44" AB Models Eagle Transporter

[LazyEagle]

Hi

I joined the board awhile back and would like share some pics of my heavily modified AB 44" Eagle. I hope the pictures come out below. I vowed to be shot of all that heavy white metal for the cages and soldered new ones in brass. The main spine was warped and was also doused with alot of solder which I managed to cleanup. Don't blame the AB guys at all, suppose they were on a tight deadline to deliver the kits. The shoulder pods are all hollowed out as is the beak. I went for a modular construction with the entire model being held together with an assortment of nuts and bolts. It's light too. The photos date back to 2001 and I've just pulled the thing out of the attic. Since then I have acquired the excellent Chris Trice beak and some components from Jim Small. At the time I used The Talented Mr Sissions article in Scfi Modeller as a bible to produce the brass framework. Have gained much more knowledge since then so will hope to finish a better Eagle this year. Thanks to Chris for his invaluable advice and the blueprints which I recently acquired will help greatly. Jim Murphy and Chris T have seen the pictures before so sorry guys don't mean to bore! Anyway just thought I'd say hi.

 

[Eagle]

 
Hi - thanks for those. Looks great.

(You couldn't resize them to 600 pixels wide could you? - just makes viewing easier for those with small browser windows). You could link to the large size ones too if you like. No rush.

 

[w8cmp]

Looks good - you've got a lot further with your AB 44" than I have with mine...

How did you go about cleaning up the AB frame ?

 

[LazyEagle]

Hello w8cmp

In reference to cleaning up the AB spine involved alot of elbow grease and the use of a de-soldering pump. The latter is shaped like small bicycle pump. You have to heat the affected joint using a mini torch and once the solder softens simply use the desoldering tool to suck up the excess. If I can recall it was made by Draper. This is the easiest way by far and you can finish by using a bit of wire wool. The AB frame also had some bad joints which I replaced, good really as it was practice for when I built brass cages. Hope this helps.

 

[w8cmp]

In reference to cleaning up the AB spine involved alot of elbow grease and the use of a de-soldering pump

Thanks for that - I have one of those and am looking at embarking on this task very soon. I also intend to replace the white metal with brass like you have (it's far too heavy as it stands).

With regard to the landing gear & pods, I hope you don't mind me asking some questions...

How did you hollow out the landing gear pods (i.e. how much material did you remove and how) ?
Did you use the supplied resin torque links or replace them with metal ?
When drilling the resin footpad to accept the leg, do you feel the resin 'upstands' that you drill through are strong enough as they stand or do they really need replacing with metal ?
I see you used the supplied tanks for the rear engines - do you feel they need hollowing out (or the Eagle will be very tail heavy - especially with Chris Trice's nose).

Sorry to ask so many questions, but you've managed to get over some of these problems that I have been pondering since obtaining the kit many years ago...you're the first person I have come across who's attempting the 44" AB build and it's useful to compare notes.

Cheers

Chris

 

[multivac]

Looking good.

Good to see a clean job after removing the solder from the spine frame.

Nice "Work" bench. :twisted:


Has any one used a jig when building the brass frame or cages?

 

[LazyEagle]

Hi Chris

Sorry for the delay in replying, I've been away from the PC for a week.

Happy to answer your questions, no problems my pleasure

The side landing gear pods I used those wood flat ended drill bits, the proper name escapes me. They are wide at the cutting end to enable for large holes to drilled into sheet wood. I first drilled each pod from the bottam and centred to allow for the aluminium landing leg and spring assembly. Because of the shape of the drill bit (flat at one end) I angled it as I drilled which broke away much of the resin. You have to be careful because you don't want to push through to the outer panels. It's a very lengthy and dusty process (wear a mask 4 sure) I excavated loads of resin from each block so that now they are very light. Thankfully my castings were tough and good quality resin so the resin didn't shatter as I drilled for 'oil'.

The resin torque links- threw them out, it's all soldered brass, the entire landing cradle is brass, wanted to ditch as much of the resin as possible.

The resin upstands are reinforced on the inside with brass shims, my advice is to shear them off and fashion them in brass. I have replicated this in my 22" Eagle so the 44" won't be too taxing. Once you have them in brass then it's a case of supergluing them to the resin footpads. I'm leaning more towards perspex for my second eagle.

Rear tanks, made the mistake of not hollowing them out. It is tail heavy, but the rear structure is strong. What I did though was to shorten the cylinders a tad as they are too long and hence not accurate. For the second Eagle I have a spare set of tanks and will hollow them out. I have Jim Small's side pods and they are beautiful casts, this Eagle will be even lighter.

Anyway hope the above helps, anymore questions I'll be happy to answer them if I can.

