sandbagger

Hi all, The propeller shaft on the engine is too short to allow the propeller to be fitted and be clear of the front of the engine cowl. Therefore, I cat away the propeller shaft from the engine. Using as a guide, the mark left from the shaft, I gradually drilled into the engine up to a size of 1.4 mm diameter. A length of 1.4 mm diameter Brass tube was cut and secured into the propeller locating hole, using CA adhesive. This allows the propeller shaft to be fitted into the engine with the propeller clear of the engine cowl, Mike

Hi all, I've applied the required decals for this particular aircraft. I found that as long as the decals are applied over a single colour, they do cover the painted surface under the decals. However, the lighter coloured decals, especially the white colour, do show the painted surface through the decal. This is more evident where light coloured decals are applied over contrasting coloured paints. I've airbrushed a clear coat over the decals to seal and protect them during handling. They will be airbrushed again later in the build during the weathering phase. As the camouflage scheme is French, I painted the top of the tailplane and elevator with a base coat of 'Tamiya' Medium Blue (XF18). The engine and engine cowl have also been fitted. I found that the engine propeller shaft is not long enough to clear the engine cowl to locate the propeller. So that's another problem to be sorted out, Mike

Hi all, The decal sheet supplied in the kit covers all of the schemes. However, the individual decals are printed as part of the entire carrier film on the sheet. As such carrier film will probably show around the applied decal. Therefore, each decal will probably have to be cut out as close as possible to the edges of the decal, before applying to the model. Also, some of the decals seem to be slightly semi-translucent, meaning the painted colours underneath will show through the decals once applied. This is not good for a kit of this price, especially considering different painted colour schemes and the intricate shapes of the various decals. 'Cartograph' decals these are certainly not. Anyway, the basic French five colour camouflage scheme has been applied. 'Tamiya' acrylics used were: Beige - Desert Yellow (XF59) Light Green - Olive Green (XF58) Dark Green - Dark Green 2 (XF70)/NATO Black (XF69) Chestnut Brown - Flat Brown (XF10) Black - NATO Black (XF69) Undersides 'Alclad' Duraluminium (ALC102) oversprayed with 'Tamiya' Light Blue (XF23). Mike

Hi all, The upper wing had a dihedral angle of 3 degrees, the lower wing was horizontal. Test fitting the upper wing revealed that the cabane side support struts were too short. The interplane struts fitted correctly. Therefore I removed the two rod support lugs on the 3D printed cabane strut assembly. I then drilled and inserted 0.4 mm diameter rod into the top bar to give the required wing half separation. This allowed the upper wing to be slightly lower and rest on the cabane top bar. The upper wing test fit after this was correct, Mike

You could wait for the Copper State model to be released ? Mike

Hi all, Again, a problem to overcome. The interplane struts are 3D printed so have no internal support rods. Also, they have no end locators. However, the upper and lower wings have locating recesses. I assume the original intention was that rods, from presumably resin struts, would use these locating recesses. So I drilled 0.3 mm diameter holes into the end of the struts and added Brass locating rods. These will hopefully provide better location for the 3D printed interplane struts. That is assuming that the brittle resin struts don't break during assembly or under the weight of the solid resin upper wing halves - we'll see, Mike

Hi all, Well I'll start with the flight surfaces. I've sanded down all of the over scale rib tapes on all of the flight surfaces. I've also filled then sanded where the wing internal support rods protruded from the wing tips. The tail plane locating recess on the rear of the fuselage has two huge 1.2 mm diameter holes. I assume these were intended to be used to locate the tail plane onto the fuselage. However, the underside of the resin tail plane has no locating stubs and is smooth. To ensure the tail plane located correctly, I resorted to inserting 1.2 mm diameter tubes into the fuselage holes, with 0.5 mm diameter rods fitted in the tubes. I drilled the locating holes through the tail plane and fitted it down onto the rods. The fin is just a butt join to the top of the tail plane - not good. So I drilled two 0.5 mm diameter holes in the base of the fin, so it could be located onto the protruding rods. The rudder is also a butt join the the rear of the fin, so these were drilled and rods inserted to support the rudder. I did the same to attach the elevator to the tail plane, which enabled me to angle the elevator down slightly. The 3D printed tail skid support and the tail skid are again just butt joins. Therefore, I drilled and pinned the tail skid to the bottom of the rudder post on the support frame. This should provide a sturdier joint for the tail skid. Also I has to sand down the over-scale thickness of the tail skid to a more 'in-scale' thickness. The lower wing halves are intended to have rods fitted to support them in the fuselage. Whilst the wing roots can be drilled far enough to add sufficient rods, the amount of fuselage support is minimal. Drilling to far into the fuselage means you'll hit the cockpit internal structure or components. The wing rods are good enough to locate the wings into the fuselage. But I think most of the wing support will be from the adhesive joints between the wing roots and fuselage. The upper wing halves are intended to be joined together using inserted rods, which pass through holes in the top of the 3D printed cabane struts assembly. However, the spread of the printed cabane struts is too wide to fit into the fuselage recesses. Pressure needs to be applied to get the struts located and given how brittle the printed resin is, they could break under pressure. Also the ends of the struts are not shaped to fit into their locating recesses in the fuselage. I reshaped the strut ends and managed to drill and pin the struts onto the fuselage to hold them in position. So now it's onto sorting out the upper wing installation. Pretty good for the kit only cost 145 GBP ??? Mike

