Wheels on S.E.5a Wolseley Viper

[Michael Stolting]

I'm beginning work on Roden's 1/48 kit of the above and bought the detail set for same from Jadar Model in Poland. It looks like a very nice set of PE with some plastic for the IP included. It does, however, have a set of wire wheels which, I must conclude, are to replace the finely molded plastic in the Roden kit. The Roden kit plastic "hubs" have fine lines molded in that represent the wire behind cloth covering (what I referred to as "hubs") of the spokes.

So my questions are do I attempt the the surgery necessary to replace the Roden kit's parts with the detail set's spokes? Did the S.E.5a ever fly in combat without covering on the wheels to hide, and presumably, to make the landing gear more aerodynamic?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[buffnut453]

I haven't seen any photos of operational SE5a aircraft with uncovered wheels. That's not to say they didn't operate like that but they must be pretty rare.

 

[MIflyer]

You know, a friend of mines picked up a couple of wire wheels quite a few years back. They were with a load of airplane stuff so when he had me advertise them for him on ebay he said they were airplane wheels. They looked unimpressive to me but sold for a good price, to a gentleman who said he was going to use them on an SE5A.

 

[Airframes]

I agree, there might have been uncovered wire spokes, but I've never seen any evidence of them on aircraft in service.

 

[Michael Stolting]

Thanks guys. I guess I'll use the wire wheels PE for some other 1/48 bip. In any case it'll go in my PE stash.

 

[parsifal]

I would recommend you have a look at this link

SE5a | Aircraft |

It shows a rendered drawing with spoked wheel finishes but an aerodynamic foil inserted behind them . this is what was often don with the sopwith Camel, so I expect it was done for the Se5a.

The spoke wheels were a relatively late addition, introduced in 1918 after some technical breakthrough on how to build them, which I now have forgotten..

A lot were admittedly finished with solid wheels. I don't know the reason for the variation but suspect that it was as simple as whatever was available

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tN5KTSC5wrI/Vi2Hp7f2V8I/AAAAAAAAcf0/MVEoq8zid00/s1600/SET+Wanaka+23-10-15.JPG

To be honest, if you are going to install wire wheels, I would not recommend the PE types. there are better options.

spoked wheels

Admittedly this is for German wheels, but I challenge anyone to show me the differences to RAF spoked wheels at 1/48 scale.


Here are a series of photos showing the SE 5A with wire wheels

Building the SE.5a | The Vintage Aviator

 

[Graeme]

I would recommend you have a look at this link
SE5a | Aircraft |
It shows a rendered drawing with spoked wheel finishes but an aerodynamic foil inserted behind them .

You mean the outside of the spokes Michael? This is the same artist....

 

[Graeme]

The spoke wheels were a relatively late addition, introduced in 1918 after some technical breakthrough on how to build them, which I now have forgotten..

i think they were around well before then mate. This is the Morane-Sauliner N of 1914 with wired wheels and aluminium covering...

 

[Graeme]

Closer look at the S.E.5a...

 

[Airframes]

Yep, Wire wheels were the 'norm' at that period, and up until the early 1930's at least.
The pics posted are all replicas, and those Se5s in service all had fabric-covered, or 'disc' covered, wire wheels. They were covered for a number of reasons, not just for a neat finish, and prevented mud from accumulating, and also minimised, if not eliminated, the wheel revolving in the air flow ( no brakes in those days !)

 

[Michael Stolting]

Yep, Wire wheels were the 'norm' at that period, and up until the early 1930's at least.
The pics posted are all replicas, and those Se5s in service all had fabric-covered, or 'disc' covered, wire wheels. They were covered for a number of reasons, not just for a neat finish, and prevented mud from accumulating, and also minimised, if not eliminated, the wheel revolving in the air flow ( no brakes in those days !)

I very much appreciate the additional information you all have linked here. I have been aware of the photo of the replica without covering on the wheels but, because it's simply a replica, I thought it would not be an image that necessarily represented the majority of S.E.5a's in the field during WWI.

Airframes has given me what I suspect is the correct information - or at least the information that will, for me, justify the way I plan to proceed building the model. As I mentioned above, the Roden kit has raised lines in the "fabric" wheel covers that look the part of spokes behind the cloth. I will save the spoked wheels PE for another kit.

Thanks very much to you all.

 

[Airframes]

That's looking good, if rather intricate - probably beyond the capabilities of my knackered hands, I would think !

 

[parsifal]

Yeah its a good start. Keep us posted please.