I hope you know how much we all appreciate the time you're taking in documenting the process. Speedrun videos are fine, but the fact that you are going through the thought process and the whats and whys is incredible.
Binge watching your Sopwith Camel build, Scott! She's looking great and will be truly beautiful when you have her finished & flying! Thank you so much for vlogging all of this, Tom!
It's in pieces 😥 So brave of you. Going well. "Keep up the good work", as my Dad would say. I'm not a pilot or builder (except models), just an aeroplane enthusiast, and in Melbourne. I'd love to pay you a visit one day 🙂
I am really enjoying being able to see the nice work you are doing here. The way you present your content makes me feel like I'm 'hangin' out with a mate.' Good on ya!
I like your hangar layout....neat organised, logical storage with plenty of space execute the job in hand. I have often imagined the joy of having an aircraft hangar for a workshop and for machines, tools, equipment and hobby item storage. I noticed in Thiery's YT video ( chap in France who built one, you mentioned the comprehensive notes, build plans, log etc you got from him ) that he sprayed painted all the struts, stringers, ribs etc before he covered them. Any idea why he did this and the benefit of doing it if any ? cheers Paul
Hi Paul, I tried this on my Zenith Cruzer. It looks great but does absolutely nothing other than make the builder feel good about doing something. Unless you scuff and thoroughly clean every part, like surgically clean it simply scratches off. There fire the fabric is then adhered to the structure only as good as the etch primer. 6061 alloy has great resistant to corrosion.
G'day, Great stuff ! A daunting day, pulling it to bits...; but it's the fastest way to do a good job of cobering in. If the idea of drilling into the Ribs to screw the Fabric on is giving you nightmares about entrapped Swarf (?), what about simply using Poly-Tack to stick the Fabric onto the Structure, then Rib-Stitch it to the Structure, using a long (round-pointed) needle going in and out the top & bottom of the Wing Surface..., the olde fashioned way that it used to be done when the ribs would have been wood, and then Pinked-Tape over the Rib-Stitching...? And if you REALLY want to go for the "period-correct" look then start with a roll of 2-inch straight-sided Tape and hand-fray the outer 1/4 - inch of iton both sides. Pinking-Shears are a post-WW-1 innovation, apparently - originally all the Rib-Tapes and other Tape reinforcements were frayed rather than pinked - to better smooth the junctions (!). Isometimes wonder how many "man-hours" went into fraying all the Rib-Tapes on all the Aeroplanes which flew in the Great Patriotic War-To-En-d-All-War, Part One...; visualising hundreds of Shift-workers busily unrolling and pulling Threads, and then re-rolling all the hundreds of yards of frayed Tape... How many Aeroplanes, most being Biplanes or Triplanes..., how many Wings, how many Ribs ; think of ALL the Rib Stitches an inch apart, and ALL covered with Hand-Frayed Tape.... Ptetty much all crashed & wrecked or shot down within weeks or months of being delivered to the Governments which were furiously buying, and breaking, all the Aeroplanes which they ever bought - with Taxpayers' Money (as well as the individual machines "donated" to the Fray by rich individuals or bought by Subscriotions given by the True Believers. I recall seeing a photo of an RE-8 which had been given to the King of England by the Maharajah of Cawnpore in India..., and an AFC DeHavilland-5a (an Ugly-looking Ground-Attack Fighter featuring "Backstaggered" Biplane Wings - lacking much if a View behind and above.....; branded as being the "De-Havilland WAR-PLANE donated by Subscriptions collected from members of the New South Wales Country Womens' Association." The same Propagana Stunt was repeated to raise "Public Morale" during the Big Remake, 20 years later with "Donated" Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancasters, with nicely rounded down but fictitious "Purchase Prices widely advertised, to better incentivise the Punters. Somebody had to pay for all the Destruction...(!). Achieved by running the Production Lines 24 hours per day, competing to make (and break) more machines than their officially Designated Enemy" could throw up with which to briefly decorate their Skies. And, At the time, They ALL honestly believed that what they were doing Made some kind of "Sense". Therefore, apparently, they all Unspokenly agreed to never ever Actually think about any of the Whyfores..., not Until long afterwards. When they were trying to sleep through the night. ("Apres Le Guerre finni...; Then comes thy P.T.S.D....!"). But y'know, it's ALL just(ifiably ?) a GAME, of Blood...; In the end. Entrapped Swarf, under the Screws - or running Rib-Stitching - which will work equally well (I think ?) on Spruce Ribs or Aluminium. I suppose the bottom line is that the Swarf will only jiggle around inside the Tubes when the Rotec is actually running, and vibrating the Airframe ; and whenever that is occurring then the Exhaust-Note and Slipstream will be making far more Noise Than that entrapped Swarf can ever hope to produce. So, maybe the Production-Engineers were not wrong, in ignoring the phenomenon of permanently Entrapped Swarf....(!). When I worked on the Wings of the Jensen I left the Fabric screwed on where it was, from the "False Spar," which Volmer had originally chosen to hold the rear edge of the 1.5 mm Styrofoam which he used for the Leading Edge, under a layer of Glassed-over Dacron (a Foam/Fabric 1/2-Sandwich...?!?). I replaced the Styrofoam with 2024 T-3 Aluminium, twice Beercan Guage .. (42" x 22" Mineral Survey Drill-Core-Sample Tray-Covers...; from about 60 of them, All acquired as Scrap Metal, at $0.42/Kg in 1986 (and I'm still saving and using the offcuts !). Choices, choices ; so many options - like being a Dog in a Cat-Show, paralysed by Target indecision...: which way to go next ?. Such is life, Have a good one...! Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
Nice progress, Scott! Drilling the holes for fabric attachment on the wings can be tricky, and rough on your back! Have you decided on a paint product/system? I found that exterior grade, acrylic latex house paint with added UV protection worked well on my SE5a.
