GazzaS

Heh... remind me never to get into an accuracy debate with you!

I'll tell you what you need for rigging. Good tweezers, lots of light, good magnification, and a way to work with your kit at eye level. I've only rigged three models. My first was just gluing EZ line into holes. The second time I used Bob's Buckles and EZ line (probably easiest, but has the drawback that EZ line is flat and twists show up really well in photos). The third time I used Stren 2# test and Bob's Buckles. Here's #2: And #3: So, for these German fighters it's really not hard. the British dual-line stuff.... now that's intimidating! Another disadvantage of EZ line is that CA will run up the line and cause it to get funky curves in it. If you keep your CA to a minimum this shouldn't happen. Some ppl claim that threading EZ line through eyelets and tubing is difficult. But snipping it at the end of the brass tube causes the excess to retreat into the tube leaving no disturbing nub, which is cool. Monofilament has to be heat shrunk. I use an incense stick so I can add rigging and remember my mom unsuccessfully hiding the smell of freshly smoked reefer at the same time. This process needs a little patience as it's easy to be too aggressive and melt the line, or affect the wrong line. Or, the one I haven't done yet is to shrink it too much and cause the struts of the kit to bend. Also, you have to snip away the excess really close to the brass tube if you are using brass tubes. I would rather use eyelets and tubes instead of drilling holes all the way through the wing and snipping it on the far side. I also use a sharpie to darken the line both before and after adding it to the plane. It's all easier than you think, especially with these great WNW kits. The Roden kits need a bit more care as their struts don't have the large attachment points required for a strong bond. My next Roden kit will see me pinning all of the struts. Gaz

Martin, You never cease to amaze! Love the result of your window works! What paint scheme were you going with, again? Gaz

It sure is a nice looking plane.

Thank you everyone for the great support! My first WNW build was an Albatros D.Va. One of the things I noted was the attachment points for the control surfaces were quite frail and sometimes the gap between the two parts just looks too big: So, I've developed a strategy for early in the build: I use tape to guide me in placing drill points to pin the surfaces later. I just slice through the tape and use the tape lines to guide me. The rear of the right aileron joint: I'll be using pins made from .5mm brass rod. I've done some minor work on the interior, but not much to show there, yet. Thanks for looking! Gaz

Hi Jeff, I really have no plans to mess with the kit's plumbing. I just wanna do a cool scheme.

Back again, Folks! It's weathering time! As the boss says... I won't go crazy. I started with the missiles and the paintless area of the engines friday with oils over the Alclad. And the missiles. The real missiles have this deep blue heated/treated look to them on the fins that seems to have over colors in there, too. So the missiles look a bit dodgy at the moment. The body of the missiles have some bare metal components I will try to emulate as well... crappy picture... Sorry! I've found a Facebook site that has some good closeups of a working bird that I'm using to inspire my weathering. The underside was inspired by this photo: And here is my result. The glare from the freshly laid oils subtracts from the subtleties I've tried to emplace. And for you MiG lovers... you know who you are... A sexy shot lighted from below: Thanks for looking! Gaz

Jeff, . Thanks for the cool links and pix. Now that the question has come up... The answer has been meandering around in my head for a few days.... I guess the plainest way to say it is that it will be something in between. I'll be using the kit lozenge as much as possible as well as some other lozenge I have on hand if I need to. Same thing goes for decals. I'll probably stay with the black nose and struts. I'm still up in the air about the large white areas around the upper wing crosses as I can't say that I've seen that on any Pfalz. To do the large white area I would have to either mask over the lozenge decal (don't really want to risk that), Use some plain white decal paper I have which is still too thick compared to the kit decals, or paint the wings white, and place the lozege decals around it. So... Clear as mud.... I'll do whatever works and isn't too difficult. Gaz

Peter, . I'm so glad to see you back! And I'm glad you've re-found your interest. Gaz

Steve, I used to frequent WWIaircraftmodels for a while but drifted off as I worked on other genres. BUt I do remember The Gotha and the amazing amount of work you put into those engines and other details. Gaz

Thanks for the recommendation. It's certainly one of those colors I'd like to see in real life. Gaz

That's very interesting, Steve! How did you find replacing the masks so you could spray the next color? Did you paint the entire surface one color of the lozenge before applying? I'm imagining all kinds of un-fun possibilities with the sleek shape of the Pfalz. And a five-color pattern to make it even more interesting. Ugh...what have I gotten myself into! Gaz

Ern, I've been thinking about how I'm going to make lozenge sheets fit on/around the semi monocoque fuselage and seeing potential difficulties with maintaining the shape without wrinkles. However, I do have a mask cutting machine, so painting is an option as the masks will stretch a bit. I really don't want to have to buy anything more as I just spent a lot of money on books for my Napoleonic interest. Glad to have you on board, Harv! That's about 97 more times than me, Jeff! Looking forward to your input as I build. I've been thinking about leaving the struts in white and just trying Hubert's suggestion on them. We'll see. They might stick out too well against the lozenge. Since I'm not doing a "historical" build, I like the flexibility to try out other things. I think I'm going to ghost the white with alclad polished aluminum. I'll post a pic when I do. Gaz

Now you just need a picture of Putin with one of these! Gaz

I love to see you guys detail interiors. Hoping someday mine will catch up. Nice work! Gaz

A black wash will turn white to gray as well as highlight your details. Of course... this all depends how fanatical about such things you are, Frank.

...maybe I should take up tiddlywinks! Beautiful work, man!

Yay! Looking forward to seeing you build this. The P-39 is one plane I definitely like the looks of. Gaz

Sweet work, dude! Gaz

Anyway... Lucas lost me with Ewoks. Vertically challenged peoples with stone-aged technology beating trained troops with armor and blasters? A glider with a 6 foot wingspan that can drop a boulder... Come-on!

It's certainly worth considering, Hubert. An experiment worth trying. Gaz

Getting silvery white is the problem. If you add silver paint to a larger amount white, you get gray. Somehow you need to get a white with metal pigments that aren't too large. Anyway... break it out! Gaz

Phil, You should dive right in. It's just a model. As with all WNW, leave the surfaces to be glued clear of paint. Gaz

Geez, there are some great details available!

HI everyone, The first WWI movie that truly caught my imagination was The Blue Max with George Peppard. That was a long time ago as I was just a boy. To me, it's still a better movie than the Red Baron released a few years ago. Without CGI and a cast of great actors like James Mason (one of my all-time favorites), it still rates quite highly in my mind. The victim in this build is WNW's D.IIIa, built essentially OOB. It happens to be the wrong type for the movie, but since the movie was made with some British thang, I don't think it matters. Most of the Pfalz were delivered in paint schemes that don't do anything for me. So, I'm gonna burn through some of the many Lozenge decals that came with my Albatros Trilogy kit. Please stay tuned! Gaz