My 2011 Top Ten Toy List (3TL)

The 3TL Count Down
# 10 Tool Box

This is one cool tool box and present from Erica ... and made to a very high standard too. They will go well in the workshop I plan to build when I get to the US. The attention to detail is superb, although I wish they'd made the pliers move, I feel a modification coming on!

  

# 9  Tamiya 1/6 Scale Monkey Bike

I've been after one of these for years. This one came up on eBay UK and was a real bargain, another eBay gem and cheap at half the price. It's the 2000 Anniversary Edition with several extra parts for a customized version. The extra parts will make nice props laying around the 1/6 scale workshop. 

 

# 8 Minichamps Honda CB 750 Four

This was an excellent find from Nortons Trade Only Toy Store in Leicestershire UK that I sometimes go to, I knew having my own business would come in useful some day. The boxed Honda was thrown, and I mean thrown, in a bargain bin. There were about 4 in there and 'super' marked down. I spent some time trying to find the best out of a bad lot and settled on this one. I took it apart so as to repair the bits that had either fallen off or were broken off. I will rebuild it in 2012.

# 7 Folding Chairs

These were a Christmas present from Erica and they are ACE! I have a set of 4 and they are so cool. They'll look great in my planned room sets on hold at present until I get to the US.

# 6  Vespa Scooter 150 VL 1T (1955) by New Ray

Another eBay find but it was badly damaged, smashed to bits to be exact. A total rebuild was undertaken and a change of colour made too, from  the standard white to pale blue. I dismantled every component and repaired all the broken parts, just about everything was damaged. I re-bushed the wheels and held them in place with tiny nylock nuts, they also look more scale like. The seat hand rail was missing and so was the main stand, both were fabricated from K & S stock brass wire and strip. The finished repair was then painted using automotive paint and detail added using a brush

# 5 Tamiya Vintage Honda CB 750 Four Kit

The last time I had this kit I was 12 and have wanted to get another for many years. I didn't want the new version as some of the contents differ from the original 70's kit. The first item to go was the individual metal link chain now it's just a solid plastic offering. This was yet another eBay win and sooooo cheap. It was listed in the wrong category and had been part build and bits were missing, allegedly, but on receipt all the parts were found to be present. It had, however, been painted gold!! It took a very long time to remove the gold paint even with the use of an industrial ultrasonic cleaner. It's now waiting to get built.

# 4 Boots

Another great gift from Erica. These superb boots are just like real ones but tiny! How do they sew them together? we'll probable never know! My guess is they must be using some form of miniaturization machine, I want one!!

# 3 Kayak

Wow, cool or what! Erica found this one too. I was trying to guess what this present was for ages and failed miserably. I came up with all sorts of ideas and none as it turned out were even close. It works a treat and was duly test in a bath if cold water and passed admirably.

#2 Guitar

Double wow with bells on, thanks to Erica again... Just something else made using that miniaturization machine, indistinguishable from the real thing, apart from the size that is.

# 1 Tirrem Mesu

Erica created Tirrem for me after I had asked if I could have a Merritt making. 'No, there will only be ONE Merrit' came the reply. So I came up with Tirrem, Merrit spelt in reverse, pretty good hey!! and  the surname just had to be Mesu : ) I must say he's turned out very well thanks to Erica's creativity. She worked like a demon getting him all finished for Christmas but she came up trumps again.

 Well, that's all folks, I'll keep my eyes open for more toys during 2012...

David Boddington - 1/4 Scale Bleriot XI B - Photos Part 3 - Dummy Engine & Prop

The Bleriot was to be collected soon by its new owner so the Dummy Engine and Propeller needed to be built and fitted before his arrival.

I will be updating my blog with the remainder of the build for the Bleriot Dummy Radial Engine Kit and also the build for the Bleriot Dummy Propeller Kit.

The following pictures show the dummy radial engine and propeller installed into the Bleriot. Remember this dummy engine extends right back to the bulkhead as the plane is now destined for static display only. So if you intend to fit an IC engine behind the dummy radial engine it will be necessary to allow for clearance of the IC engine during the build.

David Boddington - Bleriot XI B Installed Dummy Engine Pic 1 - Taken inside.
The Nieuport 17bis fuselage can be seen in the background.

 David Boddington - Bleriot XI B Installed Dummy Engine Pic 2 - Taken inside.

