**** DONE: GB-45 1/48 Gloster Gladiator - BoB/Foreign Service

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. I've got another to do as well, the Eduard Avia B.534 which I've always like the look of.

The strut length issue is a bit puzzling given that I did nothing to the length of the interplane struts. The one thing that might be slightly out of whack is that I'm missing dihedral in the lower wings whereas there should be a slight amount there. This would push the upper wing higher and thus make the cabane struts longer. I do think that my upper wing is a tad too low so that's probably where the issue is.

 

[destrozas]

Thanks all. Got some yard work done this morning before the monsoons so hope to get more done after I finish my glass of Rioja. Then again....

you should try a somontano ( i love so much the wine enate) or a dry or acid txakoli (excellent wineries those of zumaia, orio or getaria) as you prefer you will be surprised ...

but what preciousness are you riding buddy, it is a precious job

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Lovely work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks all. Sergio, I'll try to look out for those suggestions.

 

[le_steph40]

Lovely work so far Andy!

+1

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Steph.

My gift to my wife for Mother's Day was to stay out of her way and what better way to do that than spend several hours at the bench.........tongue firmly in cheek.

And so, it was on to the rigging. I used the technique described earlier using the knit-in elastic material and it worked great. Cut the material 3 to 6 mm short, CA glue one end, grab the other with tweezers, place a dab of CA on the end, put some accelerator in the receiving hole, insert the end in the hole and let go after a second or two. Easy peasy. Here it is part way through:

I started with the cabane strut rigging and worked my way out. The next tricky part was to lay in the braces at the intersections of the cross pieces. These were cut from rod, laid in place and then a dab of CA was applied. With the rigging done, I stuck on the engine cowl

In this side view, you can just make out the pairs of connecting wires between the ailerons, though they are a bit out of focus. These were done with stretched clear sprue which is stiffer and stays straighter than the regular stuff. Once placed. I ran a brush load of silver paint along their length.

Still a few more fiddly bits to stick on but the end is near. Thanks for looking.

 

[Airframes]

Great job Andy.

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

Very nice Andy

 

[Wayne Little]

Real Nice Andy.!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. I've encountered a small problem which is a learning and that is that the CA glue holding the cabane struts to the fuselage has pulled the paint from the fuselage at those locations. I've never really bothered to removed the paint but this time it did matter because of the tension caused by the elastic rigging. If you look closely at the above picture, you can see that the rear cabane strut has separated at the bottom and moved forward and down as you can see the locating hole where it was attached just under the oil cooler grille. I've fixed three of them now and so far the 4th is still holding.

Anyway, with that done, the fiddly bits are next in line. The exhaust pipes were drilled out and attached to the cowl ring. Touch up paint is needed.

I discovered by looking closely at pictures that my machine had an additional aerial wire mast on the wing. This seems to be something that was featured on some Norwegian and Finnish Gladiators and I suspect that their radio equipment needed a longer aerial wire. I'm going to assume that there was just a single wire from the rudder post over to the new mast on the wing and leave the wire off the one to the mast behind the canopy. British machines had a wire to the standard post and then two more from there to the top of each wing. There were no posts on the wings. Oh, and you can see that I painted the sliding canopy hood and stuck it on as well. Good thing it's in the open position as the front edge does not mate well with the windscreen.

The model also suffered two other mishaps since I last updated. I lifted it from the nose cowl and it promptly separated - the glue surface is minimal and it didn't have enough of a bond. This caused the model to drop to the table top and one of the wheels to break off. It may also have loosened the other two cabane struts. Then today, I put a bit of side force on the tail and broke the flimsy tail wheel. I'll be glad to get this one on the shelf!

 

[Wurger]

 

[rochie]

Nice Andy.
i dropped the Ju 52 and something is rattling around inside, i think its the radio operator's seat !

 

[Airframes]

Some battle damage repair needed by the sound of it, but looking great just the same.

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Andy!

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks guys. Just noticed that Roden does include the wing mast for the Finnish option but I like mine better. The only thing done today was to stick on the carb air intake and paint the exhaust extensions. Pics when more to show.

 

[Crimea_River]

This one is now done and I'm rather happy to see it behind me. The last few items ticked off the list were: aerial wire installed (which to pull tight actually resulted in pulling in the masts slightly owing to their soft nature), prop painted and installed (hole in prop was too loose to fit into shaft so liberal use of CA did the trick), exhaust painted silver and stains added on underside, fixed the tail wheel for a second time.

This kit was a bear to build and would have been impossible to build without a jig. Some parts were moulded very nice, some not so much. The amount of detail provided is good and results in a decent Gladiator model. I thank everyone for following along and for providing support. A special thanks to Geo for some scale drawings and other materials without which the correct dimensions of the jig could not have been achieved. And finally, a big thanks to Nils at Britmodeller who was instrumental in providing information on the markings and the very unique colour scheme of this subject. And with that, some parting shots:

Damn! just noticed the cabane struts pulled off on the right side again. This one just has to have the last word doesn't it!!!!!

Anyway, I'll fix those and toss it on the shelf - carefully. Thanks all!

 

[Wurger]

 

[Airframes]

It might have been a struggle here and there, but it's turned out a beauty - very well done Andy.
Oh, and did I mention I'll be using the 'Inpact' kit instead ....... !!!