Chuck: Beautiful work there on the E.IV. I have doubts about how I'm going to string this Nieuport in 1/48th- how on Earth do you do it in 1/72nd!?!?!

Phil: That's just crazy awesome! My cockpit is like a tiny black hole so I didn't detail anything too much- I'm assuming you can see all that detail when you close her up?

Gamera

To be honest I'd be surprised it any of it can be seen when its all closed up but it did give me a chance to practice with rigging, I know it will help in the end

Phil

Hi Gents!

My time with the D.VII has been spent primarily prepping for painting the engine. I've learned the hard way that you need to be VERY careful with the connections on these parts (Chuck, I heeded your warnings, but not nearly as well I should have). Everything is going together, but I'm trying to get ahead of the curve and not have to go back through and fiddle with every join. So, I've masked parts of the engine where glue will go and will head back through to do touchups once it's all put together.

My goal is to have the cockpit and engine compartment complete by Wednesday.

Phil - Beautiful stuff. You know what, although you may not be able to see it all, that little bit you do see I think will add tons to the airplane.

Everyone, your builds are looking great! Aaron and I can only hope ours would be worthy of exhibition next to yours. Seriously. Very impressive.

Let's keep it moving!

P.S. Ruddratt, I'm glad someone enjoys the vlogs!

Phil: Hey at least you know it's there even if other people don't see it!

Tim: Whoops, I've enjoyed the vlogs too, guess I should say so!

Anyway I did try the oils, krappy brush, and Tamiya orange on the seat. I like how it turned out. I used the wood decals on the side walls of the cockpit but it's so dark it's hard to see.

Good stuff fellas!!

Chuck, that E.IV is flippin' awesome!! You make that braille scale stuff look easy!

Phil, the 'pup is really progressing nicely. Very impressive work on the rigging, and the wood grain looks top-shelf!

Cliff, I'm very impressed with your wood grain too. Looks tons better than my first attempt at it!

Tim, let's see some pics man!! Sounds like you've been moving along at a good pace. Can't wait to see what it's looking like!

Hey, I watched that video, I thought it was the best one yet.  

As may have been noticed, All is Quiet on the Western Front.  The last two weeks have been full of new grandchildren, R/C club business including a mall show we do once a year, and I have spent the day today running a backhoe in my backyard digging the footings for a new storage shed.

I will be starting the DH-9A this week, regardless.  To tide things over, here are a couple photos of R/C WW I airplanes, both very giant scale and very well done, although there is still a bit to do on the D-VII.  Both belong to club members and I can post the photos cause I took them myself.

I've made some progress,  got paint on the top side.  I also decided scratch build the control horns for the elevators, I think they turned out pretty good, not etched brass but brass it is.  Still need to work on the paint on the propeller.

Question,  I want to start putting on decals, what is the best gloss coat I can put over Tamiya acrylic paint?

here's waht she is supposed to look like.  Thanks for the look.

John

Mike: Thanks, I think it turned out decent. You can't see much down in the cockpit so it shouldn't be a big deal either way.

Jeaton: Gee, those are neat. How big are they? They look pretty large in the photos.

Falcon: Looks good to me! I use Model Master acrylic gloss and flat myself, not sure if they're the best. I've tried Future but it runs all over the place and ended up drying as huge globs on the model if applied heavy and orange peels like crazy if applied in light coats.

Didn't notice till now that we have two Johns on the GB 

Cliff

Great job, everyone!  I'm impressed with all the woodwork going on.  As for the "seen or not seen" - remember, we all saw the interiors and they're lookin' mightty good.

Falcon:  I'm like Cliff - I use Acryl gloss, satin, and flat all the time as my clear coats.  I use their thinner, and haven't had any problems.  I used to use Polyscale, but had bottles suddenly "go bad."  Good luck!

Tim & Aaron - I like watching the vlogs, too...I just have kept my mouth shut (startling development, I know..).

Take care all - have a great week and happy building

ruddratt

Tim, let's see some pics man!! Sounds like you've been moving along at a good pace.

I don't know about at a "good pace," but things are moving. OK, here are two pics taken this morning.

I put the compass in yesterday afternoon. I'm working on the instrument panel today: painting the woodgrain with oils.

Here's the engine masked for the first round of black, which will be masked and then followed with Testors aluminum.

I hope that tides you guys over for now.

Great progress from the group.

Confidence is high on getting the figures done for my Kingtiger tonight which will wrap that up.  A good bench cleaning to follow with a rearranging of brains cells from 100mm hot rolled steal to wood ribs covered in linen.

Gamera

eaton: Gee, those are neat. How big are they? They look pretty large in the photos.

I think they are both 1/3 scale or near it.

Gamera, Chuck,

  I used the MM Acrylic gloss coat Tuesday night and it went on great,  I started putting on decals last night and they look really good so far, can't see any silvering. Although the eduard decals didn't want to settle down over the ribs even with micro-set.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow

John

Jeaton: Wow, our dog could ride in one of those!

Falcon: Cool, glad it worked out for you! Looking forward to the photos.

All that was mentioned in the previous post has come to pass.  Can't tell which way I like t better... neat and clean or having to rummage through the stuff on the bench to find the tool i put down just moments before

It was still early enough to do a tiny bit of prop shaping.  Starts with the rough out with a coarse sanding drum getting close to the reference line drawn on the side.  When the lines between the bands of wood are crooked, one edge is thicker than the other.  Change over to a sanding block for the final shaping. As long as the bands stay relatively straight that 1st curve will be flat and even.  When the other side is sanded check your progress by measuring the distance from the center of the hub to each band.  If they're the same then the curves match on both sides.

