Fokker DVII Franz Buchner

[RAGIII]

Just one more comment. Be careful of that fuselage seam behind the cockpit! It has a tendency to break open again if you do not glue it well and reinforce with superglue. How do I know.....?
RAGIII

[mgunns]

Just one more comment. Be careful of that fuselage seam behind the cockpit! It has a tendency to break open again if you do not glue it well and reinforce with superglue. How do I know.....?
RAGIII

I know all to well as well.  It has happened to me twice. 

Best

Mark

[jknaus]

Thanks guys. As for the seam, I had it on one of my others as well. Very annoying. I glued it really good and it looks good right now. I think it should hold. Appreciate the warning.
JAmes

[nmroberto]

Okay started. I painted a lot of parts earlier this week, but there isnt much to see. Started the building/detailing this morning. I started with using Gaspatch turnbuckles in the cockpit. This time I used 1/48 instead of the 1/32 of my last few builds. Looks more in scale I think.



They are tiny though and I lost 1 already. This is going to take a few sittings.

Used Aviattica's awesome decals for the interior lozenges. Really like how they look. Much more realistic than the kit decals. This time I used a white background and I dont think it is too bad looking. Anyone building a lozenge covered a/c should really look into get them.





A dullcoat should really help I think.

And painted the fuel/oil tank. I used Vallejo Air Bright Brass. Later today start weathering it.



Thats it so far. More to follow.
James

Looks great. I'm so happy to see your work bench looks like mine. I tend to have a problem with clutter. 

[jknaus]

Thanks. Yeah I have a big work bench and maybe 6" x 6" of working space. At least I cleared the 2S3 off the bench and have a bit more space now

James

[radio]

Great work on your cockpit James.
Martin

[jknaus]

Well had a rough 2 weeks so very little modeling done. Hope I can get a good session of modeling in sometime soon. Today I brought the bottom wing up to my office and got the bottom of the bottom wing decals on. Now to wait over night and then trim them. I think I will seal them too before I do the top of the wing.  So far so good. I do like these Aviattic decals.



Talked with Lance  this weekend and he told me how he did his weathering. I liked it so much I decided not to pre shade the ribs, but will emphasize them with pastels. We'll see if it works.

James

[jknaus]

Pkay another small update. Trimmed the bottom wing and did the top decals for it. It looks like I somehow misaligned something. Not much I can do, it will have to stay like this. I used a new scalpel blade and it trimmed up really nice.



Tomorrow I will trim the top decals and then start the top wing. Time to stop dilly dallying around with the engine and finish it so I can paint the fuse.

James

[RAGIII]

Looks really great! I am glad to hear you had no issues trimming the edges as that gave me a great deal of trouble. Must have been self created as I thought!
RAGIII

[jknaus]

Looks really great! I am glad to hear you had no issues trimming the edges as that gave me a great deal of trouble. Must have been self created as I thought!
RAGIII

I used a brand new scalpel blade and I think that was the ticket. I tried on another decal with my used blade and it just left a jagged edge and even tore a bit. Lance was mentioning a razor blade, but the only one I have I use to bend photo etch so I didnt want to try it. Apart from my goof with the one side, everything went well. I took most of the morning putting decals on and then doing something else etc and then left the wing to dry over night. I'm getting kind of excited to finish this now. I'll tell you I dont think I can go back to kit lozenges. I'm really sold on this Aviattic stuff.
James

[jknaus]

Okay the bottom wing is finished sort of. I need to fix it up a bit. Unfortunately I pressed ahead with decaling even though I couldnt see what I was doing properly. I think I can fix it.



I also tried a new technique when painting the fuselage. I have always used Tamiya thinner for my Tamiya paints and its worked out just fine. I read that if you use Tamiya Lacquer thinner you get a better flow and harder paint shell. So I tried it. And yes it sprayed much nicer than I am used to. The pictures are not the best, but they should do for now.





Comments and critiques are most welcome.

James

[drdave]

I do exactly the same.

[Alexis]

Coming along very nicely so far 





Terri

[Chris Johnson]

Nice work James! Thinning Tamiya acrylics with lacquer thinner is definitely a winning combination as my experiences mirror yours. I haven't tried Tamiya's lacquer thinner as I initially tried a generic hardware store one (Home Hardware for the Canucks among us) and and it works well for me. I have to think that it's cheaper in the long run than Tamiya's proprietary stuff.

Cheers,

Chris

[Nigel Jackson]

Hello James.

This is all coming along beautifully.

The lacquer thinner looks to have worked very well and I'll have to give it a try - so far I've not been too successful in getting real control over Tamiya acrylics. What blue did you use?

Best wishes
Nigel