The Little World

You can only put off unpleasant things for so long – eventually you have to face up to them and either conquer or be conquered. In my case the dread arose because of the cabane and interplane struts of this aircraft. True to their past form, the short-run moulders had made hardly any provision for aids to getting the struts and wings attached to each other.

I was bitten badly by an AZ model of an Avro Tutor a while back. The struts ended up nowhere near where they were expected to be and the detail of the job was atrocious. I was afraid that the Goblin I would be a repeat.

In the meantime I have seen how Airfix have approached the biplane and noted the clever solution they adopted – in some cases they make slots and sockets for the struts that are sufficiently precise as to locate the parts accurately – you can expect the inter-plane struts to hit both wings in the correct position, and at the same time. In other cases they have provided removable plastic blocks as jigs to hold flimsy struts during cementation.

Well, the Special hobby kit had 4 cabanes, two inter-planes, and two aileron activator rods to go in with nothing more to indicate their position than faint marks on the plastic – no sockets whatsoever. No slots. No help.

I determined to measure the positions and make my own jig blocks from Foam-core sheets. The plan drawings at least showed the angles of the inter-planes. So I made the blocks, taped them on, and slow-cemented the cabane struts. When I was convinced that they were entirely set I did the same with the inter-planes, but tried the whole assembly before they had become completely rigid. There was enough accuracy to allow the cabanes to set perfectly and the inter-planes to be swung out to the marks. It was done slowly, and deliberately so.

The kit’s aileron rods were faulty – too short. Metal pins supplied the deficiency. The connection between the wings is actually very strong indeed.

This has been a good exercise in conquering this sort of construction. I have a HP Heyford that will eventually benefit from the skills learned.