My first WW1 build - WNW Hansa-Brandenburg W.29

[PrzemoL]

Nice and crisp looking interior. The extra mail bags add sooo much life. Very fine model in the making!

[petero]

Thanks everyone for your kind words!  If it wasn't for all the good information here, this wouldn't be coming out nearly as well.

The fuselage has been closed up and painted, I've applied my DLR decals, and started on the lozenges.  The DLR decals were drawn in PaintShop Pro X from the two photos of the actual plane, and printed on an ALPS MD 5000 printer.







The ALPS ink is very fragile, even with a liberal coating of MicroScale Liquid Decal Film, so I have a few touch-ups to make.  The white undercoat is also slightly shifted under the DLR letters, but it doesn't show as much to the eye as on these photos.  I'll wait till I do the final flat coat to decide whether or not to touch up the white.

The first sections of lozenge are also in place.  They went down easily, and they snuggled down into the elevator hinge details with Mr. Mark Softer and gentle application of heat from a blow dryer.  A spare pink lozenge was cut and used to cover the seam between the tail and spine decals.



Peter

[RAGIII]

Looks outstanding Peter! The self made decals came out well !! Your lozenge application is flawless.
RAGIII

[Borsos]

Wow! As somebody who tried frequently to print my own decals and who's never totally happy with my own efforts, I am admiring enviously your nice homemade decals. Absolutely outstanding!
Borsos

[Manni]

Wow, your decals match your former work on this plane, they are just outstanding!
Very good work.
Manni

[Des]

A superb job with your decals Peter, it is not always an easy task printing your own but the results you have achieved are excellent.

Des.

[lcarroll]

Now, that's impressive! Very nicely done!
Cheers,
Lance

[coyotemagic]

Those decals look fantastic, Peter!  This promises to be a real gem!
Cheers,
Bud

[Jacek]

Very purely done.
So as I like it 

Regards.
Jacek

[petero]

Thanks again for the encouragement!  I've added the gun fairings.  They're 0.005" plastic sheet, with rivets embossed from the back side with the plain end of a #80 drill bit.  They were sprayed with Alclad Semi-Matte Aluminum, given a detail wash with Payne's Gray artist's acrylic, and overcoated with Alclad Aqua Gloss.









I've also decided not to touch up the white around the DLR titles, since I really don't have the skill to do it well.  Better to leave it well enough alone  .  The white isn't as noticeable under the matte clear coat in any case.

Peter

[RAGIII]

Your fairing panels have turned out beautifully! Well Done!
RAGIII

[petero]

The fuselage is complete, except for the tachometer in front of the windshield.  The Future/Kleer on the dial is still drying.  Everything fits quite well, and the cowl panels sit in place without falling off, but are easy to remove to show off the engine.





The handles on the diagonal engine struts and the step below the cowling were drybrushed with Citadel Mithril Silver, as was the lower edge of the panel below the observer's hatch on each side.  I assume that they were spring-loaded foot steps.  If I meet a 120-year-old former Hansa mechanic at my local show, I'm sure he'll set me straight 





The clear panel under the cockpit is both a window, and a maintenance/inspection hatch that's hinged at the forward end.  I figured that oil would drip onto it when the plane is at rest, so I added drops of oil (made, appropriately, from oil paints), and a bit of a smear behind the window.  Since there's no firewall between the engine and the cockpit, I imagine the pilot's boots must have been well-oiled too!

[Manni]

Peter, this looks very good. Very clean build and a top paint job.
Cheers,
Manni

[petero]

The two photos of the mail plane show a single exhaust, but I hadn't examined the photos in detail.  When I did take a close look yesterday, I realized that the exhaust was on the opposite side from the usual exhausts, which led me to investigate further in the Windsock Datafile.  The end result was that I discovered that the mail plane, and a few other single-exhaust examples shown in the book, actually had a different engine than the standard Bz.III.

So, out with the wrong engine!  Luckily I was able to remove it cleanly without any collateral damage.



The most likely engine choice, from the table in the Windsock, is the Bz.IIIa.  The other likely engine is the D.IIIa, as found in the WNW Albatros kits.  I've got an Albatros, so I was able to measure the engine block and oil sump.  The D.IIIa appears to be too long to fit, but the Bz.IIIa seems shorter.  Fortunately WNW sells the Bz.IIIa separately, and I have one coming in from Weta.  The engine ships from NZ, so the postage cost is about 1.5 times the engine's cost  , but the cheaper postage alternative would take 21+ days to arrive.  I'd like to have this finished in time for the local GraniteCon IPMS show on October 16.

In the worst case, if the Bz.IIIa doesn't fit, I can drop the original engine back into place, and call it close enough.

On a positive note, I've done my first-ever rigging.  It's just a test to see how it looks, but at least now I know I can actually thread those tiny tubes .  The upper tube is 0.5mm dia., and the lower one is nested 0.4 and 0.6mm tubing. 



I've modified the rigging attachments based on this thread:
http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=5189.0

Meanwhile, while waiting for the new engine to arrive, I'll work on the floats and wings.

Peter

[steveb]

Great work on the gun fairings, decals & overall building! Really nice. Hopefully, the new engine will drop in without a hitch.

Steve