The group build to end all group builds - THE GREAT WAR

wing_nut

Yes it is Mike.  There are others out there though that I would have thought would have joined up.

More will jump in as we go along i would think, especially once building starts....

I gotta agree with Jules here, Marc. Once this guy starts picking up speed, it's bound to draw more entrants (although what we've got here so far ain't too shabby).

Julez72

wing_nut:

Yes it is Mike.  There are others out there though that I would have thought would have joined up.

 

More will jump in as we go along i would think, especially once building starts....

It doesn't hurt to start yourself a little WIP thread in the appropriate forum  for your build... A lot of folks don't "jump hooches" and you might a draw one or two that simply aren't aware of the GB, since they never come in here...

I'm maintaining a WIP thread in the Aircraft Forum about  my "Hurricat" build for the "Secret Santa" GB as well as the GB thread WIP-shots. I just don't copy & paste it in there though (except for the pictures), I actually re-write it, with only the occasional mention of the Secret Santa GB...  That seems to skirt the forum rule against "Cross-Posting" in multiple forums..

I got started on the Fokker D VII, and began with the cockpit sidewalls.  I found a decent "Lozenge" pattern for the D VII using "Google Image"and printed out a section of an R/C decal for it on my printer.  Since this is a such a big scale, I didn't use decal paper, but regular paper, and just glued it into the cockpit after shaving and sanding off the molded-in details, like the framework and bracing wires, which I made from stretched sprue.. The paper, IMHO, looks more like doped linen than a decal would too, a happy "accident".. Although the "lozenges" are a bit over-sized, it won't matter or be very noticable (IMNSHO) once the fuselage is closed up and the rest of the greeblies are installed, like the throttle, flares and pistol, and document bag...

 Here's the cockpit floorboard.  I added stretched sprue cables for the guns and the stick-mounted auxillary throttle lever, and rebuilt the floor compass...

I test-fitted the cockpit floor here, after finishing up the sidewall details, recovering the seat in medical tape for a "leather" look, and added light grey canvas "lacing" for it..  The panel was painted with "wood" color of my own, and kit decals used for the instrument faces.  They're quite accuarte, at least according to the pics in my Refs...

 I also added a scratch-built manual fuel pump, made form stretched sprue.. The aux throttle on the stick was also carefully bent to the "closed" position.  You can see that rebuilt the hand-pump, after deciding the first one (shown at the top) was too small in diameter..

Next step is to tackle that pretty BMW engine... It's OK by itself, especially when you take into account that the mold is about twenty years old... But enough is exposed to make it beg for a bit more plumbing, wiring, and some work on the engine bearers, since I want to be able to remove the inspection panels, which are quite large. ...

But first, I wanna keep these two kinda close together in construction, so onto the S.P.A.D. cockpit... It's excellent, and considering that it's a kit molded in 1957 (I'm building an original release that's two years older than I am (I'm 52 in two more weeks, lol) here, which should make any collector reading this vapor-lock, it's probably the finest kit sRevell ever made...

Hans, i like the look of the lozenge paper, it does look like fabric. very cool

Speaking of Lozenge camo have you fellas seen these masks before, if your like me and cringe(maybe weep) at the thought of useing lozenge decals over an entire wing then this is perfect...

Julez72,

You are going to need more than a lozenge after that tedious painting process!

Imagine the poor ground or factory crews that had to paint lozenges on 1/1 scale units for days on end?

...the horror... the horror

Actually, the lozenges were printed on the fabric, not painted...  Just rolls of linen, rolling through printing presses like newspaper..

Thanks, the paper worked OK I think..

Wish those mask came in 1/32 and 1/28th... I got an Eduard 1/48th Pfalz D III that would benefit from it though.  Been wanting to do it up as Stachel's Pfalz from The Blue Max for a shadow box scene from that movie, where Stachel crash-lands it after saving Von Richtoffen's life... A forced-perspective dio with the Stachel figure in the foreground, in 1/28th scale, the Pfalz in the center in 1/48th, and at the back, MvR's tripe in 1/72...