Can;t wait to start cuttin' some plastic

Wing_nut - I am loving the prop tutorial! Never thought to use a mail sorter to sort sprues ...

Gamera

Tim: Whoops, I've enjoyed the vlogs too, guess I should say so!

Gamera, Jeaton, and Chuck - Thanks guys. We hope they're adding something to the experience. We have to film the next one in the morning. Lots to show!

Phil - Great progress!

Falconmod - You keep going at this thing like you're running a 3-minute mile! Love what you're doing. I wonder though, what camera are you using? It looks like you have some amazing detail in the cockpit but it's a bit blurry. Could you take another shot for us? Also, the cowling looks like it cleaned up wonderfully.

Applause all around, gentlemen!

Wing days

Ailerons and flaps are the order of the day, plus the underside clear doped linen.

A note on that color. A mixture based on Tamiya Deck Tan, plus a 1/8th drop of Insignia Yellow and a single drop of XF-1 Black. Maybe a little green but I liked the amber quality.

First, the control surfaces are not at all addressed by Roden regarding how they hang. So to look at Windsock; they are hinged at every major rib. I cut masks and cut slots for that. I will attach the flap/ ailerons at the end of the build. I also drilled out the holes for rigging.

Next, pre highlight the ribs. I used a Fine Point Sharpie.

Then a couple of coats of the CDL version I came up with.

Next- the engines.

I ordered E Z Line today; thank you John Eaton for the tip.

Tim,

 Sorry about the quality of the pictures,  I only have a real crappy kodak digital.  It works with better light so I'll have to try to get some new pictures this weekend during the day not a 12:30 AM at my work bench.

john

I've been putting on decals the last couple of days,  I have all the crosses on now, So now I have to go back and rework the paint on my prop a little and finish painting the LG and the exhaust. and then gloss coat the fuselage for the rest of the decals.

I do like the MM gloss acrylic clear coat, goes on real smooth.  I bought the air brush ready stuff in the flip top bottle.

John

Happy Friday, everyone!

Here's the latest vlog from Aaron and me. Admire his avant garde camera technique (forgetting how to use the zoom) and my inability to sit still long enough for an easy shot of my progress. Or mock us, your choice!

Have a great weekend!

Tim

Rest your hand on the desk, Tim!  I got whiplash!  Looks pretty good, though.  How come Aaron always gets the professional camera man?

I did in fact start on my DH-9A today, no paint yet but I stuck a lot of little tiny parts on the fuselage frames and finally figured out which end was the front.  WNW kits are awesome!

falconmod

Tim,

 Sorry about the quality of the pictures,  I only have a real crappy kodak digital.  It works with better light so I'll have to try to get some new pictures this weekend during the day not a 12:30 AM at my work bench.

john

No problem, John. And definitely no criticism here, especially when you consider my photography skills. Whenever I shoot anything that is clear, I have to do a little celebration dance. 

It looks like everything's coming together nicely, though.

Have a great weekend!

jeaton01

How come Aaron always gets the professional camera man?

Ha! Just the guy who uses it more.

jeaton01

I did in fact start on my DH-9A today, no paint yet but I stuck a lot of little tiny parts on the fuselage frames and finally figured out which end was the front.

<two thumbs way up!> I am have a wonderful time with the D.VII. So, agreed, the WNW kits are awesome!

We just received the Fokker D.VII F in the office yesterday. Another beauty in the box.

Have a great weekend, and we can't wait to see pics of the DH-9.

I also made a start with the cockpit and the engine :) its half ready, what I can say about the kit is that for now it looks like one of Eduards betetr kits :). Only the engine is lacking, actually its nearly non existant and just barely represented. The only downfall is that she can't be build with exposed engine. The cocpit detail is awesome, but I'm using WnW's instructions for the colour guide.
Thanks for checking,

Sasho

Things are picking up steam here.  Good progress all around.

I finally started in on some plastic taking a break from the prop.  Inside fuselage painted and washed.  Seat and ribs starting to get done   I've lost the PE fret so  can't do the belts yet 'til I get a replacement from WNW.  Anyone have customer service experiencing with them?. Plenty of other sub assemblies to work on while I wait.

Sasho - great looking start.  I'm anxious to see more!

Marc - Interior looks outstanding - love the wood grain.  As for belts, have you thought about HGW?  They make a textured seat belt set for a number of WnW - and other brand - kits.  I've not used them yet, but I hear good reports.  Another option - I have a WnW D.Va and I won't be using any of the PE (belts from HGW and guns from Master), so if you want send me your address off-line and it's yours.

I feel like I'm falling behind, so many of you guys have made so much progress.  Have a great rest of the weekend.

Chuck, thanks so much. I think I will take you up on the offer,  Let me know what you want for the fret. PM with address inbound.  Now I know I have a horrific head cold at the moment so I am going to blame it on hat... but what's HGW?

Hi Marc - no problem.  Sorry about your cold.  The "HGW" I mentioned is a Czech company that has an extensive line of seatbelts, PE, and speciality decals.  Here's the web link:

http://battlefield.eshop-zdarma.cz/index.php?category_id=46

I have some of their sets, I just haven't been building anything for me lately so I haven't used any.  Hope that helps, and get rid of the cold!

John, Tim, sasho, GM, Marc - you fellas are cranking out some seriously top notch stuff! Keep it comin'!

Chuck - what a great site! I've got it bookmarked now - that Fe.2B detail set for the WnW kit looks way too good to pass up on.

Tim - loved the vlog!! Thanks for another good one!

Been making steady progress on the 'pit for the E.III. Should have it done within the next few days and when I do I'll get some pics posted before everything's buttoned up.