Knights of the Sky WWI GB The End

MK, Superb job!!!

Mike, I'll be looking forward to the full build report on that Acadmy Me 262!

Mk-

Awesome job!  The time that it took you to paint the lozenge was very much worth it!  I think that it looks great!!

Very nicely done mk!  That lozenge really looks the part.  I updated page 1 for you!

Mike- I updated your list my friend!

mkhoot wrote:

"I finished up on my Hannover Cl. IIIa  Not my best build this kit fought me all the way, but it looks good with my other W.W. I builds. . ."

Nicely Done.  Congrats on a Very Decent build!

Greetings rudratt; Here is a bit of fun I have started on the Roden 1/48 SE 5a.  

Click Here

mk, let me be the first to say "holy smokes!!" That is a superb build! Lot's of lozenge (I love that!!) and the woodgrain on the prop....just awesome! A very unusual bird, and one I'd be proud to display.

OK guys, just ordered the only new kits I'm going to buy this year (yeah, right ) ... Academy's new 1/72 Me 262A-1a, a Hasegawa 1/48 P-39 in RAF markings, and this one, which I couldn't resist adding to my list of entries to this GB....

So if you're lookin' in, Frank, you can definitely tack it on as another entry for me. Read some online reviews and it looks like a very impressive kit.

I finished up on my Hannover Cl. III

Not my best build this kit fought me all the way, but it looks good with my other W.W. I builds.

Hi Rich,

here's what i did to achieve the look of dark wood:

sirdrake wrote:

The propeller is my first attempt to 'paint like wood'. A base layer of light brown was followed by a streaky layer of dark brown artist's oil color, and finally a light layer of thinned clear red. It ended up quite dark, but I'm happy with the result

SirDrake 

wing_nut wrote:

I was going through a drawer and found a roll of 1/64" chart tape I bought like forever ago.  It looked like it would be perfect for the laminations on the camel prop.  After the clear orange dries I am going to sand it carefully and hit with some gloss.

And here's what it looks like!

wing_nut wrote:

I was looking at other WWI builds and one guy said he puts a coat of wood or tan, does the laminates with rust and then a coat of clear orange.

Rich here's the basics 

Forgive me for barging in here since I am not a participant in the GB...(Daywalker referred me so blame him!!) I am building a Ryan PT-22 and am in need of advice/techniques for painting a convincing natural wood grain propeller onto resin. I started looking through the posts but 1181 is going to take a while! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Rich Erickson

Thanks, Stephen.  So the RAF wires would have been common on the Sopwiths, etc, I would think.

Greetings jeaton01;

Actually the British developed (1916) what they called RAF wires.   These came in different thicknesses and were flat in cross section. On the Bristol F.2b these are very noticeable and the thicker ones are used in the "lift" status.

The connector that runs from the front to the rear lift and landing wires where they cross mid-span has been called a javelin, and it's main purpose is to keep the wires from banging on each other as they vibrate in the wind, which definitely happens.  It's a great aid in judging the proper landing speed, as the "tone" changes with speed.  The wires are aligned in trail, but they never are, really, except at one angle of attack.  If the nose is higher or lower than the ideal in level flight then they will be out of line with each other, but looking from the front the crossing angles should be equal.

Wire cross section changed with time.  On the early Wright and Curtiss airplanes they were solid like music wire and round.  I am less knowledgeable about the WW I airplanes, but I think they were still round, and at some point a change was made from solid wires to stranded wires, like control cables are made.  Later wires were formed to a very flat ellipse shape out of stainless steel except at the ends where they are left round and have threads formed. 

Actually they are wrapped double wires.

http://memorial.flight.free.fr/indexuk.html

Detailing a Hangar Queen

Thanks - good to know some of the names. It also helps swearing at them when they fall off or attach at the wrong places while rigging the model ...

So I take it that they are called flying (or lift wires) and landing (or anti-lift) wires, and they run all the way from the fuselage - lower and upper - to the outer struts - upper and lower. This means one has to position those wires carefully, otherwise they will not cross right at the center of the middle inpterplane struts, and look stupid. The struts of the kit have two tiny attachments right at the center, probably meant as a guide for rigging.

With regard to the picture it seems that flying wires of the SPAD are single and considerably thicker than the double landing wires. That will be a nice detail.

Thanks everybody, 

SD 

I could not have said that any better!

Wires that run from the inboard lower to outboard upper are lift wires, almost always double, not always.  Inboard upper to outboard lower are landing wires.  From the nose to the outer struts are called drag wires.  Wires left to right between the cabane struts (fuselage to wing center section) are called roll wires.    Wires fore and aft between the interplane struts or cabane struts are called incidence (British) or stagger wires (US). 

