1:32 scale Ansaldo A.1 'Balilla'

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Some modellers think photo-etch 'is your friend'   :eek2:
Here are the wing and strut rigging attachments plus the aileron control levers.
All are photo-etch and with self-aligning 'hinged' anchor plates for attaching the rigging lines.

Mike

[harv]

Wow Mike !....harv 

[HubertB]

On 1/8/2021 at 10:48 PM, sandbagger said:

Hi all,
Some modellers think photo-etch 'is your friend'   :eek2:
Here are the wing and strut rigging attachments plus the aileron control levers.
All are photo-etch and with self-aligning 'hinged' anchor plates for attaching the rigging lines.

Mike

Well, I do not know who the « some » are, but definitely not me .

Although I am working hard at improving my relation with PE. As popular wisdom goes, you can be a good craftsman, but with bad tools, you’ll not go very far; you’ll go nowhere if you are a bad craftsman with bad tools; and you will maybe produce acceptable results if you are a poor craftsman but have good tools. Which is what I am trying to do  .

So I can say that, after I got the Toolz and Barracuda PE benders and a more powerful soldering iron, I am getting better at producing average results with PE, ... and soldering.

As for you, Mike, you are in the fourth subgroup: a master craftsman with obviously good tools 

Hubert

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
I've finally applied all of the required decals.
Accurate cutting out of the decals is necessary for the wing coverings and alignment of edges is necessary.
Slight overhang of dried decal was gently sanded away.
Weather, although slight, was done using 'Flory Models' Dark Dirt fine clay wash, sealed with 'Alclad' Semi-Matte lacquer.

Now it's onto fitting the photo-etch rigging anchors before pre-rigging is carried out.

Mike

 

[Kaireckstadt]

19 hours ago, sandbagger said:

Hi all,
I've finally applied all of the required decals.
Accurate cutting out of the decals is necessary for the wing coverings and alignment of edges is necessary.
Slight overhang of dried decal was gently sanded away.
Weather, although slight, was done using 'Flory Models' Dark Dirt fine clay wash, sealed with 'Alclad' Semi-Matte lacquer.

Now it's onto fitting the photo-etch rigging anchors before pre-rigging is carried out.

Mike

 

That looks absolutely stunning! 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
An example of pre-rigging a twin flying wire anchor for the lower wing roots.
A combination of 0.08 mm and 0.15 mm diameter mono-filament and 0.4 mm and 0.5 mm blackened brass tubes.
All together there will be sixteen various types of hinged rigging anchors to pre-rig before the wings are fitted,

Mike

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Well that's the pre-rigging of the anchor points done now.

Mike

[Kaireckstadt]

18 minutes ago, sandbagger said:

Hi all,
Well that's the pre-rigging of the anchor points done now.

Mike

Awesome work, Mike! 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Just a few updates.
The lower wings with the twin flying wire anchors are fitted.
Also two 'plates' have been made from spare photo-etch and fitted to the wing roots.
These plates may have been step plates or access covers to the rigging anchors.
I've assembled the landing gear (wheels only test fitted), but its yet to be weathered etc.
The 'bungee' suspension cord is EZ white (heavy) line and bracing wires added but not yet tightened.
I've added between the front and rear struts the axle restraining cables, made from 0.4 mm annealed copper wire.

Mike

 

[Kaireckstadt]

2 hours ago, sandbagger said:

Hi all,
Just a few updates.
The lower wings with the twin flying wire anchors are fitted.
Also two 'plates' have been made from spare photo-etch and fitted to the wing roots.
These plates may have been step plates or access covers to the rigging anchors.
I've assembled the landing gear (wheels only test fitted), but its yet to be weathered etc.
The 'bungee' suspension cord is EZ white (heavy) line and bracing wires added but not yet tightened.
I've added between the front and rear struts the axle restraining cables, made from 0.4 mm annealed copper wire.

