Peanut Scale Westland Woodpigeon

Thanks Andy , I thought he would be . I met Butch as a young, much younger, man .This was in '58 at Abingdon and his reputation was growing then. Doug McHard was also there with a similar rep. Some of the others were at the meet too but never met them . I never got to many dos outside Lancs and Cheshire. Bikes ( and motor bikes ) and models have a limiting factor on travelling far. .Woodford and Woodvale were about as far as I could get usually. I found them both to be very nice chaps and full of hints and tips

Andy in the "Olde " days a type of varnish called banana oil was used on lightweight frames. As far as I know it had nowt to do with bananas but gave a nice finish. What about trying a diluted varnish such as Humbrol clear .They used to do a Marine varnish which was fuel proof although it wasn't claimed to be so which sprayed well. It may be worth a try .

I've had a re-think on the fuselage and looking back at older photos (see post 64) the starved-horse appeared after water shrinking and before doping. Also, non of the other parts have exhibited any shrinkage after doping.

I've learned recently that the after effects of anaesthesia last up to 6 months. My heart op was on 10th Aug, so maybe that was the reason I didn't notice in the first place. It's not an excuse, but it's nice to find a reason for these things!

Looking at your comment John, banana oil is simply non-shrinking dope with a plasticiser added. We used to make our own by adding a few drops of caster oil to non-shrinking dope. I still have some original banana oil in the dope store but it doesn't give me the finish I want on the scale model I'm building. It's good for sports models, though.

Klipkopwildlife wrote: I love your work Andy and would love to be able to do FF here but it's just not feasible. Please explain stooge and blast tube, torque meter is of course self explanatory.

Apols Klippy, I've been assuming too much from you 'radio types'

Blast tube: a tube that is inserted over the rubber motor inside the fus of the model to protect the model from the rubber bursting while it is being wound.

Stooge: anything that holds the model while the rubber motor is being wound. It can be in the form of a mate, or a mechanical structure.

I'll add some pics when I next get into the model room.

It was just a thought Yep I know the castor oil trick. It is/was used to make microfilm too. If you are looking for a high gloss I suggest the varnish be given a try .

one tenor wrote: It was just a thought Yep I know the castor oil trick. It is/was used to make microfilm too. If you are looking for a high gloss I suggest the varnish be given a try .

Humbrol varnish is not suitable for lightweight scale models John (one tenor), it is far too heavy.

A hi-glass finish is not appropriate for competition models of this size. Scale effect requires a slightly duller and paler finish.

Was just a thought If not for the weight penalty Matting agent could have been added for a semi matt effect. Never mind Eh!

Slow progress! I've joined the rudder to the fin using 0.012" music wire, or to be more precise, a used 'A' string off my mandolin.



The flaperons have been joined with small diamond shapes of thin ali cut from a ring-pull lid from a sweetcorn tin.

It's high-time I progressed this one, so the flying surfaces have been joined to the control surfaces:

ooooooooooooooooooh that looks nicely done.

smashing.

Lovely work sir .Rminds me of building microfilm jobs in days of yore . Well done

Model has now been lightly sprayed with non-shrinking dope, thinned to about 30%, and pinned down when touch dry:




There's one or two wrinkles appeared that I'll have to sort before final finishing, but otherwise, all looks OK so far.

Lovely sir

I had intended to get this one ready to fly for the Peterborough Club's indoor meeting at Bushfield Leisure Centre this weekend, but..... I'd forgotten to put a coaming on the bus.

So, discs were cut (with a few spares) from light balsa (6lb/cu ft) using a compass-cutter:



edges were radiused using fine sandpaper:



and the inner circle cut out:



The resulting 'ring' was then cemented to the cockpit - front completed in the photo, rear one to be done:



Next job will be to shape the inner part of the ring, then sealing the result with dope.