Knights of the Sky WWI GB The End

Daywalker wrote:

Very good Stephen, I'll look for it over there!

Done. The S o St.L.  is up in the aircraft section.

Daywalker wrote:

One other thing, do you happen to still have the instruction sheet for your 1/48 Eduard Fokker DVIII?  Would it be possible (if you still have them) to scan them for me?  I was wondering about the markings, so I could place some of the ones you sent me correctly.  Thanks Stephen!

I found them and have scanned them and put in download file and will send the URL by PM.

Excellent, thanks Steven!

I'm on my way over to Aircraft right now.

jeaton01 wrote:

I have come to that point where I can (sort of) gracefully say I have reached a "draw" with my Eduard Siemens-Schuckert D.IIIa.

John, excellent job! I've been away for a spell, looks like I missed some great progress. Came out most excellent.

And Stephen, thank you for the favorable review for my very first book!

Here's some progress with the Lego Sopwith Camel. The kit with the largest number of parts, and ther shortest build time. Well, it might get some minus points for accuracy, but what the heck...

The most detailed of engines. I rotates, of course. Six cylinders. Six...? 



And there's the instrument panel. Obviously no need for further detailing.  


Front fuselage with lower wing bases. Please note that the rigging is attached at a comparatively early stage.


Rear section of the fuselage. Now as I'm writing this, I realize that this kit is missing the rear fuselage  bottom


And both parts fused together.


Oops, something went wrong here.


Much better.


And finsihed. Took about two hours in total. I know there's "weekend kits", so this could qualify as "weekday kit".
You realize that there are no decals, or stickers. The kit initially came with stickers, but the stickers from lego are known to becom brittle and ugly rather quickly, so I decided to remove them. Maybe I'll just airbrush the markings one day.  

A look into the cockpit. Everything's in place, nearly undistinguishable from the original.


With a quarter for "scale". Both wingspan and length are about 42cm, which makes it a bit difficult to calculate a scale for an aircraft that has a length to width ratio of 2/3 . The scale caclulates  then somewhere between 1:14 and 1:20...


Look at this. To tell the truth I managed - as it is the tradition for any lego builder - to lose one part. It was there when I got the kit. It probably hides in some dark corner of my apartment, under the sofa, between seat cushions...


Don't know about you, but I grew up playing a lot with lego, and it brought back a lot of memories of my childhood. Building the kit was a great fun. And you know the big advantage? I can do it again! And again. And again...
 
Not to forget, there's another kit from Lego: The Red Baron Dr.1...  

SirDrake

Yeah!!!

That's awesome.  I miss the old Lego days.

I can't even begin to guess how many of the Lego castles that I built back in the day... wow.  

Great lookin' build! :):)

StephenLawson wrote:

I was recently sent this to review.  Its geared to the average modeler and is very well done.  Very cool stuff.  The author discusses items he made to detail an old Lindberg Biplane.  If you have a kit that you wish you had a better cockpit for, or a better engine to use - this may be your ticket. Mold Making & resin casting

Got mine a day or two ago.  Worth every penny.

Long time since I checked in the GB.  Went back A LOT of pages... finger are tried now... Great work just keeps pouring out of the build.

The instructions begin with assembling parts for Roden's  200 - 220hp  Wolseley W.4a "Viper". Note the parts map shows  parts for the 200hp Hispano- Suiza engine are on the same tree.  But in truth they were gated out.  To explain,  molds have small gates that allow for certain parts to not be filled with styrene when poured.

Good job steven and Sir Drakethats  a pretty cool camel.

Ok here's the newports, I started both of them yesterday and here's where I am

Eduard.

Testors:

Thanks

Thanks everybody! Glad you enjoyed the LEGO Camel. Hope I can keep up with that level of authenticity and historical accuracy in future builds

SD 

Ok here is the pictures of the testor Neuiport. Sorry forgot to tell you it was a entry

Thanks for looking

Excellent work there Andrew!  I may have to dig my Nieuport outta the box now...

