Sa mayo ast Hever an aicraft captured the image of early military aviation, it was surely the BE2 - it looked stick and string, it flew slowly, and it wes about as poor a weapon of War as could have been put into service. Its drawbacks were legion and well documented: slow, unmanoeuvrable, poorly and inappropriately armed - and more. Yet it was to remain in service wel pest ts ‘sell-ty' date. Its casualty rate was quite aul, and it naturally attracted much opprobrium, Why was it 0 vulnerable? I can do no better than quote the respected authority, Hany Woodman: “As the at war developed and the BEZes became increasingly vulnerable to even the most primitive German scouts and two-seaters with better performance and guns sensibly mourted on gun rings, RFC crews tried desperately to find some form of practicable gun mount for this aeroplane. have copies ofthe correspondence which reveals a sad story. One must ask why combat crews and their ground colleagues in the feld spent so much time trying to concoct some kind of viable gun mount. The fact is that until well into 1917 these crews were stuck in an archaic aeroplane litle advanced from its 1913 protoype, in which the pre-war seating arrangements were stil retained. Gentlemen pilots flew in the rear seat ‘whilst their mechanics satin front. That this system was retained by Famborough and the RFC until the disgracefully| overdue demise of tue BE2 is astonishing. The man in front had a magnificent view of the air intake and exhausts, but could not abseeve and defend in this apparatus. The reason why the BE2 series was such a sitting duck was because of the quite stupi seating arrangement for the erew, rendering it helpless even against an inexperienced enemy. Apart from providing ‘ace fodder’, the large number of BE2Cs/Ds/Bs, and ‘the appalling 12 provided the Germans with a sizeable supply of Lewis guns, This was the reason for the heavy BE2 losses, not - as defencers of Famborough have tried to explain E|©D &scate intemational + September/October 2001, Our feature plan for classic WWI design “beomuse te BR2c was too stable". Such assessments are an insult to the inteligence (and the memory) of the crews.” Fais? absolutely. There was nothing wrong with the airoratt itself. Infeed, it was everything that was looked for in those days: stable, easy to fly, and safe. Butt was never going ‘tp succeed as a fighter. So though throughout its life the BE2 ‘was modified, improved, and used in roles other than those originally envisazed, it never overcame its basic limitations as fighting machine. Construction and practicaliti But as a model? Wel, that's altogether different. Its gentle characteristics, and its archetypal WWI looks nake it an excellent subject, and one I had in mind for some time. What bad put me off was the difficulty of hiding the eagine, Then I got old of an RCV 60, and thotght the problem solved. Alas, ‘ot quite. Slim though this excellent engine i, it wasn't as easy to hice as Thad hoped, and in the end I fornd I was better burying a Laser 70, inverted, and with a 3/4" Fox prop- shalt extension to allow me to get the cylinder head back where the cow! was deep enough to accommodcte it. And so cout came the pencil, and on with the drawing, Then came the traditional problems. As with almost any WWI aircraft, it's difficult to get documentatior that can be relied on, Hot one of the 3-views I found (and there were manyThe Utho and ply top decking (eft) and the ‘floreglass moulded under col (available as an ‘accessory of Traplet Publications). Elevator and rudder drives with closed loop systems as per the Sall-size. The tail underside showing the tal skid and rigging arrangement. Interplane strut detail to chose from) matched exactly the potographs. And of course, no two aircraft seemed to be identical, as field modifications and different manufacturers all subtly altered the details. Peculiar front ccckpit shapes, and control run exit points that were clearly wrong were the most glaring: ‘examples, So [used the bes= I could find from each source, and corrected the aberratiors by reference to photos, thus providing as accurate an outline as I could. I drew heavily on dimensioned drawings of the fuselage and wings in WWI ‘Aero, and on GA drawings from the Royal Aircraft Factory (which, interestingly, showed about 2° up thrust on some views, rather like the RES). So, to prospective builders, first arm yourselves with as muc: info as you can - including the ‘Windsock Datafle No 42. Select the exact aircraft you intend ‘to model, and use photos to refine the