Tuesday 17 September 2019

Blohm und Voss BV-138c Sea Dragon

I can't remember if I posted about this in the past, but there aren't any labels saved for it, so maybe not?

I've wanted to get going on a decent seaplane build for a while, and when I saw this come up on ebay a few months ago, I had to send a cheeky offer in.  Thankfully I won it, and it's sat in the bottom shed for a couple of months awaiting a clear workspace.  She's too big to fit in the indoors 'shop, so she will be built mostly out in the top shed.  The wings can come in for planking, so it's not too all bad news for her.

A plastic kit of a BV-138c :


It just fit in the van....!


Welcome to your new home :


Posing with it's new owner (me) :


Fast forward 4 months, out of the bottom shed and into fresh air :


Top shed given a good tidy (yes this is very tidy!) :


Up on her side, time for sanding and joint filling :


Securing some planking that's come adrift :


I'm really looking forward to getting this one into a flying state, so much so that today I ordered the power system (3 motors, ESC's and 6s batteries - 3.3kW), and I'm looking at colour schemes.

Hopefully a new and interesting branch to the hobby (to me at least)!


F-100 Super Sabre for PSS - continued

The Hun has been coming along nicely, planking has finished on the main part of the fus with work now moving to the spine and canopy area.  No canopy exists for this model currently, so it's homebrew time.

Some carving and gluing :

Foam wings have arrived :



A quick dummy run with a dog for scale


Nose block going on - is it a Platypus?

I'm not that far from thinking about glassing it now, so some wing seat details to nail down.  After that, I'll put a blue foam block on the fus and shape that for a canopy mold.


Monday 2 September 2019

F-100 Super Sabre for PSS

 The North American F-100 Super Sabre was a supersonic jet fighter / bomber that saw service in Vietnam along side the F-105 Thunderchief as fighter support.  A long time ago I found the plans here on Outerzone, and promptly printed a set.

The model will have a 56" wingspan, be of foam core wing and fully built up fuselage construction, and will be a glassed finish.

As there is a mass-build event for the F-86 Sabre, I decided to do it differently (for a change!) and make the SUPER version instead.

The wing is in production with Cloud Models, using a decent slope section, and should be ready soon.  The fuselage is already well under way at home. 


Formers all cut from 1.5mm birch ply

Notched and lightened

Built around a lite-ply crutch

Coming along!
Fin being built up

Fin pinned on temporarily 
Some more stringers added, and sheeting / planking started



Well, she should be ready quite early in the season next year, and I'm looking forward to flying her.  The C17 of course is still being worked on in the background, but when I need a break from glassing and sanding, I like to keep modelling momentum up with some balsa bashing.