Nuuuuurse!! He is trying it again! Scratchbuild HP 0/400 "Bloody Paralyser"

[Wingco57]

Hi chaps and chapesses!

Autumn is slowly but surely on it's way and it's time for a nice winterproject next to the Manchester to keep me sane.

 

Some years ago I started scrarchbuilding a Handley Page 0/400 also known as "Bloody Paralyser". Due to a miscalculation the drawings were enlarged to 1/28 but it worked out quite nice and the fuselage was mostly finished.....until a housemove two years ago when it was unfortunately crushed.

 

Anyhoo!, as the chances of Wingnuts Wings releasing an example of HP's earliest bomber are remote or even slim indeed, and who am I to know, I decided to start anew.

 

The drawings are being enlarged to 1/32 at the moment and here is the first one. During the KMK show at Mol yesterday, I stocked up on Evergreen strips so watch this space.......despite a new housemove on the cards again, oh well.

Cheers

Cees

[RichO]

At 1/32, This thing should be about 4 feet wide! LOL.  I love a good scratch project.  Have fun!

[GusMac]

Will await this with interest.

These things were so slow it'hard to believe they got off the ground!

[Wingco57]

Noticed this:

http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=8220.0

I wonder who is first to finish?

Cheers

Cees

[DocRob]

Holy cow, a Gotha is a mosquito compared th that thing. I wish you patience, lots of space and a never running out supply of Evergreen.

Cheers Rob

[Wingco57]

Thanks Rob,

 

Here are the basic fuselage drawings to work from. That and the many pics from the Internet books etc.

 

Cheers

Cees

[JeroenPeters]

Oh double wow!! Good to see you've managed to actually scale the drawings to the right size. I think that's one the most important steps of the entire process :))))

 

And those HPH 3D renderings..... That 'news' dates back to february so I wonder if we'll see it anytime soon. 

[GusMac]

Looking at the HPH renders I'm not sure the ladders do anything for the aerodynamics! 

Seriously, I put my money on you to be done first Cees even with the Manchester on the go.

[Wingco57]

So, no pressure then!

[Wingco57]

I found some pics of my previous 1/28 attempt, so don't think I have progressed already.

Cees

[Wingco57]

Very handy when you have good friends like Jeroen Peters who donated surplus WNW machinegun sprues to the project. Even a scarff ring is included which was fitted on the 0/400 nose position. And the many magazines are well represented too.

Thanks Jeroen.

 

Cheers

Cees

 

 

[RichO]

Like!    How big of a wingspan at 1/28 scale?

[JeroenPeters]

You are welcome!

Looking forward to this...

[Wingco57]

Work has begun in earnest....again.

I had to get some plastic sheet to avoid running out of half way the fuselage construction.

 

Marking out the fuselage bottom with the various openings for trapdoors, sighting windows and bombcell apertures. These openings make the sheet very flimsy and cutting them out while still on the sheet makes life easier.

Cheers

Cees

[Wingco57]

And after rougly cutting out, it looks like a fuselage undersurface. Some final cleaning up still to do.

Cheers

Cees

[JeroenPeters]

Cool!! 

[Wingco57]

Cutting out the bombbay cell openings didn't work out and looking at the photo's my idea was wrong so I cut out one large rectangular opening. The various bombbeams are now easier to fit and that is exactly how it was on the real aircraft. Another thing learned.

 

The floor was bent in it's various angles but it is still very flimsy. The strenghtening beams will take care of that.

 

I also made the front spar which had sections routed out for weight presumably. I represented this from laminated plastic.

The bombbay lining strips have been finished. This is fun.

Cheers

Cees

[GusMac]

Nice start Cees. Looking forward to seeing how this develops.

[Wingco57]

Update time.

The fun part with scratchbuilding is that you spend hours doing intensive work without any seemingly progress. Making mistakes and doing

things again and again and yet progress is made. Time flies when you are having fun.

 

The fuselage underpanel is shaping up nicely. Trying to keep true to scale problems rear there heads. One of these is that there are several slatted floorpanels with rather wide gaps between them. Painting the later might result in not every nook and cranny being reached. So I will have to paint the area below it before the panels themselves can be made.

So planning is mandatory.

 

Hope you like,

 

Cheers

Cees

 

[RichO]

Nice scratching!  I know just what you mean about working for hours without any progress.  Hang in there, it looks good so far.

[Wingco57]

Well, if you have an itch, start scratching...

 

Marking out the fuselage sidepanels and then cutting them out. It is very important to keep both sides an identical mirror image  from each other to keep the final fuselage square and true. I noticed from my previous attempt.

After that it is the fun part, building up the interior structure using Evergreen strip.

 

Until next time.

 

Cheers

Cees

[coolboxx]

Oh wow, I turn my back for a few week's r&r.

Great start Cees , Just amazed at this project. Good luck Sir.

[Wingco57]

Thanks, working on it.

 

Cheers

Cees

[JeroenPeters]

Ive seen this before.... 

 

Very cool!

[RichO]

Very like.