sMEH Supermarine Walrus update: Never try to preshade while you are in a hurry on a Sunday morning....or using Flow Improver which you have never used. It will turn out like this. Oh, and forgot to paint the tires, thank you very much. I am actually liking the preshading. I believe it exudes the essence of fecality of which this crap model began its molded life....

The wonderful thing about pre-shading is that most of it will disappear under the final color, OR you can simply have a do over. Since it's not the final color your options are unlimited. Don't be too hard on yourself, you might be surprised with the final results.

BK

EZ line has been around for a while and comes in fine, heavy and "rope" gauge. It has become the rigging line recommended for WingNut Wings, the splendid maker of WWI biplanes. As the people on Des Delatorre WorldWarIaircraft.com recommend either 1 or 2 pound monofilament fishing line, I'd guess that heavy gauge would be better for use on any aircraft. It is elastic and stretches nicely, but don't over-do it or an aerial might not be strong enough to hold it. If you ever do ships or have thought about it, Infini models make ship rigging line that is also elastic in sizes from 20 to 110 denier - in theory 40 denier is in scale for 1/700. Stuff is too thin for me - I'd use 70 denier. 110 denier might be be the better for aircraft rigging. Frankly I think EZ line is too fine for a 1/32 biplane, but it is easy to use. (WingNut recommends that you simply drill holes for the line attachment points and simply superglue both ends in and paint on a metalic color to stand in for turnbuckles & sleeves. Metal or PE buckles look a lot better to me.) 

For aerials, unless you've got a really sturdy point on the tail, I think stretched sprue is great. If you want to learn the perfect way to make stretched sprue visit the Modelwarship forum - you need not register if you just want to read. In the "Tips and Techniques" sub-forum one of the first entries is from all-around ship making genius Jim Bauman on how he makes sprue. Far faster, easier and more precise than stetching sprue over a lit candle and slowly stretch it apart which is the most common techniqe. Because the stuff is so easy to make, it's not only fine for aerials but can be just the ticket for filling in a major gap.

Both EZ line and Infini are available at FreeTime Hobbies which is a great place to buy kits, especially anything naval. Amazon has EZ, Ebay has both also.

Eric

On the WWIAircraftmodels.com web site there is a splendid article showing how to preshade or shadow the wooden ribs underneath the paint on a biplane. (I'm thinking of doing another RAF ugly duck, the Wellington. (Ugly indeed but used by the RAF throughout WWII.) Wonder if those techniques would work on the odd construction of that plane.) There's a mini-article next to the two on preshading in which Des argues for the use of ground graphite for use on a WWI tire. I've done that and it made for the best tire I've ever done. A WWII plane had better tires, but they weren't black. Might paint the Beaufighter's tires a dark gray and give them a good dust with graphite. For the time being I'm stuck on masking the thing. The RAF did camo at the factory and chose their schemes from a pretty limited number of patterns. If this was a LW plane, I'd mask those sweet straight as a ruler splinters by eyeball and do the mottling any way I want - mottling was all field work as I understand it, so no two LW fighters would look exactly the same. Anyway, I'm using this masking adhesive paper called SureSwatch. It isn't fast, but I'm hoping it will be quite precise. Eric

Thanks for the tip! I'll check out EZ-Line.

Again great work guys, don't want to leave anyone out by accident! 

Armor_Aficionado

Rigidrider, how did you get the radio antenna wire on your Hurricane to look so good? I always try using real wire (very thin metal electrical wire, such as that wound around electromagnets in small appliances), but can never get it taut enough; my wires always sag quite a bit. Yours looks great, so how do you do it?

 

PJ is absolutely correct! E-Z line... Good stuff! Streachy but dont pull too tight, Bonds nearly instantly to CA.

OK... I think I got my gap issue resolved, Thanks again for the denatured alcohol tip Steve... Worked like a dream! 

Ran some tape along the area to be worked on to contain the material and lessen the chance of over working the seam.This was the third application of Mr Disolved putty. Love it!

Good Stuff!

And the finished repair... Hard to tell how nice it came out in picture, but its smooth and well blended in on both sides of fuselage. Now... On to better things.

