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HubertB

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Everything posted by HubertB

  1. You guys are having a bad influence ! See ? My bench is all cluttered now ! Hubert
  2. Looks like you, Phil and I are of the same generation, James . I, too, built the Airfix Whirlwind a loooong time ago, and have kept my love for it since. And, yes, I had to jump on this one as soon as it was available, for this same reason . Thank you for the review, James. It’s a vey nice kit indeed. As per my usual standards, I’ll have it in a civilian scheme. Kudos to SH for a bold move. They deserve a genuine success for this non-mainstream initiative. Hubert
  3. If you listen to all the doomsayers on the net, you’d better sit down right where you are and wait for the Apocalypse, and the sky, and death to fall on your head, and from what I read from all the deskchair experts, that should be pretty soon . Truth is, although some have suffered unexpected and severe side-effects from the vaccine, the benefit-risk ratio is vastly in favour of the vaccine. Whilst the vaccine does not protect you from an infection (what it does is prepare your body for it so that the immune system reacts faster, stronger and more efficiently to it), it is now proven that it definitely prevents any accute form of infection. It also makes you 10 times less susceptible to transmit the virus to others, in effect reducing the epidemic spread from a wave to a dribble. In short, you are still more likely to die from most causes than from an AZ jab. The size of the pandemic combined with the unprecedented extent of social media, has unfortunately opened the floodgates to all kinds of conspiracy theories, false information, ill-intended rumours, etc. Even the media, in their quest to generate viewership to then sell advertising have thrown the basic rules of journalism to the winds and participate in this doomsday movement ... Pasteur must be spinning in his grave hearing all the anti-vax proponents. Btw, I am not infering that you are anti-vax. I am just saying that the AZ vaccine is as safe as an active medicine can be: not 100 %, but the risks are so low so not to be a real « no-go » factor. Like the Janssen, it is also infinitely easier than the Pfizer and Moderna in terms of logistics. I got my AZ jab last Saturday, btw, with not even a small side-effect. But some of my close friends had a far more accute reaction, with symptoms like fever, headache, vomiting, etc. Hubert
  4. As the husband of a woman who went though this 5 times (all different cancers), I can fully subscribe to your joy. EXCELLENT news ! Hubert
  5. Although not the first one released by KH, the P-39 was actually the first one they designed. KH are notable for their somewhat approximative fit but their kits have improved release after release, with the latest ones fiddly but not bad in terms of fit. This to say that the P-39 is actually a ... let’s put it mildly ... challenge ? Hubert
  6. The R-1820 design went through a number of iterations. On the -F, the ignition ring was definitely behind the pushrods’ tubes. On the early -G as well. Then, it changed, but I am still struggling to find on which version this happened. Ditto for the cylinders’ finning. As time progressed, and metallurgy and production techniques improved, as well as the octane level of fuels increased their energy density, the number of fins grew significantly to dissipate the extra-heat. I think I remember reading somewhere that the cooling area was multiplied by 5 (at least) over the life-time of the 1820. On the color pic above, the cylinder is definitely a late design. It looks like a B-17 engine at first glance. Definitely not the right one for a Buffalo !
