WNW Pfalz DIII

[ALBATROS1234]

hmmmm

[kornbeef]

Reprofiling the upper wing surface from the correct rib would be the answer, simple in itself but redoing the ribtapes and stitching to match WNW's after would be the hard part. I'm hazarding a guess the spar must taper down from said rib steadily from what images I can see. A lot of careful heart in mouth sanding.

As said by many, they can live with it, I'd be tempted to try on another build, I'd love to build another Pfalz DIIIa but Just as I consider it WNW sneak another Albie out imminently and the gameplan changes dramatically.

Keith

[uncletony]

Sanding away at the surface is the obvious answer, and maybe the only way in the end, but I am wondering if there isn't another approach. What if you made very thin castings of the upper and lower surfaces -- sufficient to preserve the detail, which are then applied to a new, correctly profiled core?

[RAGIII]

Sanding away at the surface is the obvious answer, and maybe the only way in the end, but I am wondering if there isn't another approach. What if you made very thin castings of the upper and lower surfaces -- sufficient to preserve the detail, which are then applied to a new, correctly profiled core?

Bo,
This may be bordering on the obvious but are you talking about cutting off the tips from the proper rib and then making a cast/core for just the areas needing correction? Or conversely the whole wing?
RAGIII

[uncletony]

Bo,
This may be bordering on the obvious but are you talking about cutting off the tips from the proper rib and then making a cast/core for just the areas needing correction? Or conversely the whole wing?
RAGIII

I mean the former, just making casts of the tips (top & bottom) and forming them into a sandwich that is then appended onto the original plastic. Somehow. Probably a crazy idea though.

Maybe a better idea would be to make casts of just the rib tape detail that could be inserted into trenches on the re-profiled wing...

none of this would be easy...

[RAGIII]

I am posting a scan of the upper wing of the Roden Pfalz DIII. (Please forgive the crudeness of my abilities to convey my thoughts in photos). If I am seeing things correctly one needs to re taper the wing from either the red or yellow lines towards the tip on both upper and under surfaces? If so I would think you would have to stop prior to the actual edge as this would sand to a paper thin edge? Again I apologize for the poor workmanship on the scan. it also seems that this operation would be somewhat simplified on the roden 1/32nd kit as one could just sand all of the ribs and use archers rib tapes as needed to replace all on the wing 
RAGIII

OOps, forgot the pic at first 

[Kampf doppeldecker]

Hi all,
Glad there's been an eventual acknowledgement / realisation of the taper issue.  As myself, and, more recently Bo have said, once seen impossible not to see.  My original post on the other forum explained the whole thing completely, but as mentioned, generated little response. Still waiting for my 'Whiz Kid' with these modern electronic boxes to show me how to resize flies to 'postable' size.
When she gets round to it I'll post the photos of my 1/72nd Roden DIII which incorporated the mods, also photos of notes I made back in 1988 which explain the whole thing in complete detail.  These are 'gathering dust' stapled to the back cover of the original Datafile, hey, was it really twenty six years ago I made those notes?, By Gum,  I was but a slip of a boy!.
The notes will explain everything raised and make clear what needs to be done to the tips (or not done - if anyone wants to build from the box that's fine, depends what the individual wants)
Rag, briefly, the taper, or 'droop', starts from the second rib out from the aileron root, the red line in your photo, there is also, as previously mentioned 'upsweep' on the lower surface commencing from same point.
Best thing for me to do here is to post stuff mentioned above which explain it all a lot better than I have time to do now, stand by on that.  Interestingly it is possible to come up with 'guesstimated' aerofoil co-ordinates for the tips using various datums, we of course know the co-ordinates for the constant areas of upper and lower wings.  On the notes I hope to post mention is made also of aileron geometry and how this tied in.  If anyone has either the original DIII Datafile or the later Issue take a look at the pic of 4184/17 on page 21 in the original issue or page 24 in the later issue.  Hold page obliquely and sight along top surfaces of upper surfaces of front and rear spars (upper surface of front spar only visible in later issue) this illustrates commencement points,  this is only 'straight' on the spar surface itself and on the aileron false spar and aileron leading edge. The 'staightness' was eased very slightly on the rib profile, a very slight curve to the tip, 'almost straight'.  Also look on same photos for corresponding 'upsweep' on lower surface.  Phew. Stand by for posts and keep taking tablets all,
Cheers, Al.

[Kampf doppeldecker]

Hi all,
Was going to bed but I'll just stick this one in. To achieve 'taper' on my 1/72nd Roden DIII I used needle files, then progressively finer grades of 'Squadron sticks', finishing up with polishing grade.  Aerofoil section was worked to, or rather in the tip area, 'guesstimated section' as no co-ordinates are available for this area.  'Sag' between ribs was then worked in with small curved Swann Morton blade (forgot blade number) easing sag in areas of lesser curvature and where aileron false spar was approached.  If I was working on the WNW kit I would get rid of, or reduce the existing rib tape detail as this is overscale anyway, stitching under same could then be perhaps represented by very fine HSP suitably 'tweaked'.  This would have been a damn site easier in1/32nd,
Cheers, Al.

[uncletony]

Al the best way to post large images is to use a third party image hosting service such as Flickr, Picasa, Photobucket, etc. all have free plans. There are detailed instructions I think in the hints & tips section.

[uncletony]

Thanks RB for writing this up (again). I tried to find one of the many previous topics on this to link here but failed. Perhaps this should be a FAQ -- or maybe added to the site's Help topic?

[ALBATROS1234]

and it sounds so complicated reading the instructions but it is truly a few clicks away.

[Kampf doppeldecker]

Thanks you fellas,
Popping over to Flickr et al, see if I can suss it out.
Cheers Al.

[kornbeef]

I got fed up with Photobucket meddling and everything changing & becoming less simple to use and have started using imgur.com. I haven't had anything of note to post since so hope its better than the FU Photoshop seems to have become in it's desire to chase technology  Happily plodding along modelling but not snapping what I've done... bad me.

Keith

[Kampf doppeldecker]

Hi all,
Eventually used a rather cunning thing called 'Pic Monkey' where one can fiddle with pics no end then wang them back on one's electronic box, modern technology, absolutely marvellous !.
As I mentioned previously these notes were made back in 1988'ish shortly after the DIII Datafile appeared and have been stapled in back of same since then. First pic :-

[Kampf doppeldecker]

2nd:-