Count me in, something German armorish or something armorish in general , heck I am not even sure whats available...lol

Anyone have any leads to WWI armor kits?

Tiger, I would filed that question in the armor forum.  i don't have th answer but someone there sure will.

You guys are right, more may jump on board but 16 guys with 18 builds ain't shabby.

Hans, going for the early, early start eh?

Ah, hell.. I blew the start date, Didn't I?  Sorry... Putting it away for a while...

Got confused for a bit..

 I'll go back to the other 5 or 6 GBs I'm in, lol...

Looking good there HvH. One thing tho, you should take a shot at fixing the print. I'm not sure w/what and it'll darken it. I built an italian floater that had these sweet little wooden catwalk duckboards running back and forth over the top of the fuse. So I found some board images on line and printed them, cut out and paste etc. All looked good for a couple of months until the ink faded and turned bile green. Looked like the crew had a bad batch of pasta lol.

Scharnhorst is back ordered, so it looks like the Felixstowe goes first. I have my Windsock Data File, and most of the Lewis guns. This big old busterd had 8! of them, three double mounts and a pair of waist guns. Take that you pesky Hansa Brandenburgs!

I also picked up some nifty looking wood decals. They are just the grain, printed black on clear. I've never used them before, so I'm eager to try.

Alright, what the heck, I'm on board.

1/32 Wingnut Wings Sopwith Pup RNAS

Trying to decide which scheme...leaning toward 'ANZAC'

Also looking forward to trying out this wood grain technique:

http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=3009&page=1

Cool doogs youir in. And I rather have you start early and get'er done thna start on time and never be seen again.

On that note, Hans... let 'er rip!  Then keep going on the little mother Fokker

What color is the grain on the decals bman? A brownish?

wing_nut

Cool doogs youir in. And I rather have you start early and get'er done thna start on time and never be seen again.

Sweet!

I'll get started on the Pup after I finish the Mossie I'm about to start. Call it mid-March...

Ok, I looked at my stash (which grew during the holidays courtesy of Sprue Brother Super Specials) and I have these a/c that qualify... I have never built WWI birds (or many a/c at all lol), so, any opinions (all 1:48)?

Eduard Sopwith Camel

Roden Junkers D.I early (late WWI)

Special Hobby SPAD D.VII (Captured german mkgs)

Special Hobby Lebed VII - Russian Sopwith Tabloid

Very nice stash of WWI subject you have there JMart. My question is 'how much rigging do you feel up to doing?'

So since i really don;t want to do a 1/72 ish build i think my options are the RPM plastic FT-17 as it seems like a pretty decent kit. If anything changes ill let ya know but put me down for that for now.

If anyone has any other 1/35th scale suggestions please feel free.

Julez72

Hans, i like the look of the lozenge paper, it does look like fabric. very cool

Speaking of Lozenge camo have you fellas seen these masks before, if your like me and cringe(maybe weep) at the thought of useing lozenge decals over an entire wing then this is perfect...

I've done a few with lozenge decals, I was worried at first, but it really is not that bad. It seems hard due to the size, but they just slide on, give them a soak with micro-sol, then come back once they settle down and trim with a sharp blade.

Personally that masking looks a lot more difficult. Since lozenge was printed fabric, I'd think decals would look more accuate too.

Jmart, my only 2 wwi builds have been the eduard Camel... dual combo.  I got tlots of help from Mike(ruddratt) since he does the wwi stuff.  He will liley be able to help you with any of yoru choices.

I do have a couple of build tips though that helped me immensley with the second Camel.  The Eduard kits have the tinest microscopic location pins that are useless.  For the struts, drill the ends out and glue in a little piece of wire. 

• Drill holes in the wongs and fuselege where the strust go. Gives you strong felixble connection.  I must have broken the struts of my 1st one dozens of times. 
• Drill holes ofr rigging, depending on your method,before oyu build.
• Use a jig of some sort to algin and hold the upper wing in place solildy while gluing it up.

Oh baby... I am getting all fire up for this.

