1:32 scale Ansaldo 'Baby'

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
I'm waiting for the propeller to arrive to complete my Siemens-Schuckert D.III model.
Therefore I'm making a start on the 1:32nd scale resin model of the Ansaldo 'Baby' by 'Lukgraph'.
I'll be modelling the first 'Baby' built (Ser No: So 5005) by the SA Aeronautica Gio Ansaldo of Turin.
This aircraft was fitted with a Le Rhöne 9J rotary engine (120hp) with a circular engine cowl.

I've made a start on the 3D printed engine, which I must say is the best finish I've seen thus far from a model company.
The surface shows very little, if any, of the layer striations seen on some 3D printed model parts.
Cutting the parts from their support trees is a bit tricky and because the material is quite hard, removing the tree stubs on such small parts is difficult.

Mike

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The 3D printed Le Rhone 9J engine is complete.
Painted with 'Alclad' Steel lacquer and weathered using by sponging 'Tamiya' Weathering Master Burnt Blue, Gunmetal and Silver.
Complete engine washed with 'AK Interactive' Kerosene, thinned with White Spirit.
Spark plug leads twisted from 0.125 mm diameter copper wire.

Mike

 

  
 

[harv]

Beautiful!....harv 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
I've been sorting out certain anomalies with the primary parts of the model.
The details will be covered in the PDF build log, but as a heads up:
The resin locating pegs for the fuselage halves cause the assembly to be misaligned, as do those to locate the wings to the fuselage and upper wing centre section. 
These pegs were removed and replaced with 0.8 mm diameter brass rod, which with the kit original steel pins provide a better joint and alignment.
Even so I found that with the wing leading edges aligned, the trailing edges were not. It seems the wing chords are slightly less than their mating faces.
Therefore some sanding of the trailing edges of the upper wing centre section and lower wing roots was required to align correctly to the wing sections.
Resin surface irregularities, such as blow holes, chips, edge delaminations and joint seams, needed to be either filled and/or sanded. 

The two fuselage halves have pre-moulded external linen stitching, which is not very realistic. Also the stitching at the sides of the cockpit was not present on the aircraft.
In addition, the removable rear fuselage was attached to the forward fuselage at a joint to the rear of the cockpit.
This joint has been moulded on the fuselage halves as a thick ridge, but in reality did not look like this (see the following photograph).
The joint at the fuselage sides was covered with a strip.
These details were scraped and sanded away, in preparation for being replaced with photo-etch (‘Eduard’ WW1 Stitching (EDP32228).

Mike

 

[DocRob]

On 7/30/2020 at 2:21 PM, sandbagger said:

Hi all,
The 3D printed Le Rhone 9J engine is complete.

The engine looks great, and seems to build up good. I considered buying one for my Clerget Camel or one of my Fokkers.

Cheers Rob

[sandbagger]

Hi Rob,

Yes I'd say buying the engines separately would be a good move.

Probably the best 3D prints I've come across thus far.

You do get 12 cylinders and intake manifolds, even though the engine only requires 9 of each.

Mike

[DocRob]

Thanks Mike, I will order one and decide then where the need is the biggest. In a WNW Camel, there is a lot of cowling around, the Roden DR.1 engine doesn't look to shabby on the sprues, but the Fokker D.VIII from Micro Mir is a likely candidate.

Cheers Rob

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The pilot operated the ailerons on the wings by turning the pilot’s wheel on the control column.
The typical aileron control from a pilot’s wheel was effected by cables.
The control column would be fitted with two cable pulleys, one from the wheel and located on the top of the control column and a second pulley located at the bottom of the control column.
The aileron control cable run was routed around the top pulley then down to the bottom pulley, where the cable run was crossed.
From the bottom pulley the cables were routed out of the cockpit and through the lower wings to their respective ailerons. 

Unfortunately these pulleys are not supplied in the model kit, so had to be made.
Each pulley is a 2.5 mm diameter disc, cut from 0.5 mm thick plastic card, and sandwiched between two 3.5 mm diameter discs.
These represent the basic 'grooved' pulleys, around which the aileron control cable run will be routed,

Mike

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The fuselage halves had two pre-moulded resin location pegs only and when the fuselage halves were located together, the pegs did not align correctly.
Also, as noted by 'PrzemoL' during his build of the Sopwith 'Baby, once the cockpit if fitted and the fuselage closed up, the fuselage seam will be seen from inside the cockpit.
Therefore I decided to sand away the resin location pegs and drill three 0.9 mm holes into one fuselage half, then fitted 0.8 mm brass location rods.
To align the rest of the fuselage halves I added short strips of 0.8 mm thick plastic card to the fuselage half, in positions that would not interfere with the cockpit fit.
Finally to hide the fuselage seam and to add to fuselage halves alignment, I cut and profiled a single piece of 0.8 mm thick plastic card, which was secured to the cockpit floor area of the fuselage half.
The result is a much better alignment of the fuselage halves wih the seam below the cockpit hidden,

Mike

 

 

 

[sandbagger]

On 8/2/2020 at 8:40 PM, DocRob said:

Thanks Mike, I will order one and decide then where the need is the biggest. In a WNW Camel, there is a lot of cowling around, the Roden DR.1 engine doesn't look to shabby on the sprues, but the Fokker D.VIII from Micro Mir is a likely candidate.

Cheers Rob

Hi Rob,

Yes the Fokker E.V/D.VIII builds into a nice kit.

I built it, but it was before 'Aviattic' released some of their after market parts and photo-etch set.

I did use their cookie cut decals though, as well as theirs and others other after market parts.

I also replaced all of the struts and cockpit framing with brass versions.

