forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: IanB on February 22, 2016, 08:53:52 AM
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Fresh from the mammoth Short 184 build I decided I wanted something a little more straightforward. My display cabinets are getting full and they include my earliest efforts, built when I got back into modelling 5 years or so ago. Not surprisingly they are not up to the standard I now aim for so I will be remaking at least 4 or 5 of them. I was going to go for the Eduard Fokker E.III Profipack, since the Revell E.III was my first build and definitely needs an improved version, but that has everything in the box, and I need to cut up some plastic! So here it is, the Airfix (actually the Heller boxing) Roland C.II.
I'll be building it in the same scheme as the one I did a few years back, which will hopefully emphasise the differences, and I'll be using a Roden Mercedes engine, and Miniworld Spandau and Parabellum.
Here's the sprue shot...
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4282/35864888305_48e6c60e51_c.jpg)
Nothing surprising there, standard Airfix issue!
The first jobs were to remove the pegs for mounting the crew and engine, open up the front cooling vents, fill a couple of sink marks on the front of the fuselage halves, remove the overscale "vents" just below the radiators (there were also too many of them!), and remove all the surface detail from the fuselage and wing undersides. The wing upper surfaces were sanded lightly to reduce the ribs, and the rudder was thinned down considerably on its outer surfaces. It's pretty thin now as it is molded in 2 halves so I'll wait until I've got the fuselage halves joined before removing it, thinning it further and repositioning it a little further forward.
Then I compared the fuselage and wings to the plans:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4277/35733155811_1e51e97c63_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4288/35055596013_71dc6c2ee2_c.jpg)
The fuselage is not far off lengthwise. When I lined the cockpits up, everything matched perfectly with where it should all be, but it showed the nose as being about 1.5mm too short. The solution to that was to cut off the nose and add a filler piece. The rudder will also be moved forward slightly later on to correct the length.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4239/35864970005_b06c891e89_c.jpg)
The wings are a little worse. Both wings have too much of an angle at the tips, they should be much squarer, and the cutout around the fuselage is too rounded on both wings. The lower wing is not too hard to correct as the span is a little too great, so the tips can be corrected simply by sanding them down to the correct profile.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4278/35055598183_5f6eca1def_c.jpg)
Job done!
The upper wing, however, has the correct span meaning that it can't be sanded. I opted to chop the ends off and glue on a piece of plastic card which will be sanded to profile when dry. The centre cutouts were squared off at the front ends and then the sides were sanded back to give a square edge, to which I glued bits of the outer wing I'd just removed! They will also be sanded to profile when dry.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4257/35477028640_c5bcc66b87_c.jpg)
That's about as far as I've got today. Hopefully the pieces I added will be good and solid tomorrow and I can continue with corrections. I also need to blend in the gun ring a little more as it is way too angular, instead of being faired neatly into the rear fuselage.
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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i am sure with your skills it will turn out nice. i will check in from time to time
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Ian,
Looks like you have another excellent correction of an old kit under way! Your beginning work is eoutstanding. I am looking forward to following this one as always!
RAGIII
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I'm always keen to see what you do Ian and this is no exceptions, great work so far.
Des.
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This is an old workhorse fromAirfix and no mistake, but has the potential to build into a good model. With your skill it should turn into an exceptional one!
Stephen.
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Thanks gents!
Today I mostly sanded plastic...... I must admit that when I got to bed last night and started thinking about what I'd done, I was a little worried that I'd overdone it! I had the same corrections to do on the Hannover's wings and just added small slivers - much less work and it worked very well. Not sure why I hacked the whole ends off but as it turned out, it worked just fine - it just took longer!
