any world war 1 modellers?

It would not break the bank to order one from Hannants... The kit retails at something like £3.50... Even with postage, you can get it for just over a fiver, I'd think... Everybody's raving about this kit.. Would be a shame not to try..

sorry djmodels, but unfortunately, my local shop is run by a bunch of ****heads who really don't know the hobby nor how to run a buisness. They are nortoriously unrealiable and have recently taken to stocking furniture for dolls houses.
philistines!! pharasees!!
anyway, no fokkers for me, only the ones that run the shop.........
liam

I think we should maybe think about a week end group build, with the brand new 1/72 Revell Fokker Dr.1 kit..! Really cheap kit and real good reviews so far. And not too hard for the people who have little or no experience with rigging... What do you think?

Like nicodemus I have always used stretched sprue. After you stretch it, you can paint it also. I used a cheap school-type drafting compass/divider to measure the length. Use white glue like Elmer's--put a dot on each end of the sprue, then put it in place. Let it dry. Now to tighten it up, get a pack of cigarettes (although I've heard that incense works too). Light the cigarette, and approach the sprue (glued in place) with the lit end, so that the smoke drifts up to the sprue. The heat from the cigarette will suddenly tighten the plastic, and the sprue will snap taut. It's kind of neat to watch it happen. Sometimes you might have to do it over, if the glue lets go on one end or the other. If you get the sprue too hot, it can melt it in the middle. But that's why you use white glue. Use water to release the failure and try again. It may take a little practice, but I've got biplanes built in the mid 1970's using this method, and they are still holding. Good luck.

I want to get into small scale WW1 ac, we'll see when it happens.

As for rigging, I recommend using stretched sprue. It has the advantage of differing diameters, depending on how you stretched it, and there is probably a good supply of various colors of it at your disposal. The article I saw this in had included a vernier caliper, but trial and error may be the general rule for measuring between the struts, etc. I have used it on a little 1/72 sopwith camel (academy) and 1/48 fighters (Glencoe,Monogram,Lindbergh) and have been satisfied with the results.
You will also find differing levels of complexity of course, the before mentioned fokkers had little to no rigging, while the allied aircraft had generous amounts. Happy rigging!

try www.theaerodrome.com for WW1 info. Cheers! John.

J-Hulk,

I have that DML/Dragon kit too (also unbuilt). It gets great reviews, and I have a build-up article around somewhere that I'd be happy to dig out and send to you if you'd like.

A lot of WWI modelers swear by this technique for rigging:

http://priswell.com/uggie/Uggie2.htm

Regards,

Well, while I can't honestly say I'm a WWI modeler, I do have the 1/48 Dragon SPAD 13 with the 1/12 resin Rickenbacker bust (kit # 5904) waiting to be built. Seems like a nice kit in the box, comes with a nice fret of PE, and the bust is a real nice sculpt.

Any opinions on this kit?

WW I Modeler? Aye Aye, mgtaylor reporting as requested Sir!
I've been away from the site so I didn't see your post earlier. I've collected a line of the lastest 1/32 releases yet to build, Battle axe's Fok DVII & EIII, Hobbycraft Neiu 17, sopwith camel and Spad XIII. I completed the Sopwith Camel for a gift fo my cousin. I modifiyed a scrape pilot and mounted it on a wire post over a railroad modeling material grass and dirt board. I've also a set of Revel 1/28 out of production kits waiting as well. Four Sopwiths, Four Spads, two DrI's and and extra DVII. I already finished one each of the Sopwiths, DVII, a DrI, and the Spad in french beige to experiment with finishing and photo etched details, to see where I may have to scratch build, etc. I learned alot doing those and Iam ready to getr going again on them. Iam planing on consealing a small electrical motor on one of them to turn both the prop and the engine soon. DOn't be intimated! COPPERSTATE and Tom's Model works make photo etched details for 1/32 & 1/28. I'd start with copperstate and add tom's details, both have some things the other dose'nt but I think Copperstate has more, ie. real carved and finished wood props plus addtional decal sets. Nobody seems to have addressed your Rigging inquiry. I've used two different thickness'es of hobby wire (PK?) available at some hobbycraft/stores in 3' long red tubes for sale by the individual wire. THats worked great for me. I've just seen the perfect tool I'll be getting to help me a drafting compass with points on both ends to measure the lengths needed directly off the finished model. I've had to clip, trim, fit, trim, fit, glue (CA thick with a mirco drop of accelerator to fix it after it's in place.) Weathering? DOn't make the mistake i FIRST MADE. Instead paint the engine platium, aluimium, steel, metalizer and seal with future and then wash the crankcase, clynder cooling fins and heads to required dark burnt oil, black/browness. Iam planing on branching out and experimenting with foil on the cowlings. I've got a few foil jet plane projects awaiting on the shelf for me to develope the skill /confidence to work with the stuff. Best of everything with your camel. MIke

20-01-04
Blackwolfscd:
Thanks for the heads-up on the Fujimi kit! I checked the link but was too late! So I did a search for the AH-1S and found a short list of Cobras, mostly 1/72.
But there was one 1/48 left..... and I got it.....heh heheh hehh.
Thanks agaain, thought I'd never get it!
Liam
Now.....if only rigging was so easy.........
Liam