Hi all, All of the flight surfaces of the kit parts (wings, tail plane, elevator, ailerons, fin and rudder) have heavy and pronounced ribs, which will need sanding down. These rib tapes caused rippling along the wing leading edges, which also needs to be removed. Lastly, the internal metal reinforcing rods do keep the resin wings from distorting. However they are very close to the surface and the ends have broken through the wing tips. So filling and sanding required, Mike

Hi all, The cockpit has been completed and the fuselage closed up. As usual, working on 3D printed complete assemblies, such cockpit frames and engines, can limit what can be achieved with painting and assembly. However, this kit didn't present too many problems. That said I did replace the kit supplied cockpit instrument decals and pilots seat straps. I used appropriate instrument decals from the 'Airscale' WW1 generic instrument set. Also the kit supplied photo-etch seat belts, which are basic to say the least, are too short. They can't be attached to where they should be on the cockpit side frames and still reach over the pilots seat. So they were replaced with 'HGW models' fabric belts made up from my 'spares'. I've added the following: Throtle control rods (0.4mm Nickel Silver tube). Fuel level indicator (0.5 mm Brass tube and copper wire). Pulsometer pipe ('MFH' 0.4mm flexible tube). Tachometer drive cable ('MFH' 0.4mm flexible tube). Unidentified pipe on cockpit left (copper wire). Machine gun trigger cable (lead wire). Rudder, aileron and elevator control cables (0.12 mm mono-filament and 0.4 mm Brass tube). Cockpit side, bottom and seat frame crossed bracing wires (0.12 mm mono-filament and 0.4 mm Brass tube). The cockpit opening of this aircraft is smaller than most, so even less is visible once the fuselage is closed up. Also the engine is complete. The only additions made were adding valve push rods (0.4mm Nickel-Silver tube). Spark plug ignition leads ('EZ' black line). Mike

Hi all, Something I don't do is to build two models at the same time. However I'm starting a double build. The first is the 'HPH Models' 1:32nd scale resin model of the Italian Macchi M.5 floatplane. This is a commission build for the Commander of the Italian Frigate 'Federico Martinengo'. His ship was named after the Italian naval pilot of WW1, Federico Carlo Martinengo. I've previously built a version of this model and have a build log on the forum and on my web site. The only differences between the two models will be the aircraft markings. As such, I won't create a build log for this model here on the forum. The second build is the 'Lukgraph' 1:32nd scale resin Hanriot HD.1. This was on order before 'Copper State Models' announced their intention to release this model. The model will be of the Belgian Hanriot HD.1, serial HD 24 of Willy Coppens, Escadrille 9me during 1918, Mike

Hi all, The model is now up in the Aircraft Finished - WNW Ready for Inspection page. Thanks for your support and comments throughout this build, Mike

Hi all, Bristol F.2b, Serial No. A7194 of No.111 Squadron RFC, Deir-el-Belah, Palestine during 1917. As usual, a fully detailed build log, which includes all materials, modifications, rigging etc for this build can be downloaded from the 'Logs' page on my site. https://mikesww1aircraftmodels.com/ Build log is in the Works in Progress forum. Thanks for your comments and support throughout this build, Mike

Hi all, The figures are now done. The two mechanic figures were from 'Kellerkind' (54107) and 'Copper State Models' (F32-052). The Camel and rider were from the 'Master Box' Commonwealth AFV Crew (S3564). The decorations on the camels saddle cloth were created from the 'Xtradecal' White parallel stripes (XPS2) decal set. The decorations on the camels breast strap were created from: 'Xtradecal' White parallel stripes (XPS2) decal set Cut from scrap lozenge decal from a 'Wingnut Wings' Fokker D.VII kit. The harness rope is copper wire painted with 'Tamiya' Dark Yellow (XF60) then dusted with dark earth pigment,, Mike

