AEG G.IV - Creature of the Night - WNW 1/32

[Peterpools]

Jeff

Spot on. Just an incredible build and there isn't an update that doesn't include at least one mini tutorial or how to!🏆

 

[Jeff]

1 hour ago, Peterpools said:

Jeff

Spot on. Just an incredible build and there isn't an update that doesn't include at least one mini tutorial or how to!🏆

 

Exactly.... I love it !

[DocRob]

On 3/16/2024 at 5:59 PM, Peterpools said:

I'll take a look at their website and the vendor I use here in the starts for parts and maybe I'll get lucky.

Thank you Peter, the next step will be to decide over the clear coat. I want it slightly matted as a base for my weathering.

The H&S thingies are called sketching caps, when I recall it right. With a quick view, I haven´t found them for sale, but there are 3D print files for similar ones out there.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

4 hours ago, Jeff said:

Rob, lately I have been looking at this site on my phone, I check this build two or three times a day ( for updates ) and I think, when I see one , “ oh that’s typical Rob, very precise and really well done” …… until, the other day… I was on the ‘big’ computer and checked in ……… a hand held phone does NO justice to this build. When looked at closely with large photos…. This build is jaw dropping to me. Your attention to the details is fabulous and the fuselage decals are EXCELLENTLY done. This build begs to be on the home computer not a shitty hand held phone. I LOVE how this is coming together, your efforts are well worth it. This is going to be a fantastic display piece. Looking forward to the next update. I’m taking note for my first WNW build. Not this kit but a WNW kit. 

Thank you Jeff, I´m blushing. The bad thing about the macro pics on a computer, they reveal a few spots, I need to address later, so to me writing a log is very helpful too, besides, I sometimes forget a color used at the beginning and that´s why I mostly describe, which I used.
I like to challenge myself with most of my bits, learning new techniques and document them in the thread as a lesson learned and reflection. If this helps others too, I´m very grateful, as this is the idea of a forum to me.
Seeing your builds, I have to say, there is nothing to hide, they are absolute beautiful. Considering the quality of the base kits it´s easy to spot your talent. What I want to say with this is, you should try a WNW kit ones. The quality of the kits makes it easy to shine. You don´t have to fuss about the plastic a lot and concentrate on painting and weathering.

Cheers Rob 

[DocRob]

Phew, I got some work done over the last days. The engine nacelles were not the easiest part of the build. Many fragile parts were to paint weather and mount, and I´m really lucky, it is a WNW kit with great engineering and fit. Look alone for the filigrane tubing around the exposed engine, unbelievable.

I applied Tamiya XF-17 onto the outside of the cowlings and struts onto the hairspray. When dried, I dampened the parts, activating the hairspray and abused the surfaces with toothpicks, fiber pencil and other scratching tools with an emphasize on the sheet borders and fasteners.

Again, all the painted parts were glued together using CA, which I prefer to runny plastic cement with near ready parts.

Unfortunately, I broke an engine strut, where it connects to the lug, which will be inserted into the wing later, damn, a very important connection. Out with the 0,5 mm drill bit, drilled both ends and inserted a brass rod along CA

Left nacelle

 

Right nacelle

Later, I will apply some brown Flory clay wash, but this has to wait, until I have the fuselage weathered, to achieve a similar finish.

I mocked some picture, carefully mounting the nacelles to the beast.

Cheers Rob

[Jeff]

Thanks for your very kind words Rob , you have given me more fuel to carry on. I certainly do plan on doin a WNW kit. I have huge aspirations and hope to try to achieve a modicum of success. I have to admit the rigging is intimidating. I will watch with great interest how you tackle this particular aircraft and take note on your techniques.

Jeff

[DocRob]

7 hours ago, Jeff said:

Thanks for your very kind words Rob , you have given me more fuel to carry on. I certainly do plan on doin a WNW kit. I have huge aspirations and hope to try to achieve a modicum of success. I have to admit the rigging is intimidating. I will watch with great interest how you tackle this particular aircraft and take note on your techniques.

You should give a WNW kit a try, best for starters are German single engine fighters, like the Fokker D.VII or Junkers D.1 with nearly no rigging. Generally, German rigging is simpler, because of the normal wire used, instead of flat wire with the British planes. A Copper State Nieuport could also be considered or the MengNut Fokker DR.I.

