forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Paper and Card models => Topic started by: DMPopa on August 20, 2024, 11:08:01 AM
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Next up is a build of the Ernst Udet, Fokker DVII LO!. The model is a repaint using a Fokker DVII Udet skin from the www.sas1946.com website to go with the Kartanowa Kolekcia Fokker D.VII Udet kit. There are plenty of other Fokker DVII skins out there but the Udet Fokker is special to me. Sometime in the early '70s I built a 1/72 Udet model, this being before lozenge decals became available on the open market so the lozenge details were omitted in the built kit. Now I can do a little better.
Fitters has a Udet kit, but I am not in possession of this kit and perhaps its graphics will make an Udet repaint un-necessary for everyone else. The Kartanowa kit interior, cockpit parts are good so I will not touch them.
Starting off is a description of the technique utilized to create the repaint. Skins used in the aircraft combat games pose some unique challenges that need to be addressed to execute the repaint correctly, which arises from what I can surmise is the files have specific characteristics (transparency, Alpha value) that allow shadows and light to appear on the airplane. What I discovered that if one simply cuts and paste (I use GIMP) and resize the image into the target kit graphic, the copied image if blurry. As it has been explained by someone who knows computer graphics better than I, the image data becomes damaged and fixing work damage is a complicated endeavor.
The workaround is to cut, copy and paste the skin image into the target graphics, target graphics that have been resized and rotated if needed, eliminating the need to edit and damage the skin graphics.
How is this done.
Open the skin in its own separate file:
(https://i.imgur.com/lf2qMNH.jpeg)
Select and cut a part from the skin:
(https://i.imgur.com/35ZWajr.jpeg)
Open the page from the kit that you want to repaint and paste the copied part into the file and position it over the corresponding part in the kit.
(https://i.imgur.com/j9lzKMl.jpeg)
The size is too small. At this point you want to find out the scale factor between the as pasted part and the part that is fully sized to the kit.
In gimp, when the resize option is used, this dialogue box appears when the selected image is to be resized.
(https://i.imgur.com/CwqC3rW.jpeg)
Copy the numbers 89 and 104. Now, resize the part to fill the copied into the kit image.
(https://i.imgur.com/0jI8Jqy.jpeg)
The dialogue box numbers are now 112 and 131. The average of the ratios of 89/112 and 104/131 is .7943. This scale factor is the reduction in size that the kit page needs to be so the skin will fill the kit graphics.
Now, create a new image file.
This dialogue box appears.
(https://i.imgur.com/21OaA74.jpeg)
The image size in this case is 554 and 790 These need to be reduced by the scale factor of .7943. This results in an image size of 440 and 627.
(https://i.imgur.com/Vl2m1Qx.jpeg)
Hit OK in the dialogue box and this appears:
(https://i.imgur.com/PofUNXZ.jpeg)
Now copy the entire kit page and paste it into the newly created image file:
You get this.
(https://i.imgur.com/WGmLVHC.jpeg)
Because the image being pasted into the image file is bigger, only part of the page shows. Now, resize the pasted image to fit inside of the smaller box.
(https://i.imgur.com/vmbIxu3.jpeg)
Resize the image
(https://i.imgur.com/79fmG2U.jpeg)
Go back to the skin file and copy and paste the image that you started with and paste it into the file you have just created and resized and move the image to its proper location on the kit page. Do the same for other parts. Note in this example that the skin and the kit do not agree 100%, so the width is matched as this is (at least at this point) a more important feature to base the resizing on. Later on I colored in some red to fill out the image. The copied image will be properly sized to the kit page and no editing is needed. It is avoiding editing that allows the copied image to be identical to the image in the skin file.
(https://i.imgur.com/lY1E7FP.jpeg)
The various images in the skin file will not all be to the same scale factor so this process will have to be repeated for families of skin images. For example, in this example the fuselage parts had the same scale factor, the wings had another scale factor and the rudder and horizontal and vertical stabilizers had another. A word about the wing: This image had to be turned 90 degrees, this was done by swapping the X and Y scaled coordinate so the image file is landscape mode.
