Scratch Built Hannibal

Customs duty on a £7.00 fan? I thought that did not sound right. Then later you state there were other items. Now that sounds right. But why buy
from Global aka Hong Kong for stuff. If it ain't in the UK or Europe then I will go without. Be caught once, never again for peanut priced items.

But then of course you thought you would have a go at trying to get away with it just for the devilment. :lol:

Bit more building finished, aileron servos are in, the wing/fairing/cockpit assembly was held down by the wing mount screws. The machine gun clamps securely between the wings. Quite surprising what can be done by using coarse carpentry and a dab or two of filler.

Nice work!

In an attempt to stop the Hannibal landing like a wheelbarrow flung out of a first floor window, I modified the main axle into a two part item. De-soldering the original was a lot of fun! Finally had to use a small gas torch. The white rubber bands are temporary, I have some black 3mm bungee cord in the post. Nothing original in the U/C modifications, I copied the "suspension" and axle guides from photos of WW1 undercarts shown in RCM+E. The wheel retaining washer and split pin is an attempt at "authenticity" as well as avoiding getting another set of wheel collets. Getting stuff was no problem before the Internet, a quick visit to the local model shop for the required bits and pieces, Usually there was something else as well.

Today I fitted the starboard aileron and rigged the pull/pull system. There was a fair amount of remedial work to do in the servo area, due to the removal of the original hardwood servo mounting. I fitted a couple of delrin retainers adjacent to the idler pulley. Hopefully these will prevent the wire jumping out of the groove. After the retainers had been in place for a couple of hours, I noticed that they had "opened out" slightly, due to the pressure of the control wire I expect. I bent up a couple of wire inserts to hold the retainers in place. The Hannibal's wing tip has always looked a bit "odd". I had a really good look at it today. The tip has a pronounced dihedral, this appears to have been caused by previous repairs. The cure was a bit drastic. I cut the tip away from the end rib and removed the triangular supports. With the tip floating freely, it was an easy job to pull it into line with the end of the aileron. It needed to have the trailing edge of the last wing rib to be replaced, when this was done, everything lined up.Using pull/pull for controls is a bit complicated when it comes to covering the model. I've arranged the aileron controls to disconnect from the horns and drop through slots in the exit supports. After the covering is complete, the exit slots will be cut open and the guide tubes(the orange bits) glued in place. The final job is to centralise the aileron and the servo, then tighten the clamp screw on the servo arm. Sorted!

I wrote that I'd fitted the starboard aileron in my last post. In fact it was the port one! Lateral reversal, no wonder I can't fly properly! Anyway, today I got down to the mystery of the starboard aileron/wing T.E.and wingtip T.E. misalignment. Originally I thought it was due to a dodgy repair to the tip sometime before I bought the model. Having spent a lot of time dismantling the tip parts and re-assembling with new bits where required, I still couldn't get an alignment. The wing isn't warped, neither is the aileron, then quite by chance, after I'd spent an hour or two this morning dismantling the newly refurbished wingtip again in a final attempt to get things decently lined up, I dropped my balsa knife. I picked it up, and as I straightened up, I saw something I should have noted a long time ago. The reason for the misalignment is that the hinges have been incorrectly fitted in the wing. Still don't know how I missed it. The outboard hinge is exactly 1/8" lower than the inboard one. The latest wing tip is on the building board, and now I must decide whether to reposition all three hinges, or cut away the spar and hinges in one piece, and re-fit it with packing fitted to bring the hinge line into the correct position. Fortunately the hinge spar is balsa sandwiched between hardwood sub-spars, so cutting out and refitting shouldn't be too much of a problem.