sandbagger

Hi all, The supplied undercarriage struts have solid axle ends solid with bungee suspension cords include. However the axle fairing has a solid steel rod moulded into the fairing, which can't be fitted into the struts without drilling out the moulded axle ends. Even if possible, it would leave the weight of the model on the flimsy resin suspension cords, which I don't think would take the weight. Instead I've removed the moulded axle ends and bungee cords to allow the rod in the axle fairing to locate onto the struts. I've yet to create the bungee suspension cords from wire. I also replaced the kit supplied bracing bar with 0.9 mm diameter tube, as the kit part was too short, Mike

Hi all, Before starting on the undercarriage changes, the lower wing need to be prepared. The front spars of the lower wings were connected by a steel bar, which was located on the bottom surface of the fuselage. As such the leading edges of the lower wings sat slightly below the fuselage. This is different from most aircraft of the time where the lower wing front spars were integral to the fuselage construction. To locate the lower wings to the fuselage, 1.0 mm diameter holes needed to be drilled into the wing roots and one hole each side of the fuselage. Metal rods were inserted into holes in the wing roots. When test fitted, the wing root rear rods insert into the fuselage holes and the longer front rod against the underside of the fuselage. Mike

Hi all, Well, starting on the tail unit there are a few areas that needed to be addressed: The 'Berg' had pronounced 'wash-out' (upward flare) at the outer trailing edge of the ailerons. Although it looks as though this was attempted in the kit parts, the 'wash-out' was nowhere pronounced enough. This required careful bending after heat soaking in hot water (boiled). The combined fin and rudder had a few areas that I felt needed to be re-profiled after comparing the kit part to drawings in several notable publications. The tail planes and elevators, when laid together with the rib tapes aligned were found to be off-set to each other. I also felt these parts needed re-profiling. Mike

Hi all, The basic fuselage is now completed, with the addition of the blast tubes for the two 'Schwarzlose' machine guns, crash pads and top rear engine pipe. I also added lead wire to represent the pipes/wires connected at the back of the instrument panel, although its virtually impossible to see them and worse once the upper wing is fitted. There's a lot of photo-etch detail to be added to the fuselage and another engine pipe, but those will be left until later in the build to prevent the getting damaged, Now it's time to move onto the wings and tail unit, Mike

Hi all. I forgot to take shots of the internal fuselage before closing it up. I still have a few bits to do - windows in the front decking, rear cabane cross bracing, top rear engine pipe, blast tubes for the machine guns and crash padding on the breech blocks. Also seam filling and checks, Mike

Hi all, I've been hammering away at the fuselage internal details. Everything is fitted to the right side of the fuselage with regular testing for the fit of the left side. Included are control lines, trigger cables, control rods to the engine etc. I still have some bits to do, like the two machine guns and final weather etc, but I'm getting there, Mike

Hi all, Contrary to the models instruction manual, I'm making a start on some of the internal fuselage details, as I need to see how the completed engine sits in the nose. The reason being I want to cut out the engine access panels from the one piece fuselage halves, so more of the engine can be exposed. After removing the various parts from their resin backing and base blocks, I spent a few hours cutting and sanding away the residue resin, which is normal for resin kits, Mike

Hi all, The engine is now completed. I've added the ignition leads and spark plugs, timing mechanism, oil filler caps, water pump and coolant pipe, vale levers and springs and carburettor lever. I've also made the exhaust pipes from 1.8 mm diameter brass tube mounted onto 1.4 mm tube - the kit items had 'solid' bores. Test fitted into its mounting frames. Mike

Hi all, The basic engine build is done. This involved assembling the engine block, cylinders' cam shaft, overhead valve gear housing, magnetos and drive shaft, ignition rail and the carburettor housing and intake manifolds., The paints used were primarily 'Alclad' lacquers (Duraluminium, Aluminium, Steel, Copper and Brass). The only weathering applied so far is the 'Tamiya' Weathering Master (Set D - Oil Stain), which was sponged onto the copper cylinder heads and intake manifolds, in order to give an old, heated look. There will be more weathering applied once the engine is complete. Now onto the fiddly bits - support frame, pipe and water pump, timing handle assembly, valve gear, spark plugs, ignition leads etc, Mike

Hi all, I thought it was about time I took on another resin kit, as the last resin model I built was the DFW T28 'Floh' from 'Planet Models'. I've had the 'HPH Models' 1:32 scale Aviatik 'Berg' D.I in my stash for quite awhile, so thought it was about time I gave it a go. Already I've encountered a couple of things that may cause problems. 1. The instruction manual, normal I think for 'HPH Models', consists of a small booklet with photographs and arrows showing where parts fit. However these illustrations leave a lot to be desired, especially those for assembling the engine, which has many parts and the smallest in the entire kit. Some of the call out illustrations for parts are not the same as the actually resin parts supplied in the kit, which is a bit confusing. 2. More of a concern is that the kit is supplied with mask sheets for painting the lozenge - not the easiest route to take. So I ordered the optional decal sheets. These arrived in polythene bags and without the normal tissue paper protection sheets. Consequently the bags stuck to the exposed decals and despite being careful extracting the decal sheets, some were chipped where they's stuck to the bag. Also the bags had left an imprint across every decal, which I'm not sure will show after the decals are applied. Thinking this might have been a 'one off' I ordered another set of decals, but these packaged the same way and in the same condition. I emailed 'HPH' and suggested they revise how the package these decals - I haven't had a reply!! Anyway we are modellers, not assemblers, so on I go. I decided to work on the engine first, contrary to the instruction manual. Unless I'm very carefully, some of the tiny engine parts may end up feeding the 'carpet monster' - we'll, but at least the kit is supplied with some spare parts. I'm using 'Alclad' lacquers on the engine and have dulled down the copper water jackets on the cylinders and the intake manifolds by applying 'Tamiya' Weathering Master (Set D - Oil Stain), which gives the copper an older, heated look. Long way to go on this one I think, Mike

