100th Anniversary of WWI GB

Blue, for that metal cowling, could I suggest having a word with ruddratt. He produced a superb effect on this area when he built this aircraft for the FSM WW1 GB last year. You can't see it in this pic and I am not sure what page to look at, but I know he will be happy to help.

cs.finescale.com/.../152456.aspx

Rob, and Blue - that's some very good looking work you guys are doing!

Been a while, but man oh man,  really been enjoying watching what you fellas are turning out!

Marcus & Steve - you ship guys are amazing!  The Konig & the Dreadnought have been a pleasure to watch come together.  The hull and those guns look great on the Konig, and all that PE on the Dreadnought would make me nuts, but you fellas make it look easy (which I know it ain't).

Wayne - just fantastic work on the Mk.I.  The weathering looks spot on - really makes that detail just pop!

.....and for you aircrafts guys.......holy smokes!!!  That is some serious work you guys are cranking out!  John, that is really nice paint work on that Albatros.  Doug,  both the 'pit and that engine you're doing for your SPAD look sweet!  First time I've seen a full engine go into a SPAD and I'm looking forward to it!  Rocker,  that woodgrain on your Nieuport ...... WOW!  Ditto for your Roland as well Rob!  Hard to believe they're first attempts for you guys.  I'm very impressed!  Blue, it's been a treat watching your progress on the Eindecker.  The finishes you're achieving look flawless, and your attention to detail really shows. 

All in all,  really nice stuff fellas!!  Keep it goin' !

Got some progress on the Tripe.  The 'pit is done and I'm happy with how it turned out.  All the control lines and bracing wires are EZ-Line.  They provide some nice guide holes for all the control lines under the seat, but it was after I terminated them there I noticed that the area behind the seat was going to be quite visible, so I had to rig up a way to extend them to the back edge of the cockpit tub.  Different color oils were used to get that woodgrain look that was finished off with a Tamiya clear orange top coat. All metal finishes are Alclad II  Duraluminum.  The detail painting is Reaper paints and it was all weathered with Citadel washes and Tamiya weathering powders.

Thanks for the kind words Mike!! Your progress thus far has blown me away as well!! The bar is set incredibly high for sure!!

Great work Mike, some amazing detail in these kits, very inspiring in deed.

Bish and Dale: Thank you for the kind comments.

Mike: Thank you as well... I'm just hoping I can follow the example you have set with your Eindecker.  Your Tripe looks beautiful.  I love the split tone effect on the rear wooden bulkhead, its very convincing.  I am also a bit humbled by your ability to convincingly work those p/e seat belts.  They look like the genuine item.

I hope to have a bit more to share this evening.  I've been continuing to test paint combinations and techniques for the turned metal effect, and hope to have something to show for my efforts soon.

Blue

Man... there is some SERIOUS fine modeling going on here! I mean... Ruddratt... is that baby going to actually fly??? WOW. Well I have a bit more to post with a bizzar twist at the end,,, Here we go...

I was able with just minor adjustments to get the engine to sit properly in the frame...

I couldnt get nor get the wing struts to look right so I took some round tooth pichs and semi flattened them in a vise and fashioned them to take their place,

Building a biwinged aircraft is kind of new to me and Im having to rearrange the order in which I usually do things, so figuring that paint would be next to impossible after assy, I began the paint.

Ruddatt gave me a source for some amazing looking turnbuckles and I have it saved for possibly the next build, but couldnt at this time bring myself to spen that much on a trial kit, so I am trying to make my own on this attempt.

These pieces will be my aileron actuators when assy.

And here they are assy. BUT... here is where things have taken a turn that I have never experianced...

As I had started the paint and some of the sub assys, I placed my lazy suzan I use to paint on, at the entrance to the garage on a TV tray table, to dry in the sun while I assy, the previous pictured parts, at my bench in the garage where I like to work. It took less then 5 mins to assy the little parts I had made from various plasti struct and when I turned around to check on my paint... It was gone. I never left the work area, and I have looked all around the area where it sat and the yard, it just disapeared. I dont know whether to laugh or cry...its just gone. Well, I'll look a bit more further out, but, well, just damn.