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

Rob, with those engine pics, I thought I was looking at museum reference photos. The engines look amazing. 

Very nice work there. 

Tamiya now make semi-gloss and flat clear paints so you no longer need to mix your own. 

[Martinnfb]

Master class. 

[Peterpools]

Rob

WOW, gorgeous work! WNW details are amazing and your treatment: brilliant. Chipping is looking mighty good as well.  

[Jeff]

4 hours ago, DocRob said:

You should give a WNW kit a try, best for starters are German single engine fighters, like the Fokker D.VII or Junkers D.1 with nearly no rigging. Generally, German rigging is simpler, because of the normal wire used, instead of flat wire with the British planes. A Copper State Nieuport could also be considered or the MengNut Fokker DR.I.

Cheers Rob

And , as a matter of fact , I actually do have a DVII in the stash.  So I will put it on the ‘schedule’. 👍🤭thanks Rob

[DocRob]

4 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Rob, with those engine pics, I thought I was looking at museum reference photos. The engines look amazing. 

Very nice work there. 

Tamiya now make semi-gloss and flat clear paints so you no longer need to mix your own. 

 

2 hours ago, Martinnfb said:

Master class. 

 

2 hours ago, Peterpools said:

WOW, gorgeous work! WNW details are amazing and your treatment: brilliant. Chipping is looking mighty good as well.  

Muchas gracias amigos, working on the nacelles and engine was pur fun, even with their fragile multi part character. I´m always afraid, when I start a WNW build, but settle in with the interior and engines, as there is so much to show and the precision of the kit helps, getting everything together. I have to confess, i had to consult the manual several times for getting everything in it´s correct place following a logical sequence.

Good to know, that Tamiya now produces acrylic flat and semi gloss, but I had some issues with good old X-clear, which I will describe in the next picture post.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

And , as a matter of fact , I actually do have a DVII in the stash.  So I will put it on the ‘schedule’. 👍🤭thanks Rob

What´s holding you then, Jeff , this is the perfect gateway drug, but don´t blame me, when you are hooked on the stuff. Depending on the type of D.VII, there are so many colorful schemes to choose. If you like, there are top notch decal sets around, taylormade by Aviattic in the UK. The lozenge decals look way better, than the WNW ones and they are great to work with. The best, they have a woven linen structure, which looks so realistic.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

This may not mean a lot to most of you, but I got the decaled fuselage sealed in. I feared bad reactions with `hot´ varnishes, but because of my planned weathering schedule, I wanted a durable sealing coat, a contradiction.

First, I wiped down the whole airframe with a cotton towel and purified water, to get rid of decal solution residues.
I took out god old Tamiya X-22 clear and mixed it with Tamiya acrylic thinner and sprayed it on some test parts, so far so good. When I sprayed on my decaled test elevator, the finish looked like marbled and scratched, bummer.

With shaking hands, I mixed the ´hot´ Tamiya lacquer LP-32 flat clear with equally ´hot´ levelling thinner at a ratio of about 55% thinner, less than normal and cautiously sprayed the tail underside and immediately blew the varnish dry with the airbrush, to minimize reaction time.
Hooray, it worked, no smelt decals and a nice and even near flat coat. Even the resprayed elevator was rescued, with over spraying and looks good now. 

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

Glad to hear you got a clear coat to work for you. The fuselage looks fantastic. Almost like an evil whale or shark. 

 

[Peterpools]

Rob

Nice work on applying the X22.  These days, I tend to use both X22 and LP-9 and thin both to approximately: 1 pt clear to 1.75 or 2 pts of self leveling thinners and in multiple coats. As the very thin coast build up, the surface becomes super smooth and glossy, 

I have had the same experience as you in the past and my solution was the same as your, a thin application of SLT's, blow dry with the AB and all was fine.

 

[DocRob]

2 hours ago, BlrwestSiR said:

Glad to hear you got a clear coat to work for you. The fuselage looks fantastic. Almost like an evil whale or shark.

Maybe it´s a shale , I´m overly happy, that I didn´t ruin the AEG.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Progress is a bit slow at the moment, but I managed to prepare the wings for decaling and painted struts and other wing connected parts.

It´s a Wingnut kit and I spoke about tolerances before and that´s why used liquid mask and numbered tape strips for identification of the struts, to seal the connection points and wooden or plastic rods for the strut´s holes in the wing, glued in with heavily water thinned white glue.

