FineScale Modeler WWI Aeroplane Group Build 2013

A friendly warning to my fellow builders. be VERY careful when working with open bottles of paint. LOL as much as I like the Aclad Brushed brass colour it does not look good on the tail of a biplane. spilt the bottle while working on the gunners ring.

Been there, done that so I feel your pain.

shivinigh

A friendly warning to my fellow builders. be VERY careful when working with open bottles of paint. LOL as much as I like the Aclad Brushed brass colour it does not look good on the tail of a biplane. spilt the bottle while working on the gunners ring.

I. too, feel your pain.

Years ago, having nearly finished a lovely paint job on Hasegawa's 1/72 88 FLAK (including faces and unform detail on the entire gun crew) I grabbed my can of Dullcoat and gave it all a good spray---only to realize, horror-stricken, that I had grabbed the gold spray-paint can instead of the Dullcoat. (Why they used the plain white label they used for clear coats on a can of metallic color I still don't know, but that's all Wasser under the Brücke at this point.) The entire gilded group still lies entombed in the box to which I consigned them, "awaiting (someday) restoration," and mocking me.

Been there myself shiv. Good thing it was only paint in this case - an inconvenience, but easier to fix than had it been a jar of Tenax.

Greg, nice work on the pit. That seat looks amazing.

Shiv, ouch, i hope you can get that sorted.

I have just finished rigging one of the main wings on the 0/400 and am about half way through the second wing and then have the tail to do. As i mentioned, this is my first time at haveing to rig a plane, and i think i have discovered something you guys may found useful.

So, for all you guys who regulaly build WW1 plans with lots of rigging and enjoy it, i have one piece of advice.

YOU GUYS NEED HELP.

I needed help years ago Bish. Now I'm beyond it.

Marc - thanks for the return offer, but I was able to recover.  I screw up just about every PE belt set I use so I get lots of practice "fixing" them.  Your great job on the Albie continues.  I love RB's plugs - I've used them in the past.

Greg - great wicker on the seat!  Love the detail you've added

Shivinigh - Wow...not sure I'd have as good an attitude as you.  Good luck on a "clean" recovery

Bish - HAH!  You're doing an outstanding job, and you've tackled a complex subject.  You'll be "one of us" for sure when you're done.

I was able to get a bit of bench time, and the cockpit is just about ready to button up.  All that remains is to add wires to the rudder pedals, then throttle and trigger wires to the stick.  Probably won't happen 'till early next week.  I hope to create a drawing for the gear spreader that I can use to create a scratch built copy as well as a 3D print - I plan to keep track of the time to see which is more efficient.  Must be the engineer in me I guess...  Have a great week ahead everyone!

Enjoy rigging?  I'm just working on not fearing it so much!

Chuck, that interior is nice.  I need to put cables on my rudder bars too but the pins the bars attach to are not strong at all and I'm still trying to figure out how to do it without getting the rudder bars at unequal angles, since there are two in the DH-9A.

Mike, i am so not surprised.

Chuck, more stunning work. Thats some lovely detail in there.

I didn't see a thing. Just call it a fuel leak.

Bish... WE NEED PICTURES!!!

CD  Nice looking interior.

Small update.  Glued my twisted hair thin wires into holes drilled in the magnetos with a #83 bit.  gathered and stuck into the end a some brass tube and the spark plug connects finishes off the wiring.

Wow! OMG. You are a god. That's some modeling skills there, wing_nut. I'm beginning to feel unworthy.

Marc - Beautiful work, sir!

Shiv - I've been lucky enough to just spill the paint on the workbench, not the model. Now that I've written this, I'll spill a bottle of Tamiya black all over the D.VII. Shoulda kept my mouth shut ...

The irrepressible Chuck Davis - Chuck, I can't believe just a couple of days ago you were contemplating throwing in the towel. And now we're getting to see a modern-day John Henry vs. the steam hammer contest (Chuck Davis vs. Makerbot ... FIIIIIIGHT!).

Bish - I prided myself on keeping my stash very small. My rule was one or two unbuilt kits until the current project was done. Then I get to move on to one of those and pick a new one to buy--and I'm a ship guy to boot. Well, this GB has totally blown it for me. I have Roden, Eduard, and Wingnut Wings kits coming out of my ears. I told Aaron today that I was calling it quits; no more WWI airplane kits.

He laughed. "Leave them at the office, that way they aren't at home and technically not part of your stash." Most unhelpful, that one.

Jeaton - I know what you mean about no time over the weekend. But, I will have some happy news to share tomorrow, though I think Monica may have scooped me on the FSM Facebook page.

Good work everyone!

Greg - great work! Man, especially that seat - that is some very impressive stuff!

Chuck - the Fokker is really shaping up nicely! Excellent work on 'the 'pit - that wood grain is top notch!

Marc - well, what can I possibly say about your work that hasn't been said already. Just knocks my socks off every time! Have to ask - did you scratchbuild those lifter springs on the engine again?

Marc, very nice indeed. I will post some pics tonight.