Mike

 

This is simply awesome, have no other words for it. It will be a world-class-model in the end 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Unfortunately at this stage of the build I've realised that two of the four interplane struts have no reinforcing rods, which are needed as otherwise the resin strut will bend and break easily.
Normally I would make replacement struts from brass tube, but the end fittings of these struts are square in section, which would be difficult to replicate.
The customer service from Richard at 'Aviattic' is second to none so I'm hoping he'll be able to find replacements for me. 
While I'm waiting for replacement struts I've started on the figures.

The pilot figure is the ‘Copper State Models’ Italian flying ace (F32-030).
The mechanic is the ‘Model Kasten’ mechanic from Set B., as is the ladder.
I've altered the mechanic figure from German to a more generic figure and replaced the head with head H1 from the ‘Hornet’ bare heads-mature faces (HH/8) set.
I may reshape the head as it seems rather tall?
To stop the figure from falling off the ladder, I've pinned the right arm into the ladder to plank.

Mike

[Kaireckstadt]

27 minutes ago, sandbagger said:

Hi all,
Unfortunately at this stage of the build I've realised that two of the four interplane struts have no reinforcing rods, which are needed as otherwise the resin strut will bend and break easily.
Normally I would make replacement struts from brass tube, but the end fittings of these struts are square in section, which would be difficult to replicate.
The customer service from Richard at 'Aviattic' is second to none so I'm hoping he'll be able to find replacements for me. 
While I'm waiting for replacement struts I've started on the figures.

The pilot figure is the ‘Copper State Models’ Italian flying ace (F32-030).
The mechanic is the ‘Model Kasten’ mechanic from Set B., as is the ladder.
I've altered the mechanic figure from German to a more generic figure and replaced the head with head H1 from the ‘Hornet’ bare heads-mature faces (HH/8) set.
I may reshape the head as it seems rather tall?
To stop the figure from falling off the ladder, I've pinned the right arm into the ladder to plank.

Mike

The figures will be a nice addition and will bring life to your model.

To answer your question: My personal opinion is that it would be good to reshape the head because it really is too tall as the forehead is too high.

I even thought this at the first glance at the figure without having read your text.

[HubertB]

Agreed. This head has a Frankenstein dimension to it . If it’s already a Frankenstein creature, then you can just as well start chopping it ...

Hubert

 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,

After priming the mechanic it doesn't seem too bad now.

I think it might have been the contrast in colour between the body and head and the angle I took the photo.

I've changed the photo in the post,

 

Mike

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
All of the photo-etch rigging anchors (pre-rigged) have been fitted to the upper and lower wings.
Now comes the tricky part - fitting the upper wing onto its struts through the rigging anchors,

Mike

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Well a bit of a disaster tonight.
Whilst preparing to fit the upper wing I found real problems with the photo-etch rigging points.
Most detached from the model surface, despite cleaning up the contact surfaces.
More importantly, several actually broke apart with the side members breaking away from the main body.
This was without apply any undue stress to them.
In fact several very thin parts had already broken off during pre-rigging, but I though I might get away with it.
It could be that as usual with photo-etch, I annealed the parts before assembly so maybe that weakened them.
I must admit I had my doubts as to how durable these parts would be and I'm glad I found out now before fitting the upper wing.
Anyway I'm too far into the build now, so I've removed and disposed of all but four of the rigging points and will go back to 'Gaspatch' turnbuckle rigging.
Hey-Ho,

Mike

[DocRob]

Sorry to hear about the rigging point disaster. Do you generally anneal the PE? I only do it when there are free form bendings necessary, as with rolled parts or seat belts. I can imagine, that heat treatment weakens the parts, as it softens the material by reducing inner tension. With brass, it's easy to heat to much, as there are two phases of annealing. With 250-300 C you lose the inner tension of the material, above it goes simply soft (450-600 C). If your PE is really darkened after heating, you might have been in the second level, which means too hot.
With these tiny parts, where I believe, the bending lines are even weaker, because pre etched, I can imagine, that the material becomes too soft and breaks easily.
Concerning the non broken, but detached parts, aren't the holes in the middle for attaching the struts through? I imagine, this would hold the rigging points in place.
I hope you will find a proper solution for this problem as late in the build.

