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Beechcraft 18

Stoneboat

Member
The Beechcraft 18, aka the Twin Beech, aka the Bugsmasher, began life in 1935 and production continued until 1969. Over 9000 of them were built for both civilian and military markets. In Canada some were equipped with floats and straight skis or wheel/skis. There are a handful of them still flying, mostly on floats in Northern Ontario, with a couple on the west coast.

There have been a few model kits of them over the years - notably Hobbycraft in 1:72 scale - and one in 1:48 scale. Only the hardiest of individuals tackled the 1:48 Battle Axe kit. I know one person who did and after much work he produced a stunning example. On floats! A couple of years ago, first ICM and then Revell produced a military C-45F kit of the Beech 18 in 1:48 scale, the kit being the mil version of the civilian Beech 18C. A friend briefly flew one about seven or eight years ago and since I have been building models for his collection for about that long it came to the top of the bucket list. Here's a couple of pics of the airplane.

Side view...
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Front view...
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Front office...
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Cabin. It's been around the block a few times.
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The kit I shall build is the Revell offering and I shall put it on floats. I have a set of Edo 7170's - which is the DHC Otter float - but with the addition of a one cm plug in front of the step it is magically transformed into an Edo 7850. (I think this is a reboxing of the ICM kit, but that's a WAG on my part.) Anyway. There's a couple of sprues of absolutely flash-free parts, so other than a rinse in mild detergent to remove any surface crud, that's it as far as prep goes. One must start somewhere, and since I regard an instruction sheet as someone else's opinion, I will start with the powerplants - the engines and propellers.

I consigned the kit engines to the spares box and opted for two examples of the Pratt R985's from Engines & Things I had in the spares box. The E&T offerings are rather plain, but with a bit o' work that can be made to look like the small Pratt, so let the cutting begin to commence!

Out of the box with the flash cut away they looks like this...
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They have an accessories section attached to the rear of the crankcase...
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...But since you can't see it after the cowlings have been buttoned up, we'll pretend I didn't saw it off and sand the engine down to the same thickness as the kit engine.
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There is a little raised lip around the prop shaft hole that represents the engine thrust bearing, but since I always drill out the shaft hole and replace it with a length of aluminum tubing, I cut that off also, then shot a coat of primer using grey automotive prime and drybrushed the cylinders with Humbrol #27001 Metallic Aluminum. While it was drying I gently brushed the cylinders with a soft toothbrush to cut down any shine. I don't know why my wife was mightily incensed, I washed her toothbrush before putting it back in the bathroom. I then painted the crankcase and crankcase drain with Humbrol # 5 Gloss Grey, which is as close to P&W engine grey as I've been able to find.
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Break out the pin vice. I shall add an ignition harness, pushrod tubes and rocker box interconnect drains to the engine, so that makes a total of forty five holes to be drilled, nine for the plugs, two per cylinder x nine for the pushrods and two per cylinder x nine for the drains. :eek:hmy: The holes have been completed and the ignition ring has been installed. I don't know why E&T add that little grey thingy opposite the crankcase drain. I suspect they think it is the prop governor, which is where the governor is on the 1340, and it's too big a pita to remove so I'll live with it, but it means the ignition ring must be split into left and right sides.
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The ignition harness including the spark plugs are installed. I simply bent short lengths of # 28 florist wire to the shape of the plug wires with a bit bent over at the end inserted into the spark plug hole I had drilled in the cylinder. I painted the plug wires dark grey. They start out as black rubber, but after one season with the sun and wear and tear they fade to grey.
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I'm gonna end this here even though I have the engines completed. I don't know the maximum number of characters per post, and I don't want to go over and have to edit. To quote Marvin the Martian "That would make me very, very angry! :D
 
What a beaut!

My wife's dad trained as a bombardier on an AT11 at San Angelo in 1942. He got tangled up with a "yankee" Lt who busted him out of school, he served out the war stateside. That punch likely saved his life you know...


hf0803e2.JPG



This is a picture of one of them he trained on. I did the ICM kit a while back, would like to take on the larger ones one day. Looking forward to your treatment on this little gem.

:popcorn
 
I'm gonna end this here even though I have the engines completed. I don't know the maximum number of characters per post, and I don't want to go over and have to edit. To quote Marvin the Martian "That would make me very, very angry! :D

Don't think there's a character limit but there is a session time limit of 30 minutes. Knock yourself out buddy. :popcorn
 
Bob (Moon Puppy) would know about the time limits on posts, What I tend to do is prep all my photos up before uploading them. Then I limit the photos to about 10 per post maximum. This keeps the page lengths (and loading times) limited. Also the pages are limited to 12 posts per page so limiting the photos to 10 per post helps keep the pages from being way too long.

