G'day from hot (31°C at 1800hrs) and sweaty Oz.
Thanks for the kind words, mates. This last little bit has been very "interesting", all because of my own particular mistakes.
Lance,
OK I'll take second "dibs" on your blue stripes as a backup as well if I may!
No wukkers, mate. I'm hoping that neither you nor Patrick need them, but if you do then they're good to go. That goes for the aircraft numbers and the "Angry Ass" markings, if they're needed. There's also a lot of "6177" serial numbers left over from the stencils, as well, as Rickenbacker's machine was "6159" (which I had to make).
As for the experiments with adding the slats:
1. Tamiya Extra Thin doesn't seem to effect 0.125mm monofilament (ie "Invisible Thread), so
2. 1mm X 0.25mm strip styrene softens and "grips" mono, if you lay it along the rigging lines. BUT..
3. You only get the one chance and if it slips, you either ignore it (see below) or re-do that run.
4. A little bit of spit placed in the centre of the slay makes it much, much easier to position the slat on the rigging.
I tried a couple of things (besides stripping and re-rigging the port wing once) before deciding that I can live with the slats the way they are. It doesn't look all that bad (if I squint and stand across the room) and any further fiddling will only lead to something getting damaged (walls, my forehead, the model, the workbench, etc). So some touch up painting, some steel paint on the rigging runs and turnbuckles, a bit of weathering (especially to the engine) and I'll call this finished.
Some lessons I learned, that may come in handy for anyone with a Salmson or Nieuport 28:
1. Yes, it is possible to drill two 0.15mm holes on each end of a 55mm run of 1mm X 0.25mm strip styrene. It takes about 10 minutes per slat and you will break ~3 X carbide micro-drill bits in the process of doing four slats. You will also spend the rest of the night sitting in a chair with a vacant expression, shivering and drooling (according to She Is Obeyed). Thus making this a modelling skill of somewhat dubious value.
2. It is possible to insert a length of 0.125mm mono into each hole- UNLESS you have superglue on the mono, when it won't fit. It doesn't matter how thin the glue is, either, though the really thin stuff does manage to get further under a finger-nail than the thicker stuff. As a bonus, some of the glue will come off the mono and block the drilled hole. No, you cannot clean the hole out, you must drill a new hole.
3. Once the mono is in the slat and apparently solidly glued in place (ie pushed into hole and glue added, then left to dry over night), the slightest tension on the mono (as when pulling it tight as part of a rigging run) means the mono departs company with the slat.
4. Testing the lesson described in para 3 more then three times, in the belief that the glue must eventually bond the mono to the styrene, is strongly NOT Recommended.
I'm going to have a break and sit in a corner for a while, before starting the tripe-hound. Despite the recent fun with the rigging, this has been an enjoyable build. The problems were self-inflicted, in the main, and I'm now quite confident about rigging these four-winged monsters, with all the practice I've had.
Dal.
