GMorrison - Absolutely splendid "barber pole" scheme on your Felixstowe. Also love the bombs. It's all shaping up beautifully.
Marc - Beautiful job on the plywood, and thanks for the useful tutorial on the "carbon paper" technique. Never would have thought of that, but will be trying it soon.
Shiv - High praise on the Roland. Really, really nice. Anxious to see how the Gotha goes--I've got the old Rareplanes vac version, but never had the guts to start it yet.

Some headway on the Baby: paint on, some decals on, starting to connect a few bits. Still plotting, planning and drilling holes for rigging, made a batch of my own turnbuckle loops from wire and found it much easier than I anticipated. Still some "blend together" weathering to do. The current look:

Have a great weekend everybody. love what everybody's doing.

Hi guys,

OK, it's been a while since I've done an update with photos, so I'm taking a break from the vlog to show you some shots of where I'm at. 

Right now, I'm in the process of buttoning up the front end. As I have been warned by multiple parties (Chuck Davis haunts me in my sleep, calmly telling me to test-fit everything), I am test-fitting everything and proceeding at a pace that would make a snail cast its eyestalks down in shame. 

I attached the chin and radiator today, and I was able to get the water pipe from the radiator to the water pump in back. However, I haven't glued the chin cowl to the radiator yet. In this pic I'm test-fitting the cloth panel that I'm using for Otto Creutzmann's D.VII. Because it is supposed to be an extension of the cloth covering the rest of the airframe, the gap will be filled and smoothed over.

I've glued the panel behind the chin in place. I'm a little concerned about the gap between it and the cloth panel on the side. I haven't been able to find any references to show me how pronounced it was on the actual aircraft.

Here I'm just showing the water pipe running to the water pump. Also, you can see that I have added the cover over the fuel tank and magazine. That was a very tight fit, and there is the tiniest gap made more pronounced in the pic by some black paint. I was using rubber bands to hold the panel in place and the liquid cement followed it due to capillary action. Needless to say, I have some clean up to do there.

So, the plan is to fit the sides on working forward. I'll finish and attach the muffler before gluing the starboard forward panel in place. Then, when the sides are where they need to be, glue the radiator, chin cowl and upper covers in place.

Who knows? Maybe next week, I'll get paint on her.

You guys have been doing a great job. Again, congrats to Shiv--I can't tell you how cool it is to see that badge in your sig line!

You guys have a great weekend. I'm going to see Ironman 3!

Does anyone know the appropriate color for Royal Naval Air Service/ Royal Air Force 230 lb. bombs in 1918?

I found a color photo of one that recently washed up on the beach at Felixstowe, but it was kind of rusty...

I was thinking a tan Khaki?

Tan would be correct for virtually any of the RNAS/RFC bombs, with a combination of green, red and white stripes indicating bomb type. Great resource photos here.

Shiv: Beautiful job there! Love the paint scheme and the great job you did on the rigging.

Greg and Tim: Nice work, you guys are moving right along!

Shiv - a very nice build, and I dig the faux curtains and crazy mauve camou.   No  doubt the Germans did some experimentation to include this colour in their inventory.  Only hiccup I see is the red fuselage band.  Could it be wrongly orientated, causing  it to come up short on the underside?  Older  kits though are known for ill fitting decals such as this.  Many builders opt to mask and spray this particular type of marking.  If you do try this method, it is a good idea to spray the fuselage colour first to seal in the mask.  This avoids any paint of the chosen band colour from creeping underneath the mask.

Tim - coming along nicely, work looks really crisp.

regards,

Jack

JG thanks for the nice words. The red stripe was a faux pas on my part I had the decal to far forward on the fuselage

Gregbale Loving how the Baby is coming along, especially the way you made the stitching pop out. anxious to see the final results

Tim the D Vll is shaping up beautifully

I've attached the horizontal flying surfaces (except the upper wing).

Greg - very brave with the dry brushing detail, but looking great.

GMorrison - with the green top wing, you really got the xmas colours going.  Very spiffy I say.

