1:32nd scale Roland D.II

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
I'll be building the 3D printed model of a Roland D.II scout by MDesign in Bulgaria.
This particular aircraft is Roland D.II (Pfalz built), Serial No: 2895/16 of the 1st Aeroplane Detachment, Bulgarian Air Service during 1918.
This aircraft was built under license by Pfalz and was marked with the later style of crosses on the wings, fuselage and rudder. 
The aircraft also carried a legend, forward from the fuselage crosses, which when translated into English read Prince Kyril.
He was Kyril Heinrich Franz Ludwig Anton Karl Philipp, Prince of Preslav, Bulgaria, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony and was the younger son of Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand.

However, he was not a WW1 pilot. The legend refers to the aircraft being intended for use in the defence of where he was born, which was Sofia on the 17 January 1895.

Being 3D printed and a limited run kit, it should prove interesting if not challenging,

Mike

[belugawhaleman]

Oh, this will be good😀 Will be following!

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
I've today received my kit and initially I'm impressed.
The kit was very well packaged with separate padded envelopes containing the parts.
Instructions are now included in the kit, whereas before they needed to be downloaded.
Also, all of the parts are now separately printed and bagged, so no longer all contained in a boxed print.
There does not seem to be any surface imperfections or print striation lines.
None of the parts were damaged in transit.
The shipping charge covered importing into the UK so no customs charge added.

As to how easily the parts can be separated from their support trees and then how fragile they may be will be the challenge,

Mike

[HubertB]

I have found out that using a ultrasonic blade holder / cutter was a great - and safer for the parts - help for removing the numerous supports of 3D-printed parts.

Thet can be found on Amazon, for instance. I paid mine around 130 € in France.

Hubert

[denders]

I agree with Hubert. I haven't had that much 3D printed stuff to use it on, but it did make life easier.

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
All of the parts were separated from their support trees using just single blade nippers (DSPIAE).
The resin is tough so no breakages or damage was caused.
The upper wing has been test fitted using the supplied 1.2 mm diameter metal rods.
The fuselage halves and lower wings also test fitted.
I did find that when using the supplied 1.2 mm diameter rods, the lower wing leading/trailing edges were not aligned to the fuselage wing roots.
Therefore, I used 1.0 mm diameter rod, which gives a small amount of play to align the wing correctly to the fuselage wing roots.
Similarly, the supplied 1.0 mm diameter rods for the tailplanes were loose in the 1.2 mm diameter locating holes in the tailplanes and fuselage.
Therefore, I used instead 1.2 mm Brass tube.

Mike

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The landing gear and engine have been sorted.
The engine as expected was tricky to clean up after removing the support trees.
It will be modified with ignition leads/plugs and pipes, although most of the engine is buried inside the fuselage and under the access panels.
The landing gear struts were cleaned up, taking care to not flex and break them.
Also the tops of the struts were sanded slightly to allow them to fully locate into their fuselage recesses

Mike