Knights of the Sky WWI GB The End

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

Sirdrake--

That's one colorful SPAD!! 

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

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. 

I could not have said that any better!

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 

Actually they are wrapped double wires.

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

Detailing a Hangar Queen

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. 

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.

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

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

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 

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!

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 

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.

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.

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

Click Here

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!

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

Mike- I updated your list my friend!

Mk-

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

MK, Superb job!!!

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

mkhood, great! That lozenge makes me dizzy just by looking at it!

And here's some pictures of the spad getting her upper wing attached. It was a little bit tricky. You may remeber my first posts about the warp of rhe upper wing. Although I managed to straighten it more or less, some slight upward bend of the outer wing tips remained. As a result, the outer interplane struts appeared a few mm too short, but actually it was of course just the space between upper and lower wing that was too wide. This being a 1:28 scale, the upper wing is a pretty thick and massive piece of plastic, and kind of hard to bend. You can literally feel the pain when trying... Impossible to attach all the struts at once, so I started with cabane struts and mid-bay struts. After letting them dry for a day, I added some 1mm of styrene she into the holes for the outer struts to shorten the distance just a bit, and then glued those into place, forcing my will upon them with superglue and lots of rubber bands. Because of the flaps in the upper wings I could't use rubber bands at the outer edge - the force would have bend the flaps - and so I used nylon thread that could be fiddled between the wing and the flap and got tensioned with some turns of a toothpick.





And this morning was the moment of truth. Would I just hear a loud 'snap'? Well, so far it all holds together:
 


Let's see for how long...

SirDrake 

sirdrake wrote:

Let's see for how long...

... well, for about one hour, then the cabane struts broke off their connection. Repairs underway... 

SD,

Sounds like quite the dilema with that wing!  I hope you are able to repair it, as the aircraft is coming along beautifully!

razordws wrote:

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

Dave, I called our favorite N. Van. hobby shop looking for that 1/72 P-38, and as he was currently out of them, he suggested the 262 kit. Checked out some online reviews and went for it. Looks like a sweet little kit!