DocRob

Today was the perfect day for a marathon rigging and assembly session. SSW number two is finally rigged and besides of my hurting eyes there were no issues here. The same could not be said about mounting the Brassin 08/15's the fit was poor and they needed some surgery to fit in. The non Eduard Gaspatch 08/15's of the other SSW fitted way better, who would have thought. Beside these issues, the need to fit a tiny PE sight with virtually no glueing point onto the barrel is not a very convincing breakdown. Somehow I managed to attach them . I' m very lucky, that I invested into Gaspatch MG's for most of my WWI kits, they look great and are easy to assemble and mount. Cheers Rob

Very nice, after all the obstacles, the finished Corsair looks really good. Love the view throug the bubbily canopy into the pit. Cheers Rob

Thanks Gaz, I'm half through rigging the other SSW and have to say, 1/32 is my focus in WWI planes and ever will be. You can buy them online, not sure about shipping to Australia https://www.das-muster-kennen-wir.de/ The idea is not preventing from graffiti, but to make it's patterns unseen, like razzle dazzle camo or Lozenge on German plane or Austrian sworls. Cheers Rob

My wife is priceless sometimes, when I showed her the finished SSW she said, the Lozenge looks like the patterns they use on the benches of Berlins subway to fight the application of graffiti tags. In a way she's right, it's all about concealing contours. I might try to paint a WWI plane with that BVG style pattern . Cheers Rob That's the urban camo As it's ugliness is iconic in Berlin, they even produce bathing trunks with that pattern (I don't one one, but my wife suggests with a lot of sarcasm)

Best way to compromise (loose) a friend, because he told his wife the very same thing and the ladies hang out together and talk about everything . My wife sees my habitual stash addings with a lot of unhidden contempt to say it in a civilized manner. I've learned to weather this, not always easy, but in the end she loves me and I have some peace until the next time . Cheers Rob

That will be my second D.VII after I built my Lozenge covered one with the Berliner Bär on it, it will be Gabriel's with streaks for variation. I have another boxing, but a decal sheet from Life Decals and Aviattic streaks. Mine will be build from the Göring issue depicting a later ride of Gabriel with the BMW engine (FOK. DVII 323/18) I did the same with my Pfalz build and was astonished how rigid this type of rigging is, definitely a structural update and the type of rigging makes it easy to get the lines pulled taught. I was pleased to see, that I was able to do the flip onto the upper wing with my 1/48 SSW's too. Even without structural rigging, I used only Uschi's elastic, it was stable enough. Cheers Rob

I buy mine to build them, maybe not all of them, but that's more about expected lifespan than not wanting to build them. Like others, I didn't finish a started Pfalz for years, because of, I will do it when I'm grown up, have the skills, tried others, blah, blah, blah. Last December I decided to finish the Pfalz with rigging, a little wood painting and everything what's needed. Afterwards I was wondering, why I was so scared to finish the Pfalz. It was sometimes tempting, but so rewarding and I had a lot of fun. These WNW planes are great kits, which make it easy to achieve never expected outcomes. With that feeling and the firs of my tiny 1/48 SSW's under the belt, _I will build more WWI planes (some from Roden and Micro Mir as well, but the next will be a Hansa Brandenburg and the a Fokker D.VII with the coat of arms of my old hometown Berlin. I don't fear rigging anymore with the exception of my FE.2b which will have to wait a little longer. Cheers Rob

The first of the twins is done, errr, almost done. While adding the last part, namely the spinner, I ruined the paintjob with glue, so next time with the AB this will be redone and then added. The last step were the wheel struts, the needed rigging and adding the wheels. One more to rig and mount and then I have two tiny bright spots for my shelf. I may add some light chipping and stains, when the second is ready. Cheers Rob

Nice save with the non-removable-wash. As much as I like the result, I will tell you, that I will never test your new technique, not good for my nerves . Cheers Rob

Got some rigging time today. It was fiddly, but generally my simple rigging plan worked, with the lower cables bein one piece slung around the inner upper struts, through the middle eyelet , inner strut and finally the lower outer attachment point on the other wing. This way I was able to do all the wing rigging without mounting the upper wing. After rigging I added the guns and some pads and the windscreen and then added the upper wing carefully upside down. Now the glue has to cure and I'm satisfied with the outcome of this fiddly affair. Rigging complete, here the middle lines are not pulled taught, but this was corrected later, by just slinging then around the struts one more time. That's the benefit of elastic rigging Better now Next are the wheels and then the first of the Colour full twins is ready for the shelf and as a reward I help myself to a Le Rhone Camel Cheers Rob