----------------------

Making good progress this weekend, could possibly have the fuselage closed tomorrow.  

The seat detail is provided as a flat PE piece with raised buttons(?).  So I placed it on an erasure, and using the dull end of a drill bit of an appropriate size, applied pressure at those points to create a more 3D look.  The exterior all around then had to be crimped down, using my finger nails.

... painted and installed:

regards,

Jack

GM: Love those stripes - I was thinking killer kandy kane or flying barber! The wood underbelly looks great too.

Jack: Good idea there on the raised dials. And the leather seat and wooden interior looks terrific.

I know it's too late to add, but I am going to build a Hansa Brandenburg W29 floater to go with Felix. Just seemed right to give her an adversary. It's a simple (I hope) little build that comes with hexagon decals, from Eastern express. I could not find the MPM kit with the resin and PE, but probably just as well from the point of time.

I'll post pictures when it arrives, and I am looking for the Windsock 55 as well.

jgeratic  Beautiful seat work there, Jack. The finished cushion looks like it's resin. I use an eraser all the time for rolling and curving PE, but never for a 3D effect like that. Neat technique.

shiv - that Roland is a real looker! Very happy you went with that color scheme. Really a fine build!

Greg - the Baby is coming along quite nicely. Excellent paint work, and those markings really give it that extra pop!

Tim - I'm very much liking how the D.VII is progressing. Mine (which is currently on hold behind the E.III) ran into the same issues fitting those side panels - there was some filling involved, but I worked front to back, not minding the gaps between those two triangular parts and the main fuselage, since the line where they join needed to be eliminated to show them as one continuous piece.

GM - man, that thing looks better with every update! Been enjoying watching that one come together.

Jack - sweet work on that seat cushion. Once painting, I'd never have guessed it was PE. Your build is looking very sharp!

Cliff - how 'bout some pics of that Nieuport? Would love to see how it's shaping up.

Jeez guys… you’re killing me!  It’s bad enough I can’t get any bench time.   Then to come in here and see what you guys are doing.  All of it is really awesome stuff.

And yesterday I got another “no bench time slap in the face”  … my Gaspatch turnbuckles show up in my mail box.  The ones I got seem to be a little rough on the surface and not quite the definition of what is seen online… but they are going to look pretty Hotel Sierra when installed.

Mike: Thanks, I need to get my butt back in gear, haven't gotten much of anything done lately.

Hi guys,

Sorry I've been absent. Lots of web work yesterday, and it's not showing any signs of letting up today.

Jack and GMorrison - Great stuff, both of you!

Greg - Nice wood finish on the rear float.

Ruddratt - That's it exactly. Because it's cloth, it needs to blend, but I want to make sure that all those "metal" parts fit correctly with the radiator. My problem is I tend to over think these things.

To give myself a breather, I've started on the base. Nice light stain and some poly today, some paint and more clear tomorrow. Then markings and more clear, and then some pics for you guys. At least, that's the plan.

Greg/Jack/GM (in no particular order) - great job, guys - wonderful stuff!

Tim - I think that voice in your head worked - I think you nailed the fit.  Maybe on my next D.VII I'll succeed as well

Sooooo...guess what I found last night?  Yup.  My missing gear spreader.  My Pfalz D.III kit apparently ate it.  This is good news - while I had a CAD drawing and 3-D solid model ready, my printer purchase fell thru and I am running out of time, 'cause I have deadlines that will be approaching soon (ahem...Aaron...).  While it would have been fun scratch building the part, I'm good with using my already modified one.  It is now taped into the box, not to reappear until I'm ready to paint.  The triplane has the undercoat and gloss on - I hope to start streaking tomorrow.  The paint, that is.

Hope everyone is doing well...

Chuck Davis

Tim - I think that voice in your head worked - I think you nailed the fit.  Maybe on my next D.VII I'll succeed as well

Thanks, Chuck, for the warning and encouragement.

Thank you kind friends for the encouragement. It means a lot.

