1/48 Classic Airframes Heinkel He-51
- Thread starter Grant Barr
- Start date
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Crimea_River
Marshal
Very nice Grant.
fubar57
General
Agreed
Looks good so far Grant!
- Thread starter
- #85
Grant Barr
Senior Airman
Well, after a very busy and moderately successful weekend I have been able to get back to the He.51. I'm really looking forward to getting this one finished and am hopeful that it will turn out as nice as planned.
I've not done a ton of work, but mostly been focussed on some of the really fiddly bits.
I managed to mock up the fit for the top wing such that I have glued the outboard struts in place. Because, as previously noted, the top wing has a slight twist the fit of these struts was not great and I suspect that one of them may be a bit bowed once the wing is on and locked down. We'll see how that goes.
I've also cut and tagged all the necessary lengths of EzyLine that are required for the rigging. I know it seems a bit anal retentive but I find that once I start the rigging I really don't like to get distracted by not being able to find the right line or having to fluff around unnecessarily. Having everything in its place should help keep me focussed.
This closer shot shows not only the lengths for the rigging but a closer view of the tiny elevator tab actuators that I made up from styrene sheet and stretched sprue. They are super-fiddly but they should look the part once glued in place approximately where the yellow arrows point. These two replace the one kit part that was hugely out of scale, being almost 1mm diameter for the rod and about twice the length it should be. Not sure why only one was supplied, reference photos show both tabs had the same actuators so the scratched replacements was the best option.
I'm hoping to clear a couple of hours late tomorrow afternoon to fix the rigging lines to the top wing. Once done I will fit the wing and once dried will pop the lower ends of the lines into their respective location holes. This bit I find to be the most difficult as it needs at least 3 or 4 hands. Thank goodness for CA accelerator!
That's all for this brief update. Thanks to everyone who looks in or leaves a comment.
I've not done a ton of work, but mostly been focussed on some of the really fiddly bits.
I managed to mock up the fit for the top wing such that I have glued the outboard struts in place. Because, as previously noted, the top wing has a slight twist the fit of these struts was not great and I suspect that one of them may be a bit bowed once the wing is on and locked down. We'll see how that goes.
I've also cut and tagged all the necessary lengths of EzyLine that are required for the rigging. I know it seems a bit anal retentive but I find that once I start the rigging I really don't like to get distracted by not being able to find the right line or having to fluff around unnecessarily. Having everything in its place should help keep me focussed.
This closer shot shows not only the lengths for the rigging but a closer view of the tiny elevator tab actuators that I made up from styrene sheet and stretched sprue. They are super-fiddly but they should look the part once glued in place approximately where the yellow arrows point. These two replace the one kit part that was hugely out of scale, being almost 1mm diameter for the rod and about twice the length it should be. Not sure why only one was supplied, reference photos show both tabs had the same actuators so the scratched replacements was the best option.
I'm hoping to clear a couple of hours late tomorrow afternoon to fix the rigging lines to the top wing. Once done I will fit the wing and once dried will pop the lower ends of the lines into their respective location holes. This bit I find to be the most difficult as it needs at least 3 or 4 hands. Thank goodness for CA accelerator!
That's all for this brief update. Thanks to everyone who looks in or leaves a comment.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
An interesting approach, I hope it works out for you. 
Crimea_River
Marshal
Yep, three hands are always useful for rigging! You probably already know but one tip I heard is to place a drop of the accelerator into the receiving hole and apply a drop of CA to the end of the rigging. Instant bond - but that could be a bad thing.
fubar57
General
Going to look great when complete. I keep putting of my Stearman because of the rigging
Good work so far!
- Thread starter
- #91
Grant Barr
Senior Airman
So.... a funny thing happened last week when I was "attempting" to clean up my workbench a tiny bit. I picked up the top wing as it appears in post #85 and, klutz that I am, proceed to drop the whole assembly on the floor. Unfortunately the kit is very old and the plastic is quite brittle so the struts just shattered into little pieces as seen below.
That left me with very little in the way of options, so I proceeded to scratch up a new set from some styrene rectangle section I had to hand. Cutting them to length and getting the angles right was a bit of a phaff, but I probably spent more time getting the profile of the struts right. I think they turned out alright and have the added benefit of being more flexible with less chance of breaking.
During the process making the struts I took some time to start the rigging work - doing the braces for the horizontal stabilisers. I'm pretty happy with how they look - lets hope the rest turns out as neat.
Thanks again to everyone who dropped by to have a look or leave some comments. Hopefully more progress in the next week.
That left me with very little in the way of options, so I proceeded to scratch up a new set from some styrene rectangle section I had to hand. Cutting them to length and getting the angles right was a bit of a phaff, but I probably spent more time getting the profile of the struts right. I think they turned out alright and have the added benefit of being more flexible with less chance of breaking.
During the process making the struts I took some time to start the rigging work - doing the braces for the horizontal stabilisers. I'm pretty happy with how they look - lets hope the rest turns out as neat.
Thanks again to everyone who dropped by to have a look or leave some comments. Hopefully more progress in the next week.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Oh my, butter finger, but what a good outcome even if it was a bit of a phaff, there great looking struts and as for the rigging. Looks great and I don't think you will be having much of a problem.