  7. I agree with you about the qualities of the bird, Ernie, at least the -1 version before it got overloaded with a wing area that was not very big to start with (on the other hand, with hindsight of 80 years of various conflicts, any aircraft designer should now KNOW that the original spec will be overpassed by combat demands, and weight will increase. Reminds me of the debate between European countries at the time of the Rafale/Lightning specs' writing. Dassault wanted the bare aiframe 1 ton lower than their British / German counterparts : they ended up going separate ways). The only thing that always looked a potential area for trouble in my layman's eyes was the undercarriage design. I always felt it looked way to flimsy to be slammed regularly on the planks of an aircraft carrier. But then again, with hindsight, one can become the smartest a@#&&.e in the word Hubert
  8. I’d go for option 3 as well, Ernie. As a side comment, I doubt whether the 1:1 Buffalos ever had the time to accumulate as much dust as your kit Hubert
  9. Safe bet for 2021, that these are your last purchases, then . Hubert
  10. And another iconic car ... although I still prefer the GT-40 and even the 908. And then it was replaced by the 512, which, although red, was always in the shadow of the 917. Looking forward to your build, Mark Hubert
  11. With Rob and Kai there. With this lighting, it looks different, and the fin seems now overdone, but then again, it may be the lighting and background. Hubert
  12. And, btw, I like your shadowing work, Gaz Hubert
  13. Why would you want to replace a flimsy part by a flimsier one made of crapium ? Maybe doing like the original 1:1, i.e. strengthening the gear by using tensioned monofilament, is a better solution ? Just my Hubert
  14. I could venture that WnW would have sold more Spad XIII and Caudron G-3 than Gotha G1 and UWD, and maybe would still be around... But then, that’s just me looking for trouble Well done CSM ! Hubert
  15. There’s a 3D design for the CF-100, that can be printed in 1/32 scale. Just ask Ernie and Mike (Seiran) about it. It’s A LOT of progress compared to the previous 50 years ... Hubert, also waiting for a CF-100
  16. Well, now that the engine question is behind us, I came back to the issue of reproducing the ignition system of the Mercury engine. In truth, I had been procrastinating around this one for a few weeks, trying to understand where the ignition cables were originating from. Finding clear pics of the engine from the rear was a more difficult task than initially thought. I finally found a maintenance manual of the previous generation engine, i.e. the Jupiter, and in the same time acquired the conviction the ignition systems were similar from the Jupiter to the Mercury. So, the Mercury had two spark plugs per cylinder, located laterally on each side of the cylinder head. And the ignition wires were routed to the base of the intake manifold ring. The cables from the magnetos also connected to the intake manifold casing, so I guess that, unlike their American counterparts, the Bristol engines enclosed the ignition distribution wire into the manifold casing, rather than have it as a separate part. For detailing the engine, we just have to know that the wires were touted from the manifold casing to the cylinder head. First task was to drill 18 0.4 mm holes in the intake manifold part. No pic to show, as the holes are small, on a black-painted part. 4 bits later (a reminder that these small bits break like glass when subjected to side loads, and therefore mostly unsuitable for hand-drilling, where you can seldom avoid parasitic lateral movements. Only in this case, it was not possible to do anything else than hand-drill the holes ), task accomplished ! Next, came the ignition wires. They are made of : - a spark plug, - a bent metal tubing containing the wire in real scale - a braided cable going to the intake manifold casing. To reproduce them in scale, I started by cutting 0.5 mm Albion tubes, 4.5 mm in length. These will make the bent tube. I will also need 10 mm long braided cable from AnyZ, metal wire, and 1.5 mm pieces of 0.9 mm tube to reproduce the plugs. I introduced in them a small wire, approximately 25 mm in length, and slightly less than 0.3 mm in dia, coming from an old electric motor, which will provide me a life-time supply of this wire. Next comes the bending of the tube. For this I used a special set of pliers made for bending wires: With the wire inside, the small tube is not crushed : The AnyZ braided wires of 0.5 mm diameter are actually hollow. You can thread the copper wire though them : The braided cable is then soaked in position with thin CA glue : Next the « spark plugs » are added at the other end. Whilst in theory a 0.7 tube will slide above the 0.5 one, in practice, with these small parts, 0.9 will save your nerves, and give you some leeway to adjust the angle. I have not documented the addition of a small band of adhesive alu foil (cut from DYI tubing tape) around the top of the braided cable. The wires are then painted : white spark plugs, and the braided cables are soaked in Tamiya brown accent line to break the yellow. That’s all for now. Next step will be to glue the wires to the intake manifold. Hubert
  17. Nice rendering of an original subject ! Hubert
  18. Beautiful and amazingly fast work, as usual Hubert
  19. Do remember that after a certain sea disaster in April 1912, the number of lifeboats was significantly increased on all liners, including Britannic and Olympic ... I got the Titanic kit, but sincerely hope it encourages Trumpeter to release the true greyhound of four-stackers, i.e. MS Mauretania. As for THE most beautiful liner of all times, aka the Normandie, one can dream, can’t one ? Hubert
  20. The fuel tanks on the Whirlwind were in the wings, between the two spars, outboard of the nacelles. They were delineated by the extra thickness we are discussing. You can see them on the pic above, left of the nacelle. The oil tanks were located forward of the front spar in the same area, btw. Hubert
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