forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: MR Bentley on May 06, 2024, 03:23:07 PM
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As my half of the 1/144th scale buddy build with William Adair, (https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=14431.0) I will be scratchbuilding a Roland C.II (early). The Roland is one of my favorite WW1 airplanes and I built the WnW model a few years ago, which means I already have loads of reference. I also chose the Roland because of its lack of struts. I figured that sine this is my first scratchbuild, avoiding fiddling around with tons of struts was a good idea. I've only ever built a handful of 1/144th scale models, so this build will be a good challenge.
This buddy build is to promote Williams' book. He and I met when we were each given the opportunity to write a book on WW1 modelling. Williams book is titled First World War Aircraft In Scale - Scratchbuilding in 1/144th scale and is already available to preorder. My book is titled First World War Aircraft In scale - The Pfalz D.III and D.IIIa and is still a WIP.
(https://i.imgur.com/Fn51JUn.jpeg)
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Unlike Williams Taube, my build (thankfully) started quite smoothly. The first step was to piece together a set of scale plans using profiles from both the Windsock Datafile and Roland Aircraft of WW1 books, pictured here with the customary coin for scale. The plans pictured are actually for a late-production C.IIa which I hope to build when the C.II is finished.
(https://i.imgur.com/LYWrex0.jpg)
The building started with the fuselage. I glued six layers of 0.5mm styrene together with the profile on top to guide the rough cutting. At the tail, the innermost layer is 0.25 styrene, rather than 0.5. This is because I wanted to leave a slot for the vertical stabilizer later on.
(https://i.imgur.com/A4o7TOJ.jpg)
An hour or so had the starboard half roughly shaped
(https://i.imgur.com/pNX4KrB.jpg)
One the exterior was roughed in, I began gouging and carving out the interior and windows.
(https://i.imgur.com/6dWNjcM.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Kp2Gyl0.jpg)
After a few hours of work, the halves were mostly complete. There is still a little shaping work left to be done around the nose, but I will wait to do that once the fuselage is glued together.
(https://i.imgur.com/m02E1OT.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GBVTuxi.jpg)
For the next Roland, I will definitely get either a solid block of styrene to carve or at least use thicker sheets to avoid splitting the layers apart during the carving stages.
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You 1/144 scratch building guys are nuts ;)
Im very impressed with your skills! Looks great already!
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Beautiful!
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More tiny scale madness! And more amazing modelling skills.
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Nice one Max, this is great to see! ;D
I love the Roland C.II and have such fond memories of the Airfix kit. Looking forward to seeing it progress!
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Wowzer. That's great progress - it's looking like a Roland already :D
Paul
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Great, another WWI scratchbuilding project! Very nice so far, I will be following with great interest!
Cheers.
Ondra
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Another 1/144th crazy man - welcome, you'll fit right in here!
Great start.
Sandy
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We now have three Braille Scale scratch builders on the forum! Welcome indeed. Looking forward to seeing this one being built - you have made a really first class start.
Stephen.
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Three scratch projects in the tiny scale - how nice for us to follow!
144 the new 32?
Joachim
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The level of skill on this forum just keeps going up and up... it's inspiring stuff. Keep it coming!
Dutch
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I am gobsmacked by the Sudden surge in Skillfully and Beautifully executed 1/144th builds!! Looking forward to more of your excellent build!
RAGIII
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Thanks for all the kind words, guys!
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Moving on to the interior bits. In general, the interior details only need to be suggestive as the pilot and observer figures will obscure the majority of the interior.
I created the seats by carefully heating a small piece of 0.25mm styrene over a candle and then bending it around a 3.2mm drill bit. It wasnt the most elegant or consistent way of making this part, but it served the purpose.
(https://i.imgur.com/4wqMS2C.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/dZCvD4R.jpeg)
The curved section was then glued to another piece of styrene and cut to shape.
(https://i.imgur.com/9o5CD1S.jpeg)(https://i.imgur.com/GZW7gkx.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/UvfFeeI.jpeg)
The fuel and oil tanks were carved from several sheets of styrene glued together. I had to shave off the corners of the oil tanks for it to fit in the fuselage.
(https://i.imgur.com/RzGvZ6F.jpeg) (https://i.imgur.com/V8JWqpp.jpeg)
Unlike William, I made each engine cylinder individually as I've never tried casting and don't have the materials for it.
