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

Sean-Wow dude... nice!

Nate, what is a Wind Sock Datafile? EDIT:   DOH! I just did a Google and found it in a a nanosecond

Marc: those lozenge decals look great! I'm really looking forward to see the finished kit.

Rob: good progress on your tank. After seeing your BT-7, I'm sure this one will come out great!

Doogs: Pup is looking very good.

Sean: Excellent interior!

I am just about finished with my panzerjager GB, and I'm on vacation next week, so I plan on getting a start on my Roland D.VIa. I just got a Wind Sock Datafile special on the WnW Roland build, which I will be using for reference and inspiration. Looking forward to joining the build!

Nate

Hi All - haven't stopped in in a while - been real busy with work ....  it's great to see all the fantastic work happening in here .... 

I have not been completely idle - the FF33 is coming along - slowly, much much much to be done... here's a quick digest:

got most of the interior/cockpit together - it fits now.... 

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Doog they are the WNW decals as seen HERE.  They represent a bolt of printed fabric.  It gets cut into the smaller lengths  that are turned 90 degrees and put down chord-wise.  On the 1:1 the edges of each panels would be sewn together and that seam can fall anywhere, not necessarily on a rib.  That's why you see a mismatch in places between ribs.  As far as it fitting so well... the panel were cut about 1/8" long at each end and after they dried I very lightly sanded the leading and trailing edge to remove the excess.  Sorry for being long winded if you knew all that lozenge orientation crap already

Marc - those lozenge decals are really something! How'd they fit so exactly with the wing shape? Has me rethinking the whole painting vs. decals on the rudder.

Spent most of last night assembling friuls for my Pz.IV, so not much worth reporting on the Pup. Though I did paint most of the pulley inspection ports and Future the inspection windows. Once they're masked, I'll mount them up, and then it's on the to the upper surface painting!

Doogs that is some real Hotel Sierra stuff there.

Rob  Nice all around.  I really like the irregularities/stress in the metal skin.  Is that the result of the the quality of the kit (I don't know that line at all)  or is it intentional?  Either way, looks great.

Jack, he is really starting to come to life.

Started declaring. 
The aileron close-up shows the improved control horns

Steyr Mannlicher M95 rifle:

While working on the gun the bolt lever broke off so replaced it with a brass tube, cutting it to length after it was glued.  The ball end is just built up glue and a coat of surface primer.

At the front end a similar  but smaller piece broke off - not sure what it's called or what it's use was.  For that I cut a length of EZ line, glued it in place and trimmed to proper size.  Again, the ball end is just built up glue.

Splurged on some Hornet AM hands.  Still had to break the figure's left arm at the elbow so that the rifle sits correctly in the hands.

regards,

Jack

ERIC - Was thinking the same out come with the mud and weathering.  Had thoughts of having it approaching a trench through barbwire and a shot up field.  Will see how things go.

More filling too do.

I've heard ugly things about that kit too. And I've got one. However, I have noticed that a small blizzard of photos exist showing those things ultra-muddy. (That would make sense if soil from an area like Flanders with the low water table was mashed-up by gunfire and tank tracks.) When I do mine I'll be thinking Adam Wilder full-bore weathering. Good history, mute some of the kits' flaws.

Eric

Little work done.  Not to pleased with this kit.  Cut the barrels off, they were very poor and out of round.  Used 5/32 tue to replace them with, there not much better but at least there round.  Was able to complete both sponsons but with much trouble due to fit of the parts.

Next will be much filling with putty and sanding.  All connection points so far have large seams / cracks.

Drilled out the water jackets on the machine guns then used 1/32 brass tube for barrels.

Also drilled out the vision slits.

This will not be a very accurate build due to some major problems that I am not going to attempt to fix.  The rear ofthe sponsons should be at about 20% angle and the guns should be slightly offset from each other.  Will continue with the assemblies that go on top of the hull.  Also am considering turning some new barrels on the lathe, not sure yet.

Doogs - really like the shot Darkened "valleys" , hope you can re-introduce this look when you dirty her up.

Not model related but still on the Great War theme, came across a couple new pc games.  One is a flight sim that has been around a couple years, but is the first I heard of.  Rise of Flight has received good reviews, specially in the area of modelling and graphics.  Their site also has a limited trial demo you can download.  They only thing I don't like is you have to pay extra for any new plane types and field modifications the developers introduce.

For the grognards familiar with John Tiller's/HPS games, the panzer caimpaigns' engine has been used to create a new series: First World War Campaigns.  The first title out is France '14.

regards,
Jack

Underside shading is done...at least until post-decals.

Here's the base coat (Tamiya Deck Tan)

Lightened ribbing (Tamiya Deck Tan + Gloss White)

Darkened "valleys" (Deck Tan + Khaki)

Blended (25% Deck Tan + 75% Thinner)

That's it until after the weekend - taking the kids to San Antonio to pay way too much at theme parks. Maybe I can squeeze a visit to Hill Country Hobby into the schedule somewhere!