The propeller hub has 6 dummy nuts & bolts front and rear, they did not pass through the entire hub. The silver 'washers' were made from 'plastic card' (HIPS). One washer to the front and one to the rear. Holes were drilled to each washer to allow the dummy blots to fit through. The finished washers were then painted, weathered and then glued in place. The centre nut was made from a 'cut down' nylock nut. The nut was now a 'quarter nut' with the nylon insert still in the front. This nylon insert retained the propeller on the crankshaft of the dummy engine. In my case the propeller was free turning on the crankshaft bolt and the dummy engine was fixed.

David Boddington - Bleriot XI B Installed Dummy Engine Pic 3 - Taken inside.

 

 David Boddington - Bleriot XI B Installed Dummy Engine Pic 4 - Taken inside. 

  

The next 3 pictures were taken outside and have a better colour to them, a closer match to the actual model (on my screen anyway, hope they are on yours too)

David Boddington - Bleriot XI B Installed Dummy Engine Pic 5 - Taken outside.

 David Boddington - Bleriot XI B Installed Dummy Engine Pic 6 - Taken outside.

 David Boddington - Bleriot XI B Installed Dummy Engine Pic 7 - Taken outside.

Front cockpit photographs to follow...

To be continued...

David Boddington - 1/4 Scale Bleriot XI B - Photos Part 2 Maiden Flight

After rigging the model in the parking area at the flying field and taking some pictures I wheeled  the Bleriot over to  the pits area and got things ready for the Maiden Flight. I was using a 'Fail Safe System' that would set the engine to idle, the elevator to level and a small amount of rudder. This would cause a slow spiral descent if I were to get any radio interference. I did a 'range check' and 'fail safe check' both with and without the engine running. All was OK so the tank was filled and the engine fired up. The engine speed was checked and I couldn't get the recommended  rpm form  the engine, it fell short by approximately 250 rpm. The pull from the engine at full throttle was considered to be sufficient. This however in practice proved not to be the case!

Final checks were made and having run out of excuses to postpone the flight the tank was topped up, engine started and it was off to the 'patch' for takeoff!

I must have aged about 10 years as the wheels left the ground. The engine was running slightly rich and it was down on the maximum rpm, but it was chocks away and off the Bleriot went!

The Bleriot  took off nicely but it was apparent that the RCV was slightly underpowered, being down on the maximum rpm and the Bleriot was gradually loosing height! As it flew further away it was getting alarmingly low in the sky. A decision had to be made, land it in the direction it was going and hope for the best (bad idea) or turn it back towards the takeoff area. The decision was made to turn the model back towards the take area and 'down wind'. Normally this results in the model losing height but on this occasion it lifted a wing and gained height, thankfully. The wind had considerably picked up by now which created yet another problem, landing. Several approaches were made and aborted with the final approach being made at a steep angle to increase the speed and then flared out for the final touch down and safely back on terra firma.

There is lots of drag from all those rigging wires and  the model, like the real Bleriot flies slightly faster than the stalling speed. The angle of flight was very good with no tendency for the tail to drop as I was assured it would. The only adjustment needed was 2 clicks of down trim on the elevator. This trim was later removed by adjusting the movable stabilizer by 2mm.

Subsequent flights were made but this time using a 20 x 12 APC propeller, expensive at about £25 each but what a difference it made to the thrust. The RCV engine is quite powerful and needed that extra weight that the APC propeller has. For the first flight I used a 20 x 12 lighter wooden propeller and it was not as efficient as the heaver APC propeller. Also the wooden propeller was in fact slipping on the 'prop driver' and on occasion stalling the engine when the throttle was opened fully. When the wooden propeller was removed from the engine the 'prop driver' had cut into  the back of the propeller by 3mm or so!

 Chocks Away...

The point of no return...

After gaining height and settling down the

Bleriot really did look the part in the air.

A nice 'flypast'

The Bleriot is really looking at home in that blue sky.

And finally the inevitable landing!

The days flying went well, the weather was superb, all in all a successful day. The RCV engine ran well and didn't let me or the Bleriot down. The engine eventually ran to is maximum rpm with the APC propeller fitted and was well worth the additional expense. Further takeoffs were achieved without using full throttle as the APC propeller was far more efficient than the wooden propeller used during the maiden flight.

 

Don't forget I will be uploading more photographs of the Bleriot over the next few days so please remember to drop by again for the updates. 

To be continued...

