Vickers Vernon Part 3 - Modifications to the Fuselage Design

By way of an interesting introduction to the post, I include the image below of a Vickers Vimy, the precursor to the Vernon which entered service in October 1918.   It had a 1 ton payload and was capable of striking the heart of Germany, albeit it's arrival was too late to  have any effect upon the outcome of the war.  This was a screen-grab from a video on YouTube and I recommend it to anyone interested in this aircraft.  Note how exposed the crew are!

Once the Vernon is complete, I will modify my kit of parts to make one of these as well.

Image taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJdV5Kof-50, well worth a watch.

Back to the Vickers Vernon model.  

A selection of photographs at http://www.aviadejavu.ru/ have been hugely helpful in refining some of my thinking with this model, which has led to several changes and improvements to the design of the model thus far.  I include this image below, as it confirms my design choices for the central fuselage structure, my model version quite closely resembling that of the prototype.  It's not perfect, and concessions have been made such that the model has sufficient strength to be handled, but even so, I was pleased that my guesstimation wasn't far off.

I had commented in my last post, about the problems I was having covering the rear in tissue.  If only I had seen the following photograph beforehand.  Of particular interest to me are the longitudinal stringers, and the 'fantail' frameworks to the rear frames.  I was also pleased to have confirmed the exact profile of the fuselage as it meets the tail surfaces, and in particular, how the elliptical section transitions into a square section.  These changes will be incorporated into my 3d CAD model.

And so to my real-world model,  I have made some changes to the forward frames, to incorporate spars from which the wing ribs could be fitted.  At this stage, the wing centre-pieces and the fuselage section are married as in the photo above.

I will later add the bracing between the two wing surfaces, and the frameworks which will support the engines.  My design holds the wings at the correct angle and is surprisingly strong.  I learned from photographs that the pilots accessed their cockpit via doors through the 'sad eye' bulkhead I'd mentioned previously, so I scored some panel lines in this area to help give the impression of doors once painted.

In this photo, the top wing is simply sitting upon the fuselage structure.  Once this has been skinned, it will be fitted permanently.  The triangular struts are a little over-scale, another compromise between scale and strength.  I might remake these in wire later.

Please excuse my fat thumb, and the failed rear fuselage mock-up. I couldn't resist offering the pieces together to get a feel for the complete aircraft's dimensions.

And so to the rear section of the aircraft.  I decided that tonight I would test some alternative ideas, which were suggested to me for replicating the stretched canvas skin of the rear fuselage.  However, having already modified the rear frames to take 0.8mm wire stringers, I thought I'd give tissue paper another try. 

The outcome was a bit of a surprise  and better than I'd expected.  

As I'd anticipated trying several methods, I was a bit rough-and-ready when gluing the wire stringers in; after all it was just a test piece and several bent horribly. But even so the effect was very encouraging indeed.  The USB stick gives an impression of the size of the piece.

At the front-end now, and a quick mock-up of how card will be used to replicate the plywood sheathing of the forward fuselage.

 And here are the pieces so far, the card wrapper isn't glued on yet, as I've still to decide upon which style of seats to fit.  The rear section isn't fitted either, but it gives a good idea of how the project is shaping up.  I've decided to create a third fuselage piece for the tail structure mentioned earlier, but that will have wait until next time.

As I write this, I've just finished a very enjoyable day redesigning some aspects of the Schloss Itter project, so my little aircraft projects have taken a back-seat.  Hopefully, now that some significant design elements of the castle and its surroundings are now settled I shall be able to devote some time to finishing these off.

Current aircraft tally: 1 airworthy (+1 P38 Glider!)

                                  6 in build

                                  2 designed but not started.

Until next time, thanks for stopping by, and a special 'Thank you' to the 11 kind folk who have kindly shown support by following my blogging journey.  I plan to continue designing and making things in 1:56, with a focus on things I haven't seen done before.  I hope my jottings will be of interest and I really appreciate the support!  Suggestions for things I can 'makeinminiature' next will be well received.

Best wishes,

James