Flaps!

[Guest]

And elevators.

I've been playing around with detailing my 1:72 Airfix Hurricane, (this is an early Airfix kit and very simplistic and have already had to add detail to the cockpit as I plan to model the canopy open).

The main reason being this is a cheap kit and therefore an ideal testing ground before trying it on a pricier kit.

One of the niggles I always have with models of planes which use cable / pushrod mechanical control surface operation is the fact that the kits are modelled with fixed straight elevators and ailerons when typically elevators on the tailplane will naturally sag when the aircraft is stationary on the ground.

I wanted this model to also have it's flaps open as if it had just recently landed.

To model these i used a scalpel to gradually slice through the flaps on the wing underside and the elevators on the tailplane, a quick dress of the edges then I drilled the tailplane and elevators with a small drill in a pin vice in two corresponding places.

The elevators were then joined using small sections of staple, (small enough but stiff enough) held in place with a dot of superglue, then bent to a visually acceptable deflection and a smear of liquid poly cement brushed on to secure it.

The flaps couldn't be done the same way as they were much thinner so I placed them using small rolls of masking tape as wedges then brushing with a smear of liquid poly cement. The flaps should have strengthening ribs internally but that's just beyond me at the moment.

I was quite pleased with the overall effect and hope this will be useful for anyone else wanting to model open control surfaces.

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[stona]

Nice job,particularly in that scale. Just landed is fine with flaps down but remember standard RAF practice was to raise flaps immeidiatley after landing. This prevented damage from debris thrown up and in the case of the Spitfire prevented overheating as the flaps interfered with the airflow through the radiator(s). It was common practice for pilots failing to comply to be fined by way of a contribution to the mess fund. Five shillings is often quoted (25p for our younger listeners) actually a substantial sum at the time.

Once an aircraft was parked the controls were often locked by physically attaching bars to the relevant controls to maintain a neutral position and prevent any unintended movement caused by wind gusts. The control locks were often carried in the cockpit (beside the seat in a Spitfire) but are rarely modelled. The elevators would only "sag" if the stick was pushed forward,something many pilots did to ease their exit from the cockpit

I agree that posed control surfaces make for a more interesting model and any position can be justified....just landed or in for maintenance etc. One two avoid is both ailerons up or down. This wasn't possible on most WW2 aircraft unless they were disconnected or, in a few, the wings were folded.

Looking forward to your completed kit,it certainly looks good so far.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Looking good!

Steve, what would the deflection ange of the hurri's split flaps be? I recall that they deflected way more than normal slotted flaps, even up to 70-80 degrees. IIRC they also had only down and retracted settings, not like on a P-51 where the pilot could go anywhere from 0 to 50 deg.Indicated by small red marks on the flap's leading edge, low tech but wery effective.

If you were building something like a hawker hunter, you could well put in about 5 deg flaps down as they tend to droop when the hydrolick presure weaps away, same with the speed brake.

Theuns

[Guest]

Coming along nicely. I like the idea of the staples, might steal that idea in the future, would be ideal if you were wanting to scratch build fowler flaps to a model. Cheers Derek

[stona]

Hi Theuns,you may have got me there as I'm away from home. There's just a chance I have a Hurricane manual or pilot's notes on my computer......I'll have a look.

Cheers

Steve

I've got the pilot notes. The flaps (as I suspected) were not incremental,i.e. they were up or down,like the Spitfires. There is a note that if extended at a speed above 120 knots IAS they would be partially forced up by the airflow.I also have a HurricaneI manual. The "down" angle for all flaps is 80 degrees. The maximum permissible tolerance on all ranges of movement is given as 2 degrees and 30 seconds. The last bit means that if you model them down you'd better make them all the same!

Cheers

Steve

[stona]

Hi Theuns,I've attached what I've found re Hurricane flaps. The maximum angle down was 80 degrees. It appears they could be operated incrementally (unlike the Spitfire) something I was unaware of,but then the Luftwaffe didn't fly Hurricanes Lol!

From the Hurricane I manual.

From pilot's notes for Hurricane II A,B,C,D and IV

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

Coming along nicely. I like the idea of the staples, might steal that idea in the future, would be ideal if you were wanting to scratch build fowler flaps to a model. Cheers Derek

Hey, steal away, i'm sure i'm not the first to do something like that (maybe the first to post it on the internet?), but that'sthe whole purpose of forums such as this. They really work a treat as they're small so a 0.5mm bit will punch a suitable hole and they're nice and rigid too so plenty of posing room before gluing.

[Guest]

That was an interesting read Steve, thanx

I was also unaware of the virable setting of the Hurri's flaps, they work just like the T-6 Harvard's flaps.

The other interesting thing is that the plane can do a go-around with full flaps, I know of very few, if any modern light planes that can do that.Infact a mate of mine had a Cessna 182 and they had to abort a landing at 3880' elevation airport ( rather low in SA). The flap circut breaker poped and couldn't be retracted.Even at full power they had to fly down a valey to stay alloft.Then only could the flaps be retracted.

He reported that they needed clean underware after that ! :-)

It sounds almost if I would have been able to fly a Hurri at those low controlabe speeds...............................but I can only dream.

Theuns

[Guest]

It's been a while and this ones been sitting on the back burner while I was building the FW190 and my current one, ( a motorbike).

However, have got the underside painted and the upper surface camo in Tamiya acrylics, the brown I had was too dark so had a mix with some Tamiya white, the resulting brown isn't 'right' but a nice chocolatey brown, so it's good enough for me.

The flap internals are painted in Citadel Mithril silver to represent the aluminium.

Next step is a gloss clear then I need some 1:72 decals as the kit didn't have any, (MIA), then a wash, (think i'll go subtle on this as I really like the current clean look).

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[Guest]

Coming on nicely Mike. Always add that extra special feel to a kit when some home brew alterations have been made. Look forward to the final roll out.