Halberstadt CL.II, Mirage 1/48; 20.3.2021 Parabellum - THE END

[gbrivio]

If you need to compare to WNW sprues, here they are. Pictures are not that good, but enough to notice you far exceeded the reference. Congrats again, really deserved.
Ciao
Giuseppe

[lone modeller]

Sorry to have missed a couple of updates Frank - as I have posted elsewhere times are trying at the moment and I am having problems keeping up.

Your propellor and undercarriage are outstanding as usual. I keep having to remind myself that you must have the most enormous biceps and purse to be able to carry and store that huge Euro-cent coin!

Stephen.

[acewwi]

Undercarriage, part II

I thought I was done, but I noticed thick stripes on the lower end of the kit u/c. With checking the pictures from the museum it was clear: I had to add an suspension travel limiter! A steel rope, here 0.1mm nickel silver wire.
Soldered it on small pieces of squeezed brass tube on one side, put it on and soldered the other side.
                 

I fixed the positions of the new parts with CA.



I was curious how it would look mounted, so I painted it gray green and attached the axle with the "spring rubbers".



Accidentally I destroyed partly the paint layer during handling the springs, but this created a great used metal look. Luckily there is no yellow brass visible.



Now I can call it finished, looks really nice plugged on.



I don't have the WNW kit at hand, but that undercarriage could not look better
 
Cheers,
Frank
[/quote]

Hi Frank

it's just perfect 

Some photos from the WNW kit


sorry for the quality of the photos 
Spyros

[Bughunter]

Thank you Fredrik, Giuseppe, Stephen and Spyros!
Very interesting comparison on WNW parts, so thank you for the pictures Giuseppe and Spyros. Spyros, I think those are pictures from you build in progress? You should not forget to paint the rubber But I guess you have done already ....
It is very interesting to see what is possible, even in my smaller scale.

But now I failed, I was not able to handle all those PE from the kit! Don't get me wrong, this build is not stopped, but I will use some Eduard parts instead   This kit is really a challenge!
More, as usual with pictures, the next days

Cheers,
Frank

[Alexis]

Lovely work on the undercarriage Frank 


Alexis

[RAGIII]

The addition of the bungees and travel restriction wires is as amazing as always Frank!
RAGIII

[Bughunter]

Thank you Alexis and Rick!


The fit is bad as hell ... Want to see an example?

Radiator shutter

At first the part on the WNW kit (right, 3rd from top):



After heavy bending (due to the thick brass it was hard to get the shutter plate into shape) the shutter plate in its frame. Theoretically it could glide, but I fixed it with glue. So far so nice.
In contrast to the manual, the frame here is already bent asymmetrically.



The PE do not respect the fact, that there is a strut fitting below the radiator If you mount the PE according to the manual you cannot mount the wing later 



Compared to the original the shutter is to wide, and the frame has a asymmetric mounting as on WNW (see above). I tried to fix it with moving it to the left. The legs on the right are nearly to short, but the strut should fit now.



Now I can live with it.



I have also the Halberstadt Cl.IV in my stash so I wanted to check, how it looks on this kit.
Note: The Cl.IV has the struts on outside of the middle part of the wing.
Here the PE, the frame is now asymmetric, good. But the shutter plate (part 3) is much to wide to fit into the frame 1 !!!


Do they build the kit once after designing, before starting the production? Wrong in both kits in different ways.
Back to the first picture: The kits have a great potential to deliver nice details even in smaller scale, but I think the quality control of WNW was much better!

I learned to check here every small step for surprises, but this needs a lot of time

Cheers,
Frank

[Alexis]

Frank ,
You do have a challenge with this one . I have this in my stash as well waiting to be built so I do admire your craftmenship going towards you build . It's not an easy kit . Take your time with it , this will be a great skill set for when you takle a resin kit 


Alexis

[RAGIII]

Great job on the radiator fix Frank!
RAGIII

[Fvdm]

Nice fix Frank. To bad the fit is so poor but in your hands it seems not to be a problem.

[Gisbod]

You’re excelling yourself again Frank!

Incredible detail work that I can only look on with envy...

Guy

[Monty]

That is some very neat and intricate work, Frank! There is only one word for your soldering skills: Awesome! A really enjoyable build to follow. That radiator fix is just so well done... Regards, Marc.

[Bughunter]

Thank you Alexis, Rick, Ferry, Guy and Marc!

You do have a challenge with this one.

Oh yes! And this was started as relaxing nearly oob build!
It feels as I have never done such complex kit with so many parts (in reality my Bristol Fighter has also many scratched things ...).


.-. .- -.. .. ---


You may ask, what kind of headline is that?! Of course I talk about the communication system of this Halberstadt.

The aircraft equipped with wireless transmitter and receiver can be noted from outside by a installed cover for a generator attached to the engine. The bubble has a much thicker socket, which I sanded down. I guess this was intended, since the shape of the fuselage is not flat here. I made the platic also thinner to be sure, that the generator fits later.
The kit offers again options here: a PE plate for not installed generator and also a small PE frame to left the hole completely open.



On the sprue there are two devices and according to the manual those are optional parts, this OR that. But the second device is the transmitting amplifier, which was not always carried. The WNW manual was very helpful here.

I found an interesting page about that wireless communication system:
https://www.stonevintageradio.com/description.php?II=959&UID=20210113135642

Nice side story: also WNW got it wrong On the amplifier there are 3 decals (G12a) as small dials, but in real those are openings to see, if the 3 amplifier electron tubes behind are glowing correctly.
See the picture on the right with the opened amplifier (pic of above page):



So I will use both devices, added cables (braided lines). On top are two spare cartridge belts. Here the kit is really crazy!



The PE of the kit contains four full belts and an empty belt! Never seen that in a kit. I used only a pieces of one belt for both spare drums.



The empty belt would allow dioramas like this:



For painting of the radio I had the darker gray green in the airbrush, so I painted also the header tank for the upper wing.



A PE was glued on top before, and after painting I added a piece of stretched clear sprue as fuel gauge. It is mentioned in the manual but there are no clear parts in this kit.



Back to radio: The devices are installed, also the cable to the generator. Also the belt drums.



I added a scratched morse telegraph key on the right upper frame, as shown on the WNW manual.



A pump for fuel pressure was also done in brass, here on the picture of the museum aircraft my creation and the kit part. The kit contains also a longer pump, as installed on some aircraft.


I need also a wooden drum and outlet for the aerial, but I think I can mount the outlet only, after the frame is glued into the fuselage halve.

I hope you had some fun with reading by built report mixed with historic information.

Cheers,
Frank

[RAGIII]

I don't really know what to say Frank. Brilliant Modeling doesn't even seem to cover your work  Your eye for, and attention to detail is becoming Legendary! I am very happy you went ahead with your build log. We learn so Much from You!
RAGIII

[Borsos]

Awesome job, Frank! Beware that ground attack airplanes like the ones of Schlachtstaffel 26b rarely carried radio equippment on board. The space was completely occupied by ammunition and grenades respectively.
Kind regards,
Andreas