Se5a 1/32 scale resized version of the Zio Prudenzio model.

MikeBer

MikeBer

Active Member
Feb 26, 2008
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Port Ellizabeth South Africa
I recently came across Zio Prudenzio’s excellent models on the Papermodellers Facebook page.
I manage to find a link to all his models, https://www.kendar.org/zioprudenzio/fokker.html and downloaded the Se5a version 2. (1 sheet of parts and 1 assembly diagragm).
It was in 1/72 scale and I was looking for something a bit bigger, so I decided to resize it. I have an A4 printer, and I found that 1/32 was perfect. It resized to 2 x A4 sheets and one sheet with the assembly diagragm.

Rhaven Blaack asked me to do a build diary, so here goes.

Start by cutting out the fuselage assembly (a) and on the reverse side, colour in as shown.

01.jpg

Curve the fuselage sides with a dowel to make it easier to glue the top and bottom edges together.

02.jpg

Glue the underneath sections of the fuselage commencing with the rear and when dry, the front.

03.jpg

Glue the top of the fuselage at the nose and then in front of the cockpit.

04.jpg

I attached the front engine cowl “g”, in the following sequence:-
  • Attach at the base.
  • Glue one vertical side and when dry, glue the other vertical side.
  • Shape the top of the fuselage and complete the gluing of the cowl.
05.jpg

Assemble part “a2” to the seat “c” and glue them in place. Now glue in part “a1”.

06.jpg

Assemble parts s1-6 and k & k1.

07.jpg

Fit them on the fuselage.

08.jpg

Assemble the tailplane and rudder and just fit the tailplane for now. (The rudder will be fitted after the wings are in place).

09.jpg

The wings will be next ........
 
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WINGS.

I originally pre-assembled both wings but found that when trying to fit the lower wing to the fuselage, it was not easy to get a perfect fit against the curve of the underside of the fuselage, as the wing camber was not correct.

I therefore printed another lower wing, coloured in the centre section and pre-shaped the leading edge with a dowel.

10.jpg

The rear of the lower wing’s upper surface was then glued to the 2 tabs on the underside of the fuselage.

11.jpg

I then glued the rest of the lower wing’s central upper surface to the remaining fuselage tabs with medium superglue, pressing the surface into shape. This gave me a perfect fit of the wing to the fuselage.

12.jpg

I then glued the rear centre of the bottom wing in place, also with superglue. Each of the trailing edges of the wing were then glued together and finally the wing tips.

13.jpg

16.jpg

The upper wing was assembled normally.

15.jpg
 
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All the struts were then assembled, making sure that the splayed ends were not glued together.

16.jpg

As per Mr. Murphy, I glued the wing struts “m” on the wrong way around!

They should be angled to the rear so that the upper wing is forward of the lower wing. Fortunately, I was able to slice them off the wing and reglue them at the correct angle.

17.jpg

The wing was placed above the lower wing and the front port and starboard struts glued in place on the marks on the lower wing. The wing was then checked that it was central and parallel to the lower wing before gluing the 2 rear struts in place.

18.jpg

The fuselage to wing struts “j” were now fitted.

19.jpg

After checking the alignment, all the struts were given a coat of thin superglue to stiffen them.

Parts ”n1” and “n2” were now assembled, again taking care not to glue together the mounting tabs.

Part “n3” was curved around a toothpick and then glued to it. When dry, the toothpick was cut 2 mm away from each end and it was then fitted to the undercart.

20.jpg

2.5mm holes were drilled in the wheels before the outer hubs were glued on and then the wheels were glued onto the stub axles.

21.jpg

Finally, the rudder and propeller were fitted.

22.jpg
 
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What a nice build! I can understand why you enlarged it. It is a beautiful model and a great tribute to one of the finest papercrafters in the world. Great job! :)

:toast:
 
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The model was now sprayed with clear acrylic lacquer to enhance the colour and preserve the ink.

23.jpg

This is the first time that I have built a biplane and I learned so much about the construction. I enjoyed it so much that I am now going to do the Fokker Dr1 Triplane next. Strangely, the original pdf of the Fokker is much greater than A4 and scales out to about 1/15!
I have therefore resized it to 1/32 to keep it in scale with the Se5a.
 
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Great job. This is my favorite plane from WWI. Since I was a kid. It looked "right" to me. I have built so many plastic versions when I was half a century/+ younger. This one is on my bucket list. Great job! :)
 
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Here is an update on Zio's models on the website.

The pdf's are not a true 1/72 scale. They vary in size. For instance, the pdf for the Sopwith Camel, if printed at 100%, comes out as 12 pages in poster format!
My intention is to resize many of the WW1 planes to 1/32 scale on A4 paper. This will enable anyone who wants to model in 1/48 scale, to print the pdf at 66% and if they want 1/72 scale, then print the pdf at 44%.

I found out the wingspans of the real planes on the internet.
I converted each pdf to bitmap using GIMP (setting the resolution to 600dpi), and then using Paint.net, each bitmap was reduced or increased by the relevant percentage to re-size the drawings.

For example, the Sopwith Camel.

The plane’s actual wingspan is 8530mm. A = 8530mm

A ÷ 32 = 266.56mm (1/32 scale wingspan) B = 266.56mm

The wingspan on the original bitmap from GIMP is 490 mm. C = 490mm

B ÷ C = 0.544 (% decrease or increase of BMP)
D = 54% where D is the percentage decrease or increase to the BMP to get a scale of 1/32.

Still using Paint.net, the Bitmap is resized by 54% and the parts are then copied one by one from this template BMP and re-arranged onto blank A4 template pages (at 600dpi), until all the parts are copied. The BMP’s are then saved and converted in GIMP to separate pdf pages. These are then combined into one final pdf document using a suitable program.
(I’ve found that if the final pdf is opened in MS Word and then saved as a new pdf document, the file size is greatly reduced.)

I've done the Fokker Dr1 to 1/32 scale ( 2 pages of parts + 1 instruction page), and will test it next week when I get some more ink for my printer. I will then re-do the Se5a in 1/32 scale.
These planes look so much better than the modern ones, especially when sprayed with acrylic lacquer, that I think the larger the scale, the more appealing!
I also tried to add the rigging wires but apart from the lack of tension, I think it spoilt the clean lines of the model.

I'll keep you updated.
 
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