Clear the Decks for Action!!

Having cluttered up Rex'a lovely table for the past few months with bits of spars, ribs, packets of nuts'n'bolts (appropriately marked whence they came), tins of paint, paint brushes and the odd tool or three, while we waited for the appropriate sheet of metal to be delivered from which to make the compresion ribs, the day has now arrived when Rex can get to work on doing what he has been champing at the bit to do for so long -get on with the job of building those ribs and getting the wings into shape. (Sorry about the long sentence but I think that is what Rex has been feeling for the past few months.) Must really find time to take some photos of the fittings he'd had made - they really are quite pretty.

Our friends at Rotec who supplied the engine have graciously allowed our project to head their list of projects on their own website. (The only reason we're heading it is because we're the latest and least completed -but, what the heck - we have a moment of fame.)

I know these blogs are somewhat irregular but they'll be even more irregular come next month as I head off to the Northern hemisphere to attend my youngest's wedding in Sussex. Not by the Sea but underneath a tree.  There must be something in the blood as a grandfatehr of mine was a carpenter by trade, I've dabbled a bit on carving and said son is carrying on the tradition.  My current wood project is to build a replica Lewis Gun for our mentor's N11. If I ask nicely he might arrange for the Moreau mounting to be made for ours as well as his......

Yet more progress

Well, here it is, the finished object. But I do have to say that there was a steep learning curve which I can put to use if ever anyone should ask me to make one for them. And, no doubt, when I meet up with Dave again he will have some tips to make it look even better (he's pretty hot on such things).  The orange coloured bits belong to a clamp which is holding the gun upright; definitely not part of the gun!  Just in case anyone was wondering.......

While on the subject of guns, the gas guns have finally stopped as the grape harvest gets under way.  All we have to contend with now are the large truck and trailers hairing around at night delivering the grapes to the wineries.  And whilst we might complain about the noise and disturbed sleep, this is still a great little place to live in.  We're not surrounded by other houses and we have a pleasant outlook -as well as all the fruit we enjoy. And we are enjoying an Indian Summer right now with cool nights, warm days and little wind.  I must go for a fly sometime soon before the rain sets in (Rain? What rain? Here at the Top of the South we get beggar all!).

Progress? YES!!

A typical Marlborough Autumn day allowed us to continue with the fuselage topcoat in a great spruce finish, courtesy as ever of Dave.  (I say 'we' but it was really Dave doing all the work with me pretending to supervise.)  Originally we were only going to bother with the cockpit area but seeing as we had plenty of paint we decided to go the whole hog - even if not much of it will actually be seen. In the normal course of events.

The next bit of painting will be the metalwork in a 'dark horizon blue' which is where we need to start putting the jigsaw back together again..... And these are just the bigger parts!  There are quite a few smaller bits plus, of course, the brackets and flanges on the fuselage itself.  It will look quite something and almost a shame to cover it with fabric.  But then this is what it's all about - a flying machine, not a decorative piece of art.  Even if it will look the part.

And the Lewis Gun is starting to look the part, too, even if I say it myself.  But don't look too closely!  If I get to build another one I will hopefully not make the same mistakes again.  I just need to bolt down the ammunition drum onto the gun itself -can't have it suddenly whisking off in a 70 mph wind!

On that bright note I'll leave you until the next time.

Another sort of gun

Right, let's back to the Nieuport.  Windy weather has meant that we have had to curtail any more spraying for the time being.  Dave managed to get more paint on Brian than on the airframe the other day; it apparently didn't occur to Brian to move upwind of him to avoid it.....  (Where was I?  I was helping out on a working bee to help tidy up the area around the AHC.)

Back to guns, though. As a fighter the Nieuport needed armament, of course, which was a Lewis Gun mounted on the top wing.  The real thing would be a) very hard to find, and b) far to heavy for our purposes.  So I am making a replica using some ABS plastic castings from the US together with a great deal of wood, filler and paint.  The photos gives some idea of what the innards look like and what it might look like from the outside, bearing in mind that a lot of the pieces holding all together are NOT in exactly the right place - yet.  Obviously the filler and paint are yet to come!