Amazing craftsmanship! 
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Beechcraft 18
- Thread starter Stoneboat
- Start date
phantom II
Master at Arms
Grreat attention to details and good craftmanship 
Cheers, Christian B)
Cheers, Christian B)
nsmekanik
Member
Always a joy to watch your progressI'm still in modelers preschool compared to what you have accomplished
:drinks
Don't sell yourself short ns. I took one look at Uros' CRJ and then wanted to hide under my desk and suck my thumb. :laugh:
uros
Active member
Always a joy to watch your progress
Don't sell yourself short ns. I took one look at Uros' CRJ and then wanted to hide under my desk and suck my thumb. :laugh:
Hey! Now you are selling yourself short! Converting a crj200 into 705 is no small task! And all other builds you have done are all amazing too.
Appreciate the kind comments fellers, thank you all. Uros, what are you using to post your pictures, Photobucket? I just renewed my subscription, have been a paying member for some years, and so far there has been no disruption to the third party hosting. Knock on wood.
Anyway, on to the floats. The standard Beech float is the Edo 7850. I had a set of floats for the Hobbycraft 1:48 Otter - Edo 7170's - that I got from a gentleman in Leeds, UK in exchange for 750ml of maple syrup. I kid you not, and he said his Christmas morning pancakes were delicious! The beam and the depth of the 7850's and the 7170's are the same, but the 7850 has an 18" plug forward of the step. In the pic one float has been modified to show the difference in lengths between 'em.
After gluing the float halves together, I cut 'em apart a foot in front of the step.
I cut two lengths of .040 scrap plastic that will fit inside sides of the float and marked the length of plug, in this case 3/8" (18 scale inches)...
..Then glued the two pieces in place and clamped them overnight.
When this assembly had dried, I cut more .040 scrap the length of the plug (3/8") and glued that to the inside plug to make the outer skin of the sides of the float.
From there, it was a simple matter of mating the two halves of the float, gluing them together and installing more .040 sheet across the top for the deck. For the bottom of the float I used a length of cedar shim, glued in place and sanded to the contour of the double fluted shape that makes the front step of the float.
Viola! Two the same.
To make the floats more presentable I filled the chasms in the sides that represented the panel lines, using .010 x .010 Evergreen strip, then sanded them smooth. I added deck angle brackets made from chukw tape, and using more .010 x .020 Evergreen strip I added the chines between sides and bottom of the float and chine keels and a keel shoe on the bottom. Additionally, I cut 1/8" off the nose so I can add a bumper later after the floats have been painted. To accommodate the water rudders, I also installed an upper and lower water rudder bracket at the rear, using short lengths of scrap aluminum.
I may have reached the limit for pictures in one post, so more on the floats later.
Anyway, on to the floats. The standard Beech float is the Edo 7850. I had a set of floats for the Hobbycraft 1:48 Otter - Edo 7170's - that I got from a gentleman in Leeds, UK in exchange for 750ml of maple syrup. I kid you not, and he said his Christmas morning pancakes were delicious! The beam and the depth of the 7850's and the 7170's are the same, but the 7850 has an 18" plug forward of the step. In the pic one float has been modified to show the difference in lengths between 'em.
After gluing the float halves together, I cut 'em apart a foot in front of the step.
I cut two lengths of .040 scrap plastic that will fit inside sides of the float and marked the length of plug, in this case 3/8" (18 scale inches)...
..Then glued the two pieces in place and clamped them overnight.
When this assembly had dried, I cut more .040 scrap the length of the plug (3/8") and glued that to the inside plug to make the outer skin of the sides of the float.
From there, it was a simple matter of mating the two halves of the float, gluing them together and installing more .040 sheet across the top for the deck. For the bottom of the float I used a length of cedar shim, glued in place and sanded to the contour of the double fluted shape that makes the front step of the float.
Viola! Two the same.
To make the floats more presentable I filled the chasms in the sides that represented the panel lines, using .010 x .010 Evergreen strip, then sanded them smooth. I added deck angle brackets made from chukw tape, and using more .010 x .020 Evergreen strip I added the chines between sides and bottom of the float and chine keels and a keel shoe on the bottom. Additionally, I cut 1/8" off the nose so I can add a bumper later after the floats have been painted. To accommodate the water rudders, I also installed an upper and lower water rudder bracket at the rear, using short lengths of scrap aluminum.
I may have reached the limit for pictures in one post, so more on the floats later.
Fine surgery
With judicious application of Gorilla Glue, this motley collection of junk will be transformed into water rudders.
Thee rudders themselves are from scrap aluminum, the pivot pins and rudder posts are bits of blasting wire - a roll of which I've had kicking around for the last 40 years - the hinge brackets are bits of 14-gauge aluminum wire and the tillers are more scrap aluminum. Dry fitted...
Not so dry fitted, since the Gorilla has worked its magic.
That's it for the floats for now. I'll be painting them later, as well as adding the deck hardware and the upper beaching gear cleats. I have to pick the brain of a FB friend who's a professional photographer to find out how the water rudders are rigged. The balance cable, rudder cables and the pull-up cable I get, but how they're rigged I have no idea.
