Lookin' good Neil!   
LWM
Richard

"We" now have a Lewis machine gun for "our" F2B...ol' FUU will soon be armed!  It's all courtesy of Colonel Lewis and his invention of 1912 (an American).

Remember the William's Brothers cylinder and such?  Here are a selection of their machine gun products left over from my rc days...all 2" scale...a Vickers, Lewis, Parabellum, and Spandau...really nice to have for reference.... ...not that it helps me any...as you can see.

Neal

Neil - ol' "FUU" ?    LOL  I would never call that plane fat, ungainly, or ugly.  It would surely turn a lot of heads at a flying field that's for sure.  Those vintage wood stained struts really set off the color scheme beautifully!        AND it IS  really light in weight for such an "FUU".   Looking forward to the crowning propeller.  Dare I ask, ... will there be a McKeever pilot and his gunner? so close together?  (since you are going all out on this one ...)?
LWM
Richard

Thank you, Ian.  This airplane has grown on me...so unusual that I just had to know more about it...then I had to build it!   I now call it "FUU" out of love and affection.  Thank you, again. 

Neal

Next is a Lewis gun and mount...ol' FUU (fat ungainly and ugly) is shaping up.

Neal

That's it Rick...looks like pretty much the same setup.  That angled "support" you've got at the forward end of the skid is actually a bungee cord...they all had something...usually a bungee as a shock absorber...but later F2B's actually had a small hydraulic shock absorber in the bungee's place (1920's). Don't know if a spring was ever used...but bungees were plentiful.   I used a spring on an rc Jenny once.    Most of the time...the bungee was internal...inside the fuselage and out of sight...but it was there.  If the skid would have been rigidly attached...I'm certain it wouldn't have been there long. 

Speaking of castoring...the SNIPE I only just finished had a steerable tail skid!  Here's a detail of a steerable tail skid (NOT an F2B)...probably connected to the rudder bar.  Note: bungee not in place.

Your Be2 is beautiful Rick...another of your art pieces.  Not that this counts for anything...but I only just recently read that the Be was the most despised aircraft in the RFC.  Can't imagine why?  Actually there was nothing wrong with the airplane as such...it just was NOT a good combat machine...something of a "sitter."  In fact, I read that the Royal Aircraft Establishment was for some time their own worst enemy with regard to 2-seater reconnaissance aircraft.  They insisted that said machines should be inherently stable, practically able to fly themselves...as a prerequisite to official acceptance and mass production.  As such, any chance at defensive aerobatics was eliminated from the outset.  Bristol's F2A/B was a departure from that rule...agreed to only out of a desperate attempt to stem the excessive losses.  "Ain't bureaucracy wonderful?"

I was just thinking...look at all the hardware in that photo!  I imagine that if one had a metal detector and the approximation of a WWI crash site...say an aircraft that burnt...one could find the remains of all manner of fittings!  Could they all be made from aluminum...naaaaa....

Neal

Nice detail work!

Thanks guys. 

That's interesting Tom...I know you're talking about the aerodynamics of the model...but that was the difference between the F2A and the F2B...the later involved an increase in tail surfaces.  All I can say is...that's what Comet designed way back when...and we shall see.  It's done now....

I've always admired those really nice looking vanished interplane struts...but if I used paint, the wood grain would disappear.  So....found an old can of maple oil stain (about 40 years old)...still good...applied that to the struts prior to installation.  Worked beautifully!  Installed with CA...oil posed no problem at all.  If I get really energetic...could try some clear dope on them...see how that'd look.

Neal