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Bristol 170 Freighter

Stoneboat

Member
I usually do not have two builds going at once, but the Rodent is on hold for a week or so while the weather warms up enough to paint in my shed, soooo...

A few months ago I had a call from the Yukon Air force. It seems they were missing a Bristol Frightener from the collection. Bob informed me that he remembered having one in the stash, or thought he did. Since we both suffer from CRS disease, I also seemed to remember the kit was the Airfix 1:72 model of the Bristol 170 Mk32 Superfreighter, but that back in the mists of time someone had made a resin conversion kit that converted the Mk32 to either a Mk11, Mk21 or Mk31 Freighter. Bob spent some time fudging about in the darkest recesses of his man cave and lo and behold! he found the kit along with the resin kit in the same box.

The Bristol 170 Freighter was based on the pre-WW2 Bristol Bombay design. It first flew in 1945. The airplane was a conventional - read ugly - fixed gear twin, built to accommodate a British military 3-ton truck driven onboard via a nose trapdoor. The trapdoor was quickly replaced by a set of clamshell doors, and the aircraft began to enjoy modest success as a commercial offering. SABENA, Silver City, and Air France flew them, as well as Northcoast, Norcanair and Wardair in Canada. The Canadian aircraft were all Mk31's, which meant they had squared off vertical tails and rounded tips on the horizontal stabs, as well as improved Bristol Hercules engines of 1700 hp.

Not one to leave well enough alone, one morning after a hefty evening of tea and crumpets - or, one suspects, beer and skittles - the design boffins at Bristol met over breakfast kippers to discuss improvements to the airplane. "I know" said one, "let's make it uglier." There were cries of "Hear! Hear!"
and thus was born the Mk32. The 32 has a taller, rounded vertical fin and a larger nose. Ok, I admit I made up that last part, but it could have happened.

The Airfix kit is ancient. It first came out in the late 1950's I believe. Here's what it looks like:
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The model for the YAF will be this one, CF-UME in Northcoast titles, seen here in all her glory.
CF-UME%20001_zpsol6vay11.jpg


CF-UME2%20001_zpsfhuiuspz.jpg


And finally seen here after she went through the ice on a lake north of Whitehorse one spring, better than 40 years ago. An attempt was made to salvage the aircraft, but she sank before they could save her and she sits on the bottom still.
CF-UME3%20001_zpsixpllkb3.jpg


For the mod I shall use this part of the resin kit.
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It looks like a modicum of firkytoodling is in order, so let the cutting begin to commence!

I shall use the kit vertical and horizontal tail surfaces, since the horizontal stab tips on the Mk31 are rounded. The vertical tail is straight across rather than rounded...
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...So I began by cutting off the fin at the top of the rudder. and installed a top plate using a scrap of plastic.
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The trailing edges of the flight controls are approximately two scale feet thick, so in addition to sanding off all the superfluous rivet detail I sanded the trailing edge of the rudder and then installed a strip of .015 x .030 styrene to make a nice crisp trailing edge.
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I added hinges...
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...Then rescribed the rudder trim tabs and while I was at it made two trim tab actuators from scrap wire. Viola!
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The horizontal tail has received the same treatment, in addition to some work to rectify the tolerances between the fixed and movable portions. :D
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Here's one elevator. The excess rivet detail never fails to amaze. I mean, why use 21,650 rivets when only 21,648 will do?
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Anyway, adding a shim to the end of the elevator and giving it the rudder treatment worked wonders.
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The elevator is upside down in that pic, the trim tab is on the inboard end, but you get the idea. The fit between the stab and the fuselage, by contrast, is very precise.
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Next up will be the fuselage modification. This means walking the rope without a safety net, since I only have one set of resin doors. Maybe the only set in the world. :D
 
Great job James
Whoooo that airplane is uuuuglyyyyyyy...Is that what’s meant by putting lipstick on a sow?
The only nose in the world hey?... no pressure at all then I guess?!
I’ll be pulling up a chair for this one as well, great to see a master at work!
 
Thanks for looking in fellas, and thanks for that link Rich. So far so good, I don't think I'll need it, but you gotta see the dry fit to believe it. :S

...Is that what’s meant by putting lipstick on a sow?
The only nose in the world hey?... no pressure at all then I guess?!
Once them design boffins come under the influence of breakfast kippers and start on the lip gloss, anything can happen. As for the only nose in the world, I know this guy who casts resin parts... :D
 
Oh yes! Looking forward to seeing this one getting built. I have the same one. With same resin nose. So if you need one, I can send it to you.

And if everythng goes wrong, which I doubt, Fly models just released injection molded 170 freighter.
 
Very cool subject Stoney! Ugly as sin but a unique plane!

This is the same as CF-TFX outside Yellowknife, yes??

http://www.explorenorth.com/library/aviation/images/bristol_freighter-yellowknife-4323.html

Saw that one in person about 5 years ago.

