Oeffag 50.14 triplane in blue foam

I am no expert by any stretch but I will share how I build with blue foam with my new Oeffag 50.14 in 1/20 scale.
Most of what I do has been pilfered from others but I do have moments when I come up with something good.
I start by drawing out the top and side views on a block of blue foam. I like to drill the peg hole and the stab slot first so they end up square to the world, the block is split vertically and spray glued back together.
I next cut the top view and spray glue the offcuts back in place then proceed with the side view cutting.

That's an interesting original. Never even heard of it - I shall have to look it up. .

Wow, I bet you've never seen another one of those at the flying field! Makes me wonder if it was a losing entrant to the German air requirement that the Fokker Dr1 won?

Welcome to the forum - how big is 1/20th in real terms?

about 17"
I like the odd airplanes problem is there's not much info to go by.

Here are the file folder patterns I use.
Next picture is the rough shaping, then pop the halves apart.

This is my super hi tech hot wire foam remover I use it to remove the majority of the foam then use the cup brush in the dremel to finish it up. I started out just using the brush but it was time consuming and made a big mess.
I forgot to mention to trim your fingernails before you start or you will mark the foam up.
Also if you blow a hole in the fuselage when you are hollowing it out just cut a tapered foam plug and glue it from the inside.

Next cut some hard balsa or thin ply reinforcements for the rear peg.
When they dry glue the fuselage back together but try to keep the glue off the outside it will make a hard ridge that's hard to sand smooth.

Very nice Like the interior shaping. Pretty much how I did the fus of the Spit I started back in'58 but I lined it with 1/32 balsa for rigidity and strength. It was to be Cox .020 powered. I must do another one day I Googled this plane then clicked on the book of fighters and got lost in the list of planes.Some really good candidates for Depron and electric power there.Anyway I waiting with my coffee and biccies for the rest of the thread.

Following the thread with interest. Boz.

I'm another one who's never heard of the original - love your model
Mike

Fascinating subject , I'd never heard of it either.

Great technique for making the fuselage, I presume the outside surfaces are hot wire cut with the templates ?

Looking good Tracey, thanks for sharing.

There was a rush of blue foam scale models in the UK 15 - 20 years ago, championed by David Deadman, Richard Crossley and Peter Smart. The three of them were very successful, winning major UK competitions with models that used the technique. Sadly David passed away about 10 years ago. I'm assuming the FSM articles you referred to, Tracey, were David's.

If anyone else is interested in blue foam building techniques, David wrote a booklet on the subject which is currently on sale at SAMS Models. Contact SAMS direct, or PM the proprietor, Planekrazy, for more details. The original articles were published in Flying Scale Models of April, May, June and July 2004.

I use a bandsaw to cut the fuselage however a hot wire works as well.
Yes the David Deadman articles I was talking about.
The drawings I am using for my buid are in a fantastic book (Austro Hungarian Army Aircraft of WW!) there are plenty more one off aircraft in this book.

The nose plug is in place with a couple of 1/8 magnets for extra security. With the nose in place more sanding to refine the shape.

Today I spent the morning building the Daimler engine to keep me motivated on the build. It's an interesting engine with 2 intake ports per cylinder. I think it's okay being only 2" long. I don't know how the plastic model guys built them even smaller.