Author Topic: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane  (Read 11288 times)

Online robunos

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Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« on: June 03, 2020, 05:29:10 AM »

Okay . . .
For this GB I'm going to be building a Handley-Page Heyford as a One Wing Biplane ( you knew that was coming . . .   )





It won't look quite like that once I've finished . . .
And take a look at those spats ! . . . and for some reason, the kit gives you TWO sets !



Humourous food involving back story to come in due course . . .
That's all For Now, Stay tuned . . .


cheers,
Robin.

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2020, 07:04:12 AM »
And take a look at those spats ! . . . and for some reason, the kit gives you TWO sets !

One pair of spats for parades and the other pair for regular duties?  :smiley:
"Every day we hear about new studies 'revealing' what should have been obvious to sentient beings for generations; 'Research shows wolverines don't like to be teased" -- Jonah Goldberg

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2020, 01:57:17 AM »
 ;D
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2020, 01:57:37 AM »
4 spatted monoplane!!!
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Online robunos

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2020, 03:58:23 AM »
According to the destructions, which set you use depends on which variant you're building, but as far as I can tell, the only difference is the panel line detail . . .   ???


cheers,
Robin.
By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2020, 07:43:23 AM »
According to the destructions, which set you use depends on which variant you're building, but as far as I can tell, the only difference is the panel line detail . . .   ???
cheers,
Robin.

You will find that one set is deeper than the other. The change was bought about by bogging down, so the tweak was to cut them down.

Still I am really looking forward to how this looks.
I wonder if it will resemble its 2nd cousin, twice removed, the Fairey Hendon


Offline Dr. YoKai

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #6 on: June 05, 2020, 07:31:49 AM »
 This should be fun - the Heyford has a lot of potential. Loosing the lower wing would probably be the easiest, but losing the top wing and
 keeping the fuselage and engines in their original positions would be pretty cool... :smiley:

Offline ericr

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #7 on: June 05, 2020, 02:09:20 PM »

yes indeed !  :o ;D

Online robunos

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #8 on: June 05, 2020, 11:49:51 PM »
Sorry Gents, but I'm keeping this one simple, the high wing version it is . . .    ;)
I also want it to contrast with my low wing O/400 . . .



Okay . . .
Here's the progress so far. Don't know why, bit I started building this model in a strange order. First up, the tail surfaces complete and assembled,





then the engine nacelles. The struts are moulded integrally with the nacelle halves, I've left them on for now, once I have the basic airframe assembled, I can work out how to arrange the undercarriage . . .





Regarding te wings, I'm only using the top wing on this build, for a change. There are five parts to assemble, two Lower Outers, from tip to fuselage side, two Upper Outers, from tip to dihedral break, and finally one Upper Inner, continuous across the fuselage. I assembled the outers first,





but before adding the inner section, I reinforced it with some stiffeners, coffee stirrers in this case.





Finally, the assembled wing.










But what, I hear you ask, of the fuselage ? Well, 'tis a long and complicated story . . . There are no less than five pieces to the fuselage, lower nose in left and right halves, a lower rear portion, a one piece top decking, from nose to tail, and a tail end cap. I glued the nose halves together, let them dry, then joined them to the lower rear portion. Dry fitting the top decking, there was a gap along the sides. To fill this gap, I've added strips of plastic card to the sides of the decking, these will act as a backing for the filler I will put into the gap after fuselage assembly, but before then everything inside the fuselage must be painted dark grey, as it can be seen through the cockpit and gun position openings . . .
That's All For Now, Stay Tuned . . .


cheers,
Robin.

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Online robunos

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #9 on: June 05, 2020, 11:52:14 PM »

You will find that one set is deeper than the other. The change was bought about by bogging down, so the tweak was to cut them down.



Thanks for that, on a second inspection, I can see the difference . . .   :-[    :D


cheers,
Robin.
By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Offline finsrin

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #10 on: June 09, 2020, 01:15:01 PM »
Is one of those;  what to do with it kits?     Good to see this build starting.
« Last Edit: June 09, 2020, 02:50:50 PM by finsrin »

Online robunos

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #11 on: June 10, 2020, 01:04:33 AM »

Yes and no . . . .   ;D
I always have an idea in my head, how I want the model to turn out, but it doesn't always come out that way when I actually start to build it . . . sometimes things change, sometimes a lot . . .   ;)    :D
In this case, I need to build the fuselage, attach the wings and tail feathers, and then I can play with the parts to see how the undercarriage is going to  work out, so that I can get the right look, and be strong enough to support the model.


So . . .
Here's the fuselage assembled, and the area around the gap masked off, ready for filling.





The filler applied,





and now dry, with the excess removed, along with the masking.





Wings attached,





followed by the tail surfaces.





Once the joints have dried, I can start to look at how to arrange the undercarriage . . .
That's All For Now, Stay Tuned . . .


cheers,
Robin.

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #12 on: June 10, 2020, 10:12:03 AM »
Neat! :smiley:
"This is the Captain. We have a little problem with our engine sequence, so we may experience some slight turbulence and, ah, explode."

Online robunos

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #13 on: June 11, 2020, 02:49:03 AM »

Okay . . .
So, I started to look at how the spats would attach to the model. On the OOB model, they attach to the lower wing, but I won't have that, so I had to come up with an alternative, that 'looks right', and is strong enough to support the finished model. After playing with the engine nacelle and half a spat for a while, I came up with the following. Remove the rear interplane strut, shorten the remaining struts slightly, add a cross strut at the bottom, for some extra gluing area, and attach the spat to the bottom. The pictures explain it better than I can . . .
The struts, before and after,





and half a spat dry fitted.