Chuck- I know how that goes. Strangest one- found an exhaust manifold on my pillow. Parts in pant cuffs, decals 350 days later in Christmas ornament boxes: all par for the course!

Tonight was an old ship builders pleasure.

I spent an hour this morning clearing off the model building table, and rearranged everything for the "Night of 1000 Details".

I put on the Optivisor, pointed a dozen little brushes, opened the jars of paint and went to work.

Here's a general overview of the scene.

General airframe, and 14 interplane struts in the foreground.

Left to right; top to bottom:

Ailerons, elevators, fuselage top, wing tip floats and props.

Trolley parts.

Tail braces.

Engine bearer assemblies.

Gun position rings and PE fret.

Engines and bombs.

GMorrison

Tonight was an old ship builders pleasure.

I spent an hour this morning clearing off the model building table, and rearranged everything for the "Night of 1000 Details".

I put on the Optivisor, pointed a dozen little brushes, opened the jars of paint and went to work.

A sight to gladden the heart of any modeler---a forest of fiddly bits! Great job, really salivating to see this one come together! (It's okay, I'm wearing my bib....)

GM: Wow, that's some nice work!!!

Gee, you think I could finish a tiny 1/48th Nieuport which is painted in A ONE COLOUR SCHEME if GM can do all that........

GMorrison

I spent an hour this morning clearing off the model building table, and rearranged everything for the "Night of 1000 Details".

I put on the Optivisor, pointed a dozen little brushes, opened the jars of paint and went to work.

Oh yeah! Looking forward to this!!!

I'm calling my tail assembly done (so to speak). Though I'll use EZ-Line for the main rigging, I decided to do the rats-nest of brace and control wires on the empennage with good old stretched sprue, since the runs are short, stress is minimal, and it's a lot easier on my shaky-to-begin-with sanity. I did the "turnbuckles" on the float stays with painted dabs of white glue. (A long perusal of period photos show the turnbuckles highly visible on the float wires, but virtually invisible on the rest of the tail wires, so that's how I left it.)

Still working on wing struts and such--I'll have to make a jig to get the wings squared up, since the kit-supplied cabane struts are conveniently "cut to length needed." (I suppose that's better than having them molded .5mm too short....)

Hoping we get a vlog this week. Rock on, everybody!

well another finished entry...I'm lagging behind, damn!

I also like this red and white stripes of the filixstowe, looking damn awesome, I liked it that much that I even ordered one!

Well during this time I was working a little bit on my model also and here is the update: I finished the red and white checkerboard and now I'm fighting with the decals, including the ones on the nose of the fuselage. Fo now just one of the sides is decalled. I tried to achieve a see through effect on the wings, but the wing ribs are not pronounced enough...well I'm not redoing it! It will stay like that. I will know better for the next attempt.

Here are the pics:

SsashoO

GregBale:

Great idea on the stretched sprue. I'm about to tackle the same area and I will give it a go. All the little brace wires that run from the horns back to the surfaces.

GM - OH YEAH! Now, it's all coming together!

Greg - I think the rigging looks quite good. The glue does an effective job of hinting at turnbuckles.

Sascho - Outstanding! I particularly like the work you've done on the underside of the upper wing. What's the story there? In service, was it painted the check and then covered again, or was that particular coloration planned?

GMorrison

I'm about to tackle the same area and I will give it a go. All the little brace wires that run from the horns back to the surfaces.

GM - I happened upon this earlier today and thought of you and the splicing question from last week. I don't know if it will help, but, hopefully, it'll give you some ideas at least.

Greg - the Baby is really shaping up nicely. Excellent job on the rigging - looks very convincing!

sasho - that is just mind-blowing! The see-thru effect on the wings is a great touch, and you pulled it off with perfection! Very very impressive!

Work has been progressing steadily on the E.III. I'll be attaching the main gear, rigging and all, tonight and hope to have some pics up as well.

ruddratt

sasho - that is just mind-blowing! The see-thru effect on the wings is a great touch, and you pulled it off with perfection! Very very impressive!

I agree 100%. That's a pretty amazing effect, very neatly done.