forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
The David Wilson Memorial Group Build 2024 => The David Wilson Memorial Group Build 2024 => Topic started by: Bluesfan on May 07, 2024, 05:08:57 AM
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Just woke up to the need to declare myself for this! :D
Very much wanted to participate, like so many I have reason to appreciate Dave's masterful and sensitive stewardship of this great forum.
And this is an excellent opportunity to get back into the world of multiple wings and rigging, too neglected of late.
I do have unbuilt SE's and Pfalzes in the stash, but this kit of the SSW D.III has been shining at me, so here I go.
I have only just started to cut plastic - first job, cutting out the louvres under the engine - and haven't glued anything yet.
I will be building this famous red machine, popular subject I know, but I find Udet a fascinating as well as a tragic figure, so I absolutely wanted an example of this attractive plane for myself.
All the best to everyone joining in this build!
Mark
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Another excellent choice for the GB. Having built this one I would only say watch the fit of the cabanes as they tend to make the Interplanes lift or the center section of the upper wing bow if left unchanged.
RAGIII
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Many thanks for that advice Rick
I can also see the fit of the bottom wing will take some care
I love Roden kits!
Mark
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An oldie but a goodie (with a bit of work). Looking forward to this one.
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Going to have to follow this one! I love these aeroplanes, and anything Udet-related always grabs my interest.
Dutch
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There's a D.III replica at the museum near me (https://www.omaka.org.nz/) and it is such a neat-looking machine. I didn't realise Roden did a kit so I'm very excited to see this build!
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Thanks for the comments :) Yes Nigel, "with a bit of work", you're not kidding!
Here's the state of play with the cockpit assembly. Some non-ideal aspects, but overall I want to move forward now and seal it up.
The seat belts and instrument dials are from old Eduard sets.
Main novelty for me was fitting control lines, I think the first time I've tried to render them. I didn't appreciate that the geometry of the control column pieces in this kit would make this a little tricky.
The plastic blob at the back is just stuck there to act as an anchor for the control lines.
Btw KiwiZac, I don't know what this says about me but regarding my imaginary list of reasons to ever visit New Zealand - fjords, mountains, amazing bird life, Lord of the Rings stuff, etc etc; floating near the top has always been that SSW replica ;D. Love the D.III and D.IV, I'm sure we'd have heard a lot more of them in 1918 but for the issue with the engine oil. And who knows what how good the D.VI monoplane might have turned out to be?
Cheers
Mark
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Great choice Mark and you've got a really good start. This Kit is still my favorite of my collection but as others here have noted can be a lot of work depending on how far you wish to take it.Rag III's comments concerning the upper wing "bow" are right on the mark and attention to the length of the cabanes is the cure, I didn't get it quite right on mine either. As a thought Bull Dog makes a very nice PE Set for this Model and Hannants had it in stock a year ago when I decided to build another of these, worth looking into. Here's a link to my old Build Log and Mike Norris has one on the Forum as well, I'll be following your Build with great interest.
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=6383.0
Cheers and have fun with this one!
Lance
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The Pit is really looking great Mark! I seem to recall deciding to leave a couple of those wires that were under the floor off of My build :-X
RAGIII
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Good start and well done on fitting the control lines, it's the things like that that make a big difference (and they can be seen when you look in the cockpit).
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Right, some pictures to catch up, after an intense week of building.
(I wanted to take it along to the monthly model club meet on Wednesday - which I did, more about that anon)(to be honest, not 'quite' finished, and also I'll be putting it in a simple vignette by sometime next week)
Here's the cockpit. Quite fiddly fitting in the bellcrank structure. And when closed up later, the control wires are less visible than I'd hoped. But I'm happy, it may be the most complete cockpit I've put together.
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Back and front views of the engine.
Yes, it's the kit engine, for better or worse.
I experimented with some paints from a Lifecolor metallic set. Frankly the actual colours didn't resemble the shades suggested by the packaging. I repainted some of it. I'm not an expert in the area of metallics but my feeling is that enamels render them better than acrylics.
You may be able to see that I did some basic addition of ignition wires.
I have a confession to make.
I currently possess not one, not two even, but three different examples of the Siemens Halske Sh.III engine.
The third will be found in the wonderful new Pfalz D.VIII kit.
The second - ah well, some years ago, Aviattic offered a kit of this engine, apparently designed by North Star Models. When the new Pfalz kit came out, I naively assumed it would be the same set, but no, on examination it's obviously different. The earlier kit is very fine, but consists of an intimidating mass of very small parts. It can only have been intended for the Roden kit of the Siemens D.III, being the only type existing in model form at the time which employed the Siemens Halske Sh.III. So one would think it probably does fit. I'm inclined to build it at some point, though I'll need some eyesight assistance(!). Why didn't I build it for this kit? I'm afraid what with the Wednesday 'deadline' for taking along a reasonably finished model, I realised it would take far too long.
What with the time consuming nature of the task represented by the next picture... (Breath taking stuff this, isn't it? :D )
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Udet's plane retained lozenge fabric only on the main wings ie not the tail. Supposedly it was his intention to have the whole plane painted red eventually. But this is the most representative scheme of his plane.
I've bought sheets of Aviattic lozenge at several times, but for reasons I can't explain, the kits requiring it have stayed in the stash, until now. So this is the first time I've used them. They're lovely, aren't they? Both in appearance and convincing realism, and as materials to work with. I'm very pleased especially as this is my first time using them.
Yes, they're the special sheets Aviattic produced of fabric turned 45° as appropriate for this type.
The one downside was my hard experience of just how mindblowing cutting and applying rib tapes can be. I didn't check in a mirror, but I imagine I sported a classic 'thousand yard stare' after a few sessions.
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Up till now, I've usually drilled through wings or fuselage to thread through rigging. Turnbuckles have often simply been short sections of microtube, such as Albion Alloys used to sell. I've used them here to secure rigging loops. As for the rigging itself, I prefer fishing line.
But that approach didn't seem practical when dealing with all over decals, ie too much scope for messing things up.
So among other bits of experimentation, I've got hold of a set of Gaspatch turnbuckles, and I like the result; except for one thing, which as you can see all too well, is the difficulty of fitting them at the right angle. Well, this is a question of technique and I hope I'll improve on my next project.
The most annoying pair were for the lines extending from the cowling. I couldn't see how to insert the turnbuckles on the wings at a low enough angle. I think I'd have done better to stick them in at the base of the struts.
Never mind that - just look at those very pretty Gaspatch guns!
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Stunning! that paint and finish looks so smooth ;D
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Wow, this has come together really well (and quickly!!). She is looking really good so far.
Those Aviattic decals are fantastic. I have been putting off using the GasPatch turnbuckles as I haven't found a way to make (IMO) them look convincing. But I have been experimenting and am going to give them a go on my Pfalz DIIIa build....
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The most annoying pair were for the lines extending from the cowling. I couldn't see how to insert the turnbuckles on the wings at a low enough angle. I think I'd have done better to stick them in at the base of the struts.
This is all coming together very nice indeed! Regarding the turnbuckles and getting a good/correct angle, my method is to make the attachment point "eyelet" right on the buckle itself - insert a straight section of fine soft wire, bend it around the buckle then twist the wire ends (using clamp tweezers/hemostats) - gluing just the twisted end of the wire eyelet into the model the buckle then is "free" to move and when you attach the other end of the wire it will assume the correct angle.
(https://i.imgur.com/OFzyA4Gl.jpg)
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I use Patrick's method as well and GasPatch turn buckles . ( I prefer the 1;48 Scale versions as I find the 1:32 ones a bit over scaled for my "Geriatric Scale" 1:32 subjects) Works very nicely!
Cheers,
Lance
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Ah... Thanks Petrov and Lance... Not the first time I realise something I might have figured out. I was using the wrong type of turnbuckles, the ones Gaspatch offer which root directly (if that makes sense). Type A rather than the Type C which I see in your picture. 'Obvious' now!
Weirdly, despite this being such a visible mistake, I may well just leave it. (You appreciate I already have the top wing on, pics to follow later) It just seems to matter less than the overall prettiness of the decals and everything. But thanks, the lesson will be applied in future.
Mark
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One of the rules of successful modelling: Never do things in a rush.
I'm sure many of you follow this essential rule as much as I do; which is to say, sometimes not.
So, there was my local model club meeting last Wednesday, holding a competition this month in fact. The club has just moved to holding competitions half yearly rather than annually. This caught out many people, including myself. I'd started a Sopwith Camel. The theme this time was "As Colourful as Possible", awkward because the Camel I want to build is one of the 2F Camels flown on the Tondern Raid. With all the markings etc painted out, ie a plane which was very much not 'as colourful as possible'.
Hence an intense week-ish leading up to last Wednesday. It's not quite finished, but as near as makes no difference, and I am going to set it in a vignette. This was the state in which I took it along to the club meet.
On that last day, I found myself threading the last 8 strands of rigging, between the wings. Actually it wasn't so bad, especially as the wing structure on this type is sound. However, doing the final loops naturally left ends to be snipped off, and I managed nearly all of them, until I cut through the wire instead on the last one. The rear flying wire on the port side. That's why there's a bodged repair job there.
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A couple more pics.
