Knights of the Sky WWI GB The End

If you liked that one, here is the organization I volunteer for.  This is Hanagar #1 of 3 (with a fourth in planning.)

http://www.lafayettefoundation.org/

You will see our organization and some of my models featured on the second disc of "Flyboys Collector's DVD".  The closing shot of the "real Lafayette Escadrille came from our archive by the way.

I finished what I consider a warm up build for this GB. The pics are posted in the Aircraft section.

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  My hand painting for stripes is not so good.  How do you WWI buffs do the layered look for the props? 

NIcely done, Marc! You should have no problem building your Camel.

For that laminated look on the props, I mask it using very thin strips of masking tape running from one end to the other.

The good news is that depending on the manufacturer most British props especially for the Sopwith F.1 camel were overcoated in a red brown shellac.  The French did this too.  Other aircraft  that had these red brown propellers were Spad XII & XIII, Nieuport 11-27 types and SE 5 & 5a types.  This shellac did not let wood laminations show through.

Hello Chaps!

My word, there has been a lot of activity here hasn't there?  I have enjoyed reading the posts here. In preperation for this build, the secret workshop quartermaster has been busy setting up the parts of my Nieuport 17 on bench no.2.

I have also been making serious preperation by drinking plenty of French wine and reading all about Charles Nungeser-its his kite that I'm building. A very interesting chap, just the sort of fellow one would want in one's squadron.

I think I will enjoy this build. Cheers!

Darren-

Glad to hear you are planning on sticking around here, it's gonna be a lot of fun!

Daywalker wrote:

it's gonna be a lot of fun!

Heck yeah!! I hope to make some major progress on my Pfalz D.III in the next few days. This is my warm-up for this GB, as I plan on trying a few different techniques and using some new info I've acquired from reading this thread.

Mike-

I am looking forward to seeing photos of your aircraft and techniques! 

Hmmm... Are any of our resident strinbag experts willing to give a little tutorial before we get started?  I for one would be VERY interested is seeing how you guys get that laminated look on your props.  Just an idea...

I have just painted a laminated "look" on my N-17 prop..............not sure if it looks right or not, I'll post a pic later and let you guys be the judge.

Here's mine.......

Greetings daywalker.  As mentioned earlier some manufacturers did not clear varnish propellers but shellaced them.   To do laminations on propellers you can either laminate woods with expoy or enamel paint kit items.  I could post either method but painting is a bit quicker for most modelers to do.  You almost have to have a separate setup to use woods. 

 A. For woods;

1. A box of rubber / latex gloves.

2. various thin woods from dollhouse marqueting sheets for floor planking and etc.  The thickness is important here.

a. bass wood

b.mahogany woods

c. walnut

3.Clear varnish, semi gloss is best for small scale.

4. Homemade wire supports to hang them on while drying.

5. Beau coup Xacto blades (#11 are best.)

6. The lanimations should be an average of three of two kinds.  3 bass 3 walnut etc.

I can post an image /drawing of the process later tonight. 

Darren-

Nice looking prop!  The color looks spot-on.

Stephen- I would love to see some photos of that.  The thought of gluing and carving a real wood replacement is VERY intriguing.  I think I may have a go at that method.

Daywalker wrote:

". . .Stephen- I would love to see some photos of that.  The thought of gluing and carving a real wood replacement is VERY intriguing.  I think I may have a go at that method."

Here are my original instructions as drawn by one of my model building mentors Bob Horton.

 Here are some modern replica wooden props on full scale flying WWI types

Here is my 1/48 build of MvR's Dr.I 425/17 with a three wood laminations variation instead of just the two.

Here is my 1/28 scale build of Oblt. Udet's early Schwerin Fokker  D.VII labeled  "Du doch Nicht!!"  which means "certainly Not You!!"  The prop is a wooden one that Martin Digmayer carved out from one piece of wood and he used varnish applied in layers to create the laminated look.

Here is a laminated prop with walnut and bass wood on a 1/48 build of an Albatros D.Va.

Finally here is a four bladed prop with three woods in the laminations on my 1/48 Fokker V.7.  I made two identical layered blanks (see step 4 above) and cut them down on the same pattern. Then I Lincoln log cut the hubs to fit. Viola.

Daywalker wrote:

Thank you Stephen!  Very nice photos, and the hand-drawn instructions really helped clarify how to do it.  One thing, the first step in the instructions, not exactly sure what is happening.

Hey Daywalker.  The dollhouse woods I mentioned often come with a gummed backing that needs to be scraped off.  Soaking with solvent and scraping is the best way to remove it.

jeaton01 wrote:

Stephen, have you built the Eduard Brandenburg D.1?  I've been studying the pieces and I may have my work cut out for me.  The moldings look very heavy and soft, except for one of the large wing struts, which is short shot, I'll be hitting the Contrail strut bin for that.

Greetings jeaton01;  You evidently have the earl Eduard low pressure injection mold kit.  I did this when it first came out and I have one on my site (I think) and I have the plastic parts and decals to another kit.   It shouldn't be too hard to scratchbuild the strut.   Contrail stock would be your best bet.

No worries. Yes I did paint fuselage and hopefully I have gotten better since then.  I took my original cue from the Disney people and their cool simulated wood painting on their fixtures at Disneyland and later at Disneyworld.   About the only wood decal that I have tried that I like is from Detail Masters.  But it needs a good cream coloured base to get a really nice effect.  Painting wood requires several steps if you used enamels or acrylics.  Most of the car modelers that have done Woodys know what really does the job on panel station wagons.  The key is every panel must be different if even slightly.  Often the base colour need to be different as well.  Then its a matter of dry  brushing and washes.

Here is a portfolio of my Albatros Fighter builds.  Some of the fuselage skins and propellers are painted and some are actual wood.  See if you can guess which is which without looking at the descriptions first.

Albatros fighter portfolio

I'm in the same boat, John. Would be purely guess-work on my part.

Amazing stuff, Stephen. I particularly liked the 'On the homefront' D.III with the unusual camo (lozenge on the lower right wing only) and the D.V 1119/17 with the fuselage spine and the head rest.