This looked okay, but when I tried it on the model, it was awful . . .


After giving it some thought, I decided to sleep on it. Having slept on it, or rather not slept, having laid awake till 2 am thinking about it, I came up with a better idea. the spat would mount directly below the radiator, with the struts attached to it's inboard side. Here's the photo of the dry fit.





I think that's much better looking, and the spat will be attached much more securely.
That's All For Now, Stay Tuned . . .


cheers,
Robin.
By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #14 on: June 11, 2020, 07:41:27 AM »
Working through the issues.. that's the way. Appears to be taking on the feel of that period of aircraft.

Hopefully you will have enough ground clearance as the fuselage is quite deep.
Bomb bay moving to the fuselage now that the lower wing bays are out of the picture ? Can always change the operational role.

Offline jcf

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #15 on: June 11, 2020, 08:06:07 AM »
It'll be a rough ride as the oleos were in the front strut.  ;)
« Last Edit: June 11, 2020, 08:14:37 AM by jcf »
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conspiracy.”
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Online robunos

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #16 on: June 11, 2020, 10:07:37 PM »
Working through the issues.. that's the way. Appears to be taking on the feel of that period of aircraft.

Hopefully you will have enough ground clearance as the fuselage is quite deep.
Bomb bay moving to the fuselage now that the lower wing bays are out of the picture ? Can always change the operational role.



Yep, I've checked the clearances, enough for the weapons load underneath, and prop tip clearance with the tail up.
Weapon load is external under the centre fuselage, up to 2,500 lbs of Carolinum Bombs,
( see http://beyondthesprues.com/Forum/index.php?topic=9192.msg170473#msg170473 ), usually the Mark XVI, or two of the smaller Mark XXVIIs, but for this build, it will be a 'Special Weapon' . . .   ;)
Two of the squadrons were also qualified in torpedo attacks, and their machines were equipped to carry and drop them.
After I'd assembled the fuselage, when it was too late, I came up with the idea of fitting some of those small magnets inside, so I could attach different weapons underneath . . .    :icon_twisted:


cheers,
Robin.

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Online robunos

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #17 on: June 11, 2020, 10:08:40 PM »
It'll be a rough ride as the oleos were in the front strut.  ;)


Internally sprung wheels, like a Gloster Gladiator . . .   ;)   :D


cheers,
Robin.
By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Offline jcf

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #18 on: June 13, 2020, 04:32:08 AM »
It'll be a rough ride as the oleos were in the front strut.  ;)


Internally sprung wheels, like a Gloster Gladiator . . .   ;)   :D


cheers,
Robin.

 ;D

I had the same thought after posting.

The Lysander seems to the largest aircraft to use the Dowty wheels, I wonder how big they could have
gone with the concept, what the weight limit would have been for the springs.
“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Online robunos

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #19 on: June 13, 2020, 04:59:12 AM »

Okay . . .
Now it's the part we've all been waiting for . . . Spats Time !!!
Here are the wheels, painted ad matt coated,





the halves of the spats were assembled, surrounding the wheels, then left to dry down.





The assembled spats were then attached to the nacelle struts,





and when these were dry, the engine nacelles were attached to the wing.





I added a radius strut, from the spat strut bottom end, to the fuselage lower corner.





It's purely cosmetic, but just adds that touch of realism.
And finally, the model sitting upright on it's wheels . . .





I haven't fitted the tailwheel yet, it's a surprising small and delicate affair, completely out of place compared to the main wheels. I'm looking for a larger wheel, which I'll cut down, and attach to the fuselage as a semi-recessed wheel . . .
That's All, Folks, Stay Tuned . . .


cheers,
Robin.

By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Online robunos

  • Can't afford the top wing of his biplanes...
Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #20 on: June 13, 2020, 05:02:18 AM »
It'll be a rough ride as the oleos were in the front strut.  ;)


Internally sprung wheels, like a Gloster Gladiator . . .   ;)   :D


cheers,
Robin.

 ;D

I had the same thought after posting.

The Lysander seems to the largest aircraft to use the Dowty wheels, I wonder how big they could have
gone with the concept, what the weight limit would have been for the springs.


Sorry, only just saw your post . . .  :-[
I don't know, but I don't think the Heyford was that heavy, for it's size, after all, it was still just a metal framed, fabric covered biplane . . .


cheers,
Robin.
By the pricking of my thumbs, Something Whiff-y this way comes . . .

Offline The Rat

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #21 on: June 13, 2020, 06:55:21 AM »
"Man, if you gotta ask, you ain't never gonna know!" - Louis Armstrong, when asked "What is jazz?"

Offline finsrin

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #22 on: June 13, 2020, 07:51:09 AM »
Yes, does look great.   Everything as it should be.

Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #23 on: June 13, 2020, 08:11:22 AM »
Really working out well.
Vaguely Frenchish, but akin to the Bristol Bombay as a comparison.

Great work.

Offline elmayerle

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Re: Handley-Page Heyford - a One Wing Biplane
« Reply #24 on: June 13, 2020, 12:21:42 PM »
Definitely looking good, there.  I can't wait to see what finish you put it in.