also what seems to be an extension of the wing spar beyond the wing tip, and this was also drilled at the tip for the rigging. The basic bridge before rigging.

Rigging was commenced but quickly stopped when I realised that the simple rigging diagram in the instructions didn't quite match the image on the cover of the kit. So I decided to do some internet searching before proceeding. In the meantime, I will tackle some other part of the build - the undercarriage. 

 

Cheers

Edited February 6 by Richard44

[Richard44]

The undercarriage. First up, the wheels. These are spoked and the kit provides a neat way of building these. There are templates which include one wheel rim and separately, there is a second rim.

The hatched central part of the wheel is cut out, the threads are glued onto the template in the indicated positions, then the second rim is glued on top and once completely dry, the spoked wheel is cut from the template.

The various parts of the undercarriage, mostly card and some styrene.

The undercarriage in place.

The diagonal bracing of the bridge is apparent.

 

Finally, a skid was mounted on struts along the bottom of the fuselage.  On top of the skid at the rear, is the brake, designed to drop down and drag along the ground.

Cheers

[Old Collingwood]

Lovely work.

 

OC.

[king derelict]

The method of making the spoked wheels looks very effective and not too complicated. Excellent work 

alan

[Jsk]

Huh! I'm impressed that the stiffened thread spokes actually support the plane. Looks good.

[AJohnson]

A really interesting build Richard, very delicate and intricate looking. 

[Richard44]

The engine was liquid cooled, and the radiators (there were two) were mounted either side of a triangular pylon that was fastened to the fuselage between the two cockpits. (This pylon was also an important part of the rigging of the aircraft.)

Other versions of the Taube, later or different manufacturers, had the radiators flat against each side of the fuselage immediately aft of the engine bay. The instructions give no hint as to how the coolant flowed between the engine and the radiators. Looking for photos on the net didn't help much, so I simply ran two styrene rods down from each radiator, along the top edge of the forward fuselage and into the engine bay. Quite possibly wrong, but at least the radiators don't look ridiculous.

The rigging. As mentioned above, the diagram in the instructions didn't quite match the photo on the cover of the kit. A search of the internet showed many images of Taubes, mostly low-res. There were a few three views that allowed me to come up with an acceptable, to me anyway, rigging plan. There was still some uncertainty about some of the wires as start and end points could not be identified, so these were omitted. The main problem here was that I initially found no views of the underneath of the aircraft. After completing the rigging I did find two sites, with replicas, that showed the underside of the wings and fuselage. It was still not clear to me where some of the wires went so I left my completed rigging “as is”.

 

(It looks as if one of the replicas, the one in the Deutsches Museum, was the basis for this model.)

 

The engine was finally glued in place and the propeller added. I laminated the printed propeller with some lighter coloured card to give it a 3D appearance.

 

So, here it is, the Rumpler Taube of 1911.

Thanks to all who visited, reacted or left comments. Much appreciated.

Cheers

[Canute]

Richard, looks very good. 👍

 

Some of the design ideas these models represent are pretty esoteric. Radiator lines running along the cockpit rails. Wow.

[Richard44]

6 hours ago, Canute said:

Radiator lines running along the cockpit rails.

Hi, Ken

That was only my guess. The only photos I found of that radiator arrangement didn't help with seeing where the lines went. 

Cheers

[king derelict]

Beautiful delicate work and an interesting subject 

alan

[Old Collingwood]

Amazing work.

 

OC.

[AJohnson]

A great looking model Richard, so delicate. 

[GrandpaPhil]

Richard,

  Very nicely done!

[DocRob]

Your Taube is a beauty, Richard. I´m always amazed, what you guys are able to do with card models, simply stunning. I have a WNW Jeannin Stahltaube in my stash, which I will build in a not too far future. These early birds have their own charm.

Cheers Rob

[ccoyle]

A rare bird and nicely done!

[king derelict]

A lovely delicate work. Congratulations 

alan

[Richard44]

On 2/9/2024 at 9:52 AM, king derelict said:

Beautiful delicate work and an interesting subject 

 

On 2/9/2024 at 3:03 PM, Old Collingwood said:

Amazing work

 

21 hours ago, AJohnson said:

A great looking model Richard, so delicate.

 

17 hours ago, GrandpaPhil said:

Very nicely done!

 

16 hours ago, DocRob said:

Your Taube is a beauty, Richard. I´m always amazed, what you guys are able to do with card models, simply stunning.

 

16 hours ago, ccoyle said:

A rare bird and nicely done!

Thanks Alan, OC, Andrew, GrandpaPhil, Rob and Chris.🙂

 

It was certainly an interesting build, now on to the next build, probably a boat.

 

Cheers

 

PS. Thanks Chris for correcting the title, one of these days I'll get it completely correct.🥴😁

Edited February 10 by Richard44

[Richard44]

And thanks to everybody who followed this build, "liked" it, or made comments. Very much appreciated.

Cheers