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Crimea_River
Marshal
Learning new expressions all the time in this forum. Glad you were able to get back in the saddle after that setback and an opportunity to make the struts a best possible fit.
- Thread starter
- #95
Grant Barr
Senior Airman
Thanks for the support and suggestions fellas. I have made some progress since Sunday night, not all of which I have photographed.
Firstly, once the glue dried on the pins added to the new struts I proceeded to mock up the top wing installation - just to make sure that everything will still fit together without too much brute force required. I'm pleased to say that the scratched replacements seem to fit very well, with the nice benefit of being very much more flexible than the originals. This makes fitting them in place a much easier and pleasant task. I did take some shots of the mock up as below.
The rigging lines you can see attached to the top wing look like they will work out well once the new struts are painted and fix the top wing in place.
Since these couple of shots I have painted the struts and finished attaching all rigging lines to the top wing. Once the CA glue has had a bit more time to cure I will be able to fix the top wing permanently in place. I must say that I will breath a sigh of relief once that job is complete - I've been stressing a bit about all the myriad of ways it can go wrong...
Whilst waiting for glue and paint to dry I have also commenced the rigging process for the wheel spats to lower wing and in between the wheel spats. These ones I am hoping will be much easier than the inter-wing rigging.
Not a huge amount of progress to show, but moving forward none-the-less. Thanks to all who pop in for a look or comment. Cheers.
Firstly, once the glue dried on the pins added to the new struts I proceeded to mock up the top wing installation - just to make sure that everything will still fit together without too much brute force required. I'm pleased to say that the scratched replacements seem to fit very well, with the nice benefit of being very much more flexible than the originals. This makes fitting them in place a much easier and pleasant task. I did take some shots of the mock up as below.
The rigging lines you can see attached to the top wing look like they will work out well once the new struts are painted and fix the top wing in place.
Since these couple of shots I have painted the struts and finished attaching all rigging lines to the top wing. Once the CA glue has had a bit more time to cure I will be able to fix the top wing permanently in place. I must say that I will breath a sigh of relief once that job is complete - I've been stressing a bit about all the myriad of ways it can go wrong...
Whilst waiting for glue and paint to dry I have also commenced the rigging process for the wheel spats to lower wing and in between the wheel spats. These ones I am hoping will be much easier than the inter-wing rigging.
Not a huge amount of progress to show, but moving forward none-the-less. Thanks to all who pop in for a look or comment. Cheers.
Crimea_River
Marshal
It's working out very well Grant.
Vic Balshaw
Major General
Looks good Grant and I love those little temporary blue tape braces.
- Thread starter
- #99
Grant Barr
Senior Airman
Hahahahahaaa - thanksLooks good Grant and I love those little temporary blue tape braces.
Vic Balshaw
, I have so much blue masking tape left over from renovating my house before selling it. The top wing has a nasty habit of just randomly popping off, so I put some of it to good use locking it down. I can do without a repeat of dropping it again...- Thread starter
- #100
Grant Barr
Senior Airman
Small update.
The top wing has now been fixed in place. It's not perfect, with the twist I noted earlier again rearing its ugly head. Luckily you would have to look hard to see where the fit for the struts is not clean.
I did also break one of the centre struts but have already fixed it - a final clean up of the join will be required so that it disappears from view. Given it's my first biplane in over 40 years I am moderately pleased with how fitting the wing has turned out.
Once the glue had some time to cure I started on the very tedious job of fixing off the ends of the rigging cables attached to the top wing. I am about half way through now - I find I can only do 2 or 3 at a time and then have to walk away. It does test my patience and concentration. It is much more difficult and fiddly than the simple wire placements I did on my Boeing P26 last year, mostly as access between the wings is limited. To make matters a little worse I realised after fixing the top wing that I neglected to drill 4 holes each side in the top of the lower wing - D'oh! I've added some shots below, but have found it challenging to take focussed photos of the rigging - the auto-focus feature on the camera is a little too clever for its own good sometimes...
That is about as far as I have progressed tonight - have another early morning tomorrow so will call it for now.
Thanks for popping by for a look. Cheers
The top wing has now been fixed in place. It's not perfect, with the twist I noted earlier again rearing its ugly head. Luckily you would have to look hard to see where the fit for the struts is not clean.
I did also break one of the centre struts but have already fixed it - a final clean up of the join will be required so that it disappears from view. Given it's my first biplane in over 40 years I am moderately pleased with how fitting the wing has turned out.
Once the glue had some time to cure I started on the very tedious job of fixing off the ends of the rigging cables attached to the top wing. I am about half way through now - I find I can only do 2 or 3 at a time and then have to walk away. It does test my patience and concentration. It is much more difficult and fiddly than the simple wire placements I did on my Boeing P26 last year, mostly as access between the wings is limited. To make matters a little worse I realised after fixing the top wing that I neglected to drill 4 holes each side in the top of the lower wing - D'oh! I've added some shots below, but have found it challenging to take focussed photos of the rigging - the auto-focus feature on the camera is a little too clever for its own good sometimes...
That is about as far as I have progressed tonight - have another early morning tomorrow so will call it for now.
Thanks for popping by for a look. Cheers