Tim, you have more will power than me, though Aaron does have a good point.

As promised, heres some pics with the wings rigged. My other half says it is so fine she can hardly see it. I tried explaining that given the scale it needs to be fine. But maybe it is a bit to thin, what do you guys think.

Although theres no way i am re doing this.

Next its onto rigging the tail.

Bish

Great work, you could try running a sharpie or as we call them a felt tip on the rigging just to give it a bit of colour. I know its hard to see no matter what, a darker background may help there

Phil

Bish   I think your rigging is dead-on for scale. It's perfectly visible, but not overwhelming, the way it should be. Well done!

Chuck   Interior is gorgeous. Love the wood-grain, and all the fixtures are clean and sharp.

Wing_nut   Suberb engine! I mean, just, superb.

Not a lot on the Baby--last of the interior interior added, w/throttle and hand pump, control cables and fuel tank/lines:

As usual, all buttoned up not much is visible. Added the coaming before attaching the lid so I wouldn't accidentally dry-brush over detail later on.

I guess floats will be next. All the reviews I've read warned that the kit's float struts are too short (which, alas, they are), so I'll have to creatively stretch or scratchbuild new ones.

Onward and upward. Great job, everybody!

Bish

I agree with Phil.  I use blackened nylon sewing thread for my 72 scale rigging and it really pops out better than the colorless. I think you should redo it! I triple dog dare ya!!!!!

freem

FINALLY! I got the cockpit frame rigging in. I used the new turnbuckles from Gaspatch. I wanted emulate the cloth wraps used inside the cockpit to keep the turnbuckles from wearing the linen fuselage skin. So, I diluted some white glue and brushed it onto tissue paper about 2-inches square. I let that dry and cut the pieces I needed. After dipping the pieces in water, I wrapped them around the turnbuckles and hit them with another coat of diluted white glue. Once dry, I painted them Tamiya deck tan to simulate doped linen. They came out pretty nice, though, they are a tad bulky.

Boy with everyone doing such cool stuff I feel left out!  I feel like I should sneak in another build under the wire.

John

wonderful work guys :) keep those updates coming!

Bish, load the airbrush with some matt varnish and spray the rigging. They will become visible ;)

Where did you find the info about the turnbuckle covers, Tim?  I have not seen that before.  Pretty work!

Bish, those wires are just the right size.  It's hard for me to find material for 1/72 wires that is fine enough to look the part.  That was a big old beast!

Bish, to me, that rigging looks perfect! I wouldn't do anything to it. The scale looks right on, and it's nice & tight like the real deal. Really, & I mean REALLY nice work for your first bipe!

Greg, that 'pit just looks amazing! Like many bipes, it's a shame how much is lost when everything gets buttoned up, but heck, there's still a lot of good stuff to see in there. Great job!

Tim, I'm diggin' your 'pit there, and that wrap for the turnbuckles - a very nice touch. It's an often overlooked detail, but you nailed it!

John - c'mon man!! Pick another one!

Work has slowed on the E.III with spring finally upon us up here and the yard work that coincides with it, but I've still been able to make some headway and hope to have a few pics up before the weekend.

The kit floor obviously needed help.

Put in yokes, various kit.

Bish... first time rigging a bipe hmmm?  Come on, who you trying to fool.

GB, Tim, GM... nice interior work there gents.

For small scale rigging here is something i found by accident.  I was playing with some EZ Line and was too lazy to reach a whole foot and a half to get my scissors so I pinched it with 2 hands and snapped it.  I noticed the ends frayed.  I pulled one and it stripped of a thinner version of the EZ Line the full length of the piece i "cut".  The thin pieces have the same qualities of the full piece.  

In this pic, the strand at the top is one of my last few hairs... oh the sacrifices made for the hobby .. and a #80 drill bit.  At the left is an unaltered piece, the thinnest they make, and then several strips pulled off.

Here is the thinnest one used on a 144th plane.  The 2nd pic is a closeup to compare to transparent thread that is about 0.1".  An 80 bit is 0.135"

jeaton01

Where did you find the info about the turnbuckle covers, Tim?  I have not seen that before.  Pretty work!

Hi John,

I'm not sure that they were universally used, or maybe were stripped off in the field as it would be a pain to keep pulling them off and putting them back on if they needed adjusting.

You can see the covers on the Fokker D.VII in these images by Jim Charters. Those are the clearest I've found, though there are other shots around the web that show them on (and off). What got me thinking about them initially was an image in my D.VII's instruction book showing them on a reproduction. I got hunting around and saw they were used and thought, why not?

Aaron thought it a pity to cover up those nice turnbuckles. Unfortunately, I can't find any reference photos of the interior of my particular bird, but that's pretty much true for all of us, I suspect.

Nice website, Tim!  Definitely bookmarked.  I noticed that the wires were doubled and that a single wrapping covered both turnbuckles.  But it seems odd that Fokker used wire x-bracing instead of just a single diagonal tube to truss the cockpit bay, since the fuselage was built of tubing and not wood.  I guess I better do some more research before I try a D VII.