This example did not require any changes in light level, sometimes the image has to be brightened. In Gimp go to Color, Level and change Clamp the input level at 1.47.
(https://i.imgur.com/p2AuDXf.jpeg)
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NICE tutorial! This will be fun to watch...Dan
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This looks far too complicated for me! I think I will stick with plastic and paint.......
Amazing work though.
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Some additional thoughts on creating a repainted paper model.
My best practice is to create a new layer on top of the re-sized paper model page and copy the skin graphic into this new layer. The opacity of the new layer can be reduced which can help position the new graphics into its proper position in the target paper model page. When sure that the skin graphics has been scaled properly, it really does not matter where the skin graphics is positioned on the paper model page. A separate layer makes erasers and other edits to be made to the paper model page, or to capture graphics that the skin graphics covered. Once all changes are made, in Gimp the top layer can be merged into the lower level.
Save often. My best practice is to separately save the layered file copy, the merged file, and any files that had color level changes made. Add descriptive file name titles. You never know when you have to circle back. Or create s special file with just a single feature to be reprinted (to save on ink and paper).
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Here are some of the completed repainted model sheets. I have repainted the top wing with white and red stripes on the bottom and with lozenge camouflage on the bottom. I have seen pictures of the Udet Fokker DVII both ways. Do any of the readers of this post have any insight as to which version of the upper wing is the most appropriate for this build?
(https://i.imgur.com/vtLcxCM.jpeg)
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Very nice and thanks for the tutorial on your processes. I don't know if it is too late but there is a photo that shows those white stripes on the upper fuselage did not exist. Either way paper models are truly inspirational, and I look forward to your build.
RAGIII
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looks great! As far as the upper wing, and if the stripes were on the underside, I think the thought is that Udet had copied what was on his previous Fokker DrI where the stripes did wrap around to the underside. There is also a really poor quality photo that you can maybe just barely see the stripes do wrap (honestly the pic is so bad I am unsure it is clear enough to say that.)
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The engine construction is cylinders and cylinder heads/tops cardstock paper per the kit, valve springs are Bead Treasures Miyuki 11/0 Delica Matte Metallic Silver Grey beads, the camshaft is K&S .032 music wire and the valve covers are Evergreen Polystyrene .080X.080 cut into blocks. All are spray painted gloss black from the rattle can. The valve covers are glued to the music wire with white glue.
(https://i.imgur.com/wUIWOIA.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/1bcuVSy.jpeg)
The diameter of the camshaft is driven by the need to have it fit between the valve springs and .032 diameter is a tight fit. The kit does not include provisions for valve springs or valve lifters but are added here.
The top of the valve covers is comprised of velum paper that has indentations made from the bottom to replicate attachment bolts and painted silver from the rattle can. A camshaft transfer gear is added at the aft end of the engine and is made from rolled paper, also painted silver. Valve lifters are thin strips of velum paper spray painted light gray primer from the rattle can; light grey to add some color contrast with the silver paint. The intake manifold is Evergreen .040" diameter polystyrene rod, spray painted gloss black from the rattle can.
Since the engine below the top is covered, I have not included details in the lower sections of the engine.
(https://i.imgur.com/u22IfXF.jpeg)
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The springs are a nice added detail and the engine is looking great!
RAGIII
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The structure is initially built per the kit. The right side is assembled first.
(https://i.imgur.com/MsUKED1.jpeg)
The left side is bulkhead is added and the cockpit is completed. The instrument panel is printed on photo paper. A side note is the instrument panel becomes part of the structure as this is a primary lateral structure and its positioned on the left and right side is important as this will set the width of the fuselage at this axial location. The control stick is fabricated of a coated craft wire of a suitable diameter and stiffness (or lack thereof) and bent to shape and painted.
(https://i.imgur.com/E23toci.jpeg)
The structure is printed on thick cardboard, sourced from industrial catalogues with impressive covers.
Per the kit, there are many open spaces in the fuselage structure.
(https://i.imgur.com/4kasIgn.jpeg)
My practice is to fill in these openings and later sand and glaze with Ready Patch.
(https://i.imgur.com/otK1PdQ.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/S2hxZ3B.jpeg)
Looking closely at the engine part of the fuselage assembly it shows that the engine cam gear drive feature at the aft end of the engine had to be removed because the fuselage bulkhead immediately downstream of the engine interfered with this feature.
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Excellent progress. Again, this looks like a lot of work!
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Agree with Nigel. Herculean work, I'd say. It'll be worth it!
Dan
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The fuselage has been smoothed over with MH Ready Patch sanded and primed in light grey from the rattle can. After some final sanding the fuselage will get a final coat of red primer to best match the final color.
(https://i.imgur.com/iY2tNQL.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/2VQgjvN.jpeg)
The skins have been test fit to the primed fuselage and it was found that the skins do not completely the surfaces. This means going back to GIMP to make edits to the repainted graphics to correct this problem and print out another page of fuselage skins.
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Looking great!
Dan
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Really coming along nicely. I am always amazed at the great details achieved using paper and other basic materials!
RAGIII
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The fuselage side skins are applied first to the now red prime painted fuselage structure. This picture shows off nicely the glazed fuselage structure top prior to attachment of the top back skin.
(https://i.imgur.com/hMgaU0f.jpeg)
The way things have turned out, the side, top and bottom skins are a little oversized to the fuselage structure. These get trimmed prior to being glued to the fuselage structure surface. On order of application, top back, top front, the front radiator cowl and finally the bottom. The bottom goes on as a single piece; the kit has the part below the engine as several pieces.
These pictures are with all fuselage skins attached:
(https://i.imgur.com/gSktl8v.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/0dColGh.jpeg)
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More impressive work, this is coming along nicely.
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Liking this!!!
Dan
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The Vertical stabilizer, rudder, horizontal stabilizer and elevator are assembled along with the control wires which are rendered in EZ Line.
(https://i.imgur.com/JzlAZbB.jpeg)
Du doch nicht! roughly translates to "no not you". An online resource wrote that these words in German do not exactly translate so there are other translations out there.
(https://i.imgur.com/ZqcI5uV.jpeg)
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I love using EZ-Line. Works just great. Looking really, really good!
Dan
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I added clear coats to the fuselage to seal and to add some "pop" to the colors.
I experimented with different clear coats before I hit the best one for the final coat.
Some background: To fix places in the red areas, I used the red primer sprayed into a plastic spoon and brushed on. The red primer I used is red Dupli-Color Primer Filler. To reduce the shine I brushed on a powder, L.A. Colors Water Lily; I would mix up the different colors in the pack for best results.
My first attempt at a color coat was Mod Podge Matte Clear Acrylic Sealer. To my eye, the coverage was not even and consistent. Same for the second coat, Aleene's Acrylic Sealer Gloss. Final coat was Testors dullcoat, shot using an airbrush. This gave me the best results; coverage was even and consistent.
(https://i.imgur.com/1wTxXeW.jpeg)
Work included as shown above the engine radiator cowl was smoothed out with MH Ready Patch and touched up as noted above with paint and powder.
(https://i.imgur.com/xnL0Ewd.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Taf2LMD.jpeg)
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Nice progress here. This is coming together nicely, all your efforts will be rewarded.
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This is the bees knees. I really like the subdued underside too.
Looks great!
Dan
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The machine gun, exhaust manifold and the cockpit cowling is done.
The machine guns is a repaint from a Siemans Schuckert D.IV skin that I got off of IL-2 Sturmovick. Lots of detail in the skin at a magnification but at the small scale of the actual printed machine gun a lot of detail is lost.