Thanks all for your kind comments - much appreciated, Mike

Hi all, The Sopwith 'Swallow' is now complete and posted in the 'WNW Ready for Inspection' thread. Many thanks for following this build and your kind comments. A full build log, in PDF format, will be available from my site (link below), Mike

Hi all, The Sopwith 'Swallow' is now complete. Many thanks for following this build and your kind comments, Th full PDF build log is available to download from gallery 2 at my site (link in signature). Mike

Hi all, The final rigging is now complete. This includes: Aileron control lines from the cockpit to the underside of the wing. Cabane strut side and front cross bracing. Over wing landing wires. Under wing landing and double flying wires. I'll post the completed model shots once I've finished the figure and display base, Mike

Hi all, The wing is now fitted onto the fuselage cabane struts. Also fitted are the ailerons and the over wing cable support pylon. Now to complete all of the wing rigging, Mike

Hi all, The tail unit has been finally rigged. Included are the elevator, rudder and tail skid control lines. Also the tail plane bracing lines. The line end fittings are 0.4 mm Nickel-Silver tube, finished with an enamel wash. The lines themselves are 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament. Time to move onto fitting the wing and all of the rigging, Mike

Hi all, Last of the pre-rigging done on the underside of the wing and on the ailerons. Now the final assembly can be completed then final rigging, Mike

For control lines it's 'Stroft' 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament. For general rigging 'Steelon' 0.12 mm diameter mono-filament. The general rigging should be aerodynamic 'streamlined', but even in this scale, I think mono looks OK, Mike

Hi all, I've been slowly working my way through the pre-riggng stage. So far the the control lines for the Rudder, Elevator, Tail Skid and the cross bracing at the fuselage under shield panel and the undercarriage. Next are the control lines for the ailerons and cross bracing between the cabane struts. Then it'll be wing and tail unit on to complete aileron controls, flying and landing wires and tail bracing, Mike

Hi all, Weathering wash ('Flory Models' grime clay wash) applied and once dry, wiped off to leave subtle weathering, which was the sealed with 'Alclad' light sheen (ALC-311) lacquer. The weathering is subtle as this aircraft was only flown as a prototype and saw very limited operational testing. As such it wouldn't have looked 'war weary'. Next is pre-rigging followed by assembly then lastly, the final rigging. After that it's just the display base, Mike

Hi all, A couple more details. The inspection window in the upper surface of the wing, for the aileron pulley and cable. Also seen is the wing centre joint and head padding on the trailing edge of the wing centre section. Finally the wheels (not weathered yet), Mike

Hi all, I've spent the last day or so applying the decals to the 'Swallow'. The PC12 upper surfaces and the CDL undersides were 'Aviattic' linen effect decals. The decals are supplied as A4 sheets and are not 'cookie cut', so each has to be templated and then cut. The white fin marking (AMA.E) and the name 'SWALLOW' of the fuselage sides were created, letter by letter, from 'Xtradecal' sheets. The specific serial number of B9276 was also created from number/leterrs and white strip from 'Xtradecal'. The biggest problem was the wing roundels, as the wing of the 'Swallow' had a wider wing chord than that of the 'Camel, therefore the 'Camel' decals were way too small. In the end I resorted to Cutting up and re-assembling decals from both the 'Wingnut Wings' Sopwith Pup (RNAS) and the SE5a, both of which I had as spares. For example the wing upper roundels were created from four separate cut decals. The colouring of the blue (lighter shade) on these roundels reflects that used towards the end of the conflict. Mike

Hi all, The undercarriage assembly has been fitted. Also added are the panel fasteners to the rear of the undercarriage, a drain pipe and the cross bracing anchors in the fuselage under shield, Mike

Hi all, The forward fuselage and cockpit area is nearly done. It included a fair bit of modification, no surprise there. It includes adding the two machine guns, wind screen and 'Aldis' gun sight with cockpit support frame, adding access holes in the front decking panel and side plates in the decking panel cut-outs. Also nail lines up the fuselage side panels and changing the retaining straps at the top of the engine cowl to those for the 'Swallow', which were metal retainer strips. Next is to add the twin pitot-static pipes onto the forward right cabane strut and the cross bracing rigging between the cabane struts and across the forward two struts, Mike

Hi all, Both 'Vickers' guns are fitted along with their ammunition feed belts. The 'Swallow' did not have ammunition ejector chutes, as fitted to the 'Camel'. My assumption is that the ammunition was fed to each weapon from inboard of the breech blocks and spent rounds were ejected outboard over the fuselage sides. Next is to sort out the wind screen and 'Aldis' gun sight. None of the available data show an 'Aldis' sight fitted, other than the information supplied with the resin conversion set. As the 'Swallow' was a 1918-19 design, it's quite possible that this sight was fitted, Mike