Brief anecdote: In 1967 I was flying a Super Cub on forest fire patrol, and the company had a couple of Twin Beeches on floats, one of them based where I was. In the fall it is customary to move the aircraft from the mooring buoys and tie them up at the dock, just in case a wet snowstorm should dump on you, since only a few inches of wet snow on the tail could be enough to sink the airplane tail first. One evening I went with the Beech pilot to bring the airplane in to the dock since snow was in the forecast. I sat in the right cockpit seat and Joe was in the left. He started the left engine and as the airplane began to move in a circle he looked at me and said "I got my engine going, you gonna start yours?" That gentlemen, is my experience with the Twin Beech on floats. I later flew the trigear Volpar version for about five hours and that was better than 40 years ago.ldguy
Thee rudders themselves are from scrap aluminum, the pivot pins and rudder posts are bits of blasting wire - a roll of which I've had kicking around for the last 40 years - the hinge brackets are bits of 14-gauge aluminum wire and the tillers are more scrap aluminum. Dry fitted...
Not so dry fitted, since the Gorilla has worked its magic.
That's it for the floats for now. I'll be painting them later, as well as adding the deck hardware and the upper beaching gear cleats. I have to pick the brain of a FB friend who's a professional photographer to find out how the water rudders are rigged. The balance cable, rudder cables and the pull-up cable I get, but how they're rigged I have no idea.
Brief anecdote: In 1967 I was flying a Super Cub on forest fire patrol, and the company had a couple of Twin Beeches on floats, one of them based where I was. In the fall it is customary to move the aircraft from the mooring buoys and tie them up at the dock, just in case a wet snowstorm should dump on you, since only a few inches of wet snow on the tail could be enough to sink the airplane tail first. One evening I went with the Beech pilot to bring the airplane in to the dock since snow was in the forecast. I sat in the right cockpit seat and Joe was in the left. He started the left engine and as the airplane began to move in a circle he looked at me and said "I got my engine going, you gonna start yours?" That gentlemen, is my experience with the Twin Beech on floats. I later flew the trigear Volpar version for about five hours and that was better than 40 years ago.
ldguy
Brokeneagle
Master at Arms
B) Fantastic work - real model craft!
uros
Active member
Wonderfull work Jim!
Yes, I'm using Photobucket. I also have a subscription and as far as I know, everything is Ok until renewal. After that I have no idea what will hapen, but I guess there will be new terms. Paying what they are asking is just way too much. Don't know where they got this number. I will be looking to store photos somewhere else, when the time comes.
Yes, I'm using Photobucket. I also have a subscription and as far as I know, everything is Ok until renewal. After that I have no idea what will hapen, but I guess there will be new terms. Paying what they are asking is just way too much. Don't know where they got this number. I will be looking to store photos somewhere else, when the time comes.
I have begun work on the interior, starting with the cockpit. First, I added a slice of beverage can to the portion of the main spar that runs through the front of the cabin.
Since this airplane has a wooden floor for carrying cargo - more precisely lengths of 1/4" plywood as a sub floor - I used a bit of cedar that came from a supermarket display of how to cook planked salmon. This stuff is thin, probably a couple of millimeters thick and glued to the floor suits the purpose well. Modelling material can come from many sources, grasshopper.
That done, it was time for more surgery. The instructions with the Mike West resin kit that turns this model from a 'C' to a 'D' calls for gluing the wing halves together before completing this step. Pshaw! Instructions are merely someone else's opinion. Tape the wings together, then commit surgery on the inboard portion between the nacelles so the new resin leading edges fit. This involves some firkytoodling with sanding sticks and files, but the end result is the same.
In addition to the new leading edges, the nacelles undergo cosmetic changes. The 'D' nacelles are longer, allegedly to accommodate the larger wheels of the 'D', and they come in a left and right version. The engines of the Twin Beech are canted outboard a few degrees for better single engine control after the loss of a pony and the nacelles reflect this. They fit down over the top of the existing nacelle...
...And a prodigious amount of body filler is required to fair them in.
The sharp eyed among you will notice three little dots on the top of the nacelle. I like to add a little insurance to back up the epoxy I used to glue those suckers down, so I drilled three small holes and inserted three bits of wire to pin them down even further.
I'll post a later update on the engine installation.
Since this airplane has a wooden floor for carrying cargo - more precisely lengths of 1/4" plywood as a sub floor - I used a bit of cedar that came from a supermarket display of how to cook planked salmon. This stuff is thin, probably a couple of millimeters thick and glued to the floor suits the purpose well. Modelling material can come from many sources, grasshopper.
That done, it was time for more surgery. The instructions with the Mike West resin kit that turns this model from a 'C' to a 'D' calls for gluing the wing halves together before completing this step. Pshaw! Instructions are merely someone else's opinion. Tape the wings together, then commit surgery on the inboard portion between the nacelles so the new resin leading edges fit. This involves some firkytoodling with sanding sticks and files, but the end result is the same.
In addition to the new leading edges, the nacelles undergo cosmetic changes. The 'D' nacelles are longer, allegedly to accommodate the larger wheels of the 'D', and they come in a left and right version. The engines of the Twin Beech are canted outboard a few degrees for better single engine control after the loss of a pony and the nacelles reflect this. They fit down over the top of the existing nacelle...
...And a prodigious amount of body filler is required to fair them in.
The sharp eyed among you will notice three little dots on the top of the nacelle. I like to add a little insurance to back up the epoxy I used to glue those suckers down, so I drilled three small holes and inserted three bits of wire to pin them down even further.
I'll post a later update on the engine installation.