While waiting for putty to dry. I did a bit to the underside, gear doors, and such...

Well , Thats all for now, Like was said earlier... Nothing like a couple hours puttying and smoothing! LOL... Denatured alcohol was an immense help though!

Take care all!

Doug

Well Doug, that is looking quite nice. Appoligies for not commenting earlier but all these threads are getting really hard to keep up with. I have far too much going on and my head is spinning. Its looking pretty cool. 

BK

So many good builds in here I can't keep track of them all. Great work all around. As for me, I hope I can meet the level in here with my first WWI build with wings, the 1/48 Eduard Bristol F.2B.

I got started with this before realizing I may have picked one of the harder WWI subjects when it comes to the way the lower wing mounts and, of course, the rigging, but oh well, we will see.

As usual, work started with the cockpit. Nothing special here - Tamiya Desert Yellow with some oil paints for wood, and I built up the rest of the pit out of the box, which includes lots of PE as it's a Profipack kit, including the wicker pilot's seat.

Bringing the fuselage halves together was pretty straightforward, and the flat spine of the airfraft made eliminating the seam pretty simple thanks to super glue.

It appears I'll have to paint the whole thing largely disssembled, as the lower wing is suspended below the fuselage on several small struts, and no way will paint flow up in there.

I will be painting this in Mr. Paint's Clear Doped Linen and PC10 Late. I don't particularly care about this aircraft all that much, so I wanted to use it as my first attempt at rigging.

Thanks for looking!

-BD-

rigidrider - Excellent progress, she is coming along a treat. I also read Steve's suggestion about the Dissolved putty and metho (dentured alchol) and I will add it to my list of tricks, thanks Steve.

 

Brandon - Another AAA build on the way I see, looking forward to your description of the rigging process. I'm about to start my 1/48 Roden S.E.5a Wosley Viper and will be trying my hand at rigging for the first time. I will be watching closley on your great build.

DasBeav, Doug, Brandon:  compliments and admiration to all of you for the exceptional work you're posting.  Excellent!

Thanks Check.

sMEH Supermarine Walrus update: VJ flow improver has changed my life. Probably my best paint session ever! (Except for breaking off antennae post....Again) I'll post some pics soon. The one final bit of building is my attempt at scratchbuilding some Vickers K guns. I think I can do better than this......

BD: From the outside rigging looks super hard. It really isn't. My first biplane was the terrific 1/32 MiniArt/Academy Camel. (Back in production courtesy of Italeri along with the lovely 1/32 Nieuport 17: both a steal at $21 at Scale Hobbyist: hope the Fokker Triplane also made with MiniArt will join the crowd.) British rigging requires pairs of lines so in theory it should be more labor, but it's very manageable (although I'd doubt anyone would notice if you used one as was normal for French and German planes.) Once you get a couple of lines secure, you'll settle down and find that it isn't even that time consuming. (I'd say one of the toughest thing about bipes isn't rigging but the complex painting sequence.) And I bet you'll like your SE5 after it's done and rigged. Biplanes have more visual eye appeal than any other type of model barring a well rigged ship on a water base or perhaps a complex armor diorama. I know at my place in St. Paul where the Camel sits, people that look at my humble offerings always check the Camel first even though it's far from my best. I can see why some very good modelers do almost nothing but biplanes - just as some terrific modelers do nothing but ships. Both are knock out display pieces.

modelcrazy

Have fun and go to the Sistine Chapel for me. I missed it due to reconstruction when I was there in the 90's

 

Thanks, we had a great time. We didn't go into the chapel. To be honest, i had no desire to get anywhere near the vatican. The Mrs wanted to go into St peters basilica, but she wasn't dress properly, so all we managed was the Sq.

We did get into the Forum, Coliseum and a lot of the otehr Roman ruins. Seeing the temple of Caesar and the alter was the highlight for me.

Really nice weekend, damn sore legs though.

Doug: Looks good! I have to agree- using some solvent there works so much better than trying to sand the whole thing even. 

BD: Looks fantastic to me, love that cockpit detail. 