The wings' additions were sanded down to match the existing wing section, then cut and sanded to shape. A little filler was required in places, then a little more sanding to finish them off. (It all sounds so easy when you say it quickly!). The upper surface detail was also removed as it turns out the ribs are in the wrong places so I'll add them back with .25 x .5mm strip, then sand them down a little to blend them in - that will be tomorrow's job! After that the ailerons can be removed.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4242/35476976900_732762aa20_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4278/35055598183_5f6eca1def_c.jpg)
The fuselage correction worked out better than anticipated and I got that sanded down fairly easily. The opening for the engine was altered slightly by bringing it back through the plastic strip I'd added, so it ends just short of the wing leading edge. The pilot's cockpit was also altered slightly by moving the front of the opening a little further forward and squaring it off slightly. Both of these openings were then thinned around the edges.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4231/35864931195_c6c9000b87_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4232/35695653832_81349d1229_c.jpg)
I added a little filler around the front and rear of the observer's cockpit to start to blend it in to the fuselage a little better, that will be continued tomorrow too.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4239/35864900065_c4b9ca297b_c.jpg)
Finally I removed the fin and rudder.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4264/35477028400_e88f52ff68_c.jpg)
It appeared that the elevators' front edges were in the right place, yet I had to remove a couple of mm from the rear of the fuselage which would bring the cut within the mounting slots of the kit items. That was when I noticed that the kit parts are 2mm too deep front-to-back,
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4241/35055551203_938396349f_c.jpg)
so the slots were filled and I'll scratch all new tail surfaces. Before I close the fuselage I'll add some plastic in the very rear of the tail so that I can sand the fuselage to shape when it's all together - it'll need to be narrowed in both elevation and plan due to losing the last couple of mm from it.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4235/35476974540_ecf2deb023_c.jpg)
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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Watching with interest Ian :) and you are off to a nice start so far ..
Terri
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Excellent work, Sir!
By the way, thin strips of masking tape make excellent rib tapes in 1/72.
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Lovely work, Ian. I can remember building this model when it first came out, without it ever occuring to me that there might be significant accuracy errors. What did strike me was how much better the aircrew figures were over previous Airfix offerings.
Best wishes
Nigel
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Very great work Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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You are moving along well on the corrections Ian! Looking great!
RAGIII
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Thanks for the feedback folks, much appreciated!
Here's today's installment. I was going to add wing ribs, then I realised that the strut locating holes need to be filled as they are over 1 rib space too far outboard - quite a difference! Those have now been filled & sanded a couple of times and the wings are now ready for the 0.5mm masking tape which I will use for the ribs as per Old Mans' suggestion. My only worry is that they may start to lift over time, hopefully the paint and clear coats will stop that!
I also finished preparing the fuselage - the observer's cockpit has been faired in properly so now I can start on building up the interior.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4211/35695657342_cc7a1e140d_c.jpg)
Whilst waiting for various applications of filler to dry I decided to make up the tail surfaces from plastic card. The horizontal stabilisers/elevators were not even close:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4241/35055551203_938396349f_c.jpg)
so those were made, as well as a new fin and rudder.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4235/35025254704_7e7c323076_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4206/35476973550_1ba2654a75_c.jpg)
Finally today, I took a look at the engine. I had a spare Mercedes from a Roden Albatros, but it had the wrong induction manifold and no camshaft assembly. The induction manifold was easy enough to correct, I carefully removed the centre part with a razor saw and cleaned it up to give me the 2-branch manifold I needed. The camshaft assembly was done with a piece of brass rod CA'd to the top of the cylinders and I then sanded down the sides of a piece of 1.5mm plastic channel, cut 1mm slices off it, and CA'd those over the brass rod to form the caps. I'm happy with it...
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4259/35864926985_e31cc2df17_c.jpg)
Once it's all painted it should look fine.
Thanks for looking in.
Ian
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Today's installment!
First thing today was to apply some melted sprue to the inner rear fuselage so that I can be sure of having enough there when I come to thin it down later. Whilst doing that I also filled the holes for the landing gear which are, surprise, too far aft! Not by much admittedly, but enough to need correcting.
I then spent most of today sticking tiny pieces of masking tape on the wings. Using Jammy Dog 0.5mm tape I've applied all the ribs to both wings - one slight mishap, one of the new tips felt a little loose so I ran some glue along the seam and have refilled it, so that will be tidied up and finished off tomorrow.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4211/35733160631_573c026ec9_c.jpg)
After that, and while looking throught the pics on WNW site, I noticed that the front of the engine cowling is obviously open, so that was the next job. First I sanded down the forward fuselage to make sure it matched exactly to the spinner, giving me a good reference for fitting the engine. As you can see it needed a little refining...
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4229/35055553323_abb802c114_c.jpg)
I then marked the flat face on the fuselage which butts against the spinner with a black sharpie so that I could clearly see the edge, and then removed all the marked area, leaving just a very thin black line.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4217/35476980500_3b65a37118_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4266/35055596773_8c4fc8bb08_c.jpg)
I also thinned the upper fuselage a little more, immediately in front of the upper wing, and tried a quick test fit to make sure there would be room for the engine and plumbing.....