Um...ok, where the heck did it go???

Mike that "pit" looks awesome!

Rigidrider your biplane looks great!

I have been working on my Renault, here's a couple pictures of the engine.

I also have a couple more sub assembles together, and the floor primered.

Got just a little bit done of my 1/72 albatros this weekend,  more than is the last 2 weeks.  just got the lower wing glued on.

John

Well guys... I did another search around the yard, and no trace of my SPAD , the next door neighbor offered a suggestion which at first sounded a bit odd but makes sense I guess. We have a pair of Cooper hawks in the area and he thinks that it may have been mistaken for a small animal and the hawk got it... well I will see what else I have in stash...

Do you have small naughty children in your area?

Rider: your Spad is coming along nicely.  I like the creativity you showed in dealing with your struts.  

The missing piece is odd.. I've misplaced pieces as well, but usually they are small, fall off my desk, and get claimed by the carpet monster.  I had a tiny cylinder head from the Taurus engine shoot out of the tweezers I was using to hold the molding block while sawing it off.  Heard two ricochets, and gave up looking after 20 minutes crawling around on the floor.  I reached out to Lukasz, the man behind those beautiful resin kits, and he could not have been more gracious in offering to help me replace the missing piece.  The next day, my daughter was standing next to me to see what I was doing and announced "Daddy, I just stepped on something small on the floor."  Yep.... and remarkably, it was completely undamaged!  I called off the replacement part, but can't say enough about Taurus Models: incredibly detailed product, and first class customer support.

Dale: That looks like a great start on your tank.  Can't wait to see the engine once its been painted up a bit (not that the red isn't attractive!)

John: The Albie looks great.  Attaching the wings is one of those stages where you get a glimpse of what the final result will be.

My update:

I stripped down the cowling and other metal work I showed last time, and took another stab at the effect.  This time, I used a flat base coat of Tamiya Neutral Gray (XF-53) and painted the swirls with glossy Mr. Color Off White:

I then gave the parts a coating of Alclad Airframe Aluminum, which relies on the base coat beneath it for its final appearance.  Typically, you would spray the Airframe Aluminum over a glossy black base, which gives a polished, shiny metal effect.  In this case, the flat gray and gloss white results in an overall oxidized metal appearance, with lighter, more reflective swirls (hopefully mimicking the actual aircraft).

My brush painting leaves plenty of room for improvement, so the quality of the swirls is inconsistent.  In some places, I left too light a coat, and the swirls are harder to pick up, and in others, I went too thick, and the swirls look raised.  Given a wash to separate the details, and further weathering due to oil leakage, etc., I think it will give an overall effect I can live with.

Blue

Wait... what?!?

I head read your post as saying a sub assembly was missing... THE WHOLE THING IS GONE?!?!?!

Wow, that is crazy.  Slightly harder to work around than a missing cylinder head.  I don't even know what to say...

Doug...... Bugger. At first I thought you meant the lazy suzan had gone missing. It wasn't until you mentioned the possibility of it being a bird I realised you mean the kit. That was looking so nice as well.

Dale, John, nice progress guys.

Bruce, that's brilliant. I take it the coat of Airframe Aluminium has to be a light one so not to complete cover it.

Bish,

Yes, its a fine line to walk with the Alclad, and in a few areas, I crossed it.  I was able to recover a bit by buffing the finish with a soft t-shirt, which increased the shine on the swirls.

I'm still at a loss regarding Doug's model...

Rider - wow, what a shame.  The SPAD looked great.  I actually hope it was a bird, and not some bratty kids.

Blue - I like it!  I used a sponge to get a "random squiggle" on my E.III, but I was never quite happy with the results.  I'll have to try this.

Lookin' great everyone.  I started cleaning parts on my Albie, but nothing to post yet.  Working on a little half-track for the FSM armor build first.  I'm enjoying watching everyone's progress!