David Boddington - 1/4 Scale Bleriot XI B - Photos Part 1 - Maiden Flight

After having built the Bleriot over a 2 year period the time came for it to take to the skies! The RCV 120 four stroke had been bench run and was ready to be installed. With the engine and radio control equipment in place the C of G was checked and then re-checked. The plane had to be carefully rigged too. The dihedral was set along with the 'washout'. It is very important to include the washout and to make sure both sides are identical. I had to extend the arms to my incidence meter to span the 559mm cord. When I was satisfied that the rigging was OK all the cable end 'crimps' were made and the model was ready. The rigging wires were then removed from the fuselage pylons and carefully wrapped up and bagged on each wing panel. The rigging time at the field was about about 45 minutes.

The Bleriot in the pits on a glorious sunny day, perfect 'maiden flight'  weather!

The following pictures were taken on the same day. A few general shots of the Bleriot on the ground then some of the Bleriot flying.

 RCV Engine installation - Cowl removed.

Undercarriage - Side view.

Undercarriage - Bottom view.

 Front cockpit showing 1/4 Scale AH Design pilot.

 

Rear cockpit showing seat detail etc.

  Tail skid detail showing bracing wires and pull springs.

Rear of fuselage showing stabilizer, elevator and rudder.

 

Underside showing the 'Bomb Drop' bracket.

The bombs were dropped separately.

The above photographs were taken with a 35mm 'film' camera and the images have been scanned for use here. I will be placing more recent digital photographs on my blog that were taken whilst the plane was at my parents house. I am still living out of boxes, LOTS of boxes, very annoying! So thanks to my parents for letting me keep some of my stuff in their garage.

The digital images show many useful 'close-up' shots, so if you are planning on building the 1/4 scale Bleriot XI B by David Boddington you will hopefully find them helpful.

To be continued...

Blogging to Resume...

Blogging can now resume! 

After a very painful house sale, they make selling a house in England way too difficult, my wife and I are now able to move on. The associated problems with the house move continue however. NO internet for about 2 months, this was a real problem as we both use it on a daily basis. We still haven't got a landline, something else to sort out. We are now living in rented accommodation whilst our US Visa is being processed. I had a large workshop back at the old house and now I don't! I have put together a temporary workshop in the new house that will have to do until I get to the US. The new workshop is about 11 feet square and as it is inside the house I can't make too much noise.

Many thanks to all that have been looking at my blog and for the comments that have been left. I will answer all the comments soon. I hope you will keep dropping by from time to time to catch my updates as there is lots coming up.

I will be uploading some photographs of my David Boddington 1/4 Scale Bleriot today that I built about 10 years ago. I hope you find them of interest. There will be lots of them so please be patient as I will be loading them in sections.

I will continue with the Nieuport build, as it has to be finished before I leave the UK. I will also update the  Dummy Radial Engine kit build and the Scale Propeller kit build. The Dummy Radial Engine and Propeller were finished in late August - early September and have both been fitted to the Bleriot, which has now been sold, way too big to take with me. I'll make another in the US.

Well that's about all for now,  wishing everybody all the best for 2012.

Dummy Rotary Engine Kit - Part 2 - The DB 1/4 Scale Bleriot

My obvious choice of dummy engine kit for the DB Bleriot would be the one supplied by Arizona Model Aircrafters. it was their version of a Gnome engine kit and it had the correct number of cylinders. Had I used one of the other kits in stock it would have been necessary to remake the crankcase and change the number of cylinders.

The kit included a 'detail' set laser cut from clear acrylic sheet. The intention with this set was to 'super' detail the cylinder heads. There was, however, some discrepancies with the laser cutting, insufficient holes and some in the wrong place. Also some of the laser cut acrylic discs were way too large a diameter and would not fit into the tops of the supplied Williams cylinders. So the decision was made to run with the injection moulded cylinders and cylinder heads from Williams and discard the acrylic sheet. I say 'discard' but like every true model maker you keep it safe as it will almost certainly get used for something at a later stage.

The objective with this exercise was to make a convincing dummy engine quickly and not get too bogged down with making things fit and sourcing additional items when the Williams moulded parts were more than adequate.

Discarded laser cut acrylic sheet.

The first job was to make sure all the moulded components were present and correct.

Components ready for assembly.

Satisfied that all the parts were present,  the 2 halves of each cylinder were sanded flat, 14 in total. This was done using the plate glass sheet with abrasive paper stuck to it. Then any 'flashing' on the moulded parts was removed.

