sandbagger

Hi all, PLAN B. Damaged CDL decal, fuselage decals removed. Black squadron stripes airbrushed, fuselage and 'Lift Here' decals replaced. 'Flory Models' Dark Dirt and Grime clay washes applied. Sealed with 'Alclad' Light Sheen (ALC-311) clear lacquer. Hopefully a more dirty, 'war weary' finish. Mike

Hi all, Well it happens 🥴 I accidentally spilled a bottle of White Spirits over my modelling workspace and, unfortunately the model. I tried to dab it off but it had already dissolved areas of the applied decals on all of the models parts. As I had no CDL decal replacements and no wanting to purchase and wait for replacements, I decide to go to Plan B. This required the removal of as much of the decal as possible, leaving some in place as weathering effect. The fuselage took the main hit, but fortunately not inside the fuselage. So I've stripped all of the decals (CDL, roundels and black stripes). The black stripes were airbrushed and replacement roundels and 'lift here' decals were applied. My plan is to apply 'Flory Models' Dark Dirt and Grime fine clay wash (which I normally apply anyway). Hopefully the wash will compliment the residual CDL decal to give the model a well worn, war weary look. We'll see, Mike

Hi all, Wood effect Applied using 'Windsor and Newton' Griffin Alkyd Raw Sienna. Some shadowing applied to wings and fuselage using 'Tamiya' Smoke (X19). Cockpit padding brush painted with 'AL Interactive' Brown Leather. Nose number 1 airbrushed with mask cut on a 'Cricut' Air 2 cutter. Now onto further weathering, Mike

Hi all, The Clear Doped Linen (CDL) decals have been applied on the fuselage, wings, ailerons, fin, tail plane's and elevators. The 'LukGraph' supplied CDL decals supplied with the Premium kit are very much like those from 'Aviattic'. They are quite strong and adhere well to the model surfaces. The kit supplied marking decals were applied onto the CDL decals. The Serial No.2635 had to be made from spare decals, as the kit does not have the markings for this particular aircraft. The black stripe marking for No.13 Squadron was from the 'XtraDecal' black strip set (XPS1). Now onto applying the wood effects to the fuselage, Mike

Hi all, A few updates. I've primed then masked off the wings, fuselage and other flight surfaces, then pre-shaded the internal structures. This was over sprayed with white primer to 'knock back' the pre-shading. The linen effect decals will be applied before the kit markings. The fuselage nose was painted with 'Tamiya' Neutral Grey (XF53) and the cockpit decking panel and under fuselage with Dark Yellow (XF60), in preparation for applying wood effects. Mike

Hi all, Another fix required. The rigging diagrams in the kit instructions fail to show a single bracing wire fitted outboard from the bottom of the inboard front interplane struts. This wire was routed diagonally up to the underside of the front spar of the upper wing, midway between the inboard and outboard interplane struts. Mike

Hi all, A few more areas of the model that anyone building it might want to be aware off. 1. The instructions have no call out for the parts, apart from the supplied photo-etch parts. This could cause some confusion with the cockpit, as parts are supplied to make a trainer version. 2. The instruction give the impression that the lower wings butt up to the sides of the fuselage. In face there should be a gap between the wings and fuselage, exposing the front and rear spars and attachments. This is important as if the lower wings are not positioned correctly, the interplane struts to the upper wing will tilt inwards at the bottom, when they should be vertical. I've added a brass rod through the fuselage for extra support and added tube spacers for the necessary gap between wings and fuselage. 3. The rigging diagram in the instructions fails to show the interconnecting aileron control wires between the upper and lower ailerons. Also only one drag wire is shown from the engine bearers to the upper wing, whereas there were two, one to the top of the forward cabane struts and a second to the top of the forward, inboard interplane struts. 4. The rigging diagram in the instructions shows only two bracing wires for the fuselage cabane struts, whereas there were actually four. A wire was attached to the tops of the two rear cabane struts and also the forward cabane struts. These wires were routed through openings at each side of the pilots decking panel and into the cockpit, where there were attached to the cockpit side frames. 5. The gravity fuel tank (behind the engine) and the main fuel tank (under the observers seat) were interconnected with a fuel transfer pipe. A fuel supply pipe was also connected between the gravity tank and the engine. That pipe won't be seen on the model, but the gravity to main tank pipe can be seen from the observers cockpit. I added this pipe using flexible black tube. 6. The 3D printed tail skid is intended to be butt glued to the rear, underside of the fuselage. I felt, given the size and weight of the final model by prove to be too weak. Therefore I reinforcred the centre strut of the tail skid using 0.5 mm diameter rod. Apart from that, it's all going quite well Mike

Hi all, Here's the re-profiled fuselage rear decking panel. This was done by sanding away the decking panel, the cutting a new panel shape from 0.2 mm thick plastic card. That was glued in position then sanded with the flats of the fuselage stringers re-instated by scrapping. Mike

Hi all, Back online and with the same URL links, Mike

Hi all, I'm moving my hosting server for the forum build logs photographs to another server. In the meantime, all of the build log photographs in the forum will not show. I'll post once I get them back online with the new server. My web site (link in signature) is OK, Mike

Hi all, Tailplane's: I cut the inboard ends of both tailplane's to match the fuselage sides. This only needed a small amount of trimming so doesn't alter the span of the tailplane's much. The fuselage was drilled through with 0.8 mm diameter holes at the tailplane location points. Two lengths of 0.8 mm diameter Brass rod were secured through the fuselage using thin CA adhesive. Both tailplanes were drilled with 0.8 mm diameter holes to match the added rods. The tailplane's were test fitted to ensure they were horizontal to the fuselage and at 90 degrees to the fuselage centre line. Now the fuselage (possibly), Mike

Hi all, More corrections required. The kit instructions indicate that the left and right tailplane's should be attached to the rear sides of the fuselage, using two rods. The illustration shows the inboard ends of the tailplane's being 90 degrees to their leading edges and noticeably clear of the fuselage sides along their entire length. However, it seems that in reality, the inboard ends of the tailplane's were angled to follow the sides of the fuselage and the only noticeable gap was at the rear, where the fuselage tapered to its end. Also, the plywood rear decking is tapered to align with the linen covering over the fuselage stringers. I think 'Lukgraph' assumed that as wood, it wasn't profiled, but fitted horizontal. Unfortunately it can't, like the nose profile, be sanded, as the fuselage skin is too thin and would be open up. A more obvious, but not as easily rectified, error on the kit. Mike

Hi all, With careful sanding (to avoid breaking through the corners) the kit nose can be re-profiled, Mike

Hi all, One area of the fuselage may need to be addressed. The underside of the nose is too square in shape and should be more rounded. This can be seen on the following photographs, the last of which is the reproduction BE2c at the 'Vintage Aviator Ltd'. The kit nose looks more like that of the R.E.8. Whether this can be rectified remains to be seen, Mike

Hi all, The fuselage is now closed up. The join between the two halves (CA adhesive) needed some filling and sanding. I airbrushed grey primer over the fuselage which shows up any joint or seam gaps etc. Then re-filled and re-primed and sanded until a smooth joint was achieved. After test fitting, I'll be leaving the engine out until towards the end of the build as it makes it easier for painting and applying decals etc. Mike

Hi all, Change of plan. I've decided to model a different BE2c squadron aircraft. No.13 Squadron: No.13 Squadron RFC was formed on the 10th of January 1915, equipped with twelve newly built RAF BE2c aircraft and was dispatched as a Corps reconnaissance unit to France in October 1915. The squadron served at Savy in France during 1916. Later the Squadron was also equipped with RAF BE2d and BE2e versions. The role of reconnaissance was maintained until the armistice. In April 1917 the squadron was re-equipped with the R.E.8. BE2c Serial No.2635: RAF BE2c, Serial No:2635 was built by Ruston-Proctor and was delivered to the newly formed squadron as factory fresh. The aircraft were finished overall in Clear Doped Linen (CDL) with white wheel covers and battle ship grey painted nose panels and cowls. The wheel covers were painted as roundels, which was at the pilots preference. On the 23rd of April 1916, a squadron making was allocated , which consisted of a narrow black horizontal stripe, which was applied to the sides of the fuselage and spanned between the front of the pilots cockpit and the leading edge of the tail plane. This marking was retained when the aircraft were replaced with the R.E.8. This particular aircraft has a Type C camera mounting rack on the fuselage starboard side. The aircraft was also fitted with racks for carrying 112lb ‘Cooper’ bombs. A Lewis machine gun was fitted for the observers and a second for the pilot. Ammunition drums were carried in racks mounted on the sides of the fuselage. It’s unclear whether BE2c Serial No.2635 was lost in action or retired and struck off charge. Mike

Hi Hubert, Thanks - I'll take a look. I use 'VMS' Flexy 5K adhesives (slow and thin types). They have a specific adhesive for resin , but I've not seen any great advantage in using it, Mike

Thanks. The only down side to this model is its essentially all resin. As such only CA adhesive can be used for assembly of parts. Sanding joints flushh to the surrounding area can be problematic. The resin is softer than the set adhesive so if you're not careful, you can sand away the resin, leaving the adhesive proud from the surface. Either that or the sanded surface can end up not being flat as the resin can cause the sander to 'rock' over the joint, Mike

Hi all, The cockpit assembly is finished. Note that I changed the scratch built pilot seat support frame as the kit armoured seat 'cradle' is correct for this version of the BE2c. Built OOB apart from: The kit supplied 3D printed seats replaced with BarracudaCast’ British wicker AGS seats (BR32234). Instrument decals replaced with ‘Airscale’ Generic WW1 instruments (AS32 WW1). Added a observers half firewall as protection from the engine. Ckpit bracing is 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament and blackened 0.4 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tubes. Kit photo-etch seat belts/straps replaced with ‘HGW’ seat belts for the RE8 (HGW132027). The forward engine support frames and fuel tank are still to be fitted, Mike PS: I forgot to add a fuel contents indicator tube onto the pilots instrument panel. Added now using 0.4 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tube, partially dipped in 'Tamiya' Clear Yellow (X24).

Hi all, I've been given further reference information on the pilots seat fit. It seems the later BE2c operational aircraft, fitted with the RAF 1a engine etc, had an armoured seat cradle. Earlier BE2c aircraft, fitted with the Renault engine etc, had the earlier Wicker seats fitted. As the 'LukGraph' model has the later RAF 1a engine etc, the armoured seat would be correct. Given this information, I can now either modify my 'modification' or remove it and fit the cradle, Mike

Hi all, After checking how the pilots seat was fitted in the BE2c, I believe the kit supplied photo-etch seat cradle is based on the 'Vintage Aviator' reproduction aircraft. However the actual Wicker seat seems to have been mounted on a plinth which was attached to the cockpit side frame and cross member and braced by wires at its front corners. There I've represented this using 0.5 mm thick plastic card and 0.8 mm diameter plastic rod. The following photographs shown the modification as well as the dry fitting of the assembly with the 'Barracuda' resin pilot and observer seats. Note that in general, the observers seat had a higher back rest than that of the pilot. Mike

Hi all, Fokker D.VI of Kest 1a (Home Defence) Staffeln, operating from Mannheim in South-West Germany during the Summer of 1918. The full build log can be found here: As usual I've uploaded to my web site a fully detailed build log (in Adobe PDF format) that can be viewed or download. Just click the PDF icon in Gallery 4. Thanks for everyone's support and comments - much appreciated, Mike

Hi all, The completed model shots are now up in the LSM Aircraft Finished Work page, Mike

Hi all, Preparation of the fuselage and basic cockpit. The fuselage halves were sand to remove resin artifacts from the mating edges. Plastic 0.8 mm thick strips were secured to one fuselage half to aid with fuselage alignment during assembly (no locating pegs or holes). The 3D printed cockpit side frames and bulkheads were assembled, including sanding the top curved edges so fir the contour of the fuselage when joined. The actual aircraft had 'windows' in the fuselage to allow daylight to illuminate the instrument panels. The two instrument panels were secured to the cockpit frames to align with the windows. These are moulded as solid, to be painted silver and covered with acetate sheet. Instead, I've cut out the three windows to match the supplied photo-etch window frames, which will have just the acetate sheet inserts, Mike

Hi all, The engine is completed as far as possible. I've added the ignition leads and support rails, even though in reality the leads passed through the internal engine firewall. As expected, painting a complete 3D printed engine wasn't that easy. Sanding any print layer striations is not really possible on such detail. I've not fitted the exhaust manifolds yet as I want to align them correctly to the exhaust stack pipes and fuselage later in the build, Mike