I think it should fit nicely!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4239/35864930275_3259241824_c.jpg)
I also started on cleaning up a few (there are only a few!) of the other kit parts that I'll be using and drilled out the top and front of the exhaust, I'll wait on doing the rear until I'm certain it should be done!
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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You are doing a superb job with all the alterations Ian, the wing and fuselage look excellent with the work you have done, and the engine also looks very good. The tail surfaces look a lot better now, makes you wonder how Airfix got it so wrong. Looking forward to more updates on this impressive build.
Des.
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Outstanding work for this corrections Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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You will find that tape works really well for taping . Never hurts to add a small drop of super glue on the tail ends . Once it's sealed under paint and clear coats it won't lift . I used this method on my 1/48 SSW D.III build and it has been over a year and still in excellent shape .
Just a thought , you can also apply a clear decal film over top of the tape for the added protection .
Terri
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Watching with interest. 8)
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Your corrections have literally shaped up quite nicely! Great work on the engine and tail feathers also! I look forward to more updates!
RAGIII
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Thanks Terri, I was hoping that would be the case, but it's nice to have it confirmed! Thanks also to Des, Martin, Squiffy and Rick for the comments!
I finally got a start on the interior today. The engine mounts were added to the engine, and when dry, were fine-tuned with a little sanding . The fuselage now closes up nicely and holds the engine snug in place.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4254/35864901275_d9face82f8_c.jpg)
Then came the start of the cockpit detailing. The main structure is complete, with the main longeron and the formers in place. Surprisingly enough, they do all match up to the floor and to each other on the other side! Sometimes I amaze myself!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4239/35864898985_2185a346a6_c.jpg)
So tomorrow will be spent continuing with the interior. What would we do without WNW as a reference site?
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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Outstanding work on the formers and floor....and at Squiffy speed to boot!
RAGIII
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No trouble at all Ian :)
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Just a quick update for today....
The interior structure is now finished and awaiting paint! I also made up the instrument panel and 2 fuel tanks today, and will do the oil tank later. Once the interior is painted I will finish the instrument panel and install it, then install the fuel tanks and start on fitting it out!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4257/35476979920_d59eca1b30_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4265/35055552213_70f4cd4ac7_c.jpg)
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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The interior framing is coming along beautifully Ian.
Des.
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Nice job on the those bit's Ian and the framing , looking forward on some colour :)
Terri
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Great detail on the interior, Ian, especially challenging in the small scale. Your corrections are beautifully applied, great Build and Log as well!
Cheers,
Lance
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I took remember building this when it was released in the mid 1960's - but mine was nowhere near as good as yours will be. The DtatFiles and WNW sources have transformed our levels of information - you seem to be using them to the full!
Excellent build log - and another excellent model in the making.
Stephen.
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I'm thoroughly enjoying this project, Ian! The corrections and enhancements you're doing are turning this into little gem. Excellent stuff!
Cheers,
Bud
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Thanks Des, Terri, Lance, Stephen, and Bud, for the comments. Stephen, I have built this one twice before: once as a kid and again about 5 years ago when I got back into the hobby. I never realised for a minute how inaccurate it was, even the last time when I thought I was doing pretty well by adding an interior! We all know how bad the RE8 is, but for some reason this one looked right!
Anyway, another small update today, again all interior work - now painted, and details have been added. I'm not going to go over the top on the details, I've just added enough to make it look a little more lifelike, and all that is really left to add now are the seats and flight controls.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4264/35733159101_b9aaf24596_c.jpg)
and a start on the control column:
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4213/35864897805_84e9d5272d_c.jpg)
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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Looks great with some paint on Ian, the added detail has made a huge difference to the kit.
Des.
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That's taking shape very nicely. Btw where did you get the plans from?
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Excellent build log Ian! Your work in the small scale is
really tremendous. Excellent tips on improving a kit,
useful in any scale. I'm Looking forward to next installments.
Well done, my friend!
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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Ian,
Looks even better after painting! Nice start on the control column.
RAGIII
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Thanks all!
Toby, the plans are from the Datafile.
Ian
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Very fine and great work Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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The next "milestone" was reached today!
I spent yesterday making up a couple of seats and doing some other small bits and pieces including the rudder pedals and control wheel. I cut the seat bases from plastic card and held them together in a pair of pliers for sanding so that they would be identical. I then measured the length and height required for the rear of the pilot's seat and cut a piece of paper to size. That was then folded in half and the shape of half the seat drawn on, then cut out. I used that template to cut a piece from a beer can to form the seat back. The same template was cut down and used for the observer's seat. They were then given a little "body" with some milliput.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4277/35733157841_dd1bcf78b4_c.jpg)
I painted them this morning, added PE seatbelts and glued them, along with the flight controls, in place.
