Great looking little bumblebee, there, Bob!  Good luck!

Thanks Chuck...looking at the instructions, getting the wing and landing gear are going to be interesting....to say the least...

Hello dear ladies (I hope there are some around) and Gentlemnes,

I declare this bird finished, even thou without a base - maybe sometime in the future I will add one, but for now it will have to be without one.

Here are some pictures:

Thanks for checking,

Sasho

Brilliant, Sasho - absolutely wonderful.  The "see-thru" effect looks so natural against the sky.  Nicely done!

Sasho, that's a totally stunning piece of modelling. Been a real pleasure seeing this built.

Sasho-I have to agree-outstanding build....very impressive.

Chuck Davis

Brilliant, Sasho - absolutely wonderful.  The "see-thru" effect looks so natural against the sky.  Nicely done!

Agreed, agreed, agreed! Great work on a challenging a/c type and a daunting color scheme. A really superb bit of modeling.

Also, Bob-

Your "killer bee" seems to be coming along splendidly! looking forward to decals and such.

Anybody heard from TZombie or Freem?

Thank you Greg/

Bob, the pit looks really great.  But be careful someone does douse that fuselage with bee bug spray.

Chuck, Awesome Dr1 and it looks fab next to the mug.

Sasho... HOLY PURINA DOG CHOW BATMAN!  That is just to freakin' sweet for words.

Thank you Marc.

And the Purina Dog Chow reference did make me lol.....

Ssasho0

I declare this bird finished, even thou without a base - maybe sometime in the future I will add one, but for now it will have to be without one.

Sasho - Very nice! I can't add anything to what has already been said. Congratulations on a killer build!

Chuck Davis

Okay guys – I’ve finished my odyssey.  Thanks to all the Group for the camaraderie, words of encouragement, and all the cool new techniques.  A special thanks to Aaron and Tim for hosting an awesome Group Build. 

Chuck - You are the man! Great build, and all while dealing with Aaron heaping more work on you. Good, job! You've given me reason to crack open this kit myself.

Everyone,

Sorry for the silence today. Been working hard to get everything at the office done, plus the Fokker D.VII.

Sasho and Chuck, make sure to claim your badges and add them to your sig lines. I'll add your planes to the Hall of Fame.

Bob - I love the paint scheme. Can't wait to see it all come together.

As for me, I pulled the last of the rigging this afternoon. Should be final touch ups, fixing some decals, one last bit of flat, and then some pics for you guys. Tomorrow ...

When I left the office this evening, Aaron was still in the workshop building a Zero and an Airacobra, and was putting a wash on his Fokker at the same time. The guy always has a model in his hands. Amazing.

Not counting today, two days left. Freem, TZombie, if you're out there, let us know how you are.

Tim

Chuck and Sasho: WOW!!! Those are just incredible guys!!!!

Bob: Love the bee too!

Welp, figured I was going to miss the finish date and yes I am. Currently about half-rigged and I can't find the cowling... I'll see about posting photos of what I have gotten done on the last day.

Sasho - absolutely fantastic.  makes me wonder why I bother. It looks so good it should be in a museum!.  Nicely done!

John

Fellow World War I Aeroplane Group Build 2013 flyboys, I have completed my model!

Voila! My rendition of the Fokker D.VII (Alb) "2" flown by Otto Creutzmann to eight victories, and Josef Raesch to seven victories, Jasta 43, June-July 1918.

Just a couple of notes before the rest of the pics.

This model marks a lot of firsts for me: It was the first group build FSM has run; it was the first GB I've participated in; and this is the first biplane I've built since I was a teen. It was the first time I've used a dot filter, and I believe the lozenge decals for the wings were the largest decals I've ever applied (Stickers on an R/C plane don't count!).

Everyone who has participated in the build, you can't imagine how much fun it has been to watch your models come together. What's more, it's been extremely educational, not only for those of us who have been involved, but for everyone who has popped in to see what we're doing. 

Thanks to all of you for coming along, and, for my part, special thanks to Chuck Davis and Old Fart for helping me out of my decal jams.

However, we're not done yet! Aaron is close to completing his Fokker D.VII. Bob Baily is racing toward the aerodrome with his Fokker E.V, and I still hold out hope for both Jeaton and Gamera. 

And now ... more of the little Fokker (HA!)

The shading and weathering on the white is understated in the images. I was fearful of going too far, so I decided that less is more.

Because of the issues with the front end, I had to snip the locator pins off the Spandaus and fudge their alignment a bit. But they ended up looking pretty good in my opinion.

Taking a play from Jack's book, I made a mask for the prop out of .020" sheet styrene. However, my technique or mask design (or both) needs work. However, it did give me some basic outlines to follow. So, out came the brush and I hand-painted the prop with Tamiya NATO brown (XF-68) desert yellow (XF-59), and then a 1:1 mix of clear yellow and clear orange.  

