Wingnut Wings 1:32 Roland C.IIa (Early) Feldflieger-Abteilung (A)292b

[LukasTheLight]

Hello James!!!

Once again, stunning cockpit and brilliant presentation of great modelling!!! Love your work!!!

Cheerio
Lukas

[FarEast]

It's not all blue skies! 

So I was talking with the amazing guys over at Wingnut Wings regarding this build and the parts I should use for the aileron control flaps and rudder stabilizers and Richard says this:

"That's looking really nice.

I note you appear to have cut horizontal slots in the front of the fuselage. This is not a detail I have noted before on any Roland C.II or C.IIa...

...but there are a couple of data plates in the exact same position on Roland C.II & early production C.IIa which might be mistaken for slots on pale coloured aircraft.

I don't know what reference photo/s you have so perhaps your aircraft does have special slots. Anyway, I thought I'd mention it just in case. "

uh..... 

So back to the books and interwebs and I come across exactly what he is pointing out! Things had been going so well and here I am with four horizontal slots in the fuselage!

So this morning I spent my time, filling sanding, recoating and finally repaint and weathering. I also took the opportunity to remove the molded access panel on the fuselage and replace it with the additional ones supplied in the kit so that it is all uniform.





Annnnnnnnnnd breath.........Now time to close her up!

[LukasTheLight]

Hi James,

feel your pain but I can see that repair surgery went well... and also goodbye to that interior of yours... luckily you managed to give us huge photographic evidence for future generations so we can all find inspiration Once again - great work!

Cheerio
Lukas

[lcarroll]

   Great recovery James, and kudos for staying the course on your superb attention to detail. That interior is absolutely magnificent work, and I'm sure some if not a lot of the detail will be viewable with close inspection through the open cockpits and clear hatches.
   This project is great modelling!
Cheers,
Lance

[coyotemagic]

Looks even better than before, James!  Turned out to be a rather fortunate chain of events as the uniformity of the louvers can attest. 
Cheers,
Bud

[RAGIII]

Looks even better than before, James!  Turned out to be a rather fortunate chain of events as the uniformity of the louvers can attest. 
Cheers,
Bud

I with my Amigo as usual!
RAGIII

[radio]

Beautiful work.
Cheers
Martin

[GAJouette]

 James,
What more can I say other than AWESOME my friend.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[FarEast]

What with Halloween party at the school and also my friends fancy dress party I spent a lot of time last weekend and in the week getting my costume finished, I've learned how to sow, rivet, and leather works! 





So back to the the proper stuff!

So I joined the two halves together and went to work removing the seams - but only where they are needed to be removed as due to the process the spine and the belly of the aircraft must have a seam line visible where the two halves are joined.



With a few coats of Mr. Finisher 1500 I was very happy and started on the Pre shading and base coats.



So now for the scheme - as you know this is an early C.IIa and its based on this aircraft.



Now since I started this build I have been thinking about how to go about making the scales - hand painting was out of the question so I decided on masking.

Pre shading and base colours down



Masking done



Baby Blue Coat



Mask removed and all the colours blended



So being happy with that it was time to start on the fuselage, I got about half done before I needed to call time.

[LukasTheLight]

Hi James!!!!

That looks awesome!!! And that includes all the pictures

Lukas

[Pgtaylorart]

That's quite the masking job, James! It looks like it would be very tedious, but worth the effort for the work you are putting in. The fish scales are coming out great.

George

[uncletony]

Very nice. The fish scales ain't bad either...

[jknaus]

Very cool costume there. And WOW that paintjob is awesome. I'm in awe.
James

[radio]

Exellent masking.
Cheers
Martin

[FarEast]

Thank you everybody,  each of those scales is handcut in groups of 6 as I wanted to get a better effect that each one is hand painted on the aircraft, I make them up in batches and alternate where they are used so they don't sit next to each other.

So far I think there are well over 200 on the fuselage already and I'm 75% done. Hopefully I'll be finished before the weekend so I can start the painting process.