The engine was then given a little more detail, in the form of some detail painting and the water pipe along the right side, and the oil tank was sanded out of plastic stock, painted, and installed.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4233/35864897005_048ba1550e_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4210/35864943285_878b296d75_c.jpg)
The engine was then glued in place. That completed the interior...fortunately I started thinking about the exhaust, and noticed that I would have to remove a little more plastic from the rear right of the engine fairing area. The engine was removed and this was done, and then thinned, before reinstalling the engine.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4234/35025252904_3ea300fd5b_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4206/35695656052_0d5e308c0f_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4258/35477028810_2715485882_c.jpg)
That's probably the last that will be seen of most of that detailing as the final task today was to close it up!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4241/35824273326_0237f6cf4a_c.jpg)
So tomorrow I can fill the seams and start on correcting the tail profile. Then there are some inspection panels and a couple of vents to add around the nose.....
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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Great work with the seats Ian, these are always difficult items to get right especially in your small scale, and the engine turned out looking really good, it is a pity all that work in detailing the interior will virtually all disappear now the the fuselage is closed up.
Des.
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Ian,
A very impressive interior in this scale! Nice work on the seats.
RAGIII
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Great work to interior and to the engine, Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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Thanks all!
A lot of filling and sanding over the last day or so to get the fuselage profile correct and take care of the seams. I then attached the lower wing...about 1mm further aft than the kit would have it.....
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4263/35476979110_bacb525a39_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4237/35824249576_98b64acc48_c.jpg)
Evidently a lot more filling and sanding to do, so today was spent on that. The lower wing joints were faired in, and the curvature of the underside was added with putty and then sanded down. A couple of repetitions and all appears ok, so now it's all prepared for primer.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4242/35695661502_fc40a85cc2_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4217/35695654892_07f0e28580_c.jpg)
The inner ring of the observer's gun mount was also added and the joints cleaned up.
Tomorrow the first primer coat will go on and I'll see what needs doing next.....
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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Great work with the fitment of the lower wing Ian.
Des.
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you are doing a great job ian, i am enjoying your corrections.
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An excellent build log, Ian, my friend. Really interesting! Your
corrections show your attention to detail. Great stuff!
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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Your attention to detail is most inspiring Ian.
This is a very enjoyable build to follow.
More please :)
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Really really nice!!!!
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Just adding another well done on the corrections. All of the filling, sanding, added plastic bits, etc. are truly making a difference!
RAGIII
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Thanks guys!
I got a start on the primer today and screwed it up. I used Model Master Acryl White primer for the first time and over thinned it....it ran! I let it dry and when I tried to sand it it peeled! I then resprayed it, not thinned as much, and didn't get much better results, so let it dry, sanded it (carefully) again and resprayed with Tamiya flat white - Much better - I should've used that from the start!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4260/35864896155_fcd7689f0d_c.jpg)
However, I'm not impressed with the rib tapes......width wise they're not too bad, but they're way too prominent for scale and don't look any better than the original moulded Airfix efforts! I think I'll remove them and just use paint to hint at the ribs.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4210/35733154411_a1453639eb_c.jpg)
let's face it, in this scale there should be virtually no visual difference at all between the ribs and the wing surface, so I think they have to go.....
Ian
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Ian,if you mask the space between the ribs and brushpaint the ribtapes you can easily control the thickness by the layers of paint you apply...worth a try!
cheers
Mathias
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I feel your pain. I've used Acryl quite a bit over the years, most of the time with good results. But, I've surely had my share of runs or sags, too. Generally, a fresh bottle needs no thinning to shoot well. Other times, just a drop or 2 of thinner to 1/8 oz. of paint. If your surfaces to be painted are too smooth, with no tooth for the paint to grab onto, you may get results like you experienced. I try for multiple thin coats, without burying the details. I've used flat white & flat black as base coats for a few model cars, but I was a bit surprised that the white primer had a slight sheen to it, not flat. I prefer flat white.
One thing to note, once cured, Acryl is very tough & almost impervious to hotter solvents. Over the past few years, I use it as a barrier coat to prevent hotter lacquer top coats from eating into the plastic.
BUT!..... All of the work you're doing is really looking great!
Steve
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Looking absolutely gorgeous after your priming, Ian. It is too bad about the
rib tapes, but I know you will best that little problem, my friend.