DasBeav: Yeah, I think most of the variation will vanish with the upper coat of paint. Just don't do like me and put down too much and wash it all away!

Bish: Glad to hear you had a good holiday, I need one myself.  

Bish

 

 

modelcrazy

Have fun and go to the Sistine Chapel for me. I missed it due to reconstruction when I was there in the 90's

 

 

 

 

Thanks, we had a great time. We didn't go into the chapel. To be honest, i had no desire to get anywhere near the vatican. The Mrs wanted to go into St peters basilica, but she wasn't dress properly, so all we managed was the Sq.

We did get into the Forum, Coliseum and a lot of the otehr Roman ruins. Seeing the temple of Caesar and the alter was the highlight for me.

Really nice weekend, damn sore legs though.

 

I hear ya. I went there during some leave I had while being stationed at Lampedusa It, which is a small resort island in the Med which had a US Coast Guard run LORAN Station.

I spoke some Italian but needed directions so I went to the information booth. You know the one with the big question mark on it. I asked the guy in there, using my best Italian where the Sistine Chapel was, you know "Dove Sistine Chapple?" He said no no, no englese and slammed the window. I then asked some passing nuns, in Italian, and they said, in English, it was closed. I didn't realize my Italian was that bad.

I’m glad you had a good time and the Colosseum is awesome.

Brave soul going to Rome in June. Years back I was in Paris during early July and was told that half the people in the city were foreign tourists making high summer the perfect time for the natives to go on the fabled European vacation (almost an entitlement to the Euros: gives them an opportunity to hate each other.) My son and his wife went to Rome in April - a perfect time if you don't mind a little rain - no competition with hordes of tourists. They were both floored by St. Peter's. The 90's restoration of the Sistene Chapel, despite some very nervous moment (how'd you like to screw up the one of most famous art works on the planet?) is considered a spectacular success by almost everyone. Their impression is very common as I understand it: the Chapel is a huge fresco but not a very big place: the Basillica itself is just whopping huge, bigger than it looks in a picture.

Really should build the Hasegawa M. 202 Folgore that sits in my stash. Lovely plane and a most worthy opponent for the RAF and the first wave of USAF fighters in North Africa. Lovely lines.

Eric

 

The timing was forced on me a bit. I wanted to do it before our schools broke up and the prices went through the roof, but after my eldest step daughter finished Uni so she could look after the youngest. Also needed a bit of time to save up some spending pennies. But i must admit i wasn't expecting it to be that hot, but seems even for Rome it was warmer than normal. If we go back, and i am sure we will, it will deffinetly be a bit soner in the year.

There were a lot of tourists there, especially a lot of Americans, but i recon it will be far busier in a month or so so was not to bad. So heat ashide, it all went really well and i was over the moon at what i got to see.

I suppose i should really try and catch up with what you guys have been up to.

Steve, great progress on the Tonka. I really like the lok of those tail markings. Big fan of xtradecal myself, nice to hear they are working for you.

Check, loving the Hampden, camo is looking good.

Fred, good to here bader didn't get away from you for long. Coming along nicely.

Das, i do actually like that pre shading. Be interested to see how that looks with some paint on.

Doug, good work on the gap. Really taking shape there.

BD, nice to see it underway. Some stunning work in that pit.

Thanks all... Brandon, I hear ya about the threads! Man, Just miss a day and your left in the dust! lol... But to each and every one... You guys are the BIG reason, I like it here and stay here. Lots of good folks and friendly banter. Thanks again...

Doug

BD- The pit looks awesome as usual.

Doug- Great recovery ref. that gap at the wing root. You'd  think they have things figured out.

Beav- The Walrus is shaping up nicely.

Fred- That Hurricane looks great!

Check- Great masking job on the clear parts.

Again have been tied up with life things but got some work done as of late. The fuselage is mostly together and added the belly scoop. I used this sort of jig to keep the part clamped down and even with the wing bottom.

Then attached the radiators. Used the clamps to slightly spread the walls out to get even lines on the counter sink areas.

