1/32 Scale Fairey Rotodyne
All pictures and text are copyright of Glenn Ping
No commercial copying without permission.
Photo 1.The basic shapes made from 1/4' and 1/8' balsa sheet glued together and carved with a sharp knife (keep plasters handy) then sanded. The shape must be about 1/32' or 1/16' smaller than the plans all round to allow for the plastic sheeting which will be applied later. Note the cutout made in the fuselage, this is sheeted on the inside with plastic and will be painted gloss black later. You will see that the pylon in the photo is in its pre-carved shape and that templates have been made in thick card as a guide to carving the nose and rear fuselage shape.
To learn more on the subject of scratchbuilding, here is a list of the "Bibles":
Scratchbuilt, by John Alcorn, George Lee & Peter Cooke. Schiffer, 1993, ISBN:0-88740-417-0
The Master Scratchbuilders, by John Alcorn(ed). Schiffer, 1999, ISBN:0-7643-0795-9
Scale Model Aircraft in plastic card, by Harry Woodman. Argus Books, 1975, ISBN:0 85242 435 3
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The tips to the wings and tail plates have a slot cut into them and a piece of plasticard (I have found that plastic phone cards are good for this job) cut to the final shape and glued onto place with cyano and then zapped.
Photo 2.This shows the type of plastic I use for covering the model, it has the advantage of being able to be bent at sharp angles without breaking so, nice sharp trailing edges to wings etc. are possible. The disadvantage of this plastic is that it is difficult to get a nice clean scribed line onto it - you win some, you lose some.
Photo 3. A piece of sheet has been cut big enough to cover the whole fin both sides plus about 3/16" overlap all round. A line has been scored, lightly, with a blade and the resulting flap bent over. This is now the trailing edge. The balsa fin trailing edge is then pushed into the angle and a line is drawn. This is where the joint of the sheeting will occur, remember to make these joints on the underside of a wing and, in the case of this model , on the inside of the fins.
Photo 4. To obtain a reasonable curve round the leading edge the sheet is lightly scored in that area with a blade. The score lines must be very close together to get a nice curve.
Photo 5. With the score lines outermost, the sheet and balsa fin are coated with contact adhesive(Evostik or Thixofix work well) and, when ready, brought together and gently smoothed down and left to dry. The overlap can be trimmed off later.
Photo 6. When doing the wraparound covering, again coat both sheet and fin with contact adhesive, but leave an uncoated area forward of the line drawn in pic 3. When applying the sheet, start with the smaller trailing edge flap and press it down along the line. Turn the piece over and continue pressing the sheet down starting from the trailing edge and working forward around the leading edge as shown. Lay the rest of the sheet over the drawn line and trim off with a blade. You can now apply contact adhesive to the remaining area and press it down when ready. Place the assembly under a few books overnight.
This sequence is applied to almost the whole model, remembering to make joints at known panel joints whenever possible.
Photo 13. The cockpit interior has now been finished and the clear nose section masked. All the interior has to be built from scratch and I use the pilot figure from a Hasegawa/Revell Spitfire as a 'standard man' to get the right positions for the seats, rudder pedals etc. A lot of trial and error was involved positioning the instrument panel so that it lined up with the clear nose section.
Photo 14. On the first vacuum pull of the nose section the clear plastic didn't go right down to the bottom of the windscreens, so I had to drill some 1/32 dia. holes at the base of each windscreen on the master and then create a chamber at the rear to suck out the air. The view in the photo is from the rear looking forward.
Photo 15. Another view of the cockpit area.
Photo 16. The clear nose section has now been fitted as well as the tail unit. The elevators have been foil covered and masked with Parafilm. A coat of black has been applied to the cabin window area and grey has been sprayed on to the clear nose section, the same colour as the interior. All is now ready for a coat of white primer.
Propeller blade masters (2) were made from plastic sheet, rod and epoxy putty, the blade tips were then glued to a piece of balsa wood and the two piece mould formed around them as shown. This type of mould uses a lot of rubber, but has the advantage of producing a very smooth and seamless blade as you can see. Although you cannot see it in the photo, the mould has two holes in the top (the blade bases). When stood vertically, resin is injected onto one hole until it appears out of the other and is then left to cure, at which time the base of the mould is removed and the cast items are drawn out from the bottom - long winded explanation, but thats how it's done!!
Photo 7.
Here are the motor and rotor nacelles shaped in balsa wood.
Photo 20. In this shot the blue has been applied and the masking removed.
The fuselage underside has been foil covered as well as the tailplane and the decals applied after a coat of 'Clear'. Wingtips have to be sprayed silver, as foil will not go round a double curve, it leaves too many wrinkles.
Photo 19. Engine nacells get the same treatment, but only the bottom half is foil covered for the moment, the top half will be covered once they are fitted to the wing and blended in. At this point the exhausts are painted and will be fitted before the nacells are fixed to the wing as they go on from the inside.
Photo 21. The nacells have now been fitted, blended-in with epoxy putty and foil covered. Foil covering of the wings has also been completed and given a coat of 'Klear'. All the panel lines have been given a wash of brown/grey watercolour and the excess wiped off with a soft cloth when dry. Exhaust stains across the lower fins has been applied using pastels.
The undercarriage has been finished and fitted as well as the pitot tubes and all the masking over the transparencies removed.
Propellers and rotor head/blades are the last things to be assembled and fitted.
Photos 22 and 23. Finished at last - I hope you like it.
PMC
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Photo 8
Here, the rotor shaft and blade connector pins are about to be soldered
into their positions.
Photo 9.
The fuselage,nose and tail sections are prepared.
Photos 10 & 12.
Rotor blades are now produced from the mould, ready for test fitting.
Photo 11.
The completed rotor head.
Photo 17.
Various parts moulded and ready to go!
Photo 18.
White Primer has now been added and masking tape placed for the second colour.
Titles and Registered Numbers are also printed ready for the finished paint scheme.
Photo 22
Photo 23.
Photo 23.
Another masterpiece is added to Glenns collection. Simply Stunning!
I wonder how long it'll be before a major manufacturer is tempted to do this in kit form in 1/32 scale?.....................In the meantime, we'll just marvel at this one!
Please contact Glenn through this website if you want to use any photos, as he does own the copyright! Thankyou.
Photo 7
Rotor blade mould