IMPORTANT NOTE: This build would have been impossible without the help of my colleague, Aaron Skinner, and all of you guys. THANK YOU!

Great looking build Tim. There have been some amazing colour schemes in this GB that you don't get to see in other periods. And this is another one. Love the look of the prop as well and the base is really nice.

Thanks for running the GB, its been a real pleasure and eye opener. Your first GB you say, be warned, they get addictive.

Tim

Your build looks great and from us all thanks for your work on this GB. There where a lot of firsts here for me too so I know how you feel coming to end end. You just need to decide what you want to do for your next build or even GB. I think we all deserve a picture feature in the magazine now too

Phil

Great work you guys and congrats on finishing. We are going to have to go to the wire here, but I will be finished before midnight tomorrow!

Left to do on the Felixstowe:

- Rig all of the transverse flying wires. Rig the aileron control wires (oh, and install the ailerons)

- Make up six dual and two single Lewis gun positions. Install them.

- Fabricate bomb racks and mount the bombs.

- Build the little rope ladder into the dorsal gun position.

- Install the props and the exhaust pipes.

- Install the fuel lines.

- Install the wind screens.

- Paint the beaching trolley.

-Generally touch up, clean up and straighten everything.

For the Brandenburg:

- Glue together the wings, fuselage and float sub assemblies.

- Fill, touch up and clean up.

- Build the flex mount Parabellum and install. Install the fixed guns.

- Build the engine, install the exhausts and install.

- Install the bug deflector.

- Scratchbuild and install the airspeed indicator.

- Assemble and paint the beaching trolley.

GMorrison - Can't wait!

Tim, your D.VII is magnificent! Definitely worth the heartache and frustration (I'd say), and for a first biplane (after a long break, at least) it still puts some of us "regular" WW1 builders to shame.

Truly glorious.

Bish, Phil, and Greg,

Thanks! Overall, I'm happy with it. A huge relief to have it finished. As for putting you guys to shame, I think I have many more planes to work on before I'm there. But I'm definitely hooked on them now, so I'll put them together in between ships. Which reminds me, back to the Bluenose and then on to my Connie cross section.

Tim - beautiful job sir (bows)...nicely done.  You would never know you're aren't a WW1 groupie pro!

Tim- incredible build sir. Have a hrad time believing that this is your first sine the teen years, well done.

Looks great Tim! Love the lozenge camo and the wood finish on the prop!  

Chuck - great job on the F.1! That streaked camo ain't easy to pull off. Hat's off to you for an excellent build!

Bob - looking real good so far! Looks like you'll make it in under the wire.

Sasho - to borrow an expression from our neighbors across the pond, man, I'm just gobsmacked by the paintwork on your build. One of the nicest effects I've ever seen pulled off on a plastic kit - just incredible stuff!

Tim - I hope the D.VII I'm working on turns out half as nice as yours. That is some top-shelf work on display there - hard to believe it's only your second.

Thank you all for the nice words!

I am glad that you like my bird, but while the see thru effect turned out quite OK, the main fault is that the ribs should be way more visible than they are. I don't know how this happened, but when you see the ribs the squares are not visible and when the squares are visible, the ribs are not ( like  on the picture). I don't know how this happened and was definately not intended!

Tim: This DVII looks great, makes me want to start building one immediately, even thou I think that the DVII is one of the uglier birds from the great war! The propeller looks like real the thing and the lozenge turned out pretty good. The colour scheme - well you can't go wrong with red and white one :)

Tim and Aaron: thank you very  much for hosting this GB. It was total blast to join it and see some quite unorthodox ways for doing the details (for example the Albie's DVa wood grain). I also saw many quite inspiring models, for example that gorgeousFelixstowe - I even got the kit but will go for the camo with the swirls. The Mug idea was totally great, I still have to get mine thou :)

At the end I want to say that this GB was total blast, I was modelling with a broad smile on my face and was looking for updates from all you guys on everyday basis!

I nearlty forgot - welcome to the sect of bibplane builders,  you will not regret it

Best regards,

Sasho 

Tim-well done....well done indeed.  You should be very proud of your build.

Tim, outstanding. Love the colors.  And an impressive lists of firsts and all well handled.

Thanks so much to you and Arron for hosing the 1st of what I hope will be long list of FSM GB's.   You guys can do the artwork for the mug collection we can all work on.   This has been a blast and I am sorry to see it end.

GM... Come man, you can do it.  Less typey, more gluey!

I've just been thinking about getting one of Wing_nut's  Wingnut Wings 1/32 Albatros D.Va. I know it sounds insane but I love his build and as I no longer have the fear of the kits I'm very tempted. I've built my Sci-Fi kit and started on the Hasegawa Draken which is an easy build too but I think it may be in the stash for a little while if I get the Albatros

Phil