(https://i.imgur.com/S84BPW2.jpeg)
The gun sight rings are Model Shipways MS0951 5/64" brass split rings from the model ship hardware stash. The gun barrels are vellum paper wrapped around .020" music wire (the wire is removed after the glue dries).
The exhaust manifold is right from the kit.
(https://i.imgur.com/FQCGyWR.jpeg)
The fuselage had to be cut to accept the ammunition feeds and shell removal Shutes. A little crude but the machine guns hide most of it.
(https://i.imgur.com/NEperv9.jpeg)
Business end of the machine guns showing the gunsight rings
(https://i.imgur.com/UHbVAsC.jpeg)
Side view.
(https://i.imgur.com/vWiLls2.jpeg)
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The top wing is done.
The wing structure is built, and when gluing the downloaded paper graphics to the cardboard that I am using, things are pretty unsteady.
What I consider to be the goal of the wing build is the wing has to be straight in the top view and front end view. When the wing skin is attached, the leading edge rounded fold has to be smooth and the demarcation between upper and lower graphics has to be consistent from edge to edge.
(https://i.imgur.com/bnwSbcT.jpeg)
.039 music wire is added to the leading edge, covered in velum paper and the trailing edge has a .032 music wire added, covered in velum paper. The connection points are found in the upper and lower wing skin.
(https://i.imgur.com/UY6TpFM.jpeg)
The upper wing has been repainted as a single piece, unlike the model graphics which is in three pieces.
Hard points are added to the connection points.
(https://i.imgur.com/VSPmSy0.jpeg)
The structure is glued to the lower half wing graphics at this point.
Close up of the hard points. A hole is cut in one piece of cardboard and a second piece is glued over this piece. Also the aileron cables are added at this point.
(https://i.imgur.com/Yelm8vQ.jpeg)
Aileron Cables pre assembled in the lower half
(https://i.imgur.com/RZzPEQp.jpeg)
The top half wing skin is glued in place. After trimming the edges, using HM Ready patch and paint touchup, this is the result.
(https://i.imgur.com/ES7hTW6.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Qz8fAYj.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/OCiPcwL.jpeg)
It does not show up well in the pictures, but the aileron control arms and cables are added at this point.
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Excellent progress here, trhis will look great when it all comes together.
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That looked very fiddly and hard. My hat goes off to you.
Alan.
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The lower wings are done. Because of the way that I constructed the fuselage, having a solid bottom vs. a separate fuselage piece at the wing added after the wing is attached, the center part of the wing spar is cut aut and music wire is in place to secure the lower wings to the fuselage.
Concerning the wing structures, a piece of .032 music wire is added at the leading edge covered in paper velum and a second .032 music wire attached through holes drilled into the wing ribs. These will be used to attach the lower wings to the fuselage.
(https://i.imgur.com/NawXc9z.jpeg)
This is with the wing skin added and sprayed with Testors Dullcote.
(https://i.imgur.com/narNpeD.jpeg)
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Impressive engineering!
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Moving right along!!!
Dan
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All of the various pieces are coming together and the airplane is now looking like a biplane.
The lower wings are first attached and supports are cut from cardboard that will hold the upper wing at the correct elevation and position. The carboard supports are held in place to the lower wings by rubber bands.
(https://i.imgur.com/3FVY8q3.jpeg)
Initially four inner struts are installed. These for inner struts are made from K&S 3/64 Brass rods. The struts on the Fokker DVII are metal on the real plane and are relatively small in diameter. Other methods of support, Evergreen Rod or thin wire covered in paper has troubled me as being too flexible to properly position and support the upper wing. The 3/64 brass rod appears to be to be a correct diameter. and is stiff and relatively easy to bend and cut vs. music wire. A piece of rod is cut and a bend is made that will fit into the fuselage. The rod is spraypainted red primer.
(https://i.imgur.com/oX61zrd.jpeg)
The upper wing attachment worked best by inverting the fuselage and lower wing.
