Building the RAF Be2c Cardmodel
The cardmodel of the RAF Be2c was designed by our own Batesyboy.
This is a rare opportunity to build a free cardmodel of a two seater, models of scouts are common but free models of two seaters are extremely rare.
German pilots loved the BE2c.
They called it kaltes Fleisch ("cold meat").
The cardmodel layout on the printed sheet shows two versions of the BE2c and a three view drawing to use as a reference.
Here most of the parts have been cut out, folded, and glued if necessary.
In my quest for the perfect glue, I am trying Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue for gluing the edges of the fuselage.
Elmer's white glue is being used for folded parts such as wings.
Superglue has been used to strengthen some of the struts but it is hard to control and tends to stick my fingers together.
The fuselage cross section should be square.
A piece of cardboard was inserted as a brace across the diagonal of the cross section to make it square.
A piece of round tooth pick was glued inside of one of the engine blocks to form the block.
The tooth pick worked well as a former but it will need to be drilled for the pin to hold the propeller disk although I could cheat and glue the pin to the top of the block and paint it grey.
A piece of grass stem strengthened with superglue will be glued inside of the other engine block to form the block and also be hollow for the pin.
Here the fuselages are starting to take shape.
After discarding the idea of drilling through the engine block for the pin, I decided to put two strips of cardboard under the engine block to provide a groove for the pin.
The misalignment of engine block and prop disk will not be obvious from a couple of feet away.
The white areas in the cockpits need to be cut out with a sharp modeling knife.
The white areas by the tail need to be touched up with paint.
Engine block sketch
Here`s a quick scribble of how thw engine goes together (precustomisation.....lol)
Great start Zak !
It is amazing how the same model can be approached in two completely different ways by two different builders. Now I'm sad that I didn't take any picture during my early build of this model. I love the way you explain your work, Ken. I bow my head and lift my hat to both of you, the creator of the model and the crafter of paper.
The points of attachment for the struts are not marked on the wings.
A three view drawing was found here: http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/raf_be-2c.php
I scaled the first drawing to 1/144 scale and later realized that the second drawing is 2% larger than the first drawing.
However, I can still use the first drawing to measure for the points of attachment.
Psst! Kenneth!?
I'm still seated in the same bench waiting for new stuff here.
Ill get a lollipop but you've got to keep things moving...
Christmas and a funeral interfered with my card models.Originally Posted by Blackronin
Have marked strut locations on the wings and made the larger prop disks for these models.
Will try to post some pictures soon.
Ken
There are things way more important than me wanting to see your plane completed. I was only joking. My sentiments about your loss.
Here is the bottom view of my Be2c models after the bottom wings were glued to the fuselage.
The designer could have intended for the builder to cut a slit in the fuselage and slip the wings through which would hide the white stripe.
Perhaps he simply forgot to color the white stripe.
At any rate, I intend to paint the white stripe with a matching acrylic paint.
Hi there, you`ve got me thinking on this one, The model was designed with the white stripe
being cut away, and the lower wings butt jointed to the fuselage.
Your idea to paint in the white stripe certainly makes for a stronger structure.
Also, the three view is reminiscent of the early Be2`s used in the classic BBC Series `Wings`
I could include parts to make it possible to build this version (it might be a Be2b or a late Be2a)
I`m already working on an Albatros C1 to depict `Our favorite Hun`...i think there`s clips on you tube...
I cut out the white strip and glued the wings to the fuselage, but Ken's idea is a very good one.
After looking at my paint and my wife's paint, I could not find a yellow that was a good match.
Consequently, the white stripe was painted a light yellow and dry brushed with a darker yellow.
Not perfect, but better than the white stripe.
At any rate, it will be on the bottom where it will not show.
The part close to the quarter appears to be the struts between the fuselage and the top wing.
One is obviously shorter than the other but pictures of the Be2c on the internet show these struts as the same length.
Am I missing something ?
Which strut goes in front ?
Ken:
I think that the lengthiest strut goes in the front. It curved slightly the upper wing in my model.
I also like to see all your paper collection. Do you have photos?