You asked about filler... none was used - three primer coats did a good job: the weave is faintly visible but very water tight. "Satin" seemed the closest finish to historical. In WW1, the topcoats were with varnish-like paint, not true "flat" finishes. Similarly, "high gloss" looks out of character for the time and purpose. Scale models of WW1 aircraft often have high gloss or flat finishes, and look allright, but my objective is to have folks guessing until they get closer, so the "satin" finish with its eggshell texture was my choice.
I hope you know how much we all appreciate the time you're taking in documenting the process. Speedrun videos are fine, but the fact that you are going through the thought process and the whats and whys is incredible.
Thank you
Binge watching your Sopwith Camel build, Scott! She's looking great and will be truly beautiful when you have her finished & flying! Thank you so much for vlogging all of this, Tom!
Thanks a bunch!
Another great video Scott. looking forward to seeing what comes next
Thanks 👍
It's in pieces 😥 So brave of you. Going well. "Keep up the good work", as my Dad would say.
I'm not a pilot or builder (except models), just an aeroplane enthusiast, and in Melbourne. I'd love to pay you a visit one day 🙂
No problem, touch base with me some time.
Looking good mate! The next big step! I made some wheels….well, plywood about 30mm thick for Frankenstein. They stood up to the task great
Nice idea Don thanks
I am really enjoying being able to see the nice work you are doing here. The way you present your content makes me feel like I'm 'hangin' out with a mate.' Good on ya!
Wow, thank you
It might not feel it to you, but you are making rapid progress.
Cheers thank you
I like your hangar layout....neat organised, logical storage with plenty of space execute the job in hand. I have often imagined the joy of having an aircraft hangar for a workshop and for machines, tools, equipment and hobby item storage. I noticed in Thiery's YT video ( chap in France who built one, you mentioned the comprehensive notes, build plans, log etc you got from him ) that he sprayed painted all the struts, stringers, ribs etc before he covered them. Any idea why he did this and the benefit of doing it if any ? cheers Paul
Hi Paul, I tried this on my Zenith Cruzer. It looks great but does absolutely nothing other than make the builder feel good about doing something. Unless you scuff and thoroughly clean every part, like surgically clean it simply scratches off. There fire the fabric is then adhered to the structure only as good as the etch primer. 6061 alloy has great resistant to corrosion.
Hi Scott, looking great. I was going to ask re etch primer, but you beat me to it.. 👍
See response to other comment
G'day,
Great stuff !
A daunting day, pulling it to bits...; but it's the fastest way to do a good job of cobering in.
If the idea of drilling into the Ribs to screw the Fabric on is giving you nightmares about entrapped Swarf (?), what about simply using Poly-Tack to stick the Fabric onto the Structure, then Rib-Stitch it to the Structure, using a long (round-pointed) needle going in and out the top & bottom of the Wing Surface..., the olde fashioned way that it used to be done when the ribs would have been wood, and then Pinked-Tape over the Rib-Stitching...?
And if you REALLY want to go for the "period-correct" look then start with a roll of 2-inch straight-sided Tape and hand-fray the outer 1/4 - inch of iton both sides.
Pinking-Shears are a post-WW-1 innovation, apparently - originally all the Rib-Tapes and other Tape reinforcements were frayed rather than pinked - to better smooth the junctions (!).