This is a way interesting subject Stoney! Looking forward to how you mod this up!
:popcorn
 
Thanks for the advice and the comments guys. Pup, I was on waaayy longer than 30 minutes, more like an hour and 30, what with my hunt and peck and my witty comment. Or as my wife likes to say, "Not full witty, more like 50%." :S

Anyway, both engines are finished. The pushrods are made from short lengths of #26 wire. The short lengths started as longer lengths, painted satin black from a rattle can. I first added a tiny length of wire insulation to represent the gland nut at the top of the pushrod...
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...Then inserted one end into the pre-drilled hole in the crankcase, adjusted the bit of insulation until it aligned with the valve rocker arm, added a tiny drop of cyano and snipped off the excess with cuticle snips.
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There are baffles between the cylinders on the single row Pratts, helps to direct the ram air flow around the cylinders for even cooling. To simulate the baffles I first glued a narrow strip of styrene around the outer rim of the cylinders, then filled the gap between the cylinders with ordinary white glue.
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Surface tension held the glue in place as it cured, and when it was dry I clipped off the excess plastic between the rocker arms, since it was no longer needed.
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A lick of gloss black on both sides of the new baffles as well as the interconnect drains...
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...A tiny decal from a HO scale train decal sheet to represent the engine data plate and a little round of beverage can - knocked out with a Micro Mark punch - for the blue Pratt & Whitney medallion, and thar she be.
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Now, any fule kno one can make one example of anything. It takes a special brand of idiocy to attempt two the same, but I never let that stop me. Viola! another engine to hang on the right side. Not perfect, but close enough for Government work.
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The props will be next. I don't have the 3-blades like on the real thing, but what I do have is two kits, so one of them will sacrifice a propeller and I'll make my own 3-blades.
 
Nice to know the name of all those details we have to add from time to time. Looks Swell! :popcorn
 
If this comes out as good as that Aircruiser did a few years back it will be a treat.
 
Very cool stuff and nice work so far. I remember parking a bug smasher at an airshow on base way back in ancient history. Fully understood where that name came from. (y) (y) (y) (y) (y) :D
James
 
Lookee there!! First, I love your airplane models and two, I learned a new technique for realistic push-rod tubes!
Your ROCK!!! :ro: :good: (y) :notworthy :salute :eek:ldguy :pilot
 
Lookee there!! First, I love your airplane models and two, I learned a new technique for realistic push-rod tubes!
Your ROCK!!! :ro: :good: (y) :notworthy :salute :eek:ldguy :pilot

I know right, always work so hard to thread the pushrod covers into place, shoot, make your own space.. :pilot
 
Thanks for the kind comments fellas.

I've begun working on the props. I thought to be able to use the kit spinners, but looking at the picture of the airplane shows the spinners are the bullet type, so a quick trip to the hardware store for a 5/16 dowel was in order. I've got one 50% completed using the ol' Black & Decker lathe. Gotta get more info in the propellers themselves before posting any pics.
 
Is this one going to be on floats? I remember a few years back there was this friend of yours that did one in 32. that was a kick @$$ built too. I just really enjoy your builds, Stoney.
 
Should be interesting Stoney!

Did you know Mike West from Lone Star models is making an early and late float conversion sets for the Beech 18? I don't know if he has them ready yet but it should be soon (48 scale).

Plan on getting one myself with the ICM kit.
 
Paul, that was the Battle Axe 1:48 kit, built by Captain Cook before he went over to the dark side and began building tractors. ;)
That Battle Axe kit was no shake 'n bake. I remember telling him at the time when he said he was going to tackle it "You're a braver man than I am Gunga Cook."

Sharkey I have two ICM kits, I could probably make you a better deal on one than anywhere else. Email me if you're interested. I bought mine in Montreal at Hobby Junction, got a good deal. I've got a set of Otter floats that I plan to modify to 7850's so I'm ok there. I plan to order the wing root and nacelle mod from Mike Belcher.
 
On to the propellers, and believe it or not I got the two of them to look alike. Since I had no 3-blades that worked, I said "What the hey, I'll make two 3-blades from three 2-blades" so one of the three kits I have gave up a prop. It also meant I had no spinners. The kit supplies dome spinners, but this aircraft has the bullet spinners. I made two spinners using short lengths of 5/16 dowel, turned to a point in the trusty Black & Decker lathe using this precision machine left over from the grandkids visit last Christmas.
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There followed a mighty session of firkytoodling with a wood rasp and sanding sticks to get the right profile, and after cutting the spinner to the proper length, using this home-made jiglet to line up the holes for the blade butts.
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More firkytoodling with successive finer grades of sandpaper, and drilling out the center of the piece to accept a short length of 1/16" aluminum tube as a shaft, Viola!
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The prop blades have to be both cut down to achieve the 95 and 1/2" length and narrowed to the correct chord, of the Hartzell 3-blade. Here's what the Ham Stan 2-blade in the kit looks like:
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...And after modification.
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That done I cut off the 2-blade dome, sawed the prop in two...
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...Jammed the blade end down the throat of a pin vice and rounded off the blade butt...
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...So's it'll fit into a short length of 1/8" od aluminum tube. This will hold the blade securely while I go to work with sandpaper and files to give the blade the proper 'twist'.
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Repeat six times.
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Using son of jiglet because jiglet was too small, I managed to more or less get each blade at 120 degrees from the other...
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...And there we have it, one 3-blade from one and a half 2-blades.
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Of course any fule can make one. The trick is to make two the same. Looks about right.
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I gave the blades three coats of Tamiya flat aluminum, rubbing with a Kim-Wipe Excel between coats, followed by a topcoat of Future, brushed on. The spinners were painted from a rattle can of Rustoleum chrome. The tips of the blades have to be painted with a narrow double band of white, on the front only.

The floats are next.
 
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