drawings as you see fit, Right, for those still wits it, on tothe construction. Usual ‘warnings apply: it's not a beginner's model, and [haven't cluttered up the plan with detailed instruction: common sense needs to be applied. That said, it's quite simple to put together, and the only genuisely troublesome part was the ‘dummy engine. I'l come to i later, but caution that I probably spent almost as much time on getting that one bit ight as I did on the rest of the model. On the other hand, future builders at least have the reassurance that it can be done. AS with all building from plans, it pays te think it all through before cutting wood. How detailed do you want it to be? What variations have you in mind Are you going to stick with closed loop ailerons - or fit snakes or nicro servos? Decide as ‘much as you can: then go for it! Fuselage ‘Tho starting point is the forward fuselage top decking. This is made from thin ply glued to 1/" liteply formers, Firstrors avid Hurrell Photographs: ere Fin close-up with Jabric lacing as ‘described in the text, Front cockpit and decking shows ‘the closeness of ‘the cabanes to the observer. cut a piece of scrap floorbcard to the exact internal width of ‘what will be the upper deck shell. Tack glue the formers in place onto 1/4" square eypauis longerons - ones that sit on top of the ‘real’ longerons; then bend an over sized ply sheet round, gluing it to the formers, and holdingit in place with ‘drawing pins into the edges of the plank. Oace dry, pull it all clear, trim the edges ofthe shell, and you've got a beautiful upper deck that really looks the part once varnished. Now, the reason this was made first: it acts as a measure when assembling the traditionally built fuselage sides, thus ensuring a perfect match, with no accidental ‘step’. The faselage is much stronger than might be expected, as the 11/64" ply at the top and underside rear fuselage holds it ll together better than any gussets could, and for very little weight gain Centre section ‘The centre-section is attached to two inverted U shapes of piano wire and - statement of the blindingly obvious - must be spot-on for incidence and alignment so take time and care! Before gluing the top deck onto the upper langerons, drill them to take the wire ‘legs’. Through trial and measurement, slide the wire into the holes until the positioning is just right. ‘Then mark them with felt-ip or masking tape and remove. ‘The upperdecking, also pre-rilled to acconmodate the wire, is now glued in place, and -he wires pushed back into position and fixed to the doublers and longerons with 24 hour epoxy. Fair them with streamlinec balsa sheaths, end bind with linen Solartex. Solder the brass subes to the top of the U shapes to take the wing dowels, then bind the actual airfoil pat ofthe ccentre-section in place Punyas. 1. KALABAGH ELD XScale international « September/October 2001 Underwing pulley detail. Cowlings ‘The lower engine cow! I made from resin, First I carved the shape ot of balsa, and then added te ‘blister’. hen made a female mould slightly oversize in depth to allow for trimming to ft, then cast the inal male version. It can be made as heany as you wish, hut note where the oyinder head wil ie, and keep it litho plat hin a hipoint. The upper cow i at fom the top decking, then coveredin lth. Both cows are held in place with pres studs, When trimming to fi, note thatthe under surface cortinues the straight line ofthe underuselage this rakes jigzng with piece of straight wood a dole. My ‘aster has been used to make fibreglass lower cowl which are avilable fom Traplet Publications, which saves you doing {he whole obit you dont want to. Engine installation used a Laser 70, inverted, and mounted on a glass-filled radial mount. To get as much of the mount as I could low down and out of sight, I positioned it so thatthe lugs of the inverted engine sat an top of the bearer arms, thus allowing the hearer to be about 1/2" lower than the ‘traditional’ way. [had decided to make a functional exhaust, and go silversoldered a stub tube into a crossways tube that aligned with the rear dummy cylinders. The stub connected to the Laser with bendy tube, hile the cossing tube was soldered into two (scale position) copper tube exhaust manifolds. These were blocked forward af ‘where the hot exhaust gasses entered, so that they didn't melt the plastic zylinders, “he exhaust was finally ducted into the vertical pipes made from aluminium streamline tube. The right, angle bend required caused some head-scratching, Despite all the tricks of the trade (sand filled copper tube ete), I finally cettled for bendy tube wth the grooves filled in with Plastic Padding. The manifolés were drilled to take dummy exhaust stub connectors made from 3/16" dowel, and these in turn ‘were fixed othe tops ofthe dummy cylinders with silicone sealant. ‘And the cylinders? I spent a long time studying drawings and photosof the RAF 1A engine, and adapted 1:6 scale ‘Williams Bros cylinders to match as best I could. By scaling the drawings from the few clues available, I gota dummy‘Seen inverted, the dummy gearbox adds much to the scale effect. Side view inverted shows the method of attachment of the Tower cow! moulding. engine that looked right. What [haven't done is draw a separate plan and “how to do it’ article on the engine; but what Thhave done is provide the front view drawing I used, scaled correctly. Do note thatthe right hand bank of eylinders is staggered aft, and that as the engine was geared, its thrust line ‘was not in line with the crankshait, and if you make a dummy prop, it should be carved for ‘clockwise’ rotation. Once the banks of cylinders have been crafted, attach them to a close fitting aluminium or fibreglass shell that sits on the Laser’s inverted crankcase and attaches tothe bearers with small selt: ‘appers. I found I had to Dremel away much ofthe lower part of the cylinders to get the whole Hock to sit low enough on the Laser. Silly though it sounds, once you've got the dummy engine out ofthe way, it’s all downhill. So persevere! Tail ‘The tailplane is unusually large, so try to keep the weight down. There's nothing to it constriction-wise, other than noting that the main spar and leacing edge have to be cut at the centre to allow it to be ‘sprung’ into slots in the rear fuselage. The fin/rudder wre bul: as light as possible, laminated from cyparis which is a wonderful wood to work. ‘with: light, strong and flexible, Ideal Plan Feature ‘The wings are conventional, there's just lots of ribs! Make 1/16" ply nb template, and then got cutting. To keep the weight down I used hard balsa spars, but in the event the ‘model turned ont so light that I easily have got away with cyparis or spruce. As they remain rigged in double bays, strength isn'ta problem. The wings attach by piano wire dowels, bound and soldered at the dihedral angle to the main spars, then slid into brass tubes in the fuselage and centre section, Interplane Struts Because it's virtually impossible to build to perfect tolerances, rather than attempt to build the interplane struts from the pian, make them to fit the model. How? With the airframe complete but not covered, slide the wings into place, supporting them as necessary. Then carefully cut a cardboard ‘template atthe fuselage side, where there is no sag or distortion. Transfer the angles, spar positions ete., from this ‘template onto a large piece of 1/8" lteply, drawing in the rib profile, Next stick small blocks of hardwood to act as guides for the threaded rod ent pieces. Carve the struts to fit between ‘the wing surfaces, and dril to take the 2 mm threaded rod (bicycle spoke); cat the latter to length such that when pushed into the strut, some of the threaded portion will protrude on the far side of the rib profile to take the retaining nut. Then, ‘with the threaded rods epoxied in place, put in the X wire bracing from thin piano wire, yanoed into holes drilled at the appropriate angle, and sound with fuse wire and soldered ‘where they cross. Make four sets! The attachment method is to push the threaded rod through the hole drilled inthe spar, capturing the solder-tag rigging points, and securing with a 2 ‘mm nut. Surplus threaded rod is then filed away. Controls used nylon covered fishing trace closed loop controls, ‘throughout. The rudder cables were driven by an aluminium extension arm, bolted to a standard servo output arm, so that scale ends protruded through the fuselage sides, The elevator likewise was driven by a standard servo connected by a short ppusle-rod to two mild steel arms silver soldered to the ends of a transverse output arm. Easy. But the wings pose a different problem, and one where others may incline to a different solution. I opted for closed loop - and it works well. However, there are drawbacks. Fst, is that I went to some lengths to buildin spring tensioning to keep the entire loop taut; this proved unnecessary, as because of the length of cable involved it's possible to tighten it enough through natural stretch with no risk of overloading the servo, or binding up the system. Next. As the wires are all