Thanks Bruce. I think when it came to doing one of those, getting that affect concerns me as much if not more than the rigging, but it doesn't seem as bad as I had thought.

Me to, I bet there is a chick in a nest some where thinking what the hell am I supposed to do with this.

Blue, I really like how that turned out.

Doug - man, I am bummed out big time.  That SPAD was looking so sweet and I thought the idea of the flattened toothpicks for struts was pure genius.

Blue - just amazing work on the Eindecker!  Doing 'random' is not the least bit easy, but man, you nailed it!

65ss - Looks like you're off to a fine start!

The Tripe needs to have its tail skid finished and installed so I can button 'er up and move on to the engine.  I'll have more pics up when that happens.

Thanks for the comments, Chuck, Dale and Mike!

Bish, if you do decide to take the Eindecker plunge, I just figured out that I get better results using light gray, rather than white for the swirls.  I had an issue with the cowling that I wanted to re-do, and this time, I used Mr. Color Light Aircraft Gray (C332), and got much clearer and more consistent separation between the background and swirls.  My theory is that it takes less Airframe Aluminum to make the light gray look metallic (since it is closer to a metal color to begin with), and thus I got away with using a much lighter coat of Alclad.  I stayed on the right side of that aforementioned fine line, and the swirls are clearly defined throughout.

Blue

Blue - dude Very most excellent result

your last try nails it - WOW   

I am defiantly going to get one of those kits, I may even drop some subtle hints for my birthday/xmas pressie . They does look even better, I will make a note of all this. Thanks.

Chuck, Blue, Bish, and every one... Thank you very much, yeah, I was puzzled to say the least, but no bratty kids I'm sure, I never left the garage , was listening to a radio but heard or saw nothing... well... must go on. I have a nice Roden Fokked D7 in 1/48 th in stash and would like to offer that one up, and if it comes out ok I might buy another SPAD to try again.

Hey Guys... Look What I found

It was at the base of a tree in my back yard. I was out back putting poison on an ant mound and on the way back I walked by one of the trees in the yard and just happened to see it sticking out of the ground, (It hasd rained last night) , Kind of in my opinion confirms the hawk theory. Well, Ive already started on another kit but also looking to reorder another one of these if time permits. Again, not sure whether to laugh or cry! 

Doug 

Wow!  I don't think the pilot survived that one.

Total bummer, but at least you have an answer.   I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with the Fokker.

LOLOL...

While installing the B&D 12"/L50 brass barrels I kept thinking these barrels are to big for this model.  The barrels were longer in length and larger in diameter, even though the vendor says these barrels were made for the SMS Konig model.  I had to trim the ports on the turrets to get the barrels to slide in, also had to make a mount as they were to large in diameter glue to the trunnions for the plastic barrels.

While surfing the White Ensign website I ran across a set of metal barrels made by RB models.  The barrels also come with brass trunnions that will fit the deck lug in the turret allowing the barrels to move up and down as the plastic barrel mounts are designed to do.

Tonight I installed the first set of 12"/L50  barrels from RB Models. First I had to remove the mounts I made for the other barrels and clean up the surface so everything would sit correctly for gluing.

Here are some pictures of the install and final outcome.  I am very pleased with the results.  The new barrels look more to scale and they match the 12" barrels on pictures I have seen of the SMS Konig.

The B&D barrel is on the right, left is the plastic barrel that came with the model, next the RB barrel with the trunnion dry fitted followed by the RB barrel with the trunnion sitting behind it.

The barrels with the trunnions attached and sitting in the deck lug where the man made mounts did not.

The RB barrels sitting in a completed deck lug assembly.

The final product.  Clearly can see the new barrels are shorter and narrower than the B&D barrels.

Only four more turrets to convert over. What to do with those B&D barrels now, they cost twice as much as the RB barrels. Looks like will to find a another ship with 12" 50cal barrels.

Marcus

Is that all what was left. Boy, that Hawk certainly took out some frustration on that.

Nice work Marcus. I rather like RB metal barrels, though have only got theirs barrels for armour and aircraft. They do carry quite a range of ship barrels.