If you go to my site, on Gallery 1, there's the downloadable PDF build log,

Mike

[DocRob]

Thanks Mike, the Fokker E.V/D.VIIII will be one of my next builds. I read your great build log and plan to use flattened brass for the struts as well, because the supplied ones look really flimsy. Other than you, I will use pre fab connectors for the tubes for soldering.
I got some of the Aviattic goodies for my build and hope that the Lukgraph engine will fit under the resin hood.
Your log will be a nice guideline for my build, so thanks again for the work.

Cheers Rob

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Just a small update.
The instrument panel is complete.
Oil paint for the wood effect and decals added (not in the kit) from my spares.
The five selector levers were made from 0.4 mm Nickel-Silver tube, flattened then bent to 90 degrees.

Mike

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The inside of each fuselage half has been painted and side frame outlines added with oil paint.
The frame cross bracing is 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament with 0.4 mm Nickel-Silver tube and 'GasPatch' 1:48th scale resin turnbuckles.
The bracing still needs painting of the tubes and turnbuckles,

Mike

 

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The basic cockpit assembly is ready to be fitted into the fuselage.
Control wires are 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament, cross bracing 0.12 mm diameter mono-filament.
Turnbuckles are the 1:48th scale resin versions from 'GasPatch'.
All tube work is either 0.4 mm or 0.5 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tube.
Seat belts were replaced with spare Sopwith F.1 Camel kit from 'Wingnut Wings'.
Fuel tank pipe and throttle control rod are 0.4 mm tube.
Aileron control line pulleys scratched from cut plastic card discs, with spacer discs to allow the control line to be able to wrap around them.
Seat cushion made from 'Milliput',

Mike

 

 

 

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The cockpit assembly is now enclosed within the fuselage.
The fuselage seam joint and the various surfaces blemishes were first filled, then sanded before being primed.
This showed slight surface anomalies which were re-sanded and re-primed until the surface was smooth.
The right side of the fuselage had pre-moulded linen stitching, which I felt was overdone and unrealistic.
So it was all removed, including stitching further forward, which didn't exist on the actual aircraft.
The stitching was replaced by photo-etch from the ‘Eduard’ WW1 Stitching (EDP32228) set.
Also a joint line was added around the fuselage to the rear of the cockpit decking, to represent where the rear fuselage could be detached.
The rear fuselage was secured to the forward fuselage by turnbuckle type fasteners, which will be added later in the build.
A white primer was applied as this is required prior to applying the 'Aviattic' Clear linen CDL effect decals,

Mike

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Just a few updates for the fuselage as they're not covered in the kit:
Filler cap (oil tank?) and access panel hinge to the top of the front decking.
Filler cap is 0.2 mm plastic cards discs with a 0.3 mm diameter tube.
Both fuselage/wing roots have photo-etch flying wire attachment points added from the ‘PART’ 1/48th scale WWI Aircraft Control Horns (S48-087).
Creases added to the corners of the linen stitched panel, using ‘AV’ Masilla Plastica (401) putty,

Mike

 

 

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Just a quick update on the fuselage progress.
The metal is 'Alclad' black base with Duraluminium top coat.
Wood panels are 'Tamiya' XF57 base with 'DecoArt' acylic Burnt Umber for wood effect.
Fuselage pre-shaded with 'Tamiya' Smoke X19 with XF55 used to highlight formers.
Top coated with XF 78 for CDL base colour.
The pre-shading and formers are faint but should show up more once the decals and sealing coat are applied.

I still have to gloss coat and apply 'Aviattic' Clear Linen effect decals and seal the wood effect.
Then weather it before starting on the rest of the model,

Mike

 

Post script:

I've gloss coated and applied a test decal of the 'Aviattic' canvass/linen effect (ATT32236).
This decal has no colour tint, just the canvass/linen weave.
The colour required shows through from the base coat.

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
The Canvass/linen effect decals have been applied after cutting out the necessary paper templates.
Kit Italian Roundels and Serial number also applied.
Engine and engine cowl fitted.

Next is to weather and seal, then create the various rigging points,

Mike

 

 

 

 

[harv]

Looks killer !......harv 

[DocRob]

Beautiful rendered materials, wood, metal, canvas, all looks very convincing. I have to try these linen decals one of these days.

Cheers Rob

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Weathering applied using a combination of:
'Flory Models' Dark Dirt clay wash.
'AK Interactive’ Engine Oil (AK 2019).
‘502 Abteilung’ Smoke (ABT005) oil paint.

 

 

Now to create the four turnbuckle type locking devices that join the rear fuselage to the front fuselage, just behind the cockpit rear decking panel.

 

Mike 
 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
I've represented the four locking turnbuckles at the fuselage joint, using 'GasPatch' 1:48th scale resin 'Anchor Points',

Mike

 

[harv]

Good job!  .....harv

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
I'm working on preparing the wings for the linen decals etc.
This is the upper wing (top surface).
First primed white then masked for the wing ribs and front and rear spars.
Airbrushed with 'Tamiya' Smoke (X19).
Then the outer five wing rib areas airbrushed to represent the Italian red and green under wing colours 'ghosting' through.
Finally airbrushed with 'Tamiya' XF78 and XF57 to give the base colour for the linen effect decals.
I lightly polished across the wing to smooth the surface and to highlight the wing ribs.

Next is to gloss coat the surface then cut and apply the linen effect decals and roundels before a touch of weathering is applied,

Mike

 

 

  

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Upper wing top surface finished off.
Gloss coated then 'Aviattic' linen effect decals applied, using paper templates to create the shapes.
'Flory Models' Dark Dirt and Grime clay washes applied.
Smoke oil paint applied behind the location holes for the lifting points and aileron control wire guides.
Roundel wing ribs slightly polished to highlight them,

Mike