Knights of the Sky II- The End

Marc-

All I can say is...

OMG!  That is seriously some of the finest work I have seen from your bench.  One of the nicest Camels I have seen as well.   I certainly hope to see more of your winged-thingies over in Aircraft, even if your target stash outnumbers the aircraft!

(Oh, yeah... I saw that post!)

Marc you totally nail that Camel! You build that thing in lightning speed time also. I love the simple way you held the subject in place while installing the upper wing. I'm definetly stealing that trick from you when I get ready to install the upper wing on my Fokker. Well done!

                                                                                              Soulcrusher

Here's where I'm at at the moment.  Everything is painted, and ready for assembly.  I'm just getting a little worried about that top wing and the photo-etched bits.  After I'm done worrying about that, I'll begin to worry about the wheels/struts etc on the bottom of the a/c.  Whew.  This thing is going to give me gray hair... (that'll be the excuse, anyway.)

Still have some work to do on the leather around the cockpit, and the guns.  Really looking forward to getting this one on the shelf!

Sorry for the poor quality photos.

excellent work mr wing nut...

some really really nice stuff going on here.

Marc and all,

Excellent work.  Very impressive.

Progress is being made on the Fokker.  Got the top wing struts in place, and now just have to figure out how to make the photo-etched struts fit on and actually offer any sort of support...  I'll send some pictures over tonight...

Just picked up Roden's offering of the Fokker D. VII from the local hobby shop.  How's this kit?  Anyone built it up before?  Is it a dog? A gem?  The WWI bug has definitely bitten again.

MrDrummy wrote:

"Progress is being made on the Fokker.  Got the top wing struts in place, and now just have to figure out how to make the photo-etched struts fit on and actually offer any sort of support...  I'll send some pictures over tonight... Just picked up Roden's offering of the Fokker D. VII from the local hobby shop.  How's this kit?  Anyone built it up before?  Is it a dog? A gem?  The WWI bug has definitely bitten again. "

The DML DR.I  PE struts need to have all holes in the plastic opened up especially for the cabane frint legs (there are none).  The Roden 1/48 Fok. D.VII is indeed a good kit.  The lower wing edges that butt against the fuselege, sanded back.  (But so does the Eduard kit).  On the 415 kit the front legs of the N struts are a fraction too short but adding an extention is easy.

Thanks, Stephen.  I'm looking forward to getting that Roden kit started for sure.  I got kit no. 424, so I guess that I won't have to worry about extending those struts!

Here's where I am with the Fokker at the moment.  Again, bad photography, but it's what I've got for now.

Just to show that I'm gettin' some work done!  Much more work to come, but getting closer!

Really looking good Justin. The black scheme is definately different. It will be good to see the finished product.

...Guy

a little update.....there getting there...

i've been busy,so i've not done that much.

Justin that all black Fokker looks mean I love it. I never new they had painted up any of those in an all black scheme until I joined this GB and saw you guys postings pics. Really cool stuff. I shall return soon as I am finishing up on my last entry for the Regia Aeronautica GB soon and plan on jumping back into my Fokker. You guys missed me right?

                                                                                      Soulcrusher

MrDrummy wrote:

Here's where I am with the Fokker at the moment.  Again, bad photography, but it's what I've got for now.

 MrDrummy,Looking very cool, I like the black PS, sinister and menacing looking. Looking very good.

 Soulcrusher, all the Knights of the Skies are missed, even when frolicking in another GB!

 Ludwig, A very nice set of Dr1's. The Red looks flawless and the Camo is great.

 -Mo

Justin- Excellent work!  You're doing a fine job on that lil' Fokker.

ludwig- Yours are coming along rather smartly as well!  Great looking progress pics.

SC- Of course we missed you!  You are forgiven as your work on that Macchi is absolutely breathtaking.

Daywalker wrote:

SC- Of course we missed you!  You are forgiven as your work on that Macchi is absolutely breathtaking.

Aw Shucks Frank! You know how to make a guy feel like part of the team.

                                                                                           Soulcrusher

Ludwig-- those Dr I's are looking great!  That streaking pattern is awesome.  I will always try to steer clear of that stuff.  It's frightening!!!

Thanks a lot, guys.  Means a lot, and keeps me going!!!  The black scheme is cool, but I've never seen so much dust in all my life!!! It can be a bit frustrating! 

Was up all night last night, and so I figured I'd get some more work done-- a quick shot to show you where I'm at at the moment:

Upside down with the landing gear (what do you call this?) drying.  I bet that I'll be done by the end of the week.  

Thanks guys.

And SC, of course we missed you. ;)

Marc,

That Camel is astounding!

