Simon's PZL.22 Flying Winglet **DNF**

[SJPONeill]

Flying wing generally evokes visions of B-49s and Gothas and B-2s but this one is only a baby hence 'winglet'...

It is one of the free download models over at http://www.ecardmodels.com; and looks like a relatively friendly design with only a couple of pages of parts...I've laser printed the parts on 170gsm matt art paper from my local print shop and they wait (patiently) in the wings under we kick off on 12 November...(just for Dirk, that is 12 November in everyone's local time not Kiwitime, or GMT...)

[VickersVandal]

This is very very cool
Can't wait to see it built.
I've gone looking for a 1/72 kit of this but uncovered nothing

[SJPONeill]

I've gone looking for a 1/72 kit of this but uncovered nothing

Just download it from Ecardmodels, reduce it to 1/72, and print it onto 110-120gsm paper...Presto!!

[Dirkpitt289]

Man that's funky looking

[VickersVandal]

I've gone looking for a 1/72 kit of this but uncovered nothing

Just download it from Ecardmodels, reduce it to 1/72, and print it onto 110-120gsm paper...Presto!!

Fine then, I will!!

Just ordered it.

I'm not sure that I'll be able to join this GB due to other projects taking priority but this model is a nice and simple shape that should make it a good first foray into card modelling when I get the time to try it.

Look forward to seeing how yours turns out.

[Molly-new]

Good to see that you went for a build of few parts, I reckon you will spend most of your time guiding us through our builds.

[SJPONeill]

I reckon you will spend most of your time guiding us through our builds.

If you are relying on me for (useful) guidance, you are indeed in a very bad place...

[SJPONeill]

Time to do some cutting and folding myself...I've had this one printed for some time but on reading the instructions (yes, it is a blue moon) I saw that the former sheet should be on 80gsm paper so reprinted that and got stuck into it...

First thing was beer...justified because these boxes are a good source of good quality card...fortunately each box provides a lot of card otherwise my liver might give out before the GB is done...

...followed by gluing the former parts onto the card using woodworking PVA which is less likely to warp or distort the paper....

[Molly-new]

At last the Master starts.

[SJPONeill]

The main fuselage former...short and stumpy...

The fuselage horizontal ribs...The top one I cut to shape and then cut out the notches for the other formers; I should have cut out the notches first so that there was still surrounding card to support the rest of the part. Because I didn't do this on the first former it was a little stressed but no problems with the second one after I changed the cutting sequence...

The fuselage skeleton takes shape...

It's actually a lot chunkier than I expected....

[SJPONeill]

Mounted the cockpit floor and the noce cowling former into place...



Started on the undercarriage sponsons...

However when I added the horizontal formers that support the sides of each sponson - and they only fit one way - I found quite a large gap between the inner edge of the former and the centre of the sponson...I need to check again tomorrow when I do the other side but I am wondering if perhaps the sequence of the vertical formers needs to be reversed...

so that these parts run in the opposte sequence to the instructions...

...i.e. 17, 18, 19 not 19, 18, 17 as shown...?

[SJPONeill]

Something didn't goo quite right when I laminated the printed sheets for the formers onto the card and the paper is coming loose from the card - I was really tired when I did this and am wondering if I didn't get enough coverage with the PVA or whether glue started to cure before I had the printed sheets properly in place: not really a biggie for these interior parts that won't be seen but annoying none the less.

Also I am using very thin scalpel blades to cut the card and they are flexing as I cut - even with light passes of the blade - and so are not always cutting vertically along the edges hence the skewed edges on some of the formers. Still the beauty of paper models is that, for the most part, if you screw up a part, you can just print some more and only lose a day or so, relaminating...

[Dirkpitt289]

Very cool

[SJPONeill]

First task last night was to fix the cockpit sidewalls, not much more than two bits of printed paper although there would be scope for adding some depth to them without much bother...

Then it was back to the landing gear sponsons. I made up the other one, this time reversing the sequence of parts 17-19 and got a better result immediately. You can see in the top one, where I followed the instructions the former is too wide for the horizontal rib because of the error. I would have picked up on this if I had test fit before gluing the first former but by the time I noticed I had already fixed one in place and was somewhat committed (not necessarily a bad thing - people always say that I should be committed)...

Printed out another set of sponson parts - ain't this printable model thing grand? - and will assemble tonight...

[JamesPerrin]

Looks pretty robust for such dainty looking plane.