forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Scratch builds => Topic started by: Skyhook on May 05, 2025, 02:05:54 AM
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Hi!
The Caproni will be completed in time for the Shelf Queen Group Build, but to get some diversion for the endless rigging I started a new project on the side two weeks ago. I chose an early AEG 2-seater as the subject for the project and this time I decided to go for the translucent wings. According to the available photos, some of the examples seem to have been clear doped with painted metal panels? some others have clearly been painted with an uniform color, which may well have been feldgrau. I will make one of the former ones.
My methods have been the same as with my recent Albatros two-seaters, but instead of the balsa core for the wings, now I have used clear plastic (from a commercial package). It is much harder to sand into shape and I used mostly scraping with a sharp blade sideways for the general shape. When I got the ready, I drew the ribs etc. with permanent markers. I will paint them just once or twice with CDL color to make them translucent enough.
The tail surfaces seem to lack any aerofoil, so I cut and sanded them from 0,4 mm white plasticard. The ribs I did as with wings?
Next i will paint the wings and then make the metal profile wing tank, which makes up the centre section of the upper wing. AEG had folding wings for easier transport.
Btw. This models feels very small and quick build when compared to the Ca. 42 :)
Cheers, Skyhook
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54495923796_3803438091_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2r2BRx3)C8BD55E4-8136-4570-8B4E-C239A97A5A08 (https://flic.kr/p/2r2BRx3)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54495923806_c58b3a6f95_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2r2BRxd)5F4D1A63-3D82-405B-9205-7C80EAE00E4D (https://flic.kr/p/2r2BRxd)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54495923801_8aa95083e4_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2r2BRx8)A2A492AB-73B1-4B79-B2E9-D526A50777A4 (https://flic.kr/p/2r2BRx8)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54496183528_344b5f2eb0_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2r2DbKb)73A2FDAD-8AD8-4769-97AA-69F6D2B91DF6 (https://flic.kr/p/2r2DbKb)
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sorry for the na?vet?, but is the clear wing covering a modeling choice or is it based on prototypical materials of the age?
thanks,
sid
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sorry for the na?vet?, but is the clear wing covering a modeling choice or is it based on prototypical materials of the age?
thanks,
sid
Hi Sid!
With the clear plastic wing I try to emulate the typical translucence of the unpigmented fabric covering. Actually most WW1 aircraft with light colour to the wings should have it more or less. On a sunny day the wing fabric will show the structure when looked at from below. That is very hard to portray realistically in 1/72 otherwise than using a clear plastic wing, which is painted thinly over.
Cheers, Skyhook
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Really cool. We see way too rarely an AEG B or C type.
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A great choice Skyhook! I love it when a scratch build covers a type that had never been issued as a kit.
I will follow with interest.
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Looking good!
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Great start! I am impressed with the way you carved the wings. There's no way I could get a consistent result with that much whittling. I think the CDL effect will work well.
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Thanks, all!
Nigel! I used the whittling only for to achieve a genreral profile shape. I used about 0,8mm thick clear plastic sheet from a package for brushes. I cut them to the right shape, then scraped the edges with a knife to get a crude wing profile shape. Then I used different kind of sanding papers to make the profile more even and smooth. The actual wing surfaces I did from a much thinner plastic (the stuff that was used for printing images and text for overhead projectors in the school? the stone age powerpoint :)), onto which I scored the ribs from the inner side with a ballpoint pen on a softer cardboard surface. In the photos you can see that the inner core is only up to the 2nd back spar, aft of that it is just the upper surface plastic against the lower. All glued together with contact glue.
At first I tried to make the core bits curved with a hot water treatment, but the plastic reacted badly to it, producing a wavy edge. In the end I just scored them with several lines running lenghtwise, to the underside. I used a fork handle and a lots of pressure, on a soft surface (a newspaper, on this case). Eventually, the cores had the right wing profile curvature.
Cheers, Skyhook
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Great choice! Liked this type immediately when I first saw the 3-view in the Harleyford, which in turn I was hunting for years.
Will closely look how you will do the special center section and the radiators.
Most B.II appearently stayed with the factory to train pilots, they had a mixture of crosses on wings and AEG numbers on fuselage and no military serials.
Greetings Joachim
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A very interesting build and one I am certainly looking forward to seeing. If I was building it I would be a bit apprehensive about the bulge/arc in the centre top wing above the pilot, I hope you make it look easy.
Alan.
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This is an interesting subject for a host of reasons, not least the wings. I am very interested in your approach and am eager to see how it works. For a couple of weeks work you have achieved a great deal - I wish I could make models as quickly as this.
Stephen.
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Thanks!
Stephen, I have done a lot of these scratchbulids in the past, so a certain level of routine has developed. Now that I have started it again after a decade long pause, it is coming back quite nicely? though it is funny how one forgets certain things and ways?.
But anyway?.for the mid wing gravity fuel tank, I decided to use heat formed plasticard. I used two different tea spoons for the purpose. The bigger spoon was for the bottom part and the smaller for the topside. I heated two pieces of 0,7mm plasticard with a candlelight and used the undersides of the spoons as the male mould. Then I cut them and glued together with superglue. Next some sanding and soon I will use some putty for the seams etc.
Cheers, Skyhook
Ps. Thanks for the photos, Joachim! I had never seen that ?Fliegerdenkmal? one before?.makes me think that possibly the fuselage below the tail was probably covered with plywood instead of fabric? What do you think?
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54502802929_a29f2daee9_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2r3e7sM)8D617167-4A53-4F5A-862B-967A0713EC16 (https://flic.kr/p/2r3e7sM)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54502802924_bcbc0f39b4_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2r3e7sG)3F03DD02-DA7F-434E-BB96-DC4C6CB9C563 (https://flic.kr/p/2r3e7sG)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54502974165_4f74206f15_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2r3eZn8)E1A3A03B-8F19-42BF-AF53-62F30097FF1B (https://flic.kr/p/2r3eZn8)
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Really enjoying this so far 8)
I've bought some thin 'Perspex' sheeting to experiment with for wings. It's much stiffer than the same thickness plastic sheet and can be carved to a really sharp edge (Thanks to William A for the tip in his book about 1/144th models)
Paul
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Spoons as formers for moulding? Who'd have thought it! Great work, lovely improvisation.
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Great idea those spoons!
The rear fuselage sometimes look like wood, and sometimes not.
Do what do you like more!
Joachim