Aaron: Nice work!

Shivihigh: I think my next kit would be upholstered in cat fur...... Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr........Good luck.

I started but the wood grain decals I used for the seat made a big friggin' mess, stripped them off and doing it with streaked oil paint now.  

Tim,

 No real problem,  just that the cover that goes over the cylinders does not fit down onto the fuselage like it's supposed to unless you thin out the inside of that cover, kind of a pain.

I did get the location holes drilled for the wires,  never done that before, I'm sure to be pulling hair out over that, for a guy that always did jets that is something new,  I found some .004 smoke colored thread that should work well.

John

aka(falconmod)

Good stuff, everyone!

We're closing in on two weeks gone and it's awesome to see everyone's progress. I have to say, I am having a blast with the D.VII. Just cleaned up the wing joins today. Gonna shoot some video tomorrow--and this time, I'll make sure all the audio is there!

Gamera - I like the technique with artist's oils. Who knows, you might be happier with the outcome than you would have been with the decals.

John - I was inspired by ruddratt to wire the magnetos on the D.VII. Though the cowling is closed, I might do it just so I can have the experience. Then, the next time, I'll do it better! (At least that's what I'm telling myself.)

Tim

--

I am starting with the engines. Two big water cooled Rolls Royce Eagles, 300hp each at 2000 rpm.

Step one is to improve the radiators.

Ironic- the brass gets painted black and the plastic gets painted brass.

I need some advice from the crowd with bugs in their teeth....

What is the best way to paint to look like highly polished brass?

My engines have a lot of brass tubing in the intake manifolds.

Cliff, I'm glad you're going with the oil method for your wood grain. I think it's the best way to go. You can overspray it with Tamiya clear orange or yellow to vary the shades and give it some extra pop.

Tim, a lot of D.VII's left those upper cowling pieces off to provide additional cooling, so there's always that option. When I did my ignition wires, I used individual strands of very fine wire (pulled from an old computer ribbon cable) and twisted it tightly around the shank of a #70 bit. Just chuck the bit into one pin vise (backwards of course, leaving just the shank showing) and both ends of the wire into another pin vise and twist away. The resulting loop fits nicely over the mag terminals.

GM, those look flippin' amazing! The holes for the shaft look perfect! How'd you do that? The only way I've painted brass is brush-painting with an old bottle of Pollyscale brass acrylic I have kicking around. It works suprisingly well. I'm sure there are others, but that's the only one I've actually used.

Also, just pulled the trigger on a new Iwata Eclipse HP-CS. It's my first gravity-feed brush and after reading all the comments about it here on the forums decided to go for it. Should be quite the change from my trusty Badgers.

GM: Those mesh grills look great!

Mike: Again, the wiring is a big improvement, very cool idea. And congrads on the new airbrush, I've seen a lot of great reviews about Iwata but pretty happy with what I've got.  

ruddratt

Tim, a lot of D.VII's left those upper cowling pieces off to provide additional cooling, so there's always that option. When I did my ignition wires, I used individual strands of very fine wire (pulled from an old computer ribbon cable) and twisted it tightly around the shank of a #70 bit. Just chuck the bit into one pin vise (backwards of course, leaving just the shank showing) and both ends of the wire into another pin vise and twist away. The resulting loop fits nicely over the mag terminals.

Thanks for the how-to advice! Now, where's that old dot matrix printer ...

GMorrison

I need some advice from the crowd with bugs in their teeth....

What is the best way to paint to look like highly polished brass?

My engines have a lot of brass tubing in the intake manifolds.

[ptttthhh, cough, cough] Stupid bugs. 

The only knowledge I have with brass paint is Vallejo brass, which I think finishes in a nice shine, but I'm not sure how you would feel about it.

Alclad II produces a Polished Brass paint that you may find suits your needs. And if you need some advice with Alclad, I would turn you over to Aaron. As much as it pains me, I have to admit the guy knows how to spray natural-metal finishes.

Aaron, any advice for GMorrison?

There is a paste finish called gilders finish or something like that available in silver gold etc.  I used a silvery color to try a natural metal finish on a P-38, don't have it in front of me now but it worked real well.

The picture on the package showed a boy holding a B-29.  Hobby Lobby or a craft store should carry it if its still around

Freem

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Day 3 of my PC at geek squad wating to see if they can fix it.  To hard to do this on my phone

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

I did but paint for the bird at least.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Re my post on paste finish. I found the stuff at home it's called Rub n Buff and it comes in several metallic colors mostly in the gold and silver shades.

Here's a couple more pictures.

I got the fuselage struts put on and

the lower wings attached.

Sorry about the crappy resolution, not enough light in my basemant

John

Gamera: I'll join the fan chorus for oils to do your wood grain.  They work well, and the technique is very easy to play with.  I do all my wood that way, including an entire WnW LVG.

GM: Outstanding radiators, sir!  I admire your guts in tackling this kit.  As for the brass, I'll add my favorite - good old Testor's Brass, Copper, and Gold in the little bottles we all loved as kids.  For hand brusing metallics in small areas, you can't beat them for "shine."