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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Very good work and painting, Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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Thanks folks.
I thought a little more about the tapes and decided to spray over them a couple more times, then sanded the paint off the tapes....seems to have worked! I'm waiting on the paint to harden properly now before marking the internal wing structure on the undersides. This one presents a slightly unusual problem in that I have to fit both wings before painting so the plan is to fit the upper wing and deal with all the filling etc, then mask the undersides of the wings, spray everything light blue, then unmask and give the undersides a light coat to let the detail show through.....that's the plan anyway...
By the way, does anyone have both the WNW Roland and Albatros? If so, could you please compare the wheels....I'm thinking of using Barracuda resin Albatros D.V wheels for this and would like to know just how similar they are....
Ian
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Ian,
I am so sorry I haven't seen your build thread until today. (Been dealing with too much "real life" of late.) I've saved this thread for future reference, and plan on catching up on it this weekend.
Beautiful work sir!
Warren
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You got a very clean wing/fuselage joint, well done.
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Thanks Warren and Vincent, welcome back Warren!
I've got a fair bit done this weekend, starting with rubbing back the paint on the rib tapes and marking the structure on the undersides, this was then sealed with a dull coat to stop it smudging although I'm afraid just by doing it, it got a little smudged...hopefully it'll just look dirty when done!
I also got the upper wing attached and blended in....a lot of very patient filling and sanding over the last day or so but I think it looks pretty good myself, even though it was very tricky to get to underneath...
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4239/35025212774_6b9abcb14a_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4255/35055602643_a31c09f1b0_c.jpg)
I then got the holes for the rollover cage drilled.
Then I found something that I should have discovered earlier - the radiators were too far back and a little too high! That led to more filling and even more delicate sanding to get the locating slots filled without damaging what I'd already done. It worked out ok, so I filed the rads to fit on the surface instead of into the slots (just 1mm or so off the bottom worked nicely), filled the front and back of them to make them flush (the kit parts have vary noticeable "rims" on them which shouldn't be there) and fitted them. With those in place I had a good reference for the inspection panels and vents, which were made form 5thou strip. When they were dry, I sanded them down to smooth them off and tidy them up.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4208/35055594943_3a888f0817_c.jpg)
I just have one more small vent to add under the left wing, just above the radiator, and I need to replace one inspection panel which fell off when sanding, then I can add the tail and rollover frame.
Thanks for looking n!
Ian
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Excellent update Ian! Your work blending in the top wing has really
paid dividends...beautifully done. She is really taking shape now.
Really well done, my friend!
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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This is continuing to be an excellent and informative build! Nice recovery on the wing ribs, and radiators!
RAGIII
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Wow Ian, you're a machine! You definitely got more done than I was able to with my project. Must be spending less time at the pub!
Keep up the good work!
John
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Outstanding progress Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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Thanks all.
John, the only reason I'm getting so much done is that I was laid off in December, so have nothing else to do right now!
A long time at the bench today for not much obvious progress... the first step was making and adding the small fairings for the aileron cable pulleys.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4229/35025211134_830ae9662a_c.jpg)
Then I spent rather a long time measuring and marking out the undercarriage mounting points. The reason being, that although it measured out ok, they didn't look right. It turned out that the fuselage is a little too fat, so my measurements from the centre line left the mounts too far down on the side. A little adjustment to get it to look right and they were then drilled.
After that, the tail surfaces...and then I found that I hadn't got the measurements right there either. When I attached the fin, the rudder didn't meet the bottom edge of the fuselage, so I had to break out the sanding stick and correct the depth at the rear end! Hopefully the primer hasn't peeled to the extent that it will be noticeable - I went around the edges of where I'd sanded with a fine sanding stick to try to blend them back in.
All that sanding did have a positive side as it does mean that I now have bare plastic mating surfaces for the fin and horizontal stabilisers - I had to remove the wing struts to clean the paint off as they kept coming adrift! I definitely won't use that primer again....
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4210/35733152131_8b95ddc319_c.jpg)
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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Sorry to read about your layoff, Ian, but very glad to see that you're spending the time wisely! I've seen this kit built up before, but never with the level of upgrades you've added. This is promising to be a magnificent model, comparable to any WNW build I've seen. Looking forward to seeing this little beauty completed.
