1/32 scale Wingnut Wings Halberstadt Cl.II (early)

[gedmundson]

Here are a few preliminary photos of a build on Wingnut Wings Early Halberstadt Cl.II. After starting this project a few weeks ago I feel I can share a bit of slow progress. The initial idea was to build it straight from the box with no after-market additions. But I discovered some Taurus resin accessories for the engine, and also a set of seat belts from HGW stashed away, so I couldn't resist the upgrades. Using a couple of helpful builds on this Forum (thanks to Prze & Guy Goodwin) I've been able to crawl through a tricky process.
I was going to add a resin insulated intake manifold for the Mercedes engine, even though the Barracuda Studios casting is slightly too small to fit the spot it's meant for. It's a good thing I saw that this particular aircraft (Option "E" Dora from 27 Schusta B) didn't have an insulated manifold, of I would have run into big problems down the line trying to fit the MG and cowlings into place.
Cheers!


I chose option E from the instructions


The insulated manifold by Barracuda Studios doesn't fit the engine properly...but wasn't used since the actual aircraft didn't have it. The cowlings & MG wouldn't have fit well down the line if I'd used it.


I used Taurus springs & rocker arms along with their spark plugs and primer cups. To get everything to fit, I had to make a new copper line as a substitute for part E21 since it would have interfered with the rear primer cup.



lead wire was used for the ignition wires.


I masked the propeller and added two tones of paint to represent the laminated wood effect.




I used a couple of valve handles from ANYZ 3-D printed accessories


Aviattic linen decal was used for the rear panel behind the radio.

[NigelR]

That looks fantastic Gary, lovely detail work all round. And well done for using the primer cups! I was going to use them on my Pfalz build but realized there would be fit issues so gave up and just used the blanking plates instead...... It didn't matter on the Pfalz because they would be invisible anyway, but they can be seen on the Halberstadt, so it's worth the effort IMO.

[DaddyO]

Great start on this one Gary. Love the feel of the engine

Paul

[PrzemoL]

The most beautiful start.

[gedmundson]

Thanks Nigel, Paul & Prze!

That looks fantastic Gary, lovely detail work all round. And well done for using the primer cups! I was going to use them on my Pfalz build but realized there would be fit issues so gave up and just used the blanking plates instead...... It didn't matter on the Pfalz because they would be invisible anyway, but they can be seen on the Halberstadt, so it's worth the effort IMO.

Nigel - I agree that those primer cups being hard to notice on those engines...and there are three at least on this build that can't be seen...but one cannot just put the front three in (or would that be an alternate "cost & time" saving approach?) I always wonder 

I spent quite a bit of time trying to assemble the HGW seat harness components, and since the springs are just a flat piece of etched metal, I made more realistic ones by wrapping thin copper wire around a central piece and bent my own. I also have had trouble with the instructions that HGW give...not always accurate and no hint given as to how long things should be cut. After painting them with a mix of diluted oil paint I attached them to the cockpit frames to try and save on faff and frustration later. Cheers!

 

[NigelR]

Well done with those HGW seat belts. I've tried them a couple of times and didn't like them, I found the material they use difficult to get sitting realistically.

[Tim Mixon]

Splendid work Gary. Incredibly detailed interior.

[Richtrad]

Beautifully rendered Gary. Can't wait to see the finished model.

Warren Q

[Borsos]

Very nice work on all the interior parts. Great start

[FAf]

Beautiful detailing!
/Fredrik

[AngryJazz]

Stunning work you done on the model. Really lovely engine and interior 

Really like the look of the Halberstadt, but the stippled / overspray on the fuselage is the reason i haven't started one yet. Im very interested how you will tackle it.

Also i wondered if the masking on the propeller is made from a template?

[gedmundson]

Thanks to all for the encouraging remarks!

Really like the look of the Halberstadt, but the stippled / overspray on the fuselage is the reason i haven't started one yet. Im very interested how you will tackle it.
Also i wondered if the masking on the propeller is made from a template?

Thanks Ben - the propeller was masked using very thin strips of tape and some curved ends using an old stainless steel erasing shield as a template for the rounded ends. I used photos of laminated Niendorf propellers as a guide to see how the pattern actually went.

And I long debated how I'd do the "stippled" finish on the camo pattern. Most people I'd conferred with recommended the WnW guide which said to over-spray the patches of colour with the cloudy yellow mix at low pressure. But there were a lot of factors to consider.  I first mixed the cloudy yellow colour together using the suggested Tamiya acrylic mix...I did not thin the mix with the Tamiya thinner as I normally would for airbrushing.  So the paint was straight out of the jars. Setting the airbrush pressure to 8-10psi, I opened the nozzle of my airbrush enough to allow the paint to be sent out with an appropriate "splatter" on to a test area (an old model tank hull with darker paint on it). Because the paint was un-thinned, I had to open the nozzle more than normal to get the paint to come out.

I first sprayed the lower mid-upper wing section with the appropriate camo colours, then applied the stipple pattern using short bursts of the airbrush trigger...slowly adding more where necessary as I worked over the area. My results before & after are in the next couple of photos. Although I thought it was ok, I did thin the paint a bit for doing the fuselage (which I'm currently working on). I think my fear is going too much with the splatter, which can't be reversed without a complete re-paint. So my pattern is probably more restrained than others I've seen. But if I squint hard enough, it looks acceptable to me Cheers!


Patches of colour applied for the camo base.


Cloudy yellow (un-thinned) applied with H&S airbrush at about 9psi in short bursts.

[NigelR]

I think that looks pretty effective to me. Nice airbrush work. I am going to take the cowards way out and use the Aviattic decals when I do mine......

[gedmundson]

I think that looks pretty effective to me. Nice airbrush work. I am going to take the cowards way out and use the Aviattic decals when I do mine......

Ha! thanks Nigel - I certainly considered going the Aviattic route on this one...perhaps for my "late' version. But Haris Alis's build on his convinced me to try an out-of-the-box build (sort of  ) And I think you have a good point about those HGW seatbelts which are such a pain to position realistically. Wanted to add a couple of photos before I closed up the fuselage. There was very little to add in the way of cockpit control cables and lever linkage.

I also trimmed the outer part of the wheels to fit the tires properly. Several of my WnW builds have had this problem so I finally decided to try and fix it.

Cheers,
Gary





On the left is the untrimmed assembly, and on the right is my completed wheel.

[NigelR]

That's looking very good. I find most WWI kits with wheel inserts need to have them thinned to sit more realistically in the tyre, it's well worth fixing.