John: Great start on your Albie!

Look forward to seeing more work soon everyone...I'm hoping to get sonme stuff done this weekend.  Everyone have fun!

These WW1 planes are like an infection,  I now have three of them,  all 1/48  Eduard, another Albatros D.III, the profipack.  and a albatros D. V/Va weekend edition.  of course my stash count is now bigger.

John

Thumbs up to all that have made it through the starting gate, it might be another month before I have anything to show.

Regarding brass, Mig has recently released some metallic pigments.   Never tried a brass finish, but  I'm thinking powders might be an interesting route to go if you intend to give a less than pristine finish.

http://migproductionswebshop.com/popup_image.php?pID=460

regards,

Jack

Fellow World War I aeroplane fanatics, here's the third installment of Tim and Aaron's vlog!

jgeratic

Thumbs up to all that have made it through the starting gate, it might be another month before I have anything to show.

Jack, you got plenty of time. Good to hear from you though!

GM - Those grilles do look sweet. Nice job!

My plan is to get some paint on the frame and maybe get the cockpit put together this weekend. Lots of small details there, so I can see it taking quite a while to paint everything and get it positioned. And, as I say in the video, maybe do some decal work during the week.

Have a great weekend, gents. Talk at you soon.

Well made a visit to four different hobby stores in my area and haven't found a replacement for my MIA engines. So if I may be so humble and ask if it is okay to start a different kit? I am going to pick something out tomorrow and spend the week-end working on it. Looking to still do a bomber.......maybe the Goitha in a different scale.

Tim - great vlog installment! You are really making some serious headway on that build! Aaron's got a bit of catching up to do, eh?

John - yes, these birds are very addictive. I caught the bug about 7-8 years ago and haven't looked back. Nice work on the Albatros too! It's coming along great!

Spent about 4 hours on the E.III last night, 3 of 'em figuring out what wouldn't work, undoing and then redoing over and over before hitting on something that actually would - by then the night was pretty much shot, resulting in about 1 hour of usable results with nothing photo-worthy to speak of. Ah well, live 'n learn.

shivinigh

Well made a visit to four different hobby stores in my area and haven't found a replacement for my MIA engines. So if I may be so humble and ask if it is okay to start a different kit? I am going to pick something out tomorrow and spend the week-end working on it. Looking to still do a bomber.......maybe the Goitha in a different scale.

Dude, that sucks.

Sure. Let us know what it is so I can update the master list. Good luck!

Got some work done on the ICM Fok. E-iv tonight. Got the cockpit details installed and glued the 3 piece fuselage together.  Will have to sand off the rib detail to smooth the seams but the simulated formers look like they're made out of 4x4 material so they need to be scaled down anyway. Plan to glue some finely streched sprue and sand most of it away then shade the lines.  I have a thin mix of CDL that will let that show through. Hope to post some pics tomorrow

Just getting ready to start my build and just looking for a bit of help. I am not sure what colour to paint the fabric on the inside. I know xtracolour does an RFC fabric dope, but it will be at least a week before i can get hold of one, assuming the LHS has it. Can anyone suggest anything from the Tamiya range, i have checked my conversion chart and it doesn't give a Tamiya equivalent. I was thinking Deck Tan or Buff, maybe mixed with white.

Any ideas.

Bish

My WingNut Wings gives Tamiya XF55 as Clear Doped Linen and that's what I'm expecting to use.

Just to give a show of where I'm up to on here below is my engine so far for the Sopwith Pup

Others going on my WIP now

Phil

Thanks, ye, that's the deck tan i was thinking of. The Airfix instructions don't give anything. I have a build review from modellingmadness. He says clear doped linen, but no paint brand.

I'll go with XF 55.

Nice work on the engine.

Another source for WWI colour paints is MisterKitUSA

I know some of you intend to 'pimp' out to the max  your builds, so you might want to check out the turnbuckles here (available in both 1/48 and 1/32):

http://www.gaspatchmodels.com/accessories/

... and check out their German airspeed indicater:

regards,

Jack

freem - looking forward to the pics!

Phil - very nice work on the engine! Really looks the part! Checked out your progress on the other thread. That's some seriously good work!

Bish - another vote for Tamiya deck tan. Makes a great CDL color. It's all I use. You'll also like it under a coat of Future when you're simulating a wood grain finish. Nice to see you getting started on your build. I've been eagerly awaiting this one!

Jack - they do have some really nice stuff. I've got two sets of both the -A and the -C type turnbuckles in 1/32 on order. Nice to know they also do 'em in 1/48, but man, those must be tiny!

Phil: nice work there!

Jack: Wow, that's some insane detail!

Good choice, I just had my LHS order me one of those a couple of weeks ago to add to my now expanding WW1 stash

On another note I got the fuselage panel lines on my Albatros fixed from the filler and pre-shaded it so it is ready for paint on the top.

John