That's pretty much what I'm going to do.
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That's pretty much what I'm going to do.
One less thing to do, one more to add to the list.
First off, the gun is done! I had made a mess of the plastic gun kit I bought and rather than just mess around with it making it even more ugly, I decided to use it as a template and make another out of wood:
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/lew002.jpg
Yep, that's a half inch board with some big dowels I ripped with my circular saw, some epoxy, some drywall spackle, and some sanding.
On the other side I used a bit of copper tubing after figuring out it's easier than molding that bit out of epoxy putty.
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/lew001.jpg
Oh, and the top bit there is some left over plastic cutting board I used as reinforcement for the turtle deck stringer.
I recycled the magazine and the barrel end from the kit.
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/lew003.jpg
The handle and the grips were pretty easy to do - it's just some scrap and a dowel that I didn't really clean up - I just lacquered over them as they were, with little imperfections and stuff on them.
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/lew004.jpg
So that's done.
Now I have to put some steel on my firewall to make it a firewall.
The other thing I've been working on is the windscreen. What I want is something that looks Nieuport-ish without the metal frame around it.
Here's the second mock-up with cardboard, as the first with poster board wasn't robust enough to stand up:
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/wind001.jpg
That's not quite in the right spot, but getting it to stand up was a huge challenge until I figured out a small paint can behind it worked out great.
So it's off to the aviation section of Lowe's for some thickish plexiglass - I think it's quarter inch, along with a tool for cutting it.
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/wind002.jpg
This works great for straight lines, but what about curves?
The cutting tool is really just a razor with a little knob on it and a really sharp point. Sucker can really make the red stuff flow. One just scrapes a groove into the plastic until it's about halfway through and snaps it apart on the line.
I don't know if I violated some sort of rule about cutting plexiglass, but I wound up using my jigsaw, running the blade slow enough that it didn't melt the plastic.
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/wind003.jpg
My windscreen professionally fitted.
My plan is to use angles to hold the three pieces together and reinforce with superglue and silicone stuff.
I used a super technical technique for measuring the angle I need for them.
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/wind004.jpg
I TLAR'd the first one and then got busy replicating it from a bit of steel I had.
B is for Bend, C is for cut. I make no apologies for idiot labeling my stuff even if it's done in one motion.
I found it easier to bend the piece, then cut it off, then bend, then cut...
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/wind005.jpg
A little work on the sanding belt and they came out pretty good.
http://www.darts-page.com/images/Nieuport/wind006.jpg
Now to put holes in them and mount the pieces together. And then fit it to the aircraft.
WOW... That Gun looks VERY GOOD !!!!
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The Firewall was brought up before...
Mine is SS...
They say a Galvanized steel works... But I've welded and torched on Galv...
I've heard the fumes that come off of it are VERY POISONOUS...
I'll stick with Stainless Steel...
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Gotta Fly...
JAM
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Hmmm Can't find the Gun Picture...
I was going to send the picture to "Paint"....
add some dark spots on the barrel area as a suggestion for your Mock Machine Gun realism...
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Gotta Fly...
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had to reset the server - it lost its web instance - so pictures show now.
My plan for aging the gun is to kind of lay it about and move it as needed to get to tools and junk.
Get the wife involved ??? Or the KId ???
Hey Frank... I took the picture to "Paint".... added some color to the barrel area to give you the idea I was thinking about for
some realistic looking detail.... I just did a little , you'll have to picture the whole barrel done...
Maybe simple gloss Black would work ? Maybe Black Duct Tape ???Attachment 4903
Attachment 4904
See what you think...
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Gotta Fly...
Looks good; the early Lewis guns had a solid cooling shroud, though.
Later they realized that the airflow over the gun on an aircraft meant that it wasn't needed, and they just took them off.
Yeah... Come to think of it... I only remember seeing the ones without the shroud... ( Se 5 ? )
OK... Sorry... I was confused with something else.. I thought the holes weren't done in the mock gun because of Drag...
I figured the dark spots would get around that.... Sort of Tickle the eye illusion...
Gotta Fly...
It's all pretty interesting - there was a whole lot of TLAR going on in 1915. They simply tagged on a standard Infantry Lewis gun onto the top wing, putting fixtures on the sides of the box at the front of the top center wing, and then another towards the rear. They put a turnbuckle on the rear support for adjusting elevation.
Indeed, the first ones relied on the pilot reaching up and pulling the trigger, and had the smaller 26 round magazine! In short order they got a cable attached to the stick and the larger 46 magazine, and then they figured they could just get rid of the cooling shroud. The shroud itself is a solid tube with a lot of baffles inside that touch the barrel, acting as cooling fins.