Great job, I updated page 1 for you!

Sir Drake and Andrew,

Nice job on the builds!

All,

I had a long weekend and have actually finished the Fokker Dr. I, but it will probably be a few days before I take the "finished" photos and post them as I begin long hours at work, on the night shift in a few hours.  Here are some in-progress photos that I took the other evening as I wanted to show some of the detail before it was covered up.

Here are the subassemblies, note that the fuselage sides and top remain on the fret...

A closeup of the fuselage with lower wing installed and a completed engine/cowling/propellor.

A closeup of the cockpit.

As I was completing the assembly, I decided to only install the right side panel on the fuselage as it allows some visibility into the aircraft.  This is my fourth Eduard Strip down kit build, and they are very fragile and time consuming, but I think they look pretty cool when built.

If you are a parent, you probably should not tell your kids this, but this time my procrastination paid off.  The part on the lower wing that was giving me fits was due to my misinterpretation of the Eduards "fantastic" directions.  Luckily I waited to mount the other side of the wing and paint it before I did anything rash.  As it turns out, the pieces belonged there as the wing braces do not fit flush against the fuselage.  I guess that all is well that ends well.

Once again, thanks to Stephen for his help along the way.  As you can see, the linen only went onto a very small piece behind the seat.  I also found that the red looks different on the plastic parts as compared to the photoetched ones.

Any and all comments will be appreciated.

Greetings Scotty;

I am glad that my inane babble has helped.  You are doing an impressive job here by the way. Nicely Done.

Very impressive work, Scott! Makes me want to give my strip-down E.IV another go. I'm really looking forward to seeing this build of yours finished! Should be a stunner based on what you've shown us so far!

Progress has been being made slowly and steadily on my Albatros D.V. Should have some progress pics up soon.

Thanks everyone! Really nice there Scott

Stephen, Mike, Raptordriver, and Frank,

Thanks for the comments on my in-progress photos.  When I do get a chance to take my completed project photos I will see about adding one with my other Strip down kits.  In the past, I built these kits leaving the brass unpainted, but I wanted to do something different this time.  The kit directions talk about using gray, aluminum, wood, linen, and black paints, but I chose to do things my way.  I really liked the look of the plated brass on this kit when I bought it, but the sections that I painted brown and red really do make it more unique.

 Although it really is 1/72 scale, there were times that the pieces felt more like 1/144!  I launched and lost a record number of parts building this little beauty; perhaps a sign that I need to build the other kit that I have sooner rather than later (I got a really good deal and purchased a second one of these), and start working on kits with slightly bigger parts. 

StephenLawson wrote:

The instructions begin with assembling parts for Roden's  200 - 220hp  Wolseley W.4a "Viper". Note the parts map shows  parts for the 200hp Hispano- Suiza engine are on the same tree.  But in truth they were gated out.  To explain,  molds have small gates that allow for certain parts to not be filled with styrene when poured.

I will replace the oil pipe on the pilot's right rear that travels from the scavaging pump to the crank case.  Its the only one I am not happy with.  The aluminum is too bright so I'll tone that down too. Touch up the black around the twin magnetos and add the spark plug wires.  For this engine I was going for a worn look. The gloss black has been toned down to look as if heat has deteriorated it.

Stephen,

Nice looking engine! 

All,

Here are the completed photos that I spoke of.  Tonight was my night off so I had some time to set up the photo booth and download everything after the family went to bed.  Once again, I would appreciate any and all feedback.

A view of the left side, note that I left off the piece on the forward part of the fuselage to allow a better view inside.

On the right side you will notice the omitted part that I spoke of above.

Looking from the top, back to front.

My collection of Eduard Strip down kits (I passed on the Fiesler Storch).  As you will notice, the upper wing did not align well at all on the Sopwith Camel.  This kept me from attempting the Dr. I for quite some time with the fear of how challenging the wing alignment could be.  Fortunately for me, this was a relatively easy part of the build, it just required time and patience.