Isometimes wonder how many "man-hours" went into fraying all the Rib-Tapes on all the Aeroplanes which flew in the Great Patriotic War-To-En-d-All-War, Part One...; visualising hundreds of Shift-workers busily unrolling and pulling Threads, and then re-rolling all the hundreds of yards of frayed Tape...
How many Aeroplanes, most being Biplanes or Triplanes..., how many Wings, how many Ribs ; think of ALL the Rib Stitches an inch apart, and ALL covered with Hand-Frayed Tape....
Ptetty much all crashed & wrecked or shot down within weeks or months of being delivered to the Governments which were furiously buying, and breaking, all the Aeroplanes which they ever bought - with Taxpayers' Money (as well as the individual machines "donated" to the Fray by rich individuals or bought by Subscriotions given by the True Believers.
I recall seeing a photo of an RE-8 which had been given to the King of England by the Maharajah of Cawnpore in India..., and an AFC DeHavilland-5a (an Ugly-looking Ground-Attack Fighter featuring "Backstaggered" Biplane Wings - lacking much if a View behind and above.....; branded as being the
"De-Havilland WAR-PLANE donated by Subscriptions collected from members of the
New South Wales
Country Womens' Association."
The same Propagana Stunt was repeated to raise
"Public Morale" during the
Big Remake, 20 years later with
"Donated"
Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lancasters, with nicely rounded down but fictitious "Purchase Prices widely advertised, to better incentivise the
Punters.
Somebody had to pay for all the
Destruction...(!).
Achieved by running the
Production Lines 24 hours per day, competing to make (and break) more machines than their officially
Designated Enemy" could throw up with which to briefly decorate their Skies.
And,
At the time,
They ALL honestly believed that what they were doing
Made some kind of
"Sense".
Therefore, apparently, they all
Unspokenly agreed to never ever
Actually think about any of the
Whyfores..., not
Until long afterwards.
When they were trying to sleep through the night.
("Apres Le Guerre finni...;
Then comes thy
P.T.S.D....!").
But y'know, it's
ALL just(ifiably ?) a
GAME, of
Blood...;
In the end.
Entrapped Swarf, under the Screws - or running Rib-Stitching - which will work equally well (I think ?) on Spruce Ribs or Aluminium.
I suppose the bottom line is that the Swarf will only jiggle around inside the Tubes when the Rotec is actually running, and vibrating the Airframe ; and whenever that is occurring then the Exhaust-Note and Slipstream will be making far more
Noise
Than that entrapped Swarf can ever hope to produce.
So, maybe the
Production-Engineers were not wrong, in ignoring the phenomenon of permanently
Entrapped Swarf....(!).
When I worked on the Wings of the Jensen I left the Fabric screwed on where it was, from the "False Spar," which Volmer had originally chosen to hold the rear edge of the 1.5 mm Styrofoam which he used for the Leading Edge, under a layer of Glassed-over Dacron
(a Foam/Fabric 1/2-Sandwich...?!?).
I replaced the Styrofoam with 2024 T-3 Aluminium, twice Beercan Guage ..
(42" x 22" Mineral Survey
Drill-Core-Sample Tray-Covers...; from about 60 of them,
All acquired as Scrap Metal, at
$0.42/Kg in 1986 (and I'm still saving and using the offcuts !).
Choices, choices ; so many options - like being a Dog in a Cat-Show, paralysed by
Target indecision...: which way to go next ?.
Such is life,
Have a good one...!
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
On this Occassion I need to follow the correct process in the manual, it’s a critical maintenance operation.
Nice progress, Scott!
Drilling the holes for fabric attachment on the wings can be tricky, and rough on your back!
Have you decided on a paint product/system? I found that exterior grade, acrylic latex house paint with added UV protection worked well on my SE5a.
Stewart system with house paint. I would be interested in your finish system, from fabric up? How many coats and of what? Primer filler etc thanks
You asked about filler... none was used - three primer coats did a good job: the weave is faintly visible but very water tight.
"Satin" seemed the closest finish to historical. In WW1, the topcoats were with varnish-like paint, not true "flat" finishes. Similarly, "high gloss" looks out of character for the time and purpose. Scale models of WW1 aircraft often have high gloss or flat finishes, and look allright, but my objective is to have folks guessing until they get closer, so the "satin" finish with its eggshell texture was my choice.
Really enjoy watching your videos on the Sopwith camel. Why are you disassembling it?
It all comes sort to apply the fabric. Near impossible to do it with out pulling it down.
Hey Scott, what’s the reason for disassembling (you would have said somewhere but I haven’t been watching properly haha)
Cheers
It’s all about the final finish of parts and then the covering process, it’s near impossible to cover it without pulling it all apart.