I love WW1 models!
If you are unsure of rigging then search out aircraft that dont have them.
May I suggest the Focker Dr1, DVII ,and (I think) DVIII.
Squadron books have a series of books , ie Bristol Fighter in Action, whch have good photos and drawings of the relevent a/c. I have the books on the DrI, DVII. and the Nieport fighters and I think that there is a book on the Sopwith fighters.
I have used cotton,(not recomended) fishing line trace, fishingline, suture thread, fuse wire,stretched sprue and thin brass wire.
The Swordfish was not in First World War even though it looks like it.
Dai

Hmmm... looking for kits on evilBay can be easy and then it can be daunting. Sometimes it's just a matter of luck and timing. There've been times when I was looking for something specific and could never find it, not just on ebay but at the forums, at shows etc. And then, when my interest has faded in that one specific thing, they seemed to pop up all over the place.

The only advice for searching on ebay that I can give you is to try a buncha different search terms. Some folks who sell models on ebay aren't modelers and don't put such things as the scale or even the kit manufacturer's name in the listing title. If I was looking for a Fujimi/Testors 1/48 AH-1S I'd do searches on that phrase, on 'AH-1', on 'Cobra', on 'Testors' and on 'Fujimi'. You can do a search for '1/48' but that'll bring up all the 1/48 kits out there and that's a helluvalot to go through.

In the end, if you're having difficulty finding it just try 'helicopter model' or 'helicopter model kit' or something simple and silly like that. Chances with something like that are slim, but you never know. Again, it's really a matter of luck and timing.

Perserverance helps too, but not everyone has the time or inclination to park themselves in front of the PC forever typing in a gazillion searches. One thing you can do is to come up with a number of search terms and save them in your 'My Ebay'. That way you can pop on, click onto a search real quick and see what's there that's newly added.

Have you tried Hyperscale? I don't frequent that forum for the discussion too much 'cuz the crowd over there can be annoying and snobbish, not to mention rudes sometimes. But that's the single best place on the net for swapping, buying and selling aircraft models and related stuff, in my opinion. Give it a try.

Go to Hyperscale.com and click on 'Discussion Forums' up top, then to 'Plane Trading' on the left. There's usually a buncha folks selling who have a list, and it can take time to go through everything, but it can be worth it. I usually both post and look through the postings whether I'm buying or selling because not everyone hangs out there 24/7 and sees all the posts. (Some guys seem to literally live there...)

I dunno what else I can tell you other than I do quite a bit of buying and selling of kits and other stuff sometimes and that I'll keep an eye out. If I come across one, I'll post it along with info for wherever I may have found it. Although I usually don't come across that kinda kit too often.

Okay, just did a quickie search on evilBay and found one Fujimi AH-1S listed.

Click HERE

Monogram also made an AH-1, I believe it was also a Sierra, and it's a far nicer kit than Fujimi's. You may want to look into that one as well.

Hope I haven't muddled things up!


Fade to Black...

18-01-04
Blackwolfscd:You are of course correct. I meant the Academy 1/32 Camel. I am rather looking forward to the challenge in building this, but am a little imtimidated by hte rigging.
I don't know much re:WW1 but htis plane has been one that has always gotten under my skin.
I'l lcheck out the links, thanks.
ps, just for the sake of asking, Iam trying to get my hands on the Fujimi 1/48 AH-1S Cobra. Nobody in the Heli forum can locate it. I know that testors reboxed he Fujimi one but the are difficult to locate. Neither Hannants, England have it, nor does CA Hood. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Also, I have noticed that soem of you buy kits from Ebay, but when I go looking, I cannot find any. What's the secret?
Liam

You sure it's not a 32nd kit? Academy doesn't have a 48th Camel, or any 48th WWI stuff. They reboxed the Hobbycraft 32nd Camel F.1 and Nieuport 17 but have since stopped producing them as well as all the other Hobbycraft kits they had in their line. (Thanks to the evil folks at IDEA! MUA HAHAHAHA!!!)

If it is the 32nd kit, here's some links to some not-so-stellar reviews!

Kit Review on SMAKR - Not the best review, but he does raise some valid points about the kit.

Kit Preview on Modeling Madness - A typical in-the-box review.

Kit Review - looks to be a good kit review with one catch: it's in Chinese! (I think it's Chinese...) But the pictures are in English and they're not too awful bad. Dosen't look like this fella did anything extra so these shots will give you a good idea of what the kit will look like when finished. (This is actually a review of the IDEA release, but it's the same exact kit.)


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QUOTE: Originally posted by AJACKETSFAN I'd like to do some WW1 a/c's but that rigging kind of disswades me.

I built a 1/72 spad once... but it met its untimely end strapped to a firecracker... I'm not too sure if it served in WWI but i am open to the possibility of doing Tamiya's 1/48 Swordfish...

I'd like to do some WW1 a/c's but that rigging kind of disswades me.