Siemens Schuckert D.III Twins, Eduard 1/48

[DocRob]

Thanks Harv, I'd like some popcorn too .

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

They look great, Rob!

[DocRob]

Thanks Gaz, it's fun to look for 1/48 kits once in a while. I know you do some scale hopping too.

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

12 hours ago, DocRob said:

Thanks Gaz, it's fun to look for 1/48 kits once in a while. I know you do some scale hopping too.

Cheers Rob

I'm not married to any scale...  but one 1/48 biplane and I divorced any WWI below 1/32.   My fumble fingers are too good at popping off the upper wing.

[DocRob]

9 hours ago, GazzaS said:

but one 1/48 biplane and I divorced any WWI below 1/32

Well, let's see if I agree after rigging of the twins . I ordered an OEFFAG 253 last weak along with some Aviattic Sworl-camo decal in 1/48. I wanted to do one of this Sworl-things after I saw it for the first time. Must be great to have a plane in the shelf, where the wings are covered with what looks like a 20's curtain .

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

20 hours ago, DocRob said:

Well, let's see if I agree after rigging of the twins . I ordered an OEFFAG 253 last weak along with some Aviattic Sworl-camo decal in 1/48. I wanted to do one of this Sworl-things after I saw it for the first time. Must be great to have a plane in the shelf, where the wings are covered with what looks like a 20's curtain .

Cheers Rob

Hope you enjoy your Oeffag.  I'll look forward tlo seeing it here.

I was hoping WNW would eventually get around to the Oeffag machines.  But I fear they'll never appear in larger scale. 

[DocRob]

8 hours ago, GazzaS said:

I was hoping WNW would eventually get around to the Oeffag machines.  But I fear they'll never appear in larger scale. 

Nobody seems/seemed to be interested to do some of the highly attractive Austro-Hungarian birds in LS (except HPH). That's a shame, so many interesting profiles and weird camos to paint.
I would have preferred a 1/32 OEFFAG, but have to settle with the 1/48 from Eduard.
After experimenting with the best way of rigging in 1/48, I have to admit, there were some letdowns while trying my pre-imagined simple rigging ideas. I've yet to find an effective working solution, but my tests showed, that elastic rigging is the way to go in this scale, though I prefer the sturdy fishing line as a structural element in LS.

Cheers Rob

[GazzaS]

8 hours ago, DocRob said:

Nobody seems/seemed to be interested to do some of the highly attractive Austro-Hungarian birds in LS (except HPH). That's a shame, so many interesting profiles and weird camos to paint.
I would have preferred a 1/32 OEFFAG, but have to settle with the 1/48 from Eduard.
After experimenting with the best way of rigging in 1/48, I have to admit, there were some letdowns while trying my pre-imagined simple rigging ideas. I've yet to find an effective working solution, but my tests showed, that elastic rigging is the way to go in this scale, though I prefer the sturdy fishing line as a structural element in LS.

Cheers Rob

Yep...  confined spaces really demand EZ line or something like it.  On my D.VII build, only four of the twelve lines are monofilament.  Most are just too short or close to a surface for heat-shrinking.

[DocRob]

Slowing down a little, because rigging is next. On my first 1/32 rigging job, I felt very comfortable with fishing line, eyelets and turnbuckles. With the smaller scale, I figured, there is less room to handle, therefore I will use elastic thread from Uschi and the provided PE turnbuckles and eyelets. As you can see, the rigging is simplified, with the upper rigging points only glued on without eyelets. for the lower rigging points I used the PE buckles, which were threaded while on the fret, it's easier that way.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Got some rigging time today. It was fiddly, but generally my simple rigging plan worked, with the lower cables bein one piece slung around the inner upper struts, through the middle eyelet , inner strut and finally the lower outer attachment point on the other wing. 
This way I was able to do all the wing rigging without mounting the upper wing.

After rigging I added the guns and some pads and the windscreen and then added the upper wing carefully upside down. Now the glue has to cure and I'm satisfied with the outcome of this fiddly affair.

Rigging complete, here the middle lines are not pulled taught, but this was corrected later, by just slinging then around the struts one more time. That's the benefit of elastic rigging 

Better now 

Next are the wheels and then the first of the Colour full twins is ready for the shelf and as a reward I help myself to a Le Rhone Camel 

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

The first of the twins is done, errr, almost done. While adding the last part, namely the spinner, I ruined the paintjob with glue, so next time with the AB this will be redone and then added. 
The last step were the wheel struts, the needed rigging and adding the wheels.
One more to rig and mount and then I have two tiny bright spots for my shelf. I may add some light chipping and stains, when the second is ready.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

My wife is priceless sometimes, when I showed her the finished SSW she said, the Lozenge looks like the patterns they use on the benches of Berlins subway to fight the application of graffiti tags. In a way she's right, it's all about concealing contours.
I might try to paint a WWI plane with that BVG style pattern .

Cheers Rob

That's the urban camo

 

As it's ugliness is iconic in Berlin, they even produce bathing trunks with that pattern (I don't one one, but my wife suggests with a lot of sarcasm) 

[GazzaS]

Great job, Rob!   Nicely rigged for 1/48, too.

 

Love those shorts!  

 

So, did the pattern on the benches prevent graffiti?

 

Gaz

[DocRob]

Thanks Gaz, I'm half through rigging the other SSW and have to say, 1/32 is my focus in WWI planes and ever will be.

1 hour ago, GazzaS said:

Love those shorts! 

You can buy them online, not sure about shipping to Australia 
https://www.das-muster-kennen-wir.de/

1 hour ago, GazzaS said:

So, did the pattern on the benches prevent graffiti?

The idea is not preventing from graffiti, but to make it's patterns unseen, like razzle dazzle camo or Lozenge on German plane or Austrian sworls.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

Today was the perfect day for a marathon rigging and assembly session. SSW number two is finally rigged and besides of my hurting eyes there were no issues here.
The same could not be said about mounting the Brassin 08/15's the fit was poor and they needed some surgery to fit in. The non Eduard Gaspatch 08/15's of the other SSW fitted way better, who would have thought. Beside these issues, the need to fit a tiny PE sight with virtually no glueing point onto the barrel is not a very convincing breakdown. Somehow I managed to attach them .
I' m very lucky, that I invested into Gaspatch MG's for most of my WWI kits, they look great and are easy to assemble and mount.

Cheers Rob

[DocRob]

The twins are done. What started as a cheapo test project for learning some techniques used for WWI builds, started to give me serious fun. I added some extras to the mix like Gazpatch 08/15's on the black Dembowsky plane and a Brassin engine and Brassin 08/15's for the red/blue Jasta 5 SSW.

Wood painting with oils was one bullet point on my to do list and it proved not to hard to master. I tried various combnations of oils and differently coloured transparent varnishes.
Another bullet point was Lozenge camo decaling, which worked good with the Aviattic decals, which proved to be very forgiving. I would have used the kit decals on one SSW, but found that the colours of the Lozenge looked completely odd.
I had rigged before, but never in 1/48. I simplified the rigging somewhat and it worked with Uschis elastic rigging thread and the supplied PE fittings.

Cheers Rob

 

[GazzaS]

That is a great finish, Rob!  Two little beauties!