"Badges? We don't need no steenkin' badges!"

Oh, bu you do

Go claim the badge the suits and all that apply.

And in case you missed the chatter... if you wanna go...

GO

TigerEP1 - Theres several armor kits out there.  The most common and best priced ones are from  EMHAR, TAURO, and RPM.  These are not the best kits but with some extra work and time they turn out pretty nice.  About 4 months ago just finished up a RPM FT-17, my first post on the forum.  This is some of the common kits, you can order these on just about any online store and they are regularly on EBay.  These are all 1/35

Tauro - Sturmpanzer ATV (German), Fiat 3000 Mod 21 (Italy)

Emhar - Whippet, MK IV "Male", MK IV "Female", MK IV Tadpole, MK V (All British)

RPM - FT-17 (many versions, French), Taisho (Japanese its an FT-17)

Those are the most afordable to get.  I'm still thinking of getting a Wippet and/or the PZ ATV for this build.

Here is a link that list just about all of the kits    http://www.landships.freeservers.com/

HANS - Nice start, the Lozenge paper looks good

This may be a silly question but this being my first GB, how do you acquire the badges?  Is it as simple as copy and paste?

Rob

PANZERWAFFE

This may be a silly question but this being my first GB, how do you acquire the badges?  Is it as simple as copy and paste?

Rob

Rob, 1st right click on the badge to save it to your PC then upload it to Photobucket or whatever photo server you use.  The IMG tag gets copied into your signature, using the "edit profile" feature.  Just like putting a pic in a post.

Mike & Marc – Thanks for the input!  As for the stash, Sprue Brothers had a special on their Super Specials during Xmas week; Special Hobby & Classic Airframe kits were $9.99 instead of the usual 40-50 USD. So I got myself an armful

I will build the Eduard Sopwith F.1 Camel as my a/c entry; that kit (Weekend Edition) is far easier on a newbie like me than the SH & CA offerings. The only markings are for Sopwith Camel F.1 B3782 "No. 3 Squadron RNAS and had been flown by Captain J A Glen and Major L S Breadner. The aircraft was quite a famous one in that it was involved in 4 victories, one by the former and three by the latter."

Bondoman, Marc - Thanks for the instructions for the badge, got it.

This GB is bringing in great building potential.  What a great idea to represent all aspects of WWI.  Still waiting on my MK IV to arrive.  It should have already been here, probably late due to the weather.

JMart, happy to help. I built their profipak version and still have markings for 5 other Camels left over (plus the upper wing for one of those versions), so if you want 'em, just let me know.

Marc, something to watch out for on your Albatros - check the dihedral of both wings. They should be F-L-A-T flat. Noticed it on my Alby and my Pfalz as well. A little heat and careful bending fixed 'em up nice.

Thanks for the heads up on that Mike. 

And speaking of the wings... something is bugging me.  WW has released a real nice set of decal for the DVa.  Some of them... one that I want to use of course... require the lozenge pattern.   Not on the sheet and they don';t make them... yet.  Site says "Coming Soon" but not when.  Doesn't seem to be very smart on their part.  Are there lozenge decals in 1/32 scale?

BTW... 1st time we got bumped to the 2nd page

Marc, pm inbound.

Here's a bit of what I've already done to the WnW SE.5a.....

The molded-on bracing wires in the 'pit area had to go, so they were sanded off, styrene strips were added, and little PE bits from an old ReHeat set were scavenged to use as attachment points....





Here I used some styrene sheet, stretched sprue, and hand-cut rivet heads to beef up the firewall. Think I may have gone a bit to big on the rivet heads, but I'm happy with the overall effect, as the kit part was severely lacking..



Some styrene pulleys for the 'pit floor....



....and for the IP, I sanded off much of the detail on the port side and went with some brass tubing, copper wire, styrene rod, and a few miscellaneous PE bits to give it more dimension....

This work was done a while back, and is where it will sit until my Pfalz is finished. Once the Pfalz is done, I'll definitely be jumping right back into this one.