SE5a CONSTRUCTION BEGINNING TO . . .

[Guest]

How about a Jolly? Sounds less Stephen King than a Gathering - plus Jolly suggests the consumption of Alcoholic Beverages* too!

* Beer

:gathering

:beer2:

[Greyhead]

Something I’ve never done before is to make a “static” prop, after all the object is to end up with a flying model not a static display, but as I’ve got time on my hands I thought I might as well give it a go. An added incentive is the fact that I’ll be using a 13" or 14" prop for flying whereas the scale diameter is 18¼" so the flying prop does look very small.


As I said I’ve never done this before so it’ll be a case of trail and error and hope for the best; to make things easier I decided to go for a 2 bladed prop. I thought of making it laminated but it would be quite costly to buy the wood and as I’m not certain of the outcome I decided against it. From a front view photo I produced a template, glued it to a piece of knot-free pine and cut it out with a jigsaw.





I was very surprised that it only took about an hours work with a plane and a rasp to produce a reasonable looking prop, and a large pile of wood shaving!

[Guest]

That's quite an achievement Grahame. It looks very good and I know that propellers are one of the most difficult things to make. Especially carved from solid like that.

[Greyhead]

A working prop is in a completely different league from the one I’m making; a static prop just has to look right, it doesn’t have to produce thrust or withstand any of the forces that implies. I certainly wouldn’t want to trust my prop to fly the SE5a!


The prop blades have been thinned down considerably, initially using the Dremmel but finishing off by hand. One coat of stain has been applied, several more to go.





The props had various things done to them and as I have no evidence as to what, if anything, was done to the prop of E5808 I can choose the variant I like best.


The choices I know about are:


1. Metal reinforced leading edges.


2. Metal reinforced tips.


3. Both of the above.


4. Outer half of blades fabric covered.


5. Blades bound with several turns of cord about mid point.


6. Plain stained wood with no additions.


At the moment my preferences are 1 or 5, I’ll probably try litho plate for reinforced leading edges first, if that doesn’t work I’ll go for the binding.

[Greyhead]

I’ve got the easy bits out of the way first; it certainly looks better than the “standard” Laser prop nut.





For flying I normally use a 13" prop with a 6" pitch, but having seen how much better the model looks with a bigger prop I’ve been thinking, if the pitch was reduced to 4" then the diameter could be increased to 15" or 16". This has the advantage of increased static thrust, which is useful for overcoming drag, also the model will fly slower for any given revs so the engine can be tuned for maximum power without having to fly like a pylon racer.


Searching through the catalogues I found that APC do make a 16" x 4", the downside being that it is about 3 times the price of a 13" x 6"; do the looks really matter that much?

[Guest]

Like everything else on this model Grahame it just simply looks superb.

[Greyhead]

I thought that getting the litho plate to bend around the prop blade following the curved leading edge would be a problem; one reason why I got the hub etc. done first! As it turned out it was no problem at all, the most awkward thing to do was embossing the rivets as this had to be done last of all and it was quite tight to get the embossing wheel in. To make the job easier I “opened out” the litho plate somewhat then carefully refitted it to the prop blades using just my fingers and a cloth to ensure none of the rivets got flattened.





Of course it all looks very shiny and ex-works at the moment, a bit of weathering will soon change that.


I have to say that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the last few days making the static prop; obviously it won’t improve the model as a flying model but all in all I think it’s been worth it, hope you agree.

[Guest]

Beautiful!!

[Greyhead]

Well I think now is the time to change the title of this thread by substituting “END” for the last 3 dots. I still have to fit the fuel tank and the radio gear, but I don’t think this really constitutes “CONSTRUCTION”. There are still some small bits of detailing to do but nothing significant, I’ll post photos if I think they’ll be of interest.


I moved the settee and took a few photos against a plain wall, which hopefully shows up the detailing more clearly; when the better weather arrives I’ll take some “al fresco” for a more realistic effect before I risk the first flight!














I’d like to thank everyone who took the trouble to post a reply, be it either help, suggestions or just words of encouragement; with special thanks to Giles for the research material, Christian for the photos and Steve for the inspiration and help with the Cooper bomb rack!

[Guest]

And may i be the first to say well done and congratulations on a truly inspiring build.

A stunning model.

[Guest]

A truly inspiring model! The SE5a's looking beutiful assembled and that static scale prob really does look the part! I'm sure this thread will be a highly useful reference to anyone attempting to carry out a similar build, and the little hints and tips along the way are relevant to anyone working on scratch built projects too.

Have you thought about putting your words and images into a published form? Some of those photos in higher resolution would be a great help to future modelers and it'd be great to have the content saved for posterity in a more permanent format than just the forums here? The time it takes to constantly photograph and document your modeling process is appreciated.

32,027 views and over 500 replys - Can't wait to see the next build start from that first little photo of a bent piece of piano wire great things happen!

[Guest]

Likewise from me Grahame,

It's been a pleasure to watch this build, a truly awe inspiring model and some very useful ideas and tips along the way too.

I wish you well with this one, I am sure she will fly great as she certainly looks the part.

I think the real finishing touch to this thread now would be some outdoor pics and maybe some flying shots when she is all up and running. I suppose we will have to wait for the weather to improve for that though.

I am going to be lost now as I always enjoyed reading the latest updates on this thread as it went along...!!

Congratulations on a superb model and many thanks for sharing this with us.

Regards......Mark.

[Guest]

Grahame it has all been said before but I'm sure we all feel that we have lived through this build with you. I find all your solutions inspiring and your attention to not just the detail but the correct use of materials and the perfect finishes to be superb and has resulted in a model that really does deserve to be in a museum.

Not only that but the time you have put into sharing your experiences with us all has produced a build thread of tremendous value not only to anyone wanting to repeat your build but anyone wanting to use your techniques and finishes.

I completely agree with Mark in that I always look forward to the next post in this thread and can only imagine what you are going to come up with next.

Congratulations, a stunning model, a superb job and a pleasure to share it with you.

[Guest]

She’s absolutely beautiful, Grahame! Thank you so much for taking the time to share it with us. Your attention to details as well as your inventiveness in solving problems is an inspiration to all of us who love scale aircraft. I’m looking forward to your next project. Thanks again.

Steve

[Guest]

But what post's am I going to eagerly await now???

I may have to get a life....