This is no normal German cursive up there. It's a way of handwriting used in Germany and other countries in history. In Germany it was officially used until the early 40's. The letters used correspond to the actual used German handwriting only marginal. Some of the words are easy recognizable, like Hubert mentioned 'Flugzeug', but others are hard to read, because lots of letters feature similar shapes and are hard to distinguish. The old handwriting is more gothic-, the new more Latinum styled, it's a whole different approach. Cheers Rob

Are you sure, that the boards were not painted and then heavily scuffed with their heavy load? Cheers Rob

Yesterday I read, that British Airways is phasing out their 747' as well. One comforting thought might be, that the 747 will be in service somewhere, when the dreadful A380 is on the scrapyard. Cheers Rob

Slowing down a little, because rigging is next. On my first 1/32 rigging job, I felt very comfortable with fishing line, eyelets and turnbuckles. With the smaller scale, I figured, there is less room to handle, therefore I will use elastic thread from Uschi and the provided PE turnbuckles and eyelets. As you can see, the rigging is simplified, with the upper rigging points only glued on without eyelets. for the lower rigging points I used the PE buckles, which were threaded while on the fret, it's easier that way. Cheers Rob

If there's both, I choose brass, because I like to burnish it which leads to a very realistic Colour and appearance, better than paint and it's more rigid, specially on long protruding 20mm's. Cheers Rob

Tried some more on the last word, could be a name of a person. The first version is with the letters I'm more or less sure they are right. The x's are where I'm nearly completely lost. Nasxxlxagitüm Nashelhagitüm Nasfeltagitüm None of this makes any sense in German, so maybe it's a name of a person, but it's hard to say, because there are different types of this kind of handwriting. The name of the town seems to start with H and seems to end with the not unusual ending of 'kirch' like church. Hope that helps a little. Cheers Rob

No, that is no more in use. Old people are able to read, but I had only some hours in school to study that type of German handwriting. I think it's called Kurrentschrift and differs from the printed letters in old German books. I could decipher it only partly. Couldn't read the town. Hauptmann Oeswin? mit seinem Flugzeugführern beim Frühstück. Unser (last world, I also can't decipher) Hauptmann ? with his pilots while breakfast. Our ? That's worse than 1/48 rigging , maybe others are more educated than me and can help. Cheers Rob

Like you, I had not much love for the Gladiator, but then I saw yours. The way you painted and weathered the surfaces looks amazingly right, love the tone of the silver doped surfaces. When you look for the other materials depicted, they look equally convincing like the wheels and cowling. The rigging (I try to avoid flat rigging wherever possible) is a beautiful addition for the eye. You may not convinced me to buy one, but I had a lot of fun watching yours . Cheers Rob

Call me happy guys, while browsing my usual suspects (modelling sites) I found 24 different kits from Wingnut Wings on the Modellbau König site. https://www.modellbau-koenig.de/Hersteller/Wingnut-Wings?Page=1&Items=24&Filter={"category":[1019]}&sort=5&view=list There are even some big birds like a Felixstowe and AEG's, some different Fokker DVII and different Camels among other. I'm happy, because I ordered a Junkers D.1, which I wanted to build from the first mentioning, but, I guess you know the feeling, missed out, for no apparent reason. This was corrected today . Cheers Rob

Last time I was there, it was for cross country skiing some winters ago. It's fun doing this in the heart of the city. Cheers Rob

With careful setting you might be able to take a nice outdoor pic of the dio in front of the old Flughafen Tempelhof in the middle of Berlin, which is now defunct and an open space for everybody, a great area for recreation. Cheers Rob

These one engine Zombie JU's look horrible, if I ever consider one, it will be Lufthansa or one with floats, but with three engines for sure. Still shivering with the sight of these JU's and consider myself lucky, that I haven't seen them before, but now I will get nightmares . Cheers Rob

Sorry to hear about the decal issues, I'm on a constant warpath with decals, so late in a build, there is a chance to ruin everything, but I've seen (and did ) worse, once on a 1/48 F-15, which was rightly dull, but with shimmering stencils al over . I love your splatter/mottle technique and will try that as well, it gives so much live to otherwise boring paintjobs. Cheers Rob

Great looking Leo Gaz and the tracks and wheels look stunning. I may had applied a little bit more dust to front orientated parts of the tank and turret, given the dust sodden wheels. Cheers Rob

Since being a kid, I always loved the 707 best, with the 747 at second place. It will be a big loss to be not able to spot Jumbo's in the air. The 707 brought me to try to get a job as an flight engineer with Lufthansa, but they didn't accept me and I had to work earthbound for my whole live . Cheers Rob