More updates.
(gondolas are just test fit, obvs. Also, note the Pup for scale)
Shading has been done on the balloon. The top section was masked off and sprayed with a thinned-out mixture of the ivory base to lighten it up, simulating the looser weave up top to allow gas to escape. Simple and straightforward. I briefly considered using some fine mesh or pantyhose as a mask, to give a 'woven' texture, but decided it probably wasn't worth the hassle, and would likely look overscale. So, just paint.
The sides were then masked off to simulate the darker, reinforced fabric. This was less straightforward. I originally started by adding 2mm wide strips of paper over the panels to simulate the fabric strips visible here, then oversprayed the area with an ink and future mix. This... failed. The Future soaked into the paper, it ran, it was blotchy and the edges were too hard. Luckily it stripped off easily with Windex/Windowlene. Attempt #2, I ditched the paper and used a mix of paints to get a darker look... which I didn't like; so I tried another mix, which I also didn't like once applied; then some Tamiya smoke, which looked too dark, followed by more paint, which looked meh, followed - finally - by a streaky coat of Humbrol 71.
The net result actually looks good. All the thin, tint-ey layers add a bit of translucency to it, and the blotchy Humbrol gives it a weathered, natrual look which I quite like. A bit touch and go for a minute, though.
I also rigged the rudders. Simple job with some .1mm monofilament, pre-coloured with a Sharpie. Fun fact: each control surface uses a single length of monofilament; it's just wound 'round and around.
Also, also, I finalized the base. I think I mentioned above, but originally I had hoped to have it supported by just a couple pairs of 1.5mm hypo tubes, running through the gondola. With all the weight of the putty and paint, and with raising it up off the base (I had originally planned to have it 'grounded'), there was no way that was going to work. Plan B was to use a length of carbon fiber tubing as the main brace in the middle - it's nice and rigid, but will flex rather than bend under strain, plus being black, it's unobtrusive. Plus, the thought of mounting such an archaic form of aircraft on a high tech material makes me giggle. The balloon isn't perfectly balanced, however, so I'll still need supports in the nose and tail just to keep it from pitching. All this had to be done before I could start adding the gondolas and scaffolding.
Final update on the balloon - I had a good modelling friend drop by with some much-needed accoutrements last week:
Bit of sanding and a bit of gloss, and it'll be ready for the markings.
I'll probably run the rigging on the fins first, though.
The first order of business, though, is figuring out how to paint the gondolas.
The card model I'm basing this on has the gondolas in overall doped linen colour. The Hippo kit from a few years back had NMF gondolas. While the Datafile on the R-Classe Zepps suggests they were overall grey. Hmmm... Now, the actual gondolas were made up from a metal lower half, with fabric uppers and roof. Basically, everything from the corrugations on the sides down was metal; everything above the corrugations was fabric. Photos suggest a uniform colour, but it's inconclusive as to just what that colour was.
*Personally*... I have a hard time imagining the Germans painting the metal parts CDL. There are plenty of German aircraft with CDL fabric and either painted grey or are metal... metal... but I can't think of a single example where they painted the metal to look like CDL. The only thing that comes close are the night bombers that had metal areas painted to match the lozenge pattern. The Hippo kit has tons of problems so I wouldn't stake my life on it, and the gondolas in pictures don't seem very shiny. So I'm leaning towards overall grey. If nothing else, it'll be a nice contrast compared to the balloon.
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I've also made some progress on the Pup.
First up, the cockpit got a coat of paint, then a couple of extra details for the instrument panel made from some brass rod. The instruments were also picked out with black and white paint.
Next up, because this particular Pup had a tripod-mounted, jacket-less Lewis gun, I had to scratch a gun (you'll recall, the kit part looks terrible, and was just a jacketed barrel anyway). I lopped the barrel off of one of my printed Spandaus, glued a length of .2mm and .3mm brass rod together inside a length of 1mm tube, then grafted this onto the Spandau body. Not exactly accurate, but good enough for the purpose. The brass 'arrow' beneath the modified gun will actually become the tripod mount.
The fuselage was glued up, lower wing and tailplanes attached and it was on to the jig:
Normally I'm pretty cavalier about adding upper wings, but normally I'm dealing with kits that have SOME sort of positive fit. The Valom kit has tiny, crude, PE struts that (maybe?) fit into vague dimples. It was really obvious that it would be a hassle, so I decided to make a jig to hold both wings securely in place while I added the struts. The templates were as mentioned above. They were spray-mounted on some styrene sheet, then cut out and hot-glued to a piece of MDF, using LEGOs to set the spacing and alignment. Incidentally, I went with hot glue because it'd set quickly (no need to clamp it for hours) and be slightly flexible, allowing me to squeeze the plane in and out.
And it worked great. Actually installing the struts, however, not so much. Turns out, two of the interplane struts were slightly too long, while everything else was too short by at least 1/2mm. My first attempt (yeah...) was with epoxy, as I wanted something more robust than CA to take the knocks of construction. I eventually managed to get everything in place, but when the glue cured and I started trying to trim away the excess, the struts just popped right out. Not exactly a great bond.
Frustrated, I knocked the rest of the struts out, scraped off the rest of the epoxy, and resigned myself to plan B. I wanted a secure, robust locating pin, and that meant I had to make it myself. So out with the soldering iron and .2mm brass rod.
It's not a perfect job. I know it's not a perfect job. But these things are tiny, and they're going to get brush painted, and they'll be buried between the wings of a tiny aircraft that will be overshadowed by a much larger build, so, screw it, it's good enough.
Seriously, did I mention these are tiny? It'll do!
And with some alignment pins added, construction was a whole lot faster, easier and more solid.
I do have some excess wire to lop off, but it's an acceptable trade-off. Besides, I'll have to touch up the wings after rigging anyway.
