Wings of Intent: Scratch-built De Monge 7.5 "Flying Wing"

Photo from Aero Digest, June 1926

(The completed model is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2023/01/scrachbuilt-de-monge-75-flying-wing.html

Two old passions of mine, scratch-building and unconventional planes, converge in this De Monge 7.5 "aile volant". The allocution (flying wing) was at one point loosely applied to planes that didn't have a conventional fuselage but did nonetheless have some form of tail, and thus we see that, for example, an early Northrop "Avion" is called so, together with many other similar designs. Here are some of the ones I made over time posted in this blog:

Northrop Avion:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/04/scratchbuilt-172-northrop-avion-flying.html

Vance Flying Wing:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/06/scratchbuilt-vance-flying-wing-172nd.html

EMSCO Flying wing:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2016/03/emsco-flying-wing-172nd-scale.html

De Monge was a well known designer, that alone or in collaboration created a large number of designs, many of them of the type one would call "conventional". But his 7.3, 7.4 (no data exists on that one) and 7.5 designs are what caught my attention. The latter, a more refined plane, is described diversely, depending on publication time and source, as a flying mock-up for a much larger transatlantic plane, a sports plane, or a research/experimental plane.

Publications, as it is their wont, tend to confuse and mislabel the variants.

Whatever you may call it, it has that charm and graciousness that makes it so distinctive.

Being a twin-engine, twin boom airplane, it does look "modern", but to give you an idea of the advanced thinking of De Monge, these designs date from the early 20's, when biplane and triplane flying dinosaurs ruled the skies. The powerplants for the 7.5 -surprisingly- were two Bugatti car engines of about 45hp each, driving two Lumiere wooden props (De Monge held the license for those props, by the way). The 7.3 was instead powered by two 3-cylinder Anzanis.

A nice clip of the 7.5 can be watched following the link below. The plane at this point had the second position's windshield and headrest removed (as the Northrop Avion also had):

https://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675051097_DeMonge-type-7-5-aircraft_early-model-aircraft_two-propellers-and-two-motors_successful-test

A simple approach is used to create the parts, complemented with rescues from the spares box. Wing and horizontal tail are "envelopes" with internal structure:

Images from Les Ailes,

From "Alas" magazine:

The central module of the model is being assembled. After the interior is put in place, it will be covered by a styrene skin as the rest:

A quick look at photos...and whaddayaknow, the plan was inaccurate. Here to the left are vertical tails that have more in common with reality:

Very little can be seen in photos (actually, more like one photo) of the cockpit area. There were triangularly-shaped instrument panels with several dials and joysticks. I think I will go for the simplest version of seats, buckets or lightened buckets:

Miscellaneous parts are fabricated; headrests and their cushions, the engines' heads, joysticks, rudder pedals and two small radiators that are situated under the plane's chin:

One by one the home-made "kit" parts are fabricated:

An interesting Italian article (based on the Aero Digest one) that underlines the "lifting body" intentions of the design, and provides some useful data for the scratchbuilder (i.e. prop diameter):

The vertical tails' hinge line is engraved and P.E. control horns added:

The ailerons' hinge line is engraved:

The particular landing gear of this plane (inaccurately depicted in all the published plans) consists of four airfoiled members. Here it is in progress:

Pinned and assembled members:

Bushes for the pins that act as wheel axles:

Bushes on and the diagonal members added:

Base colors are applied to some components. The cockpit floor has been glued on, the cockpit interior and the parts that go in it are painted, so assembly can proceed with the top skin:

Before putting the lid on, so to speak. I copied and used the instrument panel that comes with Arctic Decals/Dekno's Comper Swift kit, reversed, as, surprisingly, it was a very good match to photos:

Dry run to see how it looks:

Two masters are made for the windshields, and clear vac copies are made:

Trying the legs:

The home-made transparencies are tried:

Dry-fitting of all components. Small little bugger:

Main components assembled:

A coat of primer:

White is airbrushed. This will be masked, then the aluminum color applied, to be masked in turn for the last coat in red:

As this plane had louvers on the engine covers and on the center fuselage section, tiny Archer louvers are prepared:

The metal color is airbrushed:

Then masked to apply the red. At this point decal paper is also airbrushed, to later cut the leading edges (that were red), avoiding masking for that area: