Bish

The badge is the logo for Sopwith, Wingnut sell them and it was just too nice an addition not to use.

[View:http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/productdetail?productid=3075&cat=5#:600:0]

They are doing one for Fokker soon looking at their wed site

Phil

Good evening gentlemen.  Hope everyone had a great weekend.  In between shuttling the kids to the County Fair and back, I managed to get some work done (finally ).

This is how the triplane started the weekend:

Before I got too far I had to assemble the upper deck.  I had spent a lot of time earlier on fiddling with the fit of this resin part, and it paid off - it clicked into place (phew!).  The kit gun mounts were in the perfect spot, so I decided to use them instead of my original plan of replacing them with parts from my D.VII - again lucky.  Some filling and painting of the cockpit coaming, and it was on to the wings.  In short order, I went from the pile of parts above thru the sequence shown below:

Shouldn't be long now...just the landing gear, engine, cowl, stabilizer, rigging, control cables....

Yeah...maybe it will be a bit yet.  But I'm happy I got this far!  Take care everyone...

Now that's a nice touch phil, thanks for the pic.

Looking good chuck. That's some balancing act with those wings. That should be fun to rig.

Yeah, nice work Chuck! The streaked fabric effect looks even better with the model mostly together. And I had enough problems aligning the two wings on the Nieuport, the triplane must have been a pain.

Bish - Actually one of the "advantages" of the triplane build is that there is very little rigging - just two wires on the front cabanes and two wires on the gear.  That's why I figured it would be an easy build for my first Group Build effort.  In reality, it just meant I ended up being challenged in other areas.  But that's OK - I've learned a lot.

Gamera - thanks for the comments.  I need a lot of work on the streaked camo, but I learned a lot on this first effort.  The wings actually were relatively easy.  Though it's a Roden kit and they can occasionally be a bit challenging, this one was pretty good.  The wings didn't fuss much about alignment.

Phil - Absolutely stunning! Make sure to add the GB ribbon to your sig line.

I've added the Pup to the Hall of Fame at the beginning of the GB thread.

OK men, it's time for the big push! Only 9 days left and the GB is over. I thought about using wise-sounding words, invoking the names of Joffre and von Falkenhayne, but ... that would take too much time from trying to get the D.VII in the air.

Chuck - looking good!

Aaron - Yeah, it's not a race, but I have to make myself feel better somehow.

Anyhow, this is make it or break it time. On this week's docket: Tamiya smoke effects, artist's oils filters and washes, rigging, final photo, second-to-last vlog, bottle of whiskey.

Good luck, gents!

I hadn't thought of that chuck, but makes sense. Very clever choice of your part.

Zowie, Chuck, the Tripe looks magnificent. Can't wait to see it up on its pegs.

Looks good, Chuck.  I should have used your reasoning on picking a subject, my DH-9a has wires everywhere.  I'm plugging along, painting the wings.  Trying to get it all together except for the RAF streamline wires, which I just figured out WNW sells in an elastic form.  Ordered some, but it won't be here in time, I think.  I think I did get a reasonable look for clear doped linen.  I used Floquil Reefer White for the base, and overcoated it with Tamiya Clear Yellow.  Still needs some dirt but I think that is best after decals.  Clear doped linen is not a color I know as well as I might, since I have done dope and fabric work on airplanes in the 60's but those fabrics have a blue cast to them, and are mercerized cotton.  My impression is that the old linen has more of an off white toward yellow cast to it, as it was unbleached.  When you have a enough clear dope on fabric to start on silver, it has more of a honey color.  Of course, the fabrics used now are different again, as they are shrunk on with an iron, it is an entirely different  process now.  I also have most of the seams on the fuselage quieted down.

I'm rather disappointed that I have not been a more productive participant here, but it's been a busy time for me, with a number of unexpected things coming up.  My mother in law who we have been caring for in our home for the last 7 years went into a decline around her recent 94th birthday and passed two days ago.  If you think you will have all the time in the world to do what you want when you retire, good luck with that.  You'll have to be a lot smarter than me!

John,

My condolences to you and yours.

As for being active, you've been an integral part of the GB--the first one in if I remember correctly! You've been here exactly as much as you needed to be. 

I'm no expert, but I think the clear doped linen is looking pretty good. I think we're all starting to line up on the glide path. I'm sure Aaron will post soon with a pic of his clear blue. It's looking very cool.

Thanks, Tim, on all counts.

John - sorry to hear that.  My condolences to you and your family.  Another reminder that real life always trumps models.

Heartfelt condolences, John, on your family's loss. Life never seems to be the smooth sailing it's made out to be.

As to your participation, I'm with Tim. We couldn't have done it without you, nor would we have wanted to.

CDL looks very good. I'm with you on the color tone, it always looks best to me on the creamy yellow side of the spectrum.

Tim Kidwell

John,

My condolences to you and yours.

As for being active, you've been an integral part of the GB--the first one in if I remember correctly! You've been here exactly as much as you needed to be. 

I'm no expert, but I think the clear doped linen is looking pretty good. I think we're all starting to line up on the glide path. I'm sure Aaron will post soon with a pic of his clear blue. It's looking very cool.

Well, here's the fuselage of my Fokker with the translucent blue over the lozenge and national insignia

I mixed Tamiya acrylic blue and Tamiya thinner (2 parts paint:1 part thinner). Then I added an equal measure of Pledge Future floor polish. I airbrushed the mix at about 20 psi building up the color until it almost obscured the markings. I'm pretty happy with the way it looks. I'll let it dry for a couple of days then mask and paint white then yellow over the nose.

I may get this thing done after all!

Aaron

PS You can see Tim's stunning red-and-white plane in the background. These two are going to look great together!

Something I want to add: Aaron seems to have figured out what those of us who have built the D.VII and ended up with a canted front end could not. Aaron, care to explain what you did?

Beautiful job on the blue, there, Aaron! (What did you use, or is it the basis of a yet-to-be-published FSM special feature?) I've seen the "painted over" crosses before, but the just-visible lozenge underneath is "one step beyond."

Tim Kidwell

Something I want to add: Aaron seems to have figured out what those of us who have built the D.VII and ended up with a canted front end could not. Aaron, care to explain what you did?

After discussing the problem with Chuck and watching Tim build his — thanks for taking point there, Kidwell! — I decided to build the fuselage first than insert the assembled cockpit and frame minus the engine into the fuselage from the front. This allowed me to wiggle it into alignment. It's a tight fit, so it helps to gently squeeze the fuselage from top and bottom as you insert the assembly. Then I added the engine, taking car to align the cylinder heads with the airframe centerline. It looked good, but the proof was in the cowl panels, which fit perfectly.

Cheers, Aaron

gregbale

Beautiful job on the blue, there, Aaron! (What did you use, or is it the basis of a yet-to-be-published FSM special feature?) I've seen the "painted over" crosses before, but the just-visible lozenge underneath is "one step beyond."

Thanks, Greg! No secret: It's Tamiya acrylic blue thinned normally, then mixed with an equal measure of Future. Sprays smooth and allowed me to build up the finish to the right look.

Cheers, Aaron

John, so sorry to hear that. Our sympathies and prayers to you and your family in this time of sadness.

Chuck - great to see the F.1 nearing the finish line. Looks fantastic, and the streaked camo - just incredible!

Tim & Aaron - just stupendous work fellas, and some great tips! Those are two very colorful birds!

John, wow 94!  A full life indeed. But still sad when the time comes.  My condolences to your and your family.

Chuck, superb work on the tripe.  

Aaron, The blue looks sweet.  A few kerosene stains and some dirt and that will be something' special.

John: Sorry to hear about that, my sympathies to you and the family.

Aaron: Sounds good, sometimes you just have to toss the instructions in the box and go with what works!

Well, the Nieuport is mostly done and I've started on the rigging. Probably won't meet the end date though...  

Anyway here we are:

OK guys - a small but important update.  As you can see in the first photo, there is a major seam on the lower fuselage at the "spar carry-thru" - some big gaps and a couple of steps for good measure.  I thought about trying to fill and sand...and fill and sand.  I decided I didn't have time or the inclination.  I've recently become a big fan of thin plastic sheet as a quick fix filler.  I cut a piece of .015" plastic to fit, added the stitching, and sprayed a pre-shade of dark grey, followed by a color coat of light blue.  Total of about 20 minutes work.  Gear next...

Way to go, Gamera and Chuck! Good to see both your projects getting closer to roll-out.

Chuck -- Is the underfuselage stitching on your bird part of the kit's moldings, or something aftermarket? It's pretty impressive.

Thanks Greg!

Chuck, good idea, the card took care of the problem. I'm curious about the underside stitching too.

Greg - The stitching is actually photoetch.  It's included in the box - at least in the Encore F.1 boxing that I used.  I'm not sure the original "plain" Roden kit had it.

Gamera - I hadn't seen your Nieuport pics until after I posted my stuff.  Nice!  I hope you can still get her done.

Aaron - I forgot to mention how much I like the "painted over" look you achieved - nicely done!  I'll have to keep that in mind for my Hannover in the stash...

One week to go, gents!

Gamera - It's coming along nicely! I believe you'll still land her.

Chuck - Always a pleasure to see where you're at. I've got that model sitting on my shelf here. I'll have to print out the GB so I can have a workbench reference for when I build it.

Update on my D.VII coming this afternoon.

Just One week to go!

Even thou I don't have pictures at th emoment I have some progress to report - The top wing is attached (on the 3rd attempt, bleh I hate this), all the rigging is done, the spinner is ready, the gun is ready, the ailerons are ready.

I still have to:

Attach the before mentioned spinner, ailerons, gun etc

Weather her a lil bit

eventually create a simple base

and somewhere in between get some pictures posted :)

Best regards,

Sasho

Go, Sasho! We're all pulling for you. (As complex as the Brisfit is, you probably had a longer road than most of us, barring the Gothas, Felixstowes and such.)

BTW....I "flew by" the GB 1st page for the first time in quite a while. We've put up a pretty impressive collection of stick-and-fabric (and plywood) airpower there, with more on the way. Kudos again to Aaron and Tim for leading us all on this mad adventure.

Thanks guys! We'll see if I can get done in time. The big issue is I glue one end of the rigging down, wait an hour or so for it to dry, then the other end and wait.... it's taking a while. I hate superglue and won't use it even though it's instant.

Tim and Sasho - looking forward to more photos!

And even if I don't finish by the deadline a big thanks to Tim and Aaron for putting this on, the Nieuport has been sitting in my stash for years- thanks for giving me a swift kick in the butt to bring her out and build her!