Regards

Sanjay

 

[LazyEagle]

Hi Richard

Yes I haven't strayed too far from the forum. Can't believe that somebody actually remembered my ambitious posting way back in 2005. Since then embarrassingly little progress has been made on the Eagle. I suppose I'm living up to my call sign/handle ;-)

The AB Eagle had been stuffed in the loft since then due to personal commitments and a number of commercial projects which have taken the bulk of my free time. However she's been liberated and I'm putting her back together. In a way I'm glad the build has been delayed as when I had embarked upon building it and making the necessary modifications there existed scant references. Certainly this amazing forum didn't exist at the time. I recall a site called Cold North Publishing where Jim Small posted alot of his pictures on the second studio Eagle, Barry Scannell's site and of course the article by D Sissons in an issue Sf&F on his first scratchbuilt 44". Chris Trice offered advice over the phone to me and supplied me a number of replacements - such as the must have command module. Jim Murphy (Tobor) also has one of these but took the wiser route of scratchbuilding than tackling this difficult beast. Thanks to Jim and Chris for the rear brass rings for holding main bells. I have enough components for second, much better Eagle. However the AB model will be first to be finished, cutting my teeth to create a second better one. So looking at it now there's alot to be improved on the landing gear and overall detailing. The resin has stood the test of time, but the command module is something to discard. Chris T's beak will grace the model.

Instead of being verbose I'll take a few pics as she looks in all of her parts glory and sub assemblies and as it appears semi complete. I had the intention of finishing her last Christmas, but then re-discovered the television much to my detriment. Anyway fingers crossed I'll start to reacquaint myself with the beast and try to get her a little more closer to the first coat of Ford Diamond White. Thanks Richard for asking.

Regards

Sanjay

 

[T70MkIII]

Can't believe that somebody actually remembered my ambitious posting way back in 2005.

I'm new here, and plotting an all aluminium 44 - really just standing on the shoulders of the giants of the forum. There are some obvious first blush difficulties with my cunning plan but I believe I have 'em beat (in theory, anyway). I'm researching like mad and lapping this stuff up, so it's good to see your project coming back out of the woodwork :thumbup:

Looking forward to your future posts.

 

[Terry35]

Oh man thats some work so far, nice one. While it's a beauty, I must say that I'm glad I turned down mine, I was going to pay for it when I was told the carriage charge and said no!
Please keep posting I'll be using your work to reference my AB 22inch Eagles (Yes Plural I've 3 of them).

Regards,

Terry.

 

[ostrein]

(Yes Plural I've 3 of them).

THREE ... !?

... I like you - you're (Eagle-) nuts :yes:

:thumbup:

 

[Terry35]

Yeah three, things sometimes don't seem brilliant in the light of sobriety, or whatever happened. But I will say this build is fantastic. It's just when you actually measure out for a 44" eagle that you realise how much space is required. 44inch rolls off the tongue, "44inch like a politician's Promise" then you realise that your spare room or living room no longer belongs to you.

But I still think its got the promise to become a beauty.


Terry.

 

[T70MkIII]

It's just when you actually measure out for a 44" eagle that you realise how much space is required. 44inch rolls off the tongue, "44inch like a politician's Promise" then you realise that your spare room or living room no longer belongs to you.

So true! I said to myself I'll scratchbuild a 44, with a mental image of the size - not really that big at all. Measure it out and OMG!

 

[Bishop]

Its great to watch these builds. Glad this thread came out of hiding to. Looks great Lazy Eagle, looking forward to watching as it progresses.

 

[Terry35]

Its great to watch these builds. Glad this thread came out of hiding to. Looks great Lazy Eagle, looking forward to watching as it progresses.

Oh yeah... just brilliant to see somebody knocking away at one of the big ones. It makes me feel lazy, but then I remember exactly how tiring it can become, sanding, filling, fitting, (Lather, rinse and repeat as necessary) , I think thats why we all take breaks off from big projects.
I'm biulding a Russian T34 for the past 3/4 years now and the constant strain of research has caused several standstills.

Terry.

 

[LazyEagle]

Time to blow off the moondust

Well 5 years on and embarrassingly so I have returned to the holy grail of my very contrived builds. The AB 44 was languishing in pieces since my last postings and lack of ability. Anyway I've since given this thread a tentative kiss of life to present to you an almost 're-fit Eagle'- close to everything is nearly new - I've ditched most of what came with the original kit and gone with EMA components for the engines, scratchbuilt cages and skimming off all of the detail from the sidepods. Anyway Chris Trice convinced me to put in a gas tube ring around the bell rings (The ring can be made to pipe through airbrush propellant at a later date) and thanks to Chris Potter for the resin cage greeblies. However since have tracked down the kit parts and will be embellishing my recently sculpted cages from plasticard. House re-build will mean my posts will be fewer than I'd like- however posting now will spur me on to finish this difficult beast. Left Command module is AB orginal which is pretty much spare in favour of Chris Trice's beak on right. Pod is Jim Smalls. All landing gear is my own cut from brass (spring suspension system to be next), also pod feet will be cut from brass too. I do have Paul Gray's parts side pods, passenger pod, engine cylinders and beak clamps- but this bird will have as much scratchbuilt components as I am able to conjure up. I've got much further ahead and wil post again soon.

 

[Captain Sci-Fi]

Hi Sanjay,

I love seeing your Eagle in it's raw state, you have made a great job of the spine and cages by the looks of things. I will be following this along.

How did you get on with your Skydiver?

Cap'n

 

[cytherians]

Wow... that is just so seriously impressive! 5 years? Trying to live up to your name? (just kidding)

You have some really impressive skills. Those landing gears look absolutely terrific, just to mention one of many things I see. :thumbup:

 

[29390]

The poor old 44" AB Kit. It would seem that most people who bought one used it for one thing only. Reference material!

 

[ALPHA ONE]

Wow!! Fantastic!!:thumbup:

What a thing of Beauty makes me wanna cry