Got some primer down and gloss lacquer applied.  I plan to get some of the lozenge on.

Film at 11!   Wait, that's TV.

Stay tuned!   Still TV.

Don't touch that dial!  OK, I give... just check back later

Ugh. The wait feels like it's been interminable, but the skies have cleared, and I have a brand new bottle of Tamiya Deck Tan on the bench.

Tonight, I WILL finish the shading work on the underwing surfaces. 

That is very true... But at the moment I am going to leave it as is.  I also dont like how I did the armor on the turret, I didnt line it up correctly enough for my liking...

You could cut a hole in the bottom of the tank,then patch it up after recovering the mount smeagol.

no, I was not able to salvage.  When the MG broke it's mount fell into the turret.  The whippet turret doesn't turn and is part of the chasis.  It was also so very well glued I wouldnt have been able to break it appart without destroying it...

If I can get a new whippit kit it would be perfect, heh.

SMEAGOL - Soory to hear that, bad luck.  I have done the same in the past.  Was you able to salvage?

Got started on the build.  Cut off the barrels and put some new Evergreen tube in place of them.  Might be able to get some pics up tonight or soon anyway.

Good luck with those AM tracks.  I was building a 1/35th Whipped, from Emhar, same company and all that your buildings.  Id did one whole side of the tracks, started on the second... when I droped it and broke off one of the MGs... so much work down the drain.  Still kicking myself over it.

Great looking work going on here guys!

Nate

37 SPRUES

Doogs even though you did take the tough route on the bottoms it looks sweet.

Jack, nice work.

Update on my second figure...

Unfortunetly after test fitting an aftermarket helmet to use on the figure, it was noticably small, particularly the front view.  So the helmet was split in two as best as I could.  While masking tape held the two pieces together in their new position, several mall strips of lead foil were glued to the inside.  The huge gap was filled with squadron putty, followed by a coat of Tamiya's liquid surface primer.  After sanding, the helmet as a whole looked more square than round.  Since I was going to all this trouble, it was here that I decided to make the shape resemble that of the Austrian manfactured helmet - the Berndorfer.  The brim was smaller than it's German cousin, there were no lugs or "horns" and overall appeared to be more shallow.  At the apex of the helmet were small ventilation holes covered with a metal disc.  Cutting a thin strip of lead foil, this was glued along the bottom edge, leaving a bit of space in the front and rear to bring back the roundness.  More putty, surface primer and sanding.  Final pic has the helmet painted with a mixture of earth and fieldgrey.

The figure - first base coat is fieldgrey with significant amout of blue mixed in.  This is followed by a spraying of straight fieldgrey, and then a third coat of lighter toned fieldgrey.  Some historical background: It was in the autumn of 1915 that Austria-Hungary switched to this colour.  As the war progressed, shortages of coloured cloth for the collar patches grew.  To compensate, these patches (which represented regimental colours) were reduced in size to the the point where by 1917 were just a vertical stripe located behind rank insignia on the collar.  During this year a major decision was made which broke with the colourful tradition of the past.  The colours on the collar no longer represented individual regiments.  They would now indicate arms and branch of service.  For the common army, this would be blue.

The base - only thing I did different here was the addition of brass rod in the four corners to better anchor the celluclay. 

regards,

Jack

One more thing. Within limits, I wouldn't worry about over-shading. (Think your work looks great.) I wonder if there isn't a kind of "scale" effect at work when doing a biplane. I don't doubt that 2lb mono is a good scale for the rigging. But even when colored black, you can barely see it from ten feet away. I definitely over-did the wing shading, but, again, from ten feet away it looks pretty good. Had it been subtle I don't think you could see it at all. I shaded the fuselage on both the khaki and grey portions and it's essentially invisible unless examined very closely. Unless it won't fit through the tubing, I'm going to give 4lb line a shot next time around even if it's in theory a little thick.

Eric

Looks good Doog. I did some more checking around on the dark/light rib question. There was a thread on the matter on a board called ARC (nice, never seen it before) and the biplane purists (two or three guys mind you) went for light. So I signed onto an old fashioned Listserv list on World War I Modeling (wwi.wwi-models.org). Figured a list of that antique style would have veteran modelers and it does. So I posed the light/dark question and found out this question has been going around for a very long time. The consensus now is if you do either it is to emulate some kind of lighting condition and because those varied all over the map anything you did was fine as long as it was done well. (This is why the photo archive evidence is also all over the map.) One gent commented that when done correctly it wasn't that easy to tell the difference unless you were really looking for it - what you see is a shaded wing. I think you can see that point illustrated below: the pic is from Des' WNW Pup build on WWIaircraft.com. He favors dark ribs but I'd say either approach works nicely. One thing they brought up on the list was that painting the edge P10 was an option. Sometimes the RFC did it, sometimes not. I wish I'd known that a couple of weeks back. I did edge my wings and it took a surprisingly long time and it still didn't look like Des'. I would have been better off leaving it straight linen.