To my surprise it came 3rd (out of 20 entries, with ~40 voting). My prize was a coffee mug, and believe it or not, I'm really chuffed about that! ;D
Overall I'm happy so far, I mainly wanted to capture the basic prettiness (I know, I know, 'in the eye of the beholder') of one of my favourite types. If only Wingnuts could have held off another half year or so, Roden might have taken more time on the finish of the fuselage; and maybe also committed to producing a companion model of the D.IV.
But I like this kit very much. For what it's worth, the prop came from LF Models. A bit of hacking about was required to fit it into the spinner, but I think it does the business. And as already mentioned, Gaspatch and Aviattic have enhanced other aspects of the kit.
Cheers
Mark
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Before I forget, let me thank the gents previously who pointed out the potential cabane strut problem. Which is that with the parts fitted as they are, one's liable to end up with a bow on the top wing.
Forewarned really was forearmed: after looking at photos of the actual planes, I figured it could look right if I cut wider openings for the bases of the struts, so as to let them 'sink in' as required.
it worked okay and I seem to have a properly straight top wing.
Mark
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Hello Mark
THE PLANE LOOKS BEAUTIFUL!. Regarding the repair after cutting the wire the chances are they wouldn't be noticed by someone looking at it using their eyes rather than an image from a several megapixel camera.
Alan
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Nicely done Mark, a beautiful model for your collection and from a challenging Kit!
Cheers,
Lance
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Beautifully done Mark, a very striking scheme. An excellent tribute, well done, sir!
Cheers
BC
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That is remarkable work on a challenging kit! Terrific Tribute and thanks for the suggestion/solution to those cabanes!! I may need to do another someday!
RAGIII
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Beautiful build ! Well done ;D
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Nice and colourful.
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I think that's turned out really well and it certainly looks very colourful. Nice job!!
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Many thanks again for the comments. I think I'm done now! Though I thought that once or twice already, and there were another few twists in the tale :)
Since the previous roughly finished stage, I've touched up some minor paint waywardness, and I did manage to redo the rear landing wire which I'd cut.
More importantly, I finally installed the 'intra-cabane' rigging which was very finicky though not very visible. My impression is that it wasn't always arranged the same way in different aircraft, but I was drawn to pictures in the Datafile which show the use of a squarish metal piece centering the rigging from the four points of attachment. Sort of equivalent to the Camel's use of an acorn, the point being to keep the rigging clear of the guns. I tried to emulate it with some tiny pieces of spare PE and wire. Imperfect, but at least it's there.
Having done that, I sprayed on a coat of satin varnish, which gave a more pleasing finish.
Then I prepared a base and figures, pictures to follow.
Mark
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I definitely agree that the satin finish looks better. Looking forward to seeing it on a base with some figures.
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I used the Black Dog figures of a pilot having his picture taken against the aircraft.
NB this pic also chosen to show my attempt to render the rigging over the top fuselage.
There was evidently a lot of this kind of photography done.
I'd have liked an accurate representation of Udet himself. I must admit I know that Elan13 figures did one; I like Elan13's work a lot and I've bought several of their figures, but for me their version of Udet wasn't very true to life. Actually, if anyone had sculpted figures based on that famous picture of Lola sitting on his lap, I'd have probably and shamelessly put it in this scene ;D
The Black Dog figure of the pilot I used here is a little too tall to be Udet.
Mark
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I really like the camera on tripod Black Dog did. Even though it was tortuous to assemble - 9 fragile pieces, very reluctant to co-operate with my superglue. Lots of calming down my breathing to steady my hands... I spent some time on painting it in various shades of black with brass and leather details.
I added a shutter release cable; and on the pilot figure, his binoculars strap.
As for the photographer, he went flying off my modelling table while I was desperately trying to keep the camera in proper shape. He hit the floor and broke his leg in two places. I never found the ankle section; I think a top surgeon would be proud of my reconstructive work there. I was going to say, "He'll never fly again", but in reality there were one or two pilots who did go back in the air after bad crashes, with crude prosthetic help, Douglas Bader fashion I believe - ? On the other hand I'm sure most were very glad to be invalided out.
Anyway, I'm very glad that our desire to give tribute to Dave and his work on the forum spurred me to build this kit, it was on my shelves for far too long. Also it obliged me to try out several things I'd avoided so far, like the application of lozenge camouflage.
Finally, let me repeat my appreciation of how well Dave looked after us.
Mark
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Excellent additions with the figures and clear coat!
RAGIII
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That looks superb Mark, excellent job.
Alan.
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What an amazing model and scene! Colorful and masterfull done :)
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Lovely.
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Now that has turned out really well. I love the vignette and I am afraid I may shamelessly steal that idea in future....... ;D
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Please do ('steal' that idea)!
Thanks for the comments!
Mark
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Beautifully done. I'm a fan of the satin finish as well.