Ludwig,

The black Dr.1 looks very nice indeed.  I was wondering what type of paint it is that you show in the background of the streaked and all red Dr.1 photo.  I have never seen a paint line with WWI colors.  I am assuming it is something unavailable to us in the states (or do you prefer colonies? ).

Frank,

If all goes as planned (does that ever really work for anyone?), I should be back at it this weekend as the Tirpitz sets sail from my bench.  I was looking at my stash of kits yesterday, and I am thinking about one of my Weekend Edition Eduard kits (I need something a bit easier than a 300 plus part, 1/700 scale ship).  I will firm things up later in the week.

More Power Scotty wrote:

Marc, That Camel is astounding! Ludwig, The black Dr.1 looks very nice indeed.  I was wondering what type of paint it is that you show in the background of the streaked and all red Dr.1 photo.  I have never seen a paint line with WWI colors.  I am assuming it is something unavailable to us in the states (or do you prefer colonies? ).

hi,its called "mister kit" and they do a full range of WW1 colours

http://www.misterkitusa.com/

and there available to all our colonies

Well I spend two hours tonight on the Fokker and all I have to show for it is the strips on the top of the fuselage. It took me forever the get them just right. man the fuselage on the bird is taking forever to complete. I still have to wait for the oil paints to dry on the top then mask the sides and paint them green then mask the fuselage agian for the gray bottom then mabye I can start moving foward agian on this one.

                                                                                              Soulcrusher

All done!  Screwups abound...  don't hate.  This was a tough little build-- so fragile!
 
Painted on markings for Josef Jacob's 450/17 in early June of 1918.







There's no lean on the real item--that's just a bad photographer at work.


Forgive the propeller--I'm in the process of carving a new one out of thin wood laminates.  I absolutely could not get the effect right with paint.  


This is the Fokker along side my last KOTS build, Eduard's Albatros D.III.

Thanks guys!  Always a pleasure.

Frank, I'm going to go ahead and throw another one on the build, if you don't mind:  Roden's Fokker D. VII (Alb, Late version.)  I'll probably get started on that within the week!

SC: Get to work!! :)

Thanks soulcrusher.

Holy baling wire Batman... Wow lots of nice stuff still pouring out of here. 

Looks just fine to me Mr. D.  Looks like it is ready to tkae to the air.

Excellent work Justin!  Those Dragon kits are a bit challenging, but you did a wonderful job on it.  Well done!   Nice to see the Albatros again as well.  I updated page one and added the Roden kit for you.

SC- These WWI kits are a bit different, aren't they?  Some trying techniques, but addictive nonetheless.  Hang in there, I'm looking forward to seeing your work!

Stunning work Justin. The black scheme looks spot on.

...Guy

She Looks great Justin! Very different than what I'm use to seeing.

Frank thats exactly what I was doing last night for two hours. Trying different technics to duplicate the stripes on the top of the fuselage. Basicly I dicovered about twenty different ways that do'nt work until I hit on some thing some thing that look decent. Now I am going to try to figure out how to duplicate the stained green fabric on the fuselage sides. This will probally take me another several hours of trying different things. The only good thing is I am using oils over enamels and I can keep wiping off the paint and trying something else without disturbing the enamels underneath. This way I can keep trying one thing after another until I find something that works.

                                                                                         Soulcrusher

Hey, guys!  Thanks a lot for the kind words on the Fokker.  It was definitely nice to get this one up on the shelf, as it has just been sitting on my shelf for quite awhile.  I had originally bought it for the first KOTS build, but just never got to it.

The Fokker D. VII is coming along-- I've gotten the wings together, and I guess the next step will be to get the lozenge camouflage put on.  I've been immersing myself in Stephen's great lozenge article, and trying to learn as much as I can about this stuff.  There's definitely a lot to learn.  I can't seem to get the link tool to work, so here's the url to that article/thread, just in case someone missed it somehow.

http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=SquawkBox&file=index&req=viewtopic&topic_id=87962&page=1

Thanks again, fellas.  Can't wait to see some more stuff that y'all are doin'.  It's all looking so good!

Here you go.

Lozenge 101

There you go.  That's much easier.

Ok, Stephen.  A quick couple of questions about the lozenge pattern: (hopefully they'll be quick, anyway...)

On the top of the wing of my Fokker, I basically have two options:  I can start on the left hand side of the wing and simply go across until I run out of room, or start from the center, and head outwards, correct? 

Is it as "simple" as finding a photo of the aircraft I'm modeling, or did certain factories tend to do one or the other? 

I'm also expecting to do a half-turn on every other section of lozenge on the top wing.  Would this be correct for a factory late Albatros built D. VII?

Thanks a lot for the help out, Stephen.  This is fascinating stuff!!