Cheers,
Bud
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AH!! Sorry about the layoff Ian, hope that gets resolved quickly for you. Meanwhile, awesome work you have going there. I now know where to send my two kits for design updates! 0:)
John
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It looks every time better and better Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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Sorry to read about your layoff, Ian, but very glad to see that you're spending the time wisely! I've seen this kit built up before, but never with the level of upgrades you've added. This is promising to be a magnificent model, comparable to any WNW build I've seen. Looking forward to seeing this little beauty completed.
Cheers,
Bud
Ian, I am also sorry to hear of the Layoff but I am sure you will get things sorted out. In the meantime I agree with Bud completely on the level of detail you are adding to this old kit!
RAGIII
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Sorry to read about your layoff, Ian, but very glad to see that you're spending the time wisely! I've seen this kit built up before, but never with the level of upgrades you've added. This is promising to be a magnificent model, comparable to any WNW build I've seen. Looking forward to seeing this little beauty completed.
Cheers,
Bud
Ian, I am also sorry to hear of the Layoff but I am sure you will get things sorted out. In the meantime I agree with Bud completely on the level of detail you are adding to this old kit!
RAGIII
My thoughts exactly
Des.
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Thanks to Bud, John, Rick, and Des, for the kind thoughts...I do have a job lined up, but it's a new company and they are waiting on their certificate from the FAA, so who knows how long it will take...in the meantime...
Landing gear built and attached!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4241/35476978190_3d4c1eafe8_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4234/35025262904_34ece91128_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4210/35055588233_f22c587957_c.jpg)
Just the rollover hoop to add and then I can get started on painting!
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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Elegant, I like it!
John
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It comes out very great.
Cheers
Martin
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Almost there now....
I finished off the main gear today by adding some Mr Dissolved Putty to simulate the covered bungees, and a couple of pieces of 10 thou brass rod for the limit stops. The tail struts were added, then the final piece, the roll-over bars. These are 15 thou plastic rod. I bent them slightly before gluing the first one in place, then when that was secure I added the second one. When both were dry, I cut the second one and took a tiny slice out of the middle, then butted it up to the first one and glued it. When dry, more Mr Dissolved Putty was used for the top plate. That still needs a little fettling so I'll do that tomorrow, then she should be ready for another quick coat of primer just to make sure that everything is ok before she turns blue!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4242/35025209454_0caf218b5c_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4232/35695659582_d7d600a6de_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4211/35695668422_ff9fd15466_c.jpg)
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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Beautiful job on the landing gear, Ian. It shows just how overscale the kit parts are.
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Awesome work Ian! You are showing what can be achieved using superb Modeling skills!
RAGIII
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OK, I need little feedback please....
I put the first coat of Polyscale Acrylic Light Blue on it yesterday over the Tamiya acrylic white and....
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4234/35030056544_dfc7cab89a_c.jpg)
The wings appear ok, it's just on the fuselage. I've never seen that happen before. I've reduced the pressure on my compressor a little as i think I may have had it too high, but it still doesn't explain why it should crack like that - it looked fine as I applied it! Is it just the Polyscale paint? I don't think there are any edges to be sanded down, although I'll probably give it a light sand just to be sure, then I'll respray with Tamiya mixed per WNW proportions.
Ian
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Ian,
I've only experienced this once, and I'm quite sure I didn't allow the base coat to dry enough before the overcoat. In that instance it was Tamiya Grey over a base of Tamiya Gloss White. Was there a difference in drying times between wings and fuselage?
Cheers,
Lance
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Hi Lance,
I don't think that is the problem as the whole plane was sprayed at the same time and it was done 9 days ago - should be plenty of time to dry.
Thanks for the suggestion though, I'll certainly make sure I don't rush the painting in future if it could lead to this!
Ian
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Poly scale and Tamiya don't play well together . I have had this happen many times ( took a few times for before I learned my lesson ) Cause of this is the base coat isn't dry enough with the top coat and both paints are drying at different rates causing the cracks .
I have tried Model Master Acrylic once ...never again . But I do miss Polyscale though , loved them for brush painting !
Terri
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Ian,
The cracked paint is certainly a setback but I am sure you will overcome the issue! as for the root cause I can't add anything to the discussion. In my modeling years I have broken all of the rules, Lacquer over acrylics, Floquil over polyscale and vice versa. Never had an issue...Lucky I guess ::)
RAGIII
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Sorry for this issue, Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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This has not been a good week.