Everything fit like a glove. The belly scoop just needed a very light sanding to get rid of the seam midway back. The front has a panel line with rivets

The guns went on and had the barrels slightly drilled out more than what ROG had them. The flaps were also cut at the bending angle since they will be in the down position.

 

Next will be masking of the clear parts and she will be ready for some colors. I questioned the ROG instructions as they called for interior green for the flap and wheel well colors. I did a lot of web surfing and see where Sky, aluminium and even the underside color was used. Now I'm even more perplexed.  

Coming on nicely PJ, like the jig.

plasticjunkie

Next will be masking of the clear parts and she will be ready for some colors. I questioned the ROG instructions as they called for interior green for the flap and wheel well colors. I did a lot of web surfing and see where Sky, aluminium and even the underside color was used. Now I'm even more perplexed.  

 

Coming along quite nicely there.  I believe the interior grey green was standard  in the wells and flaps during the post war era.  According to a 1943 document found by the late Edgar Brooks, the area in question should of been painted aluminum when at the factory, but some may have been altered once in the field.

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/43661-spitfire-undercart-wheel-wells-and-inside-of-doors-colour/

regards,

Jack

damouav  thanks mate :)

Modelcrazy thats looking awsome :)

Armor_Aficionado looks great so far :)

DasBeav looking the part now :)

Gamera thanks mate :)

Rigidrider glad you got the gap sorted looking good :)

BrandonD great detail work :)

Bish glad to hear you had a great time away mate and thanks had to find him lol :)

plasticjunkie thanks mate :)

my build well today the missing wheel parts arrived thank god , was driveing me crazy not building lol there fitted on masked it and a coat of black microfiller primer :)

 

 

 

Thanks Bish and Jack.

 

Jack I saved the directives info posted by Edgar on the link you provided which is really interesting and as he says, muddies the waters.

Thanks, all!

PJ: Great work on the Spit. Can't wait to see it in paint.

Fred: Loving the Hurricne. I don't know why, but it's one of my favorite fighters. I think it just evokes the tooth-and-nail fight of the early war in the air.

Eric: Thanks for the tips. I think I am going to try my hand at doing the dual wire, but I'm not goingto worry that it's not the aerodynamic wire. I'm just not that crazy haha. I'll be using EZ line and CA and accelerator, so I don't anticipate it being anything more than tedious, but we shall see.

-BD-

I got some paint down on the Brisfit last night. I's really weird to me to switch to the biplane paint sequence, but it's also a nice change and problem solving exercise.

I wanted to highlight the rib tapes a bit without going overboard, so I decided to black base them and then spray the tapes individually before filling in the between areas and then overspraying to blend. It worked decently on the clear doped linen, but the PC10 is really too dark to notice much delineation. I may use lighter oils to enhance them later on, but I don't see too much variation on the real ones, so I may not.

Here is the process:

And this is the result after putting on the lower wing ailerons and decals. If you build this kit, note that the instructions are wrong for the top ailerons, and they are reversed. I painted them per instructions before attaching them, so I need to respray them now. 

I also attached the elevators to the horizontal stabilizer. I wanted them dropped slightly, so I glued one in place and let it set, then glued the other one. To maintain symmetry, I clamped them together.

 

That's it for now. I think when it comes to rigging the dual wires, I'll drill two holes in a sturdy piece of plastic and use that as an alignment tool so my wires actually run parrallel. This is fun.

-BD-

pj:  that's a nice looking Spitfire; and the jig you made is a great idea

Jack:  might what you posted also be true for Blenheims?  The Airfix painting instructions for their recent, new-mold kit calls for interior green inside the flaps and wheel wells.  I've wondered if that's true

Fred:  Hurricane appears to be progressing well again, now that you got the parts

Brandon:  what a fantastic looking Bristol!  Nice paintwork!  It's truly impressive.

And--tracking from Amazon says I should get a new airhose for the airbrush today, to replace the cat toy the old one became.   

Thanks Check and BD!

BD try to use EZ Line for your rigging. The stuff is magical, and the CA works instantly. That preshading on the ribs looks good. i have also seen it where they spray the black and run thin tape lines on the ribs then shoot the other color, remove the tape and shoot the top color to fade the black lines.