I'm working on a tank now: the biplane excursion was great fun but more than a little odd. For me it was much more like building a ship than an airplane with all of that detail work. (The tank seemed to fall together in comparison. It's a Trumpeter KV-2 and makes for a very good build. I can't figure that out that company.)  But your result will be a really sweet display model if nothing else. I'm going to build the Academy Nieuport 17 as a last warm-up and then tackle a WNW Pflaz that I bought myself for my birthday. Unless really screwed-up either should be easier on the eye than a KV-2.

Eric

Finally time for a fairly major Pupdate - started the underside shading last night. 

While I've seen various pre-shading methods that emphasize the ribs being darker due to sunlight coming through the linen, I haven't really seen any indication of that on this particular Pup, maybe with the drab upper surfaces killing the effect. Whatever the case, I've decided to go with a lightened-ribs approach.

First, I had to mask off the individual rib lines. This was frustrating!

Next time (read - upper surfaces) I'm going to spray the light coat first, then just mask the rib lines, rather than isolate them. I'm also going to be sure to use flat white as a lightener, versus, gloss. It won't matter in the end I guess, but it makes the lines stand out a lot more in pictures than intended.

Looking forward to moving on to "darkening" the valleys of the wings. Slight snag, though. I've gone and run out of Deck Tan, and, starting a new job, it's not going to be easy to get out to the LHS this week to pick up more. May have to order some through SB...

wing_nut

And I am having an absolute blast building this bird. I don't think this will be my only WNW build.

Ditto. In many ways, bipes feel as different from metal-skinned birds as armor does. Nice change of pace.

I think I'll need a bit of a break when I come out the other side of the Pup, but this won't be my last biplane, especially with the new goodies WnW has in store!

Some real nice work guys! 

SEAN - Does sound a bit of a challenge but I sure it will all come togther.  I too think I may have some of the same issues with this MK IV.  It also has sink marks, thick / inaccurate parts, lack of or no small details (does have many rivets but some of those rivets should be bolts). 

Did receive the tracks in and believe these are a huge improvement over the kit supplied ones.

The tracks came on 37 different sprues so there will be a lot of cutting out and clean up but they do look as if they will seperate quite easily.  One feature with them is that they are a two part link.  You first construct the run of the shoes and then add the treadplates on top.  And yes there are small modifications that must be made on the hul top and the deletion of the sprocket and idler in order to fit the tracks properly.  May also have to add a shim to the inner portion of the sponson's armor plate to give the shoes a ledge to sit on?  Will have to see when the time comes.  Hoping to get a start this weekend, I am finishing up my PZjager I so should be able to put all attention here.

Everyone keep up the great work.

Thanks doogs. And familiarity?  Have none whatsoever.  There is a reproduction that is supposed to be very accurate and I am just following that.  This is the part of the hobby i like... and it plays to what dupes refers to as crazy.  BTW... thanks for  looking in the comments FUPES!!!!!.  Figuring ways to do things is one thing.  With this build I have been lucky so far that I am actually able to do what's in my head.  And I am having an absolute blast building this bird. I don't think this will be my only WNW build.

Marc, wow, just...wow! I hope to one day have enough familiarity with these birds and creativity with little bits to even attempt some of the things you're doing. Can't wait to see it hit the paint stage!

Yeah...I'm leaning toward painting the rudder. Realistically, it can go on extremely late in the game, so I could feasibly apply the decals, then paint some sample plastic to see what matches best. Regardless, it'll need a white base for the white and red, so I'll probably paint that tonight. Also realized in the light of day that I didn't get entirely uniform coverage on the wing undersides, so I'm going to be hitting them with another coat tonight. I'd been hoping to start the blending work tonight, but that basecoat needs to be right first...

Doogs she is really taking shape.  Looks great.  Tough call on whether to paint if the colors a just a tiny bit off.  if they are close it may be better than the decals.  With some distance between the tail and the roundels a slight mismatch will likely be less noticeable than using slight off color to touch up the edge or seams since it would be right on the decal.

A light evening at the bench, if you can call straining to see .4 mm brass rivets, light.

I worked on the elevator hinges covering the them with lead foil and putting brass bolts for each.  Small pieces of brass tube were glued to the controls horns and the pipes at the front of the vert stab (for lifting?) where replaced.  Evergreen strips were used to tighten the gaps at the outer parts of the elevator.

The cockpit coaming was finished off with a thin strip of foil glued around the edge then drilled for the afore mentioned rivets.  I lost more rivets than I used since they would tweezerpult into oblivion when trying to get them in the holes.  The engine is just there for the photo-op but I didn't realize the exhaust pipes fell off.

I made the grommets for the drains out of wire but there are a little big and I may re-do them.