I sprayed over the cracked Pollyscale with Tamiya to see how visible the cracks were, and although some disappeared, there were quite a few that needed attention - but the paint didn't crack! I carefully rubbed down the problem areas to smooth them out but I haven't been able to get to all of them as well as I'd like, so I'm just going to have to accept the cracks in some places. I sprayed it again today with a further coat of Tamiya - it cracked again! I have never had this issue before and I'm at a loss to figure out what is happening.
pic lost on PB
In places I did rub it down to the original Modelmaster Acryl primer, and there are areas of Pollymaster showing through, but the majority of these areas are fine, it's just the centre fuselage that is now the problem and it is basically Tamiya over Tamiya - why is it cracking?
Ian
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Did you spray the Polyscale again or is it a darker shade of Tamiya?
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No, this is another coat of Tamiya. I already sprayed one coat of Tamiya over the Pollyscale and it was fine, apart from the fact that some of the cracks were visible through it. I spray indoors too, so temperature shouldn't be an issue.
Ian
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Well, after respraying a few times and having the same problem, I decided to bite the bullet....
armed with a box of q-tips and some Testors airbrush cleaner I set about removing the paint from the fuselage. I took the rear right down to the plastic, getting rid of that awful, rubbery, primer too. The rest I just rubbed over with a q-tip until the layers of Tamiya and Pollyscale were gone. It took a while, and I then had to carefully micromesh the edges of the primer to make sure that they were flush and there were no bits sticking out. I had to remove the tail to do this so it's now sitting on the bench waiting for the re-attached tail to dry.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4235/35025259864_5bbd0fa891_c.jpg)
Hopefully this will solve the problem. I'll find out tomorrow......
Thanks for looking in!
Ian
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Hopefully that will do the trick, Ian. The paint problem has been such
a pain for you in an otherwise brilliant build. I have no doubts that what
you have done in removing all the paint will be the key, my friend.
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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Hopefully that will do the trick, Ian. The paint problem has been such
a pain for you in an otherwise brilliant build. I have no doubts that what
you have done in removing all the paint will be the key, my friend.
Cheers,
Ernie :)
My thoughts exactly! Looking forward to the next update saying all is well on the painting frontier!
RAGIII
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Thanks Rick, Ernie, this has certainly been a trial!
I spent some more time this morning going over some of the edges to make absolutely sure they were flush, then mixed another batch of light blue and sprayed the fuselage again. I kept a little paint for touch ups...
There was still a faint trace of the primer edges on the rear fuselage so they were carefully sanded down with micromesh - basically just removing some of the paint I'd applied that morning to leave it level..then it was sprayed again..
Finally I'm happy with it! It's not perfect by any means, I just can't get to all of it, but fortunately those areas were not too bad so they don't show unless you get it in just the right (wrong?) light.
I've lost all the underwing structure that I so carefully drew on but that's a small price to pay...I'll just assume it represents the aircraft on a dull, overcast, winter's day: no sun = no translucence!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4257/35476977990_d17ac11ab1_c.jpg)
Now I'm going to leave it alone until tomorrow when I will start to mask off for the black stripes.
Thanks for looking in, and for all the suggestions and support!
Ian
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Have missed a great deal of this and have just caught up. This reads like an old saga - one dammed thing after another. But like any saga hero you have kept going and it has been well worth it. I agree that stripping off all of the paint and starting agin was the correct route to follow but I can appreciate your frustration at having to sod so. Some models are like this - two steps forward and one back, but this one will be a real stunner when it is finished and well worth the effort. You are demonstrating with your very high levels of skill that those old Airfix kits really can be the base for an excellent model. Will keep in closer touch to see this one finished - it will be well worth it.
Stephen.
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Good to see you have recovered from the paint mishaps... Too bad about the underlying drawing but all in all a terrific job!
RAGIII
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Glad you were able to overcome this Ian.
Warren
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Thanks, I was about ready to give up, but never having done that before i decided this wasn't going to be the first!
I did have one more small problem though. I was masking for the black stripes and decided to use the Jammy Dog thin tape to get the lines right. I wasn't happy so removed it and guess what...I got two lumps of paint off with it! After nearly throwing it at the wall, I realised that both the spots of missing paint were in a fortuitous place - I changed my plans from doing the black striped plane, to the black spotted one, as the front right hand spot is right where both the missing pieces are!
I touched in a little white paint to fill the small indents where the paint had been and went ahead with drawing and printing some black circles. That was done this morning, so this afternoon I touched up the engine where my masking wasn't quite up to scratch, and painted the radiators, observer's gun ring, and pilot's leather cockpit padding.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4277/35477015640_dd0e69534e_c.jpg)
A gloss coat is now required, then the nose markings will go on before the aircraft is rigged, and the rest of the decals will follow that.
