WOW I can not believe the work going on.

Tim-another good VLOG and the lozenge decals are looking nice. Looking at the Lozenge decals for the Gotha and shiver everytime I do.

GJ-nice work on the wood grain. What decal paper did you use?

Chuck-the streaking turned out really nice. Love how it all blended together

Marc-I don't know what to say. Absolutely incredible just doesn't seem to properly describe how that wood finish turned out.

Greg-really good save. The Pup still looks like it is ready to fly after it mishap.

Bish-that 0/400 is a beast. I can see the similarities between it and the Gotha. I am thinking that the Axis ground troops better start taking some cover.

Chuck - you've done quite well at rendering the Fokker streaking.  Another option in lieu of adding white, would be to use less paint in a few areas to bring about more contrast with the deck tan showing through.

Marc - becoming very colourful now, and  love the knackered look of those wheel hubs.

Greg - good save there, can't tell at all that your project had that major mishap, and the weathering on those floats looks right on.

Bish - grats on hauling this one over the finish line, I think you did a wonderful job.  I don't know what sort of base you have planned for it, but I hope you can give us a few shots with a plain background to get a better view of the rigging.

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

Well the decal option for wood grain isn't going anywhere fast.  The originals are not cookie cutter solution type,  but are oversize and have to be trimmed once affixed to the model surface.  I can align one side to a panel line, but the other three have to be cut.   Having problems with this, as even a fresh new blade does not want to make a clean cut after several passes.  I think it might be the clear decal film is too thin, and exhibits the properties of a plastic baggie.  

I also thought that being on clear decal film, it would not darken the overall colour, but it has done just that, and looks very much like a deep red wine.  So now will try printing a test section on white decal paper ( both are Micro-Mark brand).  This should control the colour shift, and they are also thicker, so hoping that will aid in acquiring a cleaner cut.

regards,

Jack

Bish - Appropriately "heavy" congrats on finishing the 0/400, it looks amazing. (I remember "flying" one of these in an old video game, and wondering how they ever got them into the air)

Jack - Only thing I can suggest with the decals, based on similar experience, may well be something you've already tried, but here it is. I've found that cutting with the "middle" of a new blade, rather than the tip, can give a cleaner cut on slippery sheet-type applications. Regardless, I hope you get it worked out.

Thanks to all for the words of support. Really geared to see how everybody's progressing.

Man, what a busy lot you guys have been!

Marc - don't know what to say that has not been said already. That is jaw-dropping work! I'm curious as to how you plan on weathering the fuselage, especially the wood grain, to tie it all together.

Greg - man am I glad you saved that and that cool heads prevailed. Would have been a major bummer not to see the finished product after all the excellent work you've put into it.

Bish - congrats man! That is a very sharp looking build. Now that you've cut your modeling teeth on one of these birds, any plans for another sometime in the future?

Got the wings decaled for the E.III, but the gloss coat really diminished the effect of the weathering on 'em. Hoping after I matte them out it'll be more visible.

thanks for all the comments guys.

Mike I'm kind of curious about that too

Greg glad you did not do that I have come so close myself many times

bish I would say your first world war 1 bird has been a huge success nicely done

Thanks for the comments guys. Shiv, now can you see why I had to look twice. With the bomb that's hanging under this, they better dig deep.

Jack, defiantly. I am waiting until the base is done to get the final pics. It just a piece of worktop with a patch of ground under the bomber, not a full dio, just a simple one. Should be done by Sunday.

Greg, really, how was it to fly. You do have to wonder when you look at them. I know these wouldn't be as heavy as later all metal aircraft, but its wingspan is nearly as much as my B-17. With only 2 engine, which can't have been that powerful, I do wonder how it left the ground.

Mike, I am ordering an Airfix Swordfish next month. I found some new decals for one that suits a project of mine. But that should be easy after this. maybe one of these days, I will do one of those colourful birds you guys are doing. Maybe something with nice black crosses on it, at least they will make me feel at home.

Bish, nice job! If you want, go ahead and add the ribbon to your already hefty chest o' medals, and when you upload the final pics, I'll choose one and add it to the Hall of Fame in the first post.

OK guys, with three aircraft down, we have 14 on the workbenches and still one to leave the hangar. Not bad!

Greg - I'm glad to hear you're still with us after the brush with the floor. I'm still waiting to see how GMorrison is doing after his accident.

On my end, it's been slow going with the decals. Need to get the blue rib tape on next, so, I'll have to schedule some extended time at the bench.

Everyone, again, I stand in both amazement and awe! Great work! 

Tim, extended time is just the ticket. Those tapes are quite tedious to install but man do they look good!

Got some of the decal panels on, but it's fighting me all the way.  Greg, thanks for the cutting hint, as it gave me an idea to try one of those curved edge blades.  No dice though, and the white decal paper behaved no better, but did give better control of the overall colour.  

I ended up creating strips of Tamiya yellow tape as masters for each individual panel shape, then sticking them on the decal proper and trimming with scissors before dipping in water.  As I had expected, a white edge can be seen on many of the sides, something that will have to be addressed once the decal stage is over.

Build reviews of this type of decal give an estimate of 4 hours - I'm already on my fourth day of trying to tackle this.  I've seen some fantastic looking bi-planes turned out with this method.  Don't know how they did it, certainly no midas touch here on my part.

regards,

Jack

Hey wow! Great stuff guys!

I seem to keep falling more and more behind, since I'm trying to finish these two choppers for the museum I've been concentrating work on them. I did spray the Nieuport with the silver Polly-Scale....... and hated it. The grain is so heavy it looks like a metal flake auto finish. Going to go back and use Alclad as I should have in the first place... shheeeeessshhhhhhh........

....and I would be the build still on the runway....

On a serious note, I have been following and the quality of ALL of the builds has been outstanding.  I've learned so much following....I am truly humbled by everyone's work...

Hoping to start working on the Fokker E. V soon-since it is a 'Weekend' kit, it should only take a weekend, right?....yeah, I'm not feeling it.  On the upside, the rigging is non-existent, so that will help.  On the downside, I'm really thinking about picking up an Eduard Nieuport instead....I really need learn to rig and this is the perfect time...we'll see. 

cheers

Good to hear from you, Bob. As to which kit...there's plenty of time, I'm sure you could do both.

Seriously, whichever would be most fun.

Cheers

Jack, it's all you fault    Now I have to build another Albatros to try out that decal idea.  It never occurred to me to take the high contrast wood grain images I made and print them in a brownish tint on clear decal paper.

Greg, you walked that fine line between using a product you know band love and trying something else.  That's how we grow. Imagine what life would be like if no one had every tried peanut butter and bacon on toast

Bob, yes it is a weekend kit... if it was spelled...   weeeeeeeeeeekend.

I am back from the wedding...and boozing... in Newport RI and will get back to the bench later today.

Bob, if I may chip in- it takes me about six-seven months of weekends to build a 'Weekend' kit.......

wing_nut

Jack, it's all you fault    Now I have to build another Albatros to try out that decal idea.

Jack-decals look great-very realistic.  I can only image what a challenge they were to apply-you did a great job.

Regarding the "Weekend" kit-ok....maybe a couple of weekends...but I get the idea guys....I noticed that Squadron has the 1/48  Eduard Dr.1 Weekend kit on sale....looks like a quick build with the exception of the painting.....I've got to get started no later than mid-June if I want to get anything finished.  Still thinking about the E. V but there is just something not right about a WW I plane with only one wing....

cheers

Jack - those decals really look the part! The white edges do present a bit of a puzzler - it'll be interesting to see how you go about dealing with them.

Bob - nice to see you here. I like the E.V, but the DR.1 is also a stunner to look at. Would be neat to see another one pop up here. The Eduard kit is a gem! As far as single-wing WWI birds, one wing really ain't so bad - the Eindecker series aircraft do look pretty cool.

Jack, I was curious about those white outlines.  Are they a side effect of the decal application?  If I may suggest an alternative to an overcoat of dark brown.  Give the air frame a sealer coat of clear acrylic.  Then go over each white line with some raw umber artist oil. Then wipe away the excess.  That way you can deal with the lines and not darken the whole panel.  If it doesn't work or you are unhappy with the result a cloth barely damp with thinner will remove the oil... no harm no foul.

Gentlemen!

It's hard to believe, but we have less than two months to go on the GB, now. Three aeroplanes are finished, and another two dozen are closing in. Good work!

Bob, it's great to see you! Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Jack, I think your technique has got to be one of the more courageous ones we've seen in the GB so far. However, knowing my propensity for goofing up decals, I don't think it will be one I'll try in the near future. I think WingNut may be right--some targeted pin washes along the panel lines may be just what the doctor ordered.

Tim

Yeah looks great Jack, and Marc's advice sounds right on the money to me too!

Thanks guys for all the comments, and equally as well, the suggestions.  The wash over the panel grooves is exactly what I plan to do.  Some edges  though, have worn through the two coats of Testors gloss cote, disintegrating the printer ink, resulting in the exposed white decal.

As Marc stated, he plans to use clear decal sheets, which is definitely the way to go.  My problem was in the graphic process, as I didn't push the contrast enough to end up with portions of clear areas.  I was losing too much of the finer grain detail when trying this, so left the main colour still visible, but did print the decals out a bit lighter to make up for this.  I figured it wouldn't be any different than painting two coats of the same colour on top of one another.  

How wrong I was ... as illustrated by the inset photo, the clear decal is quite translucent, but even the portion in front of the the blade handle looks quite dark, and once on the model, it appears to have doubled in intensity.

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

On the subject of homemade decals, I made some screens for the rad mesh located on the main wing. Hadn't planned this, but on the bottom side I had to clean up a build up of paint on the fine screen detail that was already there.  The lacquer thinner ate away at the plastic, destroying this detail.

  Aftering finding a mesh graphic on the net,  http://graphicleftovers.com/graphic/metal-wire-mesh-pattern/ I stitched several copies of it together and then cropped to proper size and scale.  It is on clear decal film, so the rad surface itself was painted aluminum beforehand.

regards,

Jack

Jack - Great "lateral thinking" on the home-made decal to fix the radiator. I've found that tricks like that (plus lots of data-plate and sign-making type-stuff) tend to follow on naturally when you start making your own decals with some success. It's pretty easy and quick once you get in the groove.

Re the wood grain decals: I know this doesn't apply to your situation (where you're cutting them to size on the model itself), but, when possible, it's far easier to touch up the cut edges of decals printed on white decal stock before they're applied. Even if you have to make a trim or two once they're on, it's a lot less grief. Markers work best (if the color is compatible), but if you have to use paint, there's one advisory, (which, of course, I learned the HARD way): go easy on the touch-up---too much paint will just seep under and bond the edges to the decal paper, preventing it from separating when you soak it . (Sounds obvious---probably IS---but, well....)

That said, even with the white edges showing, the paneling looks exceptionally good. It's a beautiful effect.

Heading off to get Tamiya smoke and white primer in a few minutes. Then this:

wing_nut

Hmmmm... that look vaguely familiar 

Greg -  great tip about markers on the decal edges.  I believe it is mostly the sides of the decal that are showing white.  Had I thought of it,  I could have incorporated your idea  as I was cutting Tamiya tape on the aircraft's surface panels, and then peeled them off to use a masters on the decals themselves.  I saved the tape(s) on to a sheet of wax paper for a future project.

Tim - looking forward to the smoke application on your wings.

regards,

Jack

My carpet monster must have snake like jaws that can unhinge for the bigger parts.  I can't fine the %@$#%(*#*  spinner anywhere

Oh Marc, it's right there under your foo...Oh Noooo!  Well, you are excellent at scratch building.

By the way, does anyone remember me?  Well, I have actually done a little work and assembled the fuselage "skins" for lack of a better word and painted the interior of them.  I used Tamiya NATO Brown with a rubbing with a stiff brush and burnt umber for the ply parts, and Humbrol Unbleached Linen for an area where the fabric is exposed inside.  I rubbed that with a dry Q-Tip to break up the monochrome and I'll probably accept it, but truthfully it looks too yellowish to me.  I test fit the skins over the assembled framework and it just fits.  I suspect getting rid of the seam on the top of the aft fuselage is going to be a trial, it is such a large flat surface with the seam in the middle.  Sometimes in cases like that I just sheet the area with thin plastic sheet.  Maybe that will work here.  I think a fair amount of the inside detail is going to be visible through this airplane's rather large cockpit openings, and the bracing wires show up well especially in the lighter fabric area.

The DH-9A, the complete except for cement steps deck, and the just finished foundation and slab for the new workshop/storage building too, the reasons for my absence.  I wish I could find a way to use my new compound miter saw for modeling, it sure is a neat tool!

Now that I have gotten this far on the house project I will be able to participate more like I should here, I have kept up with the posts and video blogs, and congratulate those that have finished already, and as others have remarked, there is some much above average work being done here.

Jack, in order to avoid that white edge I always make the white undercoat smaller than the overlaid colors when I use my ALPS printer.  Since you probably can't get an inkjet to print on inkjet decal paper with a white paint undercoat, perhaps you could paint the model white in the decaled areas first and then apply the decal printed on clear decal paper over that?  But it might be worth the experiment to use clear decal paper with the white undercoats painted on with a very thin layer of flat white paint in the areas you will print on.  Some experiments with plain paper to get the registration right might be needed there.

I'm sure you'll get it right the way you are going, and wouldn't there be a glue line at the edges of the wood sheets anyway?

Jack - man, I'm diggin' that radiator work! This has been a great GB so far - I'm learning tons from you guys!

Tim - looking forward to seeing your application of Marc's shading technique. It really does give an amazing amount of depth to the rib detail!

Marc - bummer about the spinner. I'm sure it'll turn up though - no carpet monster has jaws THAT big!

John - great to see you posting more pics of your build (I know how addicting power tools can be! ). It's really coming along nicely!

OK fellas, the home stretch for the E.III is fast approaching. The wings are painted and installed along with a few of the other fiddly bits, like the gun, the center rigging support / pulley, and a few more turnbuckles in anticipation of the rigging, which should be commencing tomorrow evening. Then it'll be a matter of attaching and rigging in the rudder, mounting the windscreen and also the prop. She'll be rigged mostly with EZ line - the only exception being a couple of long runs using  .005" steel wire on the top side to add support to the wings and maintain the proper dihedral (those wings are long and I'm a bit leary about the attachment points supporting them on their own). Anyway, here's a few pics of where it sits at the moment......

John: You're making about as much progress as me and I'm not doing any home improvements!

Mike: Wow, that looks great! The faded paint looks good, and I love the rigging of the undercarriage.