 

I then applied some white pastel onto the seams of the wings, with a flat piece. This was the fastest and easiest way to pre shade the spars. I didn´t want to put much effort into this step, because I guess, it may remained unseen with the opacity of the lozenge decals on top.

Then the wings were coated with Mr Color GX-100 gloss varnish. I always have mixed results with that stuff. If everything works fine, it produces an absolutely fantastic gloss layer mixed with leveling thinner, but when not.... 
I learned the hard way, not to pre mix GX-100 in a plastic jar, as it produces very ugly ´frosted´ spray, maybe because color and/or thinner reacts with the plastic jar.
In this case, I mixed everything in a glass jar, but still, I had the frosting effect three times while spraying. After cleaning the airbrush, I used the same mix without issues, very strange.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

Love the prep and organization for sure.

I always do as you do and label parts I remove from the fret that has at least a right and left, so as not to confuse which is which. I normally use a dot system indicating right and left on both the part and on the instructions to be sure and in case of more then two parts that look nearly identical, I number them. Just keeps the build moving along without discovering later on that the wrong part was installed and now backtracking needs to be done with lady Luck sitting next to me. Years ago, I went down that route and had a bin a very expensive model, as there was no fixing the multiple part eras. 

Feel the same as you about Mr Color Clear Gloss (there are a good number of them in the range) and I just don't get consistent results. These days I use either Tamiya X-22 or Tamiya LP-9 and no issues or worries at all. Go figure. 

 

 

[DocRob]

22 hours ago, Peterpools said:

Rob

Love the prep and organization for sure.

I always do as you do and label parts I remove from the fret that has at least a right and left, so as not to confuse which is which. I normally use a dot system indicating right and left on both the part and on the instructions to be sure and in case of more then two parts that look nearly identical, I number them. Just keeps the build moving along without discovering later on that the wrong part was installed and now backtracking needs to be done with lady Luck sitting next to me. Years ago, I went down that route and had a bin a very expensive model, as there was no fixing the multiple part eras. 

Feel the same as you about Mr Color Clear Gloss (there are a good number of them in the range) and I just don't get consistent results. These days I use either Tamiya X-22 or Tamiya LP-9 and no issues or worries at all. Go figure. 

 

I normally prepare parts in sections and put them in an organizer tray, but do not label them. With these struts, I do, because I want to be sure, everything is in the right place and they are very similar to each other.

I hear you about the Tamiya gloss coats and will use them more on future builds. GX-100 is a strange breed, especially with these fogging issues.

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

No matter what the kit and its complexity, organization is a key that took me years to come to grips with and learn. Even on the Big Cat I'm working on now, with almost every assembly having right and left parts, each is labeled as soon a it has been removed from the fret - just saves time and guess work and peace of mind. 

You are going to love the Tamiya Clear Glosses ... awesome for sure.

 

[DocRob]

18 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

Rob

No matter what the kit and its complexity, organization is a key that took me years to come to grips with and learn. Even on the Big Cat I'm working on now, with almost every assembly having right and left parts, each is labeled as soon a it has been removed from the fret - just saves time and guess work and peace of mind. 

You are going to love the Tamiya Clear Glosses ... awesome for sure.

I generally don´t want to be too organized Peter, it´s more like a brain training to me, to keep everything in virtual order. Don´t get me wrong, I don´t like totally messed benches, but prefer training my memory, instead of labeling a lot. Well, the system has some loose ends, sometimes... .

Cheers Rob

[Peterpools]

Rob

I see what you mean and when working, my bench does get quite disorganized at times. It's become a habit over the years of labeling parts, so I don't confuse left and right parts or multiple parts that look nearly identical - just seems to work so much easier for me. 

I have to admit, I do have numerous small work trays (rectangular water mixing pallets) I keep small assemblies or groups of parts in until needed, as it helps me find the parts as a group, especially after removal from the fret and cleanups. For us Seniors who need to take lots of mulligans and easily forget where things are and spend a good deal of time looking for the parts. It's a time saver and cuts way down on where in the world is the part hiding. 😉

[seiran01]

Bloody superb progress!

[DocRob]

On 3/24/2024 at 1:49 AM, seiran01 said:

Bloody superb progress!

Thank you seiran, it´s a rewarding build, but has it´s repetitive parts, like decaling lozenge, which is pretty time consuming.

Cheers Rob