Each engine cylinder was shaped from 1.1mm diameter styrene rod. I drilled the intake/exhaust manifold holes before shaping the top of the cylinder. If I was satisfied with the piece, I cut it to length and repeated the process. As the rear portion of the engine is buried in the fuselage, I only made 5 cylinders.
(https://i.imgur.com/36yPS91.jpeg) (https://i.imgur.com/tCvbbmY.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/PF5FLbu.jpeg)
The cylinders were then mounted to a strip of styrene. I then added the various pipes using 0.3 and 0.4mm brass rod. The rocker boxes are 0.6mm cubes of styrene with a channel cut into them so they could fit over the 0.4mm timing shaft and the valve 'springs' are bit of 0.2mm rod. The water pipe on top of the boxes was fashioned from 0.3 and 0.5mm brass tube.
(https://i.imgur.com/f9bhUd1.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/cbNPeJI.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/wPBxUQx.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/p3cBVAu.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/vEp49bq.jpeg)
The final engine:
(https://i.imgur.com/Kb35wD6.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/68ZzBin.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Xq1P0jG.jpeg)
On to painting!
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For 'Goodness' (Insert your expletive of choice here) sake :o My mind is suitably boggled
Paul
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Brilliant work, sir! Nothing else to add.
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Brilliant post! Very fun to follow it step by step.
/Fredrik
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Wow, gotta be happy with that! 8)
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Oh, wow...the engine alone is a magnificent piece of work! I don't have a particular fondness for Rolands but I'm now eagerly awaiting updates on both builds!
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For 'Goodness' (Insert your expletive of choice here) sake :o My mind is suitably boggled
Paul
My friends and s/o have said that...
....and that I'm a bit crazy for doing this.
Brilliant work, sir! Nothing else to add.
Brilliant post! Very fun to follow it step by step.
/Fredrik
Oh, wow...the engine alone is a magnificent piece of work! I don't have a particular fondness for Rolands but I'm now eagerly awaiting updates on both builds!
Cheers guys! I'm glad you're all enjoying the process.
Wow, gotta be happy with that! 8)
Very much, your advice with tthe engine is very much appreciated!
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Great, great, great... Especially the engine
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Onto finishing up the interior and fuselage.
The interior bits were installed and painted as per the Wingnuts color guide. I forewent smoothing out and weathering the fuselage interior because most of it won't be visible
(https://i.imgur.com/OCRoD6n.jpeg)
The two halves of the fuselage were glued together carefully, and copious amounts of putty was applied to the central and dorsal seams. The whole fuselage was primed and then sanded down to even out the gaps, layer edges and file marks. This process was repeated between 2 and 4 times, depending on the area.
(https://i.imgur.com/CTRvzWE.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/yHzDbfd.jpeg)
The final smooth fuselage (forgive the finger smudge in the first photo).
(https://i.imgur.com/YyKfVxU.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/gRtBqCP.jpeg)
And a quick test fit of the tail surfaces.
(https://i.imgur.com/RUW6u9t.jpeg)
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Saved the best image to last. That looks fabulous! 8)
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She is taking shape nicely, well done!
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Wonderful work!
Warren
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Your method of making the seats and engine is the same as the one I use in 1/72 scale, and I find that difficult enough....
Brilliant mdelling.
Stephen.
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Excellent stuff, more amazing modelling skills.
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Another Tiny Masterpiece underway! Looking Terrific!
RAGIII
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Excellent stuff, more amazing modelling skills.
Another Tiny Masterpiece underway! Looking Terrific!
RAGIII
Thanks, guys! The comments sure help with the motivation
Your method of making the seats and engine is the same as the one I use in 1/72 scale, and I find that difficult enough....
Brilliant mdelling.
Stephen.
Yeah, there was a lot of trial and error and I'm sure I wasted a lot of plastic unnecessarily, but hey.
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The wings
The outline of the wing was glued to a 1.5mm piece of acrylic. Then, it was cut out from the acrylic and the corners were rounded out. Lastly, the outline was chiseled off
(https://i.imgur.com/1NIKVRs.jpg)
The curve of the underside of the wing was then made by scraping the underside with a curved blade. Thankfully, the bade I had was just about the same curve as the underside of the airfoil. I drew on the wing with a sharpie to better see where I was scraping.
(https://i.imgur.com/FJF5AE3.jpg)
The topside of the wing was then filed to shape. Note the washout at the ends of the wing. This process was repeated on the top wing, with the aileron sections being scribed in.
