For those treacherous tundra/tricky taiga touchdowns:salute:

that's one explanation.
on the other hand, he might have forgotten doing it and added the second pair of wheels.
Now, go figure which is the correct one - bear in mind - he's the oldest here.

What? Four wheels???
:damn:

Wait...does that mean you have to listen to me because I'm the oldest, or I'm just forgetful because I'm the oldest?

Wait...I'm not sure I want to know.

Wait...what was the question again?

A little mercy there KranzBBY (and an eye-opener Hamm's chaser with my morning mimosa!) but I'm only a wee tad behind in the age dept here myself; Less than a year and it takes a sec every A.M. to realize that ain't daddy in the mirror! "Father! the Sleeper has awakened"...'and wants to go back to bed'...the horror:nope:

Sikorsky S.XVI.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps8d69af3f.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psb0fb3c39.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psbe1f20e4.jpg

Another fine addition to the collection my friend :cool:

Next project: The Vickers FB.5. It has been claimed that the FB.5 was the first real fighter. This is based on the fact that it was indeed designed specifically to attack other planes. The fact that it was a two-seater is due to the idea that there had to be a second man to fire the gun. Similar in appearance to the FE.2, the "Fighting Biplane No. 5" was brought into being in mid-1914, several months before the war started. It didn't get to France and into service until the spring of 1915, after Roland Garros made himself the first fighter pilot in his Morane parasol. Nicknamed the "Gunbus", the FB.5 was the frontline British fighter for several months, until it proved incapable of dealing with the German Eindekkers.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps9c000495.jpg

Primary assembly - fuselage and lower wings - is finished. The lower wings were separate from the fuselage by an inch or so in real life - a little more than 1/8" (about 3mm) on the model. They give tabs on the wings and holes in the body that work perfectly, but this will get some rough handling, so I drilled out the holes in the body and cut of the tabs and drilled holes in the wings. A single piece of brass wire runs from one wing to the other, all the way through the body. That way there is still a tiny gap between body and wing, but the bracing is quite strong. Next will come top wings and then the tail booms, with landing gear coming last. Also, this engine will spin.

A note about this particular kit: Pegasus did low-pressure injection molding, which gives fine detail but leaves a lot of flash, and once the part is separated from the sprue a bit of cutting and sanding is required. Basically, it's rough, and needs to be smoothed a lot. On the other hand, this one has some very fine metal parts, including engine, propeller, wheels and skids. On the other other hand the cockpit was quite cramped, which was uncomfortable for the crew. My crew doesn't flex, so they had to lose their legs to even fit.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psfa3f716a.jpg

:yeah:

Pre-assembly painting done - cockpit, fuel tanks, fuselage and wings. I tried a different color for the British CDL, in this case pre-WW2 Sand (ANA 616).

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psacfa237f.jpg

Flying surfaces installed.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps176ca72b.jpg

Mostly done. All that's left is to install the crew and gun, do the rigging and final paint.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psa9ae73eb.jpg

Nice job :cool:

There's more rigging to this one than I thought. After about three hours' work the wings and tail boom are mostly rigged. There is still a lot of additional bracing to go, plus the control wires. Maybe tomorrow.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pseca1b897.jpg

Well, I wrote "Maybe tomorrow" and then didn't even look at it for two days. Sometimes I get that way. The time hasn't been entirely wasted; I've been practicing the songs I'm going to perform next Friday night, and I've been doing a lot of research on my next project.

Yesterday I got to work again, and after a couple more hours the main rigging still wasn't complete. Another two hours tonight and it's all done except the landing gear. Then I still have to do the control wires, which since this is a pusher run in some odd directions before finally getting where they need to go. Then the steel and wood booms and struts need to be painted, and decals applied. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next year sometime. *sigh*

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps2caaa4a7.jpg

Nothing wrong with previous builds but this one is starting to look that little bit extra special IMO :cool:

That's what I've been thinking. I'm not particularly fond of the Gunbus, but that's a game thing - there are better planes available for the same die roll, and I just never had the desire to fly one in the game. I only started it because I wanted one of everything I could get my hands on. When I started it I had to complain about low-pressure injection molding. The sprues actually overflow into the wings, so the cutting and sanding has to be extra careful. Once I got past that stage, though, something started to change. The more work I put into it the more it just felt...right. Right now I'm liking it at least as much as anything I've built.

I think I will have it done by tonight.

I agree. That one is looking great.

So I was talking about how right everything felt. I should have known that would be an invitation to disaster.

Two or three days ago, the last time I was working on it, I dropped it. The landing gear came completely off. It wasn't a worry because all four struts broke off cleanly and I was able to put the whole thing right back on again. This afternoon I started rigging the landing gear and noticed that the axle was crooked. Then I realized the whole thing was crooked. I had to cut away the wires I had just superglued on and remove the whole thing again. Then I had to cut away the old glue and drill new holes. Then I had to put it all back together, being careful this time to make sure it was actually straight.

That took more than an hour, so I took a long break. Then I started the rigging again. I almost gave up after my fat fingers kept pushing against the already-finished wires on the wings and stretching them so they now looked loose. Two more hours of fiddling with it and the landing gear is finally rigged. With any luck it will be done tomorrow, but luck doesn't seem to be my strong point.

The good news is that after three months since moving back in after the reconstruction I finally started unpacking some of the boxes cluttering up my bedroom. At least that felt good.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps798c11fe.jpg

Small steps...one at a time :cool: