sandbagger

Hi all, Apart from the cross bracing wires, the landing gear is complete. The lozenge wheel covers were cut out using a 'Thinnerline' circle cutter. I'm now working on pre-rigging, the first of which are the aileron control lines. These are 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament and 0.4 mm diameter tubes, chemically blackened. Turnbuckles are the metal 1:48th scale from 'GasPatch'. Holes of 0.2 mm diameter were drilled through the ends of the upper wing control levers (for the rigging lines). These can't be finished until the upper wing has been fitted. Now onto the rest of the pre-rigging, Mike

Hi all, Subtle weathering applied and sealed. As usual I used 'Flory' Dark Dirt fine clay wash and sealed it with 'Alclad' Light Sheen lacquer (ALC-311). So now it's onto some sub-assembly and pre-rigging, Mike

Hi all, Just a quick update. The 'Aviattic' four colour faded decals have been applied along with the kit decals. The lozenge decals were applied on a white, pre-shaded gloss base coat. The next step it to seal the decals with a clear semi-matte before applying the weathering wash. Then onto pre-rigging the wings, Mike

Hi all, The basic fuselage is now finished. As I said in the previous posts, the original colour scheme I was planning to do is in doubt, as to its authenticity. In addition, any masking or masking tape laid onto these decals, no-matter how gently, started to lift the decals. Having spent time and effort applying the wood effect decals, I didn't want to risk destroying them with masking. There I chose a an authentic scheme that has no personal or unit markings. The metal fittings were brush painted with 'Tamiya' Grey Green (XF76). Padding was 'Humbrol' Leather (62) with hightlights of 'Tamiya' Hull Red (XF9). Other metal fittings were 'Mr. Colour' Stainless Steel (213) and 'Tamiya' Black (X18) 'Weathering applied with 'Flory Models' Dark Dirt clay wash. Sealing coat is 'Alclad' Light Sheen (311). Now onto preparing the wings, ailerons, tail plane, rudder and elevators for the lozenge decals, Mike

Hi all, There is some doubt now over the authenticity of this particular colour scheme. It seems that it was based on what is apparently the only known photograph of Emil Schäpe seated in a Roland fighter. The Windsock Data file states that he is seated in a Roland D.VI but doesn't state whether it is a D.VIa or the later D.VIb version. The photograph shows what appears to be the top of a multi-headed arrow marking on the side of the fuselage. The late Dan-San Abbott interpreted this as the yellow arrow and this seems to have been accepted by painters and illustrators, such as Bob Pearson's profile I'm basing this model on. The doubts centre on three things - The aircraft in the photograph is a later Roland D.VIb (not a D.VIa), the arrow marking was a lightning bolt marking (not an arrow) and the fuselage was not varnished wood but in fact painted. I've looked again at the photograph and to me at least, the fuselage marking looks more like an arrow head that lightning bolts. Also I believe wood grain can be seen on the fuselage planking, although it is very faint. That said this was plywood strips, which wouldn't have much wood grain as such. As to whether this is a D.VIa or a D.VIb is difficult to tell as the main differences were the D.VIb had a different engine and radiator cowl under the nose of the aircraft, neither of which can be seen on the photograph. One possible clue for it being a D.VIb is that the two machine guns have extended cocking handles, which from other photographs the D.VIa didn't (standard cocking handles). Maybe one day someone will come up with photographic or documentary evidence to settle these doubts, When I build a model I like to try where possible to apply colour schemes that are not often modeled, which is why I chose this particular scheme. I also didn't want to cover the wood effect decals with too much paintwork. However, given the uncertainty of this colour scheme I've decided to switch the scheme to the Roland D.VIa, Serial No. 3615/18, which had no personal or Jasta fuselage markings. Mike

Hi all, The wood effect decals with 'scarf' joint plywood joints (from 'ProperPlane') are now done. These are probably the most difficult decals I've applied. The 'scarf' joint strips and the fin, rudder and lower wing fairing were tricky, but the fuselage decals were something else. They are four separate fuselage long single decals. Not 'cookie' cut and with no marking or transparent areas for the fuselage raised details, such as access panels, pulleys and fittings. Cutting these into sections was not really feasible as any slight overlap of the decal joins would show up as dark (double thickness of the decal. Therefore when you lay down the decal, it rest on top of all the raised detail, like one pole holding up a tent. This causes wrinkles and fold over of the decals. I eventually worked around the problem but not without a few tears (patched) and wrinkles (fortunately on the underside), but these are certainly not for the less experienced modeler. The decals are similar to those from 'Aviattic' in transparecy, but are not as strong. They were laid onto a base coat of 'Tamiya' Dark Yellow (XF59) to darken the effect. Next up is creating the masks for painting the large yellow arrow marking along the sides of the fuselage, which of course will cover a lot of the decals, Mike

Hi Phil, I go to sleep planning the next days modelling - I should get out more, but then Covid stops that Mike

Hi all, The fuselage is now closed up with the cockpit front decking panel fitted. I'm replacing the kit supplied machine guns with resin equivalent weapons from 'GasPatch'. These needed to be modified slightly so that would fit down and into the weapon slots in the front decking panel. This required the removal of the front mounting and synchronizing cable from the underside of the breech blocks. In addition the lower part of the cocking mechanism on the right side of the left weapon was removed. Now it's onto preparing the fuselage for the application of the 'ProperPlane' wood effect decal set for this aircraft, Mike

Hi Carl, I'm not sure why Roland painted the engine bay area, but it does seem to be something that company did. It was painted with the same as used on the external metalwork and struts, Mike

Hi all, Just a quick update. The cockpit structure is now complete and ready to be fitted into the closed up fuselage. I had to sand the outer surface of the two cockpit side frames and cockpit frames quite a bit, as for some reason the fuselage wouldn't close up fully with the cockpit test fitted. I know tolerances are tight, especially on WNW kits so I made sure there was no paint etc on any mating faces. Even so the gap at the underside seam of the fuselage was large, indicating something wasn't fitted correctly. Everything look correct so I'm not sure where the obstruction was - probably around the fuel tank area. Anyway, it's sorted and ready to move onto closing up the fuselage, Mike

Here's the engine. As most of the engine won't be seen, it's just the basic engine with the addition of ignition leads and the pipe at the front cylinder. The replacement exhaust pipe is from 'ReXx', Mike

Hi all, A few updates. I'm working on the fuselage internals and the engine. The fuselage halves were two-tone, as were the cockpit side frames. The engine bearer frame was a single colour. As I normally do, the slight weathering effect was done using the 'Flory Models' dark dirt clay wash. The rudder, elevator and ailerons control lines were added using 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament and blackened 0.4 mm diameter tubes. Other detail, such as pipes, seat harness etc will be added after the cockpit assembly is built and before closing up the fuselage. The next stage, after completing the engine is to assemble the fuselage, Mike

Hi all, I'm now starting on the 'Wingnut Wings' 1:32 scale model of the Roland D.VIa fighter. This aircraft was unusual in that its fuselage was clad in overlapping plywood planks, known as ’lapstrake’, which was similar to that used on clinker built boats. This proved to be as strong, but lighter than existing constructions methods provided, which was an important factor for a fighter aircraft. Also the lower wings were located under, not into, the lower fuselage. It's the Roland D.VIa, Serial No: 3615/18 during 1918 (Jasta unknown). Mike

Hi all, The Ansaldo A.1 ‘Balilla’, Serial No:16558 of pilot Tenente Leopoldo Eleuteri of No:70a Squadriglia, operating from Gazzo Padovano during the September of 1918. The forum build log is here: https://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/9468-132-scale-ansaldo-a1-balilla/page/3/#comments As usual I've uploaded my PDF and bookmarked build log to Gallery 3 on my site (link below). Thanks for your support and comments throughout this build, Mike

Hi all, The 'Balilla' is now finished and up in the LSM Aircraft Finished Work page. Thanks for your comments and support throughout this build, Mike

Hi all, The final part of the aircraft build is the propeller. Airbrushed with a 70/30 mix of 'Tamiya' Flat Red (XF7) and Hull Red (XF9) to represent the dark finish needed. A sealing coat of 'Alclad' Light Sheen (ALC-311) was airbrushed over the propeller. Propeller bosses brush painted with 'Mr. Colour' Stainless Steel (213), then washed with 'AK Interactive' Kerosene (3029). Finally the edges were lightly sponged with 'Tamiya' Weathering Master Set D (Oil Stain). So, now onto the figures, Mike

Hi all, Landing gear fitted. Bracing wires are 0.12 mm diameter mono-filament with 1:48th scale 'GasPatch' turnbuckles. Rigging tubes are 0.4 mm and 0.5 mm diameter blackened brass. Weathering is 'Flory Models' pigment and 'Tamiya' Weathering Master Set A (Mud). Now onto the propeller, Mike

Hi all, The flying and landing wire inserts are finished - brush painted 'Tamiya' Sky Grey (XF19) and dusted with Earth pigments. The ailerons are fitted and at the correct angles to match the control column position. Aileron control rods fitted to the the operating levers in the upper wing, which again are at the correct angles to match the ailerons. Windscreen fitted. I discarded the supplied acetate transparencies and used 'Microscale' Krystal Clear solution (basically refined PVA adhesive). I also noticed many 'Balilla's' were fitted with a forward facing pipe in the fuel tank in the upper wing, so that's been fitted also. So now it's onto the last two jobs - landing gear and propeller, Mike

Hi all, After experimenting with thin plastic card, decal, card, metal foil etc, I finally decided on this approach to represent the full length inserts between twin flying and landing wires. Basically I used kitchen baking parchment paper. The reasons being it's very thin and is easily positioned and secured to the rigging lines using PVA adhesive, which also gives you time to reposition if necessary. With the model fully rigged and the lines as taut: Strips of baking parchment paper were cut to length and width (span) of the twin rigging wires. PVA adhesive was brushed onto the rigging wires and one face of the strip. The strip was laid onto the rigging wires and positioned to span and align with the wires. More PVA adhesive was brushed over both sides of the applied strip and lines. The thin paper self-grips onto the wires and adhesive. The PVA adhesive not only secures the 'inserts' in position, but also seals the paper, ready for painting. This method gives a smoother and flatter surface than other methods I tried. The shots below show the strips that still need painting etc to finish them off The next step will be to brush paint the rigging with the appropriate and thinned acrylic paint. Lastly will be to apply thin white decal strips to represent the wrapping bands around the lines. Having spent three day on this, I'm hoping the end result justifies the time spent - we'll see, Mike

Hi all, Just a quick note to say I've re-rigged the forward flying and landing wires as I'm trying something easier and quicker to add these infills strips. Although my previous method worked on the Nieuport 28C.1, I had problems on this 'Balilla'. I think it's because the twin wires on the 'Balilla' are longer and wider apart. That and the curl on the cut plastic card strips made it extremely difficult to hold in place and secure. I'll post on the revised method once I've moved on with it, Mike

Hi all, My last model was the Nieuport 28C.1, which has twin flying wires fitted with full length inserts. On that model I was able to represent the inserts strips between the flying wires with plastic card strips, decaled and secured between the pairs of wires. However on this build, the length and spread of the flying and landing wires meant that I wasn't able to hold the strips in position, as the lines were too flexible. Therefore I'm cutting the full length insert strips, cut from 0.2 mm thick plastic card, in half and using 1.0 mm wide strips of kitchen baking foil to suspend the insert on the wires. In this way I'm able to pinch the suspended insert between the two wires (using flat ended tweezers) and apply thin CA adhesive to track along and secure it between the wires. The foil strips are then folded around the wires/insert and secured in position using the CA adhesive, as these will be the base for the linen wrappings. Later I'll paint the foil strips to blend with the inserts then use thin white decal strips over the foils to represent the linen wrappings. I think this is going to take a while as there are 16 half insert strips to fit, Mike

Hi all, The tail unit is rigged now. Twin bracing wires, rudder control line and elevator hinges. Also added the 'metal' retaining strap at the rear of the fuselage at the tail plane leading edge, Mike

Hi all, I've now fully rigged the wings. This includes 'twin' flying and landing wires, cabane and interplane incidence wires and two bracing wires from the upper wing into the engine bay. The only wires not fully connected are the two drift wires from the rear spar of the upper wing. To avoid damaging them, they will be connected to the radiator area later in the build. For the same reason, the moveable aileron control levers in the upper wing will be connected to their control rods later in the build. Now it's onto completing the tail unit before tackling the inserts between the flying and landing wires, Mike

Hi all, There were two fuel lines between the fuel tank in the upper wing and the engine bay. Some ‘Balilla’ aircraft had these fuel pipes exposed, however, this particular aircraft being modelled had the fuel pipes covered with a fairing. This was made from 1.0 mm thick plastic card, cut and shaped to fit between the underside of the upper wing and engine cowl. The edges were rounded and indications of fasteners added. It was then covered with the 'Aviattic' CDL decal and secured in position under the fuel tank in the upper wing. Mike

Hi all, When I test fitted the propeller to the model, it seemed to me that the propeller looked as though its diameter was a bit small. When I scaled a photograph of the model and its propeller to the illustration in the data file, it seemed to bear this out. Also photographs of the aircraft indicate that the propeller tips were more or less aligned with the landing gear axle (propeller vertical). Anyway right or wrong, I decide to modify the propeller. I cut off the two blades, then used 1.0 mm diameter rod to re-join them to the hub, but with a gap in each. This gap was filled with 'Green Stuff' putty and once cured, filed and sanded to restore the blades profiles. The overlay below shows the difference before and after modification, Mike