All of my WW I planes can be seen:
http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/z...lbatroses.html
http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/a...er-dr-1-a.html
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...s-by-Zakopious
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...s-by-Zakopious
I have three Albatros DVa's,
four Sopwith camels and
two Fokker Dr.I's.
Ken
And they look really nice on the gaming table.
Karl
Last edited by Jager; 01-05-2012 at 03:30. Reason: sp
It is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he thinks he knows. -- Epictetus
Here are the planes after the struts and top wings are glued into place.
Touch up has not been done on the struts and top wings so you can see a lot of white.
The struts between the top wing and fuselage seem too short.
I replaced some of them with 8mm struts.
You can see on the all yellow plane that one of the short struts ended up in the center of the fuselage.
I think that the prop disk will hide that defect.
The struts on the green model were laminated with super glue.
The struts on the yellow model were laminated with "UHU all purpose".
Both glues are water resistant which should prevent de-lamination when the struts are touched up with water based acrylic paint.
I have been using "Aleene's quick dry tacky glue" for these models.
To be honest, I do not like it.
A skin forms quickly on the drop of glue that I am working with, which makes for poor adhesion.
I will do a rebuild of the Be2c with a step by step photo tutorial,
Many thanks Zak, for showing me the shortcomings of this model,
particularly not supplying intructions was a huge mistake on my part
ATB
Batesyboy
Instructions are probably the hardest part of designing a model.
I have done many models where after reading the instructions, I still didn't know what to do.
The Prudenzio instruction illustrations seem to be generally pretty clear and cross language boundaries because there are no words.
Ken
Thanks for this thread I have seen some lovely card models ,I have a few days off next week and will have ago myself some of the tips you give are excellent.
I should have built both models in one go. Living and learning... Thanks, Ken.
Here the struts and the wing edges have had an acrylic paint touch-up.
The white edges no longer glare at you.
The exhaust pipes and tail stabilizers have been added.
The axles for the undercarriages are dried grass stems and will be painted grey.
Only one of the struts delaminated during touch-up and only slightly.
A second coat of touch-up paint filled the delamination.
Surprisingly, the strut which delimanated was super glued.
They're almost finished. And looking good.
The Be2c's are finished but I will mount them on bases before I take pictures.
Here are the bases and the cards for the Be2c's in Open Office Draw.
I have started putting the climb rates on the bases.
The cards were made by David Robinson.
On the left side, you see a second sheet with card backs which can be printed on the back of the first sheet of cardstock.
Registration is good enough that the backs will not be out of line with the card fronts by more than 1 mm.
Last edited by Zakopious; 01-10-2012 at 19:36.
Lovely, Ken.
Here are the finished Be2c's mounted on base cards.
I also printed two of David Robinson's cards for each plane.
The cards are in plastic sleeves to protect the inkjet ink.
The bases are glued on thin corrugated cardboard.
Round toothpicks were cut at 5 cm and pushed through the corrugated cardboard to make supports for the planes.
What did I learn and what would I do different next time ?
I would not glue two cardboard strips under the engines to make a groove for the prop disk pin.
Instead, I would push the pin through the bottom half of the fuselage under the engine.
The Aleen's Quick Dry Tacky glue dries too fast and does not give me enough working time.
This includes the quick formation of a skin on the drop of glue.
I will try Aleen's Original Tacky glue for edge gluing on my next set of planes.
I will continue to use Elmer's White Glue to laminate wings and other large flat surfaces.
UHU glue has worked well to laminate thin struts and attach pins to prop disks.
Last edited by Zakopious; 01-12-2012 at 10:30.
Wonderful, Ken. Your Be2c's are beautiful. I should have made mine together. But I've learned a lot with your build. What's next, my friend?
Fantastic, they look very cool. Thanks for sharing.
Joaquim,
My granddaughter discarded a large shoe box that I turned into storage and transportation for 12 cardmodels.
It turned out rather well so I will start a thread on transportation and storage for cardmodels.
Unfortunately, the wingspan on the Be2c's is longer than the Camels and Albatroses so storage of the Be2c's will require something different.
Ken
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