sandbagger

Hi all, The fuselage now has its machine guns, upper pylon, fuel cock and windscreen fitted. Also the wing and elevator top and underside rigging anchors fitted, Mike

Hi all, The basic fuselage, propeller and flight surfaces are done. The fuselage: Linen covering - base coat of MRP 256 (CDL) then the internal formers masked off, Tamiya XF55 applied, masking removed and light coat of XF55 to blend. Engine cowl and panel Tamiya XF81. Wood effect Windsor and Newton Raw sienna oil paint. Weathering Flory Models Dark Dirt wash, AK Interactive Kerosene and engine oil and Mr. Color' Super Iron 2 (dry brushed). Decals kit supplied but need to be cut from sheet as not separate decals. Finish Tamiya Semi-Gloss X35. Flight surfaces essentially the same for linen, decals and weathering. NOTE - Linen colour difference between fuselage and flight surfaces are due to photograph lighting. Now its onto the weapons, windscreen and upper pylon to complete the fuselage, Mike

Hi all, The fuselage is now closed up. The control column needed to be moved rearwards slightly as it was fouling the cockpit frame and stopping the floor fitting into the cockpit. Also the wing warp lever assembly on the rear of the control column torsion bar was very fragile and one piece broke away. I cut it away and used 0.5 mm diameter tube (secured to the cockpit floor) to represent the cable attachments, Mike

Hi all, The cockpit assembly is ready to be fitted into the fuselage. Despite being careful, I still managed to snap three small parts, which I either replaced or repaired. I've rigged the cockpit bracing wires that will be seen once the cockpit is in the fuselage. Now to fit the cockpit and floor panel with controls, Mike

Hi all, As the Caproni-Pensuti (AP-1) model is complete, I've started on the Thulin K monoplane from 'Flying Bear'. The engine, like the entire kit, is 3D printed and to a high standard of detail and quality. The Thulin A rotary engine of 67 kW (90 hp) was a license-made Le Rhone 9C engine. The engine is supplied as separate parts, namely the engine block, nine cylinders, front cover with intake manifold pipes and the rear ignition slip ring. The Thulin engine was based on the French Le-Rhone 9C engine, with some differences. The most obvious difference is that the Thulin engine had inlet manifold pipes made from Aluminium casts, as opposed to soldered fabricated Copper pipes. The kit supplied propeller, although good, was replaced with an Integral propeller from 'Proper Plane'. This propeller is virtually the same as the kit propeller. Only a slight adjustment to the blade openings in the kit supplied propeller spinner was necessary to get the propeller to fit correctly. Mike

Hi Doc, Emilio Pensuti was a test pilot for the Italian company ‘Caproni’ (Società Per Lo Sviluppo in Italia). During 1918 he designed a small triplane aircraft, which he hoped could be flown by anyone and would become the ‘bicycle of the air’. Unfortunately, Emilio Pensuti was killed in an unrelated aircraft accident and the maiden flight was delayed. It wasn’t until the 10th of February 1919 that its first flight took place at Vizzola, piloted by Lt. Lodovico Montegani. The intention was only to taxi the machine pending its engine tuning. So, he started with a throttled engine. Halfway down the airfield, because of uneven ground, the machine bounced into the air. Montegani felt from that jump that the triplane had good lift and was well balanced. Then, he gave more throttle, pulled the control column, and found himself flying. On later test flights, Montegani flew for 30 minutes and even longer. The tiny triplane climbed up to 1000 meters, performed turn, spirals, dives and pull-outs. After the war the Pensuti family sold the rights to the aircraft design to the ‘Breda’ company. A second aircraft with a redesigned tail, Anzani 10-cylinder radial engine and other modifications was built at the Breda factory in Milan as the Breda B.1. The aircraft was registered I-BADZ and it gained the second prize at the Italian low-powered aircraft competition held in the summer of 1920 in Milan. Mike

Hi all, The MicroMir 1:32nd scale model of the Italian Caproni-Pensuti AP-1 civilian triplane of 1918. The fully detailed PDF build log of this model can be downloaded from the 'Build Logs' page on my web site. Mikes WW1 Aircraft Models Mike

Hi all, The pilot figure and display accessories have been completed. Thanks for your support and comments throughout this build. I'll post reveal photographs in 'Ready for Inspection' once the display base is completed, Mike

Hi all, The last bits have been fitted. The landing gear, pilots windscreen and the propeller. Now it's onto the figure, Mike

Hi all, All of the rigging has been completed. Just the landing gear, windscreen, propeller and a bit of painting to do. Then it's onto the figure and display, Mike

Hi all, The four fuselage upper cabane struts and the upper wing are now fitted. Next is final rigging, Mike

Hi all, The centre and lower wings are fitted. Also the four under fuselage cabane struts and the four interplane struts. Next is fitting the upper wing with the four fuselage upper cabane struts, Mike

Hi all, The pre-rigging is completed, apart from control cables. I used Gaspatch 1:48th scale metal Anchor Points with 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament. The tubing used is MFH 0.4 mm (P-967) diameter flexible clear tube. Now its onto assembly, Mike

Hi all, Just a quick update. The photo-etch control horns/levers for the ailerons and elevator are a bit too flimsy to use. Therefore' I've replaced them with horns from the PART 1:48th scale generic control horns (S48-087) set. I've also made replacement elevator control levers and rudder control horns (not supplied in the kit) from 0.8 mm thick plastic card. All of the many locating points for the rigging and control cables have been drilled into the model parts. So, now it's onto the pre-rigging stage of the build, Mike

Hi all, The pilots seat assembly, rudder bar and control column have been fitted into the cockpit. Also the bracing wires and control cables. Engine is fitted. The fuselage, wings, ailerons, tailplane/elevator and rudder have had linen effect decal applied. They were cut from the Aviattic clear doped linen (faded) decal (ATT32044). They were then airbrushed with Tamiya Semi-Matte (X35) thinned with Mr. Color Rapid Thinners. Mike