Sanding the parts to achieve a 'good' fit 

Next the 2 halves of each cylinder were glued together and spark plugs fitted. These parts are 'handed' and each cylinder when glued together should have only 'one' area for fixing the spark plug to.

Cylinders glued together and spark plugs fitted.

The cylinders required opening up to allow the cylinder heads to fit correctly. Again these parts are 'handed' when assembled. When looking at the engine from the front the push rods should also be facing towards the front and the spark plug should be on the left.

Cylinders with heads fitted.

Workshop Tip No. 10 

There are many kinds of glue available for sticking together 'polystyrene' or 'ASB' plastic commonly found in injection moulded kits. The traditional 'polystyrene cement', 'liquid polystyrene cement' and 'model cement pens' are OK, but they all leave 'glue' between the two surfaces being fixed together to a greater or lesser extent. These glues should be applied sparingly so as not to look unsightly.

My preference are 'solvent' glues such as 'plastic weld'. This product actually welds together the two surfaces and doesn't leave a 'glue' build-up as any excesses solvent quickly evaporates. Also capillary action 'wicks' the solvent around the joint distributing the solvent producing a continuous weld. Make sure you follow the manufactures guidelines when using solvent or polystyrene glues.

A selection of 'plastic' glue, cement, solvent.

You can also use solvent glue to stick vacuum formed parts to different kinds of wood. Simply 'wet' the area of the vacuum formed part with solvent that comes into contact with the wood and apply solvent to the wood also, this prevents the wood from absorbing the solvent applied to the plastic before it has time to do its job. Then before the solvent evaporate press the vacuumed formed part firmly onto the surface of the wood. The solvent melts the surface of the vacuum formed part and this melted plastic is transferred to the surface of the wood. This can produce a very good bond when done correctly. Practice first on a scrap piece of vacuum formed material and make sure your solvent has melted the surface of the plastic sufficiently.

All the wooden parts are laser cut and require removing from the waste. Once this has been done it will be apparent that there are many duplicate parts. These additional parts are included to allow the builder to adapt the crankcase depth to hide the working engine or electric motor.

Laser-cut parts removed from the waste.

I had to make a small modification to the crankcase sides as  the 'cut-outs' were too shallow. This was easily undertake by cutting down the thickness of the lugs on the crankcase side pieces.

2 of the crankcase side pieces, modified lug shown on the bottom.

This is how  a typical crankcase side part fit before and after the simple modification.

Before, part is standing proud of the crankcase ring.

After, part is flush with the crankcase ring.

Next each side part had a chamfer sanded to both of the long edges, this allows them to fit tightly together. The angle of the chamfer is not critical and any gaps left on the reverse will be filled with glue later. I glued 3 side parts to the crankcase ring with cyanoacrylate first to hold the shape, the remainder were glued in with wood glue, I'm not a great fan of cyano!

The initial side parts glued to the crankcase ring.

Chamfered parts can be clearly seen in this shot.

Part finished crankcase with all side pieces fitted.

The Gnome engine drawing seen under the part finished crankcase is for reference. This drawing has been enlarged to the correct size for the 1/4 scale DB Bleriot . The square outline drawn around the engine indicates the available space within the fuselage and any part of the dummy engine that crosses this outline with have to be removed. This indicated that 3 cylinders would have to be cut down slightly.

After the part finished crankcase had dried the cylinder surround pieces were glued in place, one to the front and one to the back for each cylinder. To ensure a tight fit around each cylinder all the cylinder surround pieces were glued in place to the front first. Then each cylinder in turn was placed up against the front surround piece and the rear piece added.

The last cylinder surround piece being glued in place.

Having got this far most of the build is finished. Remember the construction will be tailored to your individual requirements, engine chosen etc. In my case this dummy engine was to replace the original power-plant altogether.

These were the finished components that made up my dummy engine. Additional parts were added to the rear to enable the whole engine to utilize the same bolt holes that the RCV 120 engine used and to take up the same distance fore and aft. A bulkhead 'packer' with be added to achieve this fore and aft requirement. This 'packer' is not shown in the picture below but will be included later.

The finished engine components.

The nut and bolt are to retain the scale propeller.

The next post will see the engine components assembled, painted and installed it to the Bleriot. A scale propeller will then be made in a future post.

To be continued...