Here are a couple of pages from Edwin Warner's 1927 book that discuss rigging wires and nomenclature.  Love these old books.  Warner was Assistant Secretary of the US Navy for Aeronautics when this book was published. 

Sirdrake--

That's one colorful SPAD!! 

Really nice, and congrats on the airbrush--it'll change your modeling life!!

Daywalker, Dougums, thanks for the kind works. From you guys, that means a lt lot.

Frank, the Decals went on after a coat of future (I actually tried to use one of these spray things you use to spray water on plants - no need to clean the airbrush afterwards. Can't really recommend it - it sprays a lot of future at once... Actually using a simple brush worked best for me) with some MicroSet, and then quite a few layers of MicroSol. The decals were thick, so I could use the brush to flatten it well after the application of MicroSol without doing any harm.

Doug, the airbrush is a Harder & Steenbeck Evolution Silverline (double action). It's one of the most common airbrushes here in Germany, but think its not very well known in the US. But look here: http://www.germanairbrush.com. I really like it, easy to handle, and it gives you lot of control.

SirDrake

    Thats a heckava lot better than my first airbrush job.  I think mine ended up in the bin.  What kind of airbrush did you purchase?  It looks great, especially for the amount of "first times".  Keep up the good work .. I can't wait to see her finished!

Doug 

Well, heck. 

I was wanting to just build the thing OOB, so I guess that that particular model is out of the question now.  I'm not wanting to go building a motor at the moment!!

I've been reading over your notes on the page that you sent me-- seems all the other schemes that are here had the Clerget engine.  I'll probably end up doing either the C scheme (Lt. Hollington) or the F scheme, D3332 sans the dumbbell symbol.

Thanks, Stephen. 

SD-

I like this one, very colorful!  I really don't know if the colors are "right", but it looks very good to me.  How did you apply your decals?  They look painted on.  Nice ly done!

A beautiful warm and sunny winter day. What better thing to do that sit at your workbench and model away the day...

Ok, there've been some heavy painting sessions for the SPAD. First time I used an airbrush, and I can tell you that I learned some lessons! But now I can't imagine ever going back to brush painting. It's just amazing what you can do with an airbrush after learning a few basics (e.g. not to spill you paint bucket over your freshly painted upper wing..). As you can see from the pictures there's still lots of room for improvement. Well, there are still plenty of models to come!

I should mention that I did nothing like a careful reseach for the proper colors of the camouflage pattern. Research is my day job - when I'm modeling biplanes, I just want to play with glue and paint... So I looked a bit at the box art, the instructions, and what paints there were on my bench (ok, I also bought some new ones), and just started painting. Now I got the feeling the colors are contrasting a bit to much, maybe could be a bit more dull, and especially the greyish color on the upper side should be much mor olive... Well, next time...

I also for the first time used a coat of Future (or what we have here in Germany - "Erdal Glänzer") before I applied the decals. Decals went on nicely, but they are a bit on the thick side. Lots of MicroSol helped. The decals for the tail didn't fit at all, but I still didn't use them becaus of al the lettering. so I cut them to size, and Luckily some old red, blue and white revell enamels culd be used to paint over the gaps.

Afterwards I tried out some weathering (another "first time" here...) with watercolors at the front part, and finally gently oversprayed everything with Tamiya deck tan, flat flesh and flat earth to highlight some parts and to give it an overall dusty and worn appearance.

Now a few spots need to be fixed, the machine guns added, and the i can fially mount the upper wing and the landing gear. And then it's rigging time!

All comments welcome - don't be too gentle!

SD

MrDrummy wrote:

". . .As far as markings go, I'm pretty sure that I've settled on the markings for B6212, FSL W.A. Moyle's aircraft.  I like the black cowl, and the blue/black tail!  Seems like a fairly simple scheme, that'll be a bit eye catching!!  You have any cool tidbits on this a/c? "

I think I may have a bit or two on the subject. I am sure you have seen this before.

Click Here

". . .Sopwith Camel F.1 B6212 with a Bentley BR. 1 150hp rotary was flown by Flt. Sub-Lt. W.A. Moyle of Sea plane Defense Squadron at St. Pol France in December 1917. This unit became 13N Sqdn RNAS by 15 January 1918. It was damaged on 19 February 1918 when flown by Flt. Sub-Lt. W. J. Mackenzie. Then repaired and sent to 203 RAF by 10 April 1918 where it was flown by an American, 1/Lt. W. W. Goodlow. Last recorded as being at Farnborough 30 June 1918. . ."

So your going to build a Bentley motor from a Clerget?