Hi all, The final bits fitted, Engine exhaust pipes, propeller and observers Lewis machine guns. So the aircraft model is done. Now it's onto the figures and display base, Mike

Hi all, Aileron control cables added. Materials used were: ‘Stroft GTM ’ mono-filament of 0.08 mm diameter line. 'Model Factory Hiro’ (MFH) 0.4 mm diameter Clear tube (P-957). Mike

Hi all, The wing rigging is complete. Includes the: Twin flying wires (8 pairs) Single landing wires (8) Interplane strut incidence wires (8) Drag wires (2) Cabane strut bracing wires (6) Aileron control cables (2). Created with 0.08 and 0.12 mm diameter mono-filament, 'Gaspatch' 1:48th scale metal turnbuckles (Type C) and resin streamlined wire end fittings. Now onto fitting and rigging the ailerons, Mike

Hi all, Upper wing fitted and pre-rigged. In total there are: 6 cabane strut bracing wires 2 drag wires 8 incidence wires 8 landing wires 16 flying wires (8 pairs). Pre-rigged using 0.12 mm diameter mono-filament and 'Gaspatch' 1:48th scale Brutish late turnbuckles (for streamlined wires). Now it's onto final rigging to the lower wings before adding the aileron control cables, Mike

Hi all, Construction so far. Now it's onto the pre-rigging stage before fitting the upper wing, Mike

Hi all, I've added the fuel tank pressure pipe from the 'Rotherham' wind driven pump. The pipe is 0.275 mm diameter Copper wire (annealed), Mike

Hi all, I've rigged the crossed bracing wires for the landing gear and between the wing and fuselage. Materials used were: ‘Steelon ’ mono-filament of 0.12 mm diameter line. 'Model Factory Hiro’ 0.4 mm diameter Clear tube (P-957). Mike

Hi all, I've rigged the following flight controls cables and bracing wires: Twin rudder cables, twin elevator control cables, single tail plane adjuster cables, upper fin bracing wires and tail plane bracing wires. Materials used were: ‘GasPatch’ Elite Accessories metal turnbuckles Type C (1:48th scale). '‘Stroft GTM’ Mono-Filament 0.08 mm diameter line. 'MFH’ 0.4 mm diameter Clear tube (P-957). Now it's onto more construction work, Mike

Hi all, A couple of additions to the model. The filler on the top of the fuselage, forward from the pilots cockpit, had a copper pipe fitted in the neck of the filler. That pipe was routed towards and down through the fuselage and into the cockpit. Holes of 0.4 mm diameter were drilled into the filler neck and through the fuselage. Annealed copper wire of 0.28 mm diameter was bent to shape and secured in the holes with thin CA adhesive. The radiator shutters were controlled by the pilot, using a lever inside the cockpit, routed through the side of the fuselage to a bell-crank. This was connected to the operating bell-crank located on the right side of the radiator cowl. The two levers were connected by two crossed cables. Mike

Hi all, The propeller and observers Lewis machine guns. The 'Proper Plane' propeller has 'Tamiya' Buff (XF55) linen wrapping at the blade tips. 'Tamiya' Weather Master Set A (Sand) was sponged lightly along the curved leading edges of the blades (to represent sand erosion). The lift cords for the twin Lewis machine gun mount were made from silk thread, Mike

Hi all, Here's the basic fuselage, wings etc weathered. I wanted to keep the weathering subtle, given this aircraft was operating in Palestine, not the Western Front. The linen effect decals were airbrushed with a tint of 'Alclad' Light Sheen (ALC311) with a few drops of 'Tamiya' Desert Yellow (XF59). I've used 'AK Interactive' weather pencils Sand (10009) and Smoke (10003) to very lightly highlight around the fuselage stitching and along rib tapes. Mike

Hi all, Here's the basic fuselage. The linen effect decals were airbrushed with a tint of 'Alclad' Light Sheen (ALC311) with a few drops of 'Tamiya' Desert Yellow (XF59). Additional weathering was applied using 'Flory Models' Sand and Dark Dirt clay wash. Also 'AK Interactive' Kerosene (AK2039) and Oil (AK2019) washes around filler caps etc. The engine upper access panels are temporarily located for the photographs, Mike