What goes on is the gearbox frame is fixed to the engine by the outer tube shaft and so it also rotates driven from the lay gears. At first I couldn't see why the engine didn't just rotate in the same direction because I was trying to make the gearbox fixed and there was a gear missing. It's an equal and opposite force situation.

I've been sitting and thinking about this one for six days now. I was going to use the cheap, dumpy old Pfalz E.I vac kit as a starting point, but after I converted the only available drawings to 1/72 scale and cut out, sanded and put the fuselage together it was much too narrow. Another problem is that the SSW E.I was the only eindecker to have the tail come to a vertical knife-edge rather than horizontal. I finally hit on the idea of taking a spare ICM Fokker E.IV kit and turning it on its side. After putting the fuselage halves together and letting them dry overnight I cut off the rear end to use as a frame to which the skin will be mounted. Next comes the cross-framing. So far I only have the rearmost brace glued to the Fokker tailpiece and the floor mounted. A lot of shaping and fiddling lies ahead.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pshx8qmje2.jpg



I'm still debating whether I even want to try to make the contra-rotating engine.

I've been fiddling with the fuselage, and I may end up having to start over from scratch, as it's too narrow for the engine I want to use. I can use another engine, but even if I do start again it's no big deal.

I talked to a guy at the local model railroad store and it turns out the monthly meeting of the Northern Utah Division of the Rocky Mountain Region of the National Model Railroad Association is tomorrow. I have the name of someone who might be able to help me.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psx596buai.jpg

The answer is here.
http://technology.infomine.com/envir...ssues/fig7.gif

I made my way to the NMRA meeting, and when I asked for the guy I need to talk to I was told that he was in Florida. The next meeting isn't until September 19th, so the Siemens-Schuckert E.I is on hold until then. I thought about going ahead and building the airplane anyway, and either leaving the nose unfinished or just completing it without the contra-engine, which I might not be able to make work anyway. Then I realized I was tired and wanted to build something simple.

Next on the list is the Martinsyde G.100, nicknamed the Elephant. No one seems to know where the nickname comes from, but according to Chaz Bowyer in his book The Flying Elephants one NCO described the plane as looking like "...a pregnant elephant, preparing to pounce." Windsock Datafile 70 author J.M. Bruce says that while the G.100 was not a particularly large airplane by later standards it was significantly larger than the Bristol and Nieuport scouts in use at the time.

The G.100 was powered by the 120-hp Beardmore engine also used in the FE.2b, and the later G.102 had the 160-hp versions.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psez86bgtg.jpg

Interior done and painted. One interesting feature of the G.100 was that the radiator was behind the engine, just in front of the fuel tank. This left the front end open, so the engine could be seen from in front.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psg5azxcvc.jpg

Fuselage together, tailplanes installed.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psaia6uwu2.jpg

Lower wings mounted. This took a bit of work, as the portion between the fuselage and the first rib is not covered, and just gluing the wings on would mean two small butt joints with no other support. As with the Vickers FB.5 I drilled holes in the fuselage and the wing spars and ran brass wire completely through the body and into the wings. They aren't going to break off any time soon.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps5gyjgapa.jpg

You put something off for a day, and the next thing you know it's a week later.

I drilled holes for the landing gear, cut brass wire and mounted it into the holes, put the axle in place and it was crooked. Took it out, cut the gear struts down, put the axle back in and it was crooked. Cut it down a bit more, put the axle back in and it was straight. Test-fitted the prop and it dragged on the ground. That's when I gave up and took a break.

A week later I pulled the brass wire out and glued the resin landing gear struts in, mounted the axle and it may not be as strong as the wire version, but it's straight.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps9zr04y4t.jpg

First primer coat. There are quite a few seams and rough spots to be filled and sanded.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps88awxtvu.jpg

Painting's mostly done. The model will represent a plane that served in Palestine, so the paint is PC-12 (reddish brown) rather than PC-10 (brownish green).

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

P palistinally C correct
 

This one needs to go in a diorama box with this in the background http://i.ytimg.com/vi/TzFCmtVtNMc/hqdefault.jpg

After a week of delays and other projects, and three tries before it was straight, the top wing is finally on.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psq01s3jfk.jpg

Wingtip skids and control horns mounted. Struts, skids and horns painted to look like wood. Gloss topcoat applied. Decals tomorrow.

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