(https://i.imgur.com/zDkLrvx.jpg)
the airfoil guides I made to check the profile of the top and bottom curves of the airfoil. I carved an 'I' and an 'O' to the inner and outer airfoil profiles.
(https://i.imgur.com/9k9ge9E.jpg)
A quick shot of the Roland with the tail feathers and lower wing installed
(https://i.imgur.com/f0kyBt7.jpg)
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Brilliant work in this scale!
Great progress
Regards
Dave
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Now that looks like hard work.... Scraping the airfoil shape with a curved blade! No way could I do that and get a consistent shape across the wing. More incredible work.
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Great work! I especially like the washout to the wingtips.
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Simply Amazing!
RAGIII
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Simply Amazing!
RAGIII
Brilliant work in this scale!
Great progress
Regards
Dave
Great work! I especially like the washout to the wingtips.
Cheers guys!
Now that looks like hard work.... Scraping the airfoil shape with a curved blade! No way could I do that and get a consistent shape across the wing. More incredible work.
It took a looong time, a lot of scraping and a little sanding and it isn't 100% perfect.
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And now on to some paint prep
In general, I plan on making some of the raised details (panels, ribs, etc.) using a thick (for the scale) layer of white paint. This way I can create the raised detail and a white highlight layer at the same time, eliminating the need for masking and painting on the highlights later on
Before the paint prep itself, I had to file the upper slot to shape and dry-fit the upper wing.
(https://i.imgur.com/WJceK7j.jpg)
To make the front cowling, I glued a pair of hobby blades together using some styrene shims to give the correct spacing. I used this tool to scribe the panel line, then mask the front cowling. The panel was then painted white. I'll be repeating this trick to make some other panels around the airplane.
(https://i.imgur.com/UKBjl7K.jpg)
Before that, I wanted to get the worst part out of the way. This being the long, long process of masking and painting the wing ribs. The wing guide jigs I made came in very handy for this
(https://i.imgur.com/Vc0bqbn.jpg)
After an hour and a half, the upper side of the port wing was finished. A little sanding is required to sharpen the edges.
(https://i.imgur.com/imoCvkX.jpg)
One surface down, eleven to go.
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This is truly amazing modelling. I take my hat off to you 1/144 (Braille Scale) modellers.
Stephen.
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We are blessed by yourself and William Adair showing us another dimension at least to myself of small scale genius!
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Wow, more fabulous work. I hate masking in 1/32, I can only imagine how much I would hate it if I had to do it in 1/144!
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Fantastic progress, congratulations! The extra ribs are a pain but my goodness they look good ;D
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Considering how good you are at making aircraft with clear plastic I would love to see you build the Link Hoffman R.I with it's transparent skin.
Alan
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Great, just great!!!
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Wow, just wow!
Warren
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This is truly amazing modelling. I take my hat off to you 1/144 (Braille Scale) modellers.
Stephen.
Wow, just wow!
Warren
Great, just great!!!
We are blessed by yourself and William Adair showing us another dimension at least to myself of small scale genius!
Thank you for the kind comments, guys!
Considering how good you are at making aircraft with clear plastic I would love to see you build the Link Hoffman R.I with it's transparent skin.
Alan
That machine is a behemoth! Dunno if I'll do something like that one day, but Im thinking about how I can use that transparency to my advantage with regards to rib/markings shadows.
Wow, more fabulous work. I hate masking in 1/32, I can only imagine how much I would hate it if I had to do it in 1/144!
Fantastic progress, congratulations! The extra ribs are a pain but my goodness they look good ;D
Yes, those ribs are a pain, but the results speak for themselves.
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Today's update is pretty short. I've just been masking and painting the topside ribs. Its a long and tedious process, but the results speak for themselves. The undersides and vertical stabilizer aren't as complicated to mask, so they shouldn't take as much time.
(https://i.imgur.com/2wM89kt.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/KDN33ay.jpeg)
(https://imgur.com/2iEfyKF)
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My Jaw drops every time I check in on this build! I would have difficulty doing that masking in 1/32nd scale! Terrific and inspiring work.
RAGIII
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This is perhaps the best update yet. Amazing progress and a fantastic result!
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Very impressive work.
Scratchbuilding an engine in 1/144? Mind boggling!!!
Willem
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Magic, sheer magic!!
Cheers,
Lance
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More amazing masking work!
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Absolutely remarkable in so, so many ways!
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Amazing work as we've come to expect.
Warren
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This just gets better nad better - and more amazing!
Stephen.