Cheers Rob

[sandbagger]

Hi Rob,

Yes I think I may have over heated the parts during annealing.

I usually anneal thicker photo-etch parts and the base plates of these rigging brackets were slightly thicker than normal.

However, as you say, the fold lines were probably much thinner, hence they failed.

The struts should fit through the brackets and clamp them to the wing surface, but unfortunately quite a few had too large openings, so I had to rely on the CA adhesive only.

Not to worry - I'll cobble something together using 'GasPatch' parts,

 

Mike  

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Pre-rigging Part 2.
All of the photo-etch rigging plates, except four, have been removed and replaced with 'GasPatch' pre-rigged lines.
So, now onto fitting the upper wing,

Mike

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
Upper wing fitted.
The kit has two exposed fuel pipes between the underside of the fuel tank in the upper wing and the top of the rear engine cowl panel.
However, this particular aircraft, like many 'Balilla's', had these pipes covered by a fairing.
So, before starting the final rigging I'll need to make this pipe fairing.

Mike

[Kaireckstadt]

1 hour ago, sandbagger said:

Hi all,
Upper wing fitted.
The kit has two exposed fuel pipes between the underside of the fuel tank in the upper wing and the top of the rear engine cowl panel.
However, this particular aircraft, like many 'Balilla's', had these pipes covered by a fairing.
So, before starting the final rigging I'll need to make this pipe fairing.

Mike

Congrats Mike for the successful wedding of the upper wing and the struts! Looks really great!! 
Can‘t wait to see it rigged! 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
When I test fitted the propeller to the model, it seemed to me that the propeller looked as though its diameter was a bit small.
When I scaled a photograph of the model and its propeller to the illustration in the data file, it seemed to bear this out.
Also photographs of the aircraft indicate that the propeller tips were more or less aligned with the landing gear axle (propeller vertical).

Anyway right or wrong, I decide to modify the propeller.
I cut off the two blades, then used 1.0 mm diameter rod to re-join them to the hub, but with a gap in each.
This gap was filled with 'Green Stuff' putty and once cured, filed and sanded to restore the blades profiles.
The overlay below shows the difference before and after modification,

Mike

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
There were two fuel lines between the fuel tank in the upper wing and the engine bay.
Some ‘Balilla’ aircraft had these fuel pipes exposed, however, this particular aircraft being modelled had the fuel pipes covered with a fairing.

This was made from 1.0 mm thick plastic card, cut and shaped to fit between the underside of the upper wing and engine cowl.
The edges were rounded and indications of fasteners added.
It was then covered with the 'Aviattic' CDL decal and secured in position under the fuel tank in the upper wing.

Mike

[Kaireckstadt]

15 minutes ago, sandbagger said:

Hi all,
There were two fuel lines between the fuel tank in the upper wing and the engine bay.
Some ‘Balilla’ aircraft had these fuel pipes exposed, however, this particular aircraft being modelled had the fuel pipes covered with a fairing.

This was made from 1.0 mm thick plastic card, cut and shaped to fit between the underside of the upper wing and engine cowl.
The edges were rounded and indications of fasteners added.
It was then covered with the 'Aviattic' CDL decal and secured in position under the fuel tank in the upper wing.

Mike

I can’t repeat it often enough Mike:

It‘s absolutely gorgeous what you are presenting to us. Chapeau! 

[sandbagger]

Hi all,
I've now fully rigged the wings.
This includes 'twin' flying and landing wires, cabane and interplane incidence wires and two bracing wires from the upper wing into the engine bay.
The only wires not fully connected are the two drift wires from the rear spar of the upper wing.
To avoid damaging them, they will be connected to the radiator area later in the build.
For the same reason, the moveable aileron control levers in the upper wing will be connected to their control rods later in the build.

Now it's onto completing the tail unit before tackling the inserts between the flying and landing wires,

Mike