Thanks for watching!
Ian
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Sorry to hear that you had such a bad run with the paint Ian, but I see you have overcome the issue and are now back on track, looking forward to seeing the decals applied.
Des.
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sorry about the paint, on the paint issue the only time i had this happen was once but i thought it was due to possible over thinning. not sure if this is what happened but thought i would add another pov to the mystery.your build is amazing as always and your corrections are firt rate to this old kit.making it quite accurate in appearance. this is true modelling my friend not assembly.
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Just catching up on this great project. Glad the paint problems have been solved and looking forward to the final stages.
Steve
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I've had the first fun day on this for a while! Most of the decals have been applied, only the wings to go and I'll do them after the rigging has been done. Tomorrow I'll give it all a gloss coat to protect the decals.....onwards!
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4264/35025208094_7eb14d9eeb_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4288/35695666672_7672ae5036_c.jpg)
Ian
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She's looking great with the decals applied Ian, quite a nice scheme.
Des.
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Great work to repair your painting and update Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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Pretty spectacular recovery from all the paint woes, Ian, it`s a fine looking model. Nice to see persistence and talent rewarded! :) :)
Cheers,
Lance
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nice recovery. cool that you are doing a marking that was alleged to be one that mvr may have been an observer on. i like the look of the markings as well.
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Ian, this is terrific. I really admire the skill (and guts) it takes to undertake the kind of corrections that you have. Your work has certainly paid off.
Chris
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Ian,
Lovely work! I thinnk I llike Spots better than your original choice!
RAGIII
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Thanks all, very much appreciated!
This is starting to be fun again now. I got all the structural rigging done yesterday, and got it all cleaned up today. After that little job, I tackled the exhaust. The slot in the kit part was filled with Milliput and 6 lengths of 15 thou plastic rod were pushed into it and aligned as close as I could get them. The last thing I did this evening was add a touch of CA to help hold them all in place. I'll continue with that tomorrow.
Further progress was made with some of the smaller items too. Wheels were painted and attached, the claw brake is now on, and the prop logos and reference guide lines for the pilot were added. Finally the ailerons were attached so they can dry overnight and will be ready for decals tomorrow.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4241/35476977680_2700852abb_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4230/35055598923_e4288f8d94_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4265/35477006790_11e7fc104f_c.jpg)
Besides the wing decals, there's not much left now: the non-structural rigging (undercarriage, ailerons, and rudder) will be done with wire, then there's the observer's Parabellum, and the windows. I might also make an attempt at an anemometer as it was very obvious on this aircraft.
Thanks for looking in
Ian
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Looking really good Ian, you did a great job with the rigging.
Des.
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Beautiful rigging Ian! You are nearing the home stretch now. Glad it has become FUN again!
RAGIII
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Very good rigging Ian.
Cheers
Martin
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Ian, fantastic recovery from the paint issues and the rest of this build is just superb IMHO.
Warren
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Thanks all,
There is no question that this is not going to be any where near where I wanted it to be when I started, but it is still a huge improvement over the basic kit. I'm more concerned at this point at having it accurate to the shape and dimensions of the real thing than any individual aircraft. The paint issues and subsequent change of scheme have left it with no underwing shadow details and a blue rather than clear underwing finish, but I'll live with that.
I got the undercarriage rigged today, attached all the flight control surfaces and the coolant header tank, applied the wing decals, then made a start on the observer's Parabellum. I also made and attached the windows and pilot's windscreen, and did a little more work on the exhaust.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4217/35864973145_c6bf2b2d0e_c.jpg)
Getting close now....
Ian
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wow very nce. if i didnt know any better i would guess its the 1/48 eduard kit from looking at the photo.
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This one is now officially off the bench and into the display case. The final touches were added today and I'm happy to see it done! It will not be getting the anemometer I had thought about.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4262/35695616652_4dff2c6327_c.jpg)
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4211/35695665482_e339a00639_c.jpg)
More pics in completed models.
Thanks for all the support along the way!
Ian
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That really came out beautifully, Ian. Well done!
Chris
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Stunning results Ian! It has been great watching you make all of the corrections to this old kit!
RAGIII
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Awesome job Ian, congrats on the completion of another excellent model.
I have a couple of these kits and I'm sure your notes will be a great help to me.
John
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Very fine model Ian.
Cheers
Martin