external to the wing, they can get creased when lying aroind, disassembled on workshop shelves etc. And it does add to the complication, as it means fabricating small pulleys and guides, Alternatives? It would be easy to put either a snake or bellcrank system into the wing, pethaps using shirring slastic to simulate the external cables. ‘Your choice. Finishing One of the beauties ofthe version I chose is that linen Solartex is just right, so there's no weight gain from paint ete ‘The ribs were stitched with sewing thread (this doesn't take as long as you'd think), and taped with 5/16"Another splendid design from the Hurrell stable. Watch out for the next design ‘coming soon! Solartex: these shrink down to 1/4" when ironed on. I's also ‘important to simulate the fuselage lacing, as i's such a prominent feature ofthe real machine. Again, [used a tried and proven method. Get the thinnest litho sheet you can, and cout itinto strips about 3/8° wide. Wrap sufficient lengths of these in Solatex, ironed in place (glued if you have to). Then take a very fine dill and drill lacing holes ata pitch and frequency thet matches photos and is pleasing tote eye! Its ‘then easy to stitch through with linen button thread, pulling tight enough to Keep it neat, but not so hard as to distort the litho. Once tke strips are complete, cut lengths to match the appropriate parts of the model, and Bvostick in place. I masked and sprayed the roundel, as experience has taught me that its arguably quicker than trying to get even coverage (particularly with the white} by brushing. On the advice of WWL expert Jack Bruce, I made the cowiing PC1O, not black as in some references, From the type of film used in WWI it’s not possible to differentiate, but if Jack Bruce believes PC1O was the more likely colour, that's good enough for me. The presentation name took some thought. I managed to find a font on my ccmputer that matched the one on the photos. But 1 couldn't scale it exactly. So having run off a copy as close as 1 could Itook i to the local photocopying shop, and scaled it Just right. But then what? Cut a stencil? Brainwave—Why not copy it directy onto Solartex! Easier said than done. The frst couple of attempts seriously tested the patience of the previously friendly photocopying chap, by getting embroiled in te innards of his expensive machine. However, by taping an ‘Ad size piece of Solartex to a piece of thin card it went through no problem - perfect! A quick spray of Spectrum fuel ‘roofer fixedit, and I thea ironed it on so you ‘couldn't see the join, gu.’ Honest! All the rigging was nylon covered trace ‘wire, with the exception ofthe tai/fin bracing: this I made from thin wire, soldered to minute brass fish plates, riveted to the structure with pins and cyano. For those interested, it ‘came out at around about 6.5 Ib really quite light, and well within what Thoped for having decided on a 70 four stroke, Flying Tonfss that I've always had someone else test ly my scale models for me, But tis time, encouraged by a beautiful day of blue sky and calm winds, 1 ast had to try it mysell ‘And, ob, how satisfying. After aremavcably short ru, © esate ntrationl + Septmber/ctober 2001 Ready for a mission complete with dummy four bladed prop. er RT ‘The designerfavthor starts up the trusty Laser four stroke. tracking straight a a dio, she lifted off, looking every bit the patt, Against the sunlight, the structure shows through; the “putt-putt’ of the Laser at 1/3rd throttle sounds just right; and the generally sedate appearance, and the indefinable sit of the BEZ just 2aptures the era perfectly. ll not go an to say all the manoeutes in the book and traditional encouraging exaggera:ions. The fact is, the BE2 isn't meant for that it will, of course loop and stall turn. But if you're after hesitation eight poitt rolls, then you wouldn't have read this far. I's in every war a satisfying model It takes only a eouple of minutes to rig; t's attractive on the ground and in the air; and tome - i's the quintessential WWI aircraft. Tempted? Go on: give in! Acknowledgements: The model could not have been completed without the typically generous and anstinting advice rem Jack Bruce and Harry Woodman. és ever, 1am enormously indebted to then. Also, to Don Litck for taking some of the phctos, then flying it while I took the rest. I would like to sttess that in my opinion, this is not a model fo those ‘who havea't bult a WWI scale model before. Shae Plan Data ee Designer: Dave Hurrell Cae ay Wingstan: 73.66' aoe eee ne- 70 four stroke (Laser 70 used on prototype)