Polikarpov Po-2 1/48 ICM-Eduard, post-war civil version, Hungary - FINISHED

Started by Csaba · 222 · 2 years ago
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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years ago:

    What a great Po-2 experience, Csaba @pikofix
    Those are moments you will never forget.

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 years ago:

    Your Po-2 is really coming along, Csaba (@pikofix). Your musings about the Po-2 are interesting. The actual plane was engineered using very simple technology, so if you are used to dealing with more modern planes you forget that a plane doesn't really need much to fly. Barnstormers used to fly on "a wing and a prayer" and would fix their planes with very simple tools and parts. When I was flying C-141s, I got a chance to fly a Stearman biplane, and was amazed at how different the two planes were.

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    Csaba said 3 years ago:

    George, @gblair, I can´t even imagine the difference. Probably something like riding a bicycle after spending years on an 18 wheeler. 🙂 I envy your experience, must have been very interesting flying around with those giants.
    Spiros @fiveten and John @johnb, yes it was a very unique sight back then. I believe it was the only Po-2 in flying condition in the mid-90s. Multiple restoration projects have been finished since that, so you can see a handful of these old biplanes flying all around the world. Actually you can also fly with at least the one I have seen in Hungary. It is operated by a foundation, and every summer they offer sightseeing flights with Po-2, Li-2 (soviet built DC-3) and Rubik Kanya (yes, the same Rubik family was behind the huge 80´s hit, the "magic cube". The inventor´s father was the most productive airplane designer of the country, designing a lot of gliders and light airplanes.)
    http://goldtimer.hu/foundation.html

    I have just discovered a few minutes ago that I have a problem. The original HA-PAX had more Venturi tubes than I thought, it seems the plane had 4 large and 2 small ones, instead of the 2 large/1 small set provided in the kit. Well, late evening modelling again, I simply overlooked this detail when checking the references.
    Back to the drawing board, time to build a few of those tiny tubes.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years ago:

    Looks like a Po-2 can never have too many venturis, my friend @pikofix!
    Looking forward to your extra ones!

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 years ago:

    Interesting info about Rubik, Csaba (@pikofix). I'm a lazy and casual builder, so I think I would ignore the newly discovered venturis, especially since no one else will probably ever know they are missing. I know sometimes this sort of stuff bothers you until you fix it, but I know it will be a cool plane either way.

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    Csaba said 3 years ago:

    I tired a few ideas, brass tubes, cable insulation, plastic rods, but so far nothing gave the expected result. I might use the leftover Eduard parts as base, and try to modify those. Let’s see.

    Talking about Eduard - they have a special Halloween sale on this weekend, and I could not resist buying their new Zlin Z-226 kit. If the Po-2 was Eastern Block’s Tiger Moth, then the Zlin Trener series was the Chipmunk. Based on the parts, Eduard will release the whole series, from the basic 226 to the last type, the 726, including the 526 AFS, a single seater aerobatics version. A lot of interesting paint schemes are waiting for us! I am really looking forward to seeing the new Eduard kit.

    https://www.eduard.com/eduard/trener-dual-combo-1-48.html

    In the meanwhile, back to the drawing board, again.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years ago:

    Pity that a viable solution for the extra venturis is still to emerge, my friend @pikofix!
    Love the Zlin! The Eduard combo kit looks wonderful.

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    Csaba said 3 years ago:

    Spiros @fiveten had an excellent idea, why not to stretch a plastic tube over heat, cut it, and build up the Venturi tubes. This might work! I have a few Evergreen tubes in my spares box, and after a half an hour trial, I got a few pieces done. The tricky part is to make them similar to each other - it seems to help when I insert a 0.4 mm brass rod into the Evergreen tube before stretching. I will need one more evening for making more, but that should give me enough (4) large Venturi tubes at the end. The small ones can be a bit more tricky, but I will try to use the same method.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years ago:

    Looking great already, my friend @pikofix! The brass rod inside is a splendid idea!
    Looking forward to your final results!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years ago:

    What a great idea provided by Spiros @fiveten and a nice execution of it, Csaba @pikofix
    This way you will be getting nice looking tubes.
    Maybe heat-shrink tubing could have done the job as well, although I think that is more difficult to control.

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    George R Blair Jr said 3 years ago:

    Your venturi tubes are awesome, Csaba (@pikofix). Great original idea from Spiros (@fiveten), and then great idea to use the brass rod to control the shape. Well done.

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    Csaba said 3 years ago:

    I think I managed to make an (almost) exact copy of the small one, and got two acceptable large ones. I need to do the detail work later, but the overall size and shape is close to the original kit parts. I believe if I mount the kit parts on one side, and the handmade ones on the other, then the small difference will be invisible.
    John @johnb, heat-shrink was one of the first thing to try (side effect of being an electrical engineer), but I quickly realized that even the smallest one is too big for these tiny parts, and it is very hard to control the process.
    George @gblair it is indeed a very good idea from Spiros @fiveten. I think it is the best option, especially if you need a single piece. Making a small batch is a little bit more challenging, but can be done.

    The other option would be to buy aftermarket items - yes, a resin Venturi tube set made for ICM Po-2 exists! I would need two sets, and the price including postage would be the same as the entire kit. No way! 🙂

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    Csaba said 3 years ago:

    I am sitting at home with some kind of virus infection, and today I managed to convince myself to make the final matt varnish on the Po-2.
    It looks ok, but these self-made decals are indeed very thick and glossy. It took many layers of varnish to get an acceptable result, and blend the carrier film with the base yellow layer.
    I have to finish the Venturi tubes, but after that this thing is ready for final assembly. Yay! 🙂

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    Csaba said 3 years ago:

    I call these done. Not a perfect match to the kit parts, but I think they will look ok on the model.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 years ago:

    They look perfect to me, Csaba @pikofix