Hi all
A word of caution for anyone thinking of building this model
The upper wing has to be mounted onto a total of 12 struts (8 interplane struts and four fuselage cabane struts)
As already stated, the struts are all 3D printed and therefore weak
To try fitting the upper wing onto 12 struts and at the same time keep everything aligned is difficult
Therefore I chose to fit the upper wing onto the 8 interplane struts only, then fit the cabane struts after the upper wing was fitted
Caution:
When drilling the locating holes in the upper and lower wings for the interplane struts, it's important to make sure the tilt forward angle of the struts is correct
If not, the upper wing will be in the wrong position for the fuselage cabane struts to locate correctly in their upper wing and fuselage recesses
After I had fitted the upper wing I found that the tilt forward angle of the interplane struts was not enough and therefore the upper wing was positioned too far rearwards
This meant that the kit supplied cabane struts could not be fitted correctly in addition to the 2 coolant pipes from the engine to the radiator in the upper wing
To correct the angle of the struts was not an option as this would have meant removing the upper wing and definitely breaking the struts in the process
Therefore, I made and fitted replacement cabane struts, created from formed Brass tube
Anyone making this model should make sure the holes for locating the interplane struts are drilled at the correct angle to allow the upper wing to be positioned (when fitted) correctly to align the fuselage cabane struts in their upper wing and fuselage recesses
A fuel pipe, not represented in the kit, needs to be added to the rear of the left cabane strut.
PS: The brown overspray on the engine exhaust pipe has been sorted.
Mike
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