:popcorn :popcorn
 
Thank you fellas.

Sharkey that one in Yellowknife is an ex-Wardiar, ex-Trans Canada Air Lines machine. Believe it or not, TCA operated a few of them as freighters. There is a tale, probably apocryphal, of TCA going into La Guardia with one. Back then the tower would issue a reminder to pilots to check the gear when giving landing clearance. Apparently one wag issued the following clearance.. "Trans Canada 341 cleared to land Runway 22, check gear down and welded." :D

Uros I don't think I'll need it, but you never know. Here's what the new nose looks like installed but without any work on it. Does a disservice to the word crude.

I very carefully marked off the nose according to the resin kit instructions and took an out of focus shot of it...
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...Then sawed the resin part off the pour stub and glued both parts together on a piece of glass. So far, so good.
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Nice neat fit, right?
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I then cut the other side of the resin and stock kits in precisely the same places and glued them together the same as the first parts. Here's how much the sided differ.
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The pencil line shows how much material has to come off. What I think I'll do is build up the short side a bit using strips of scrap plastic and putty, then sand less material off the long side.
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I love watching you guys work through stuff like this. It gives me inspiration & ideas when I run into issues myself. :drinks
 
Wow, the fit really isn't that good. Would it be possible to heat up the resin parts and bend it to shape?
 
Wow, the fit really isn't that good. Would it be possible to heat up the resin parts and bend it to shape?

You're a braver man than I am, Uros-din. I thought of that, but since that is the only one in Canada the sane side of my brain said "Don't do that!" :D
 
I have modified the nose to something that a Bristol design boffin might recognize. This involved gluing some scrap styrene strips to the rh side of the nose, while sanding off some of the surplus material from the lh side.
By adding copious quantities of body putty, some semblance of symmetry has been obtained. :D
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Now. The kit cockpit floor/pedestal looks like this, which according to the cockpit pics I can find on t'internet, is bassackward. That huge console should be forward
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I decided to use this part anyway but to get rid of the bassackwardness. But by doing that one runs up agin' the laws of space limitations in the nose, i.e. it won't fit. To get around that, merely cut off the rear part of the old back and turn it 180 degrees, whereby it becomes the new front. Of course, what is taken away up front must be added at the rear, so...
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And we shall proceed from there.
 
Thanks fellas. (y)

Work on the cockpit continues apace. I have installed some aluminum linoleum on the floor - made from beverage can, natch - and glued aluminum panels on the sides of the console. This airplane had a rudder bar, which means the rudder pedals were on the ends of a bar with a central pivot, like so:
IMG_3823_zpslrug1hqd.jpg



How does one make a rudder bar, you ask? Well, take a length of 20ga wire...
IMG_3824_zpspmdabzf0.jpg



... And bend it to a shallow V-shape. The V-shape is how the rudder pedal fore and aft position is adjusted. I presume that's how it worked on the Freighter, I have some stick time on a Viscount and that's how it worked.
IMG_3825_zpsytqoe94l.jpg


Then squash the center of the V flat with a pair of pliers, drill a hole in the flat part with a 1/64" drill to accept the pivot, and take an out of focus picture.
IMG_3826_zpsxdhrwpph.jpg


Measure the lengths of the arms - in this case 1/8" - bend the two ends upward...
IMG_3827_zpsz33k9kj7.jpg


... And clip off the excess. The bits left after the clipping will become the rudder pedals.
IMG_3828_zpskwz9zgp8.jpg


Squeeze the pedals in the joint of a pair of duckbills to flatten them out, bend them forward a bit, and then a bit of firkytoodling to make them the size of a pair of 1:72 scale size 12 clodhoppers.
IMG_3829_zpsnrhehro2.jpg


Viola! a rudder bar complete with rudder pedals. 'Course nobody will ever see the darn things once the fuselage is buttoned up, but buy golly they're there!
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Make a second one using the preceeding recipe and install them in a hole already drilled in the floor. Vunderbar!
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Add a lick of paint and scrape some of it off to represent the wear and tear. Then make a couple or three sub panels - with the instrument holes cut out - to cover the instrument panel. The slots in the quadrant will accommodate the engine controls.
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The four red points are the feathering buttons and the engine fire warnings. The little sub panel on the lower left of the center panel has a huge artificial horizon and an equally large directional gyro. I assume that was in some way connected to the autopilot. I doubt if this airplane had an autopilot, but what the hey, beverage can aluminum is cheap, so why not add it?
IMG_3837_zpsk3n0bczi.jpg



And there it sits for the moment. I have to pick the brain of a friend who flew the beast to see where other bits and bobs in the cockpit were located. I owe George a call anyway, we phone each other occasionally to see if we're still vertical. :D
 
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