(https://i.imgur.com/wp2sgic.jpeg)
This is a view of the four supports from the upright position. The supports are inserted into the holes previously constructed in the upper wing and secured with Crazy Glue.
(https://i.imgur.com/KnzBI3a.jpeg)
The resulting construction is stiff, strong and the wings are properly positioned.
The other inner supports are made from Evergreen .041 Polystyrene rod no. 211 as no additional allowances for stiffness is needed. The polystyrene is easier to work with than the brass and is almost the same diameter. These supports are also painted red primer.
(https://i.imgur.com/T1oG2SJ.jpeg)
The two sets of outer wing supports are made from Evergreen 1/6" Polystyrene rod, No. 222 that has had the opposite sides sanded smooth to give these supports an aerodynamic look. These supports are also painted red primer. The vertical supports go in first and the diagonal supports go on last.
(https://i.imgur.com/Lide5Rk.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/FGhCxwX.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/OicYpkg.jpeg)
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More clever engineering work! This is coming together very nicely.
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Su-WEET! Looking really great. Home stretch!
Dan
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The landing gear is done.
The Wheels are built up using cardboard using the kit design.
These are the individual pieces:
(https://i.imgur.com/xABkrzs.jpeg)
Pieces glued together with a hole drilled in the center:
(https://i.imgur.com/4CzifZa.jpeg)
Wheels painted dark grey primer. The tires are rounded out with a glaze, MH ReadyPatch, and sanded, repainted reglazed, and sanded and painted again.
(https://i.imgur.com/siLE9ix.jpeg)
Glass beads at the center hole to cause the center skin to achieve a conical shape. I use a .031 music wire to canter the beads while they are drying.
(https://i.imgur.com/OGHCNph.jpeg)
Conical skin attached:
(https://i.imgur.com/26XSL7w.jpeg)
The method that I use for WWI landing gears is to use as struts K&S 3/64 Brass rods. These provide the necessary stiffness and the diameter provides additional bearing area at the connect point vs. thin music wire wrapped in paper. The goal is to construct the landing gear so that the airplane sits properly from all angles and a structure that is stiff and stable that can handle adjustment during construction is required to achieve this. The Fokker landing gear presents a challenge as the sub wing needs to be positioned accurately and quite frankly, gets in the way. The kit design has the struts connect from the fuselage to the wing separately and as music wire wrapped in paper. My experience with this situation always gave un-satisfactory results. The direction that I took for the struts is to make loops of the brass rods painted red primer and feed them through the sub wing. Later they will be separated to final V shape. The axle is .031" music wire wrapped in paper velum which is glued to the lower wing.
(https://i.imgur.com/KTBfYQn.jpeg)
The wing skin is folded over and the struts are separated. The rigging wire is pre-assembled using EZ Line.
(https://i.imgur.com/O2Vp2BD.jpeg)
Another view. The end pieces are left off as my plan is to add glue at the side locations and paint in red primer after the wing is properly positioned on the fuselage.
(https://i.imgur.com/WiJxzCh.jpeg)
Struts and sub-wing assembled to the fuselage with glue added to the sub wing end pieces.
(https://i.imgur.com/LWyI0Lg.jpeg)
Final look with wheels and rigging wire in place. Turnbuckles are rendered in velum paper wrapped around .031" music wire as done on the Phonix DI
(https://i.imgur.com/nHulzK9.jpeg)
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This is the completed Fokker DVII with the horizontal stabilizer struts and support cables, radiator filler tube and propeller added.
(https://i.imgur.com/lD6GWAa.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/305AYt0.jpeg)
(https://i.imgur.com/QgEWjfL.jpeg)
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I just can't get my head around this being done with paper. Brilliant job.
Alan.
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Very well done! Another impressive build in paper and card.
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Very impressive work!!! Amazing! And nice tutorial! Thanks!
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Well that is a very nice rendition in paper. Super cool color scheme. Ernst would be proud!
Dan
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Outstanding! Thanks for the graphics tutorial.
Gene K
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Excellent DVII!
RAGIII