Wingnut Wings

[Tin_Bitz]

Hi

I am fascinated by the Wingnut Wings 1/32 aircraft kits available. I am not much of a WWI model maker and know next to kitting about them. Could anyone recommend a good Wingnut kit in 1/32 to start off with?

[Admiral Puff]

Try a Fokker D.VII - not much rigging to get tangled up with!

[Mark]

Tin_Bitz, I'm in the same boat! I now have a few of their kits in the stash and it seems the Sopwith Pup or the D.VII mentioned above are the way to go. Stupid me was sucked into the announcement of the Felixstowe...

[jimmydel]

Yeah, if you don't want to deal with the rigging the Fokker is an excellent choice. I've just finished my first WNW build, and it was between the Fokker and the Albatros. I wound up going with the latter because I wanted to tackle some rigging myself. I can say that that kit build beautifully, and the rigging isn't all that complicated. Just tedious.

[Paul Thompson]

One thing with the Fokker D.VIIs. These are the only Wingnut kits I've heard of a fit issue with - a couple of folk haven't managed to get the cockpit assembly into the fuselage without leaving a small gap in the top that needs shimming. Not built it myself so I don't know what causes the problem. Generally, Wingnuts kits have no fit problems at all so long as (and it's really important) you eradicate all trace of paint on the mating surfaces, strut sockets etc. That done, they're the easiest WWI models you could hope to make.

I've finished a naval Pup recently, and even with doubled flying wires it's not hard to rig - the holes are started for you in the appropriate places, and if you use elastic thread it's as near a no-brainer as you could get, there being plenty of room to manoevre.

For ease of construction combined with minimal rigging, the Pfalz D.III or any Albatros would be my reccomendation for a WWI newbie.

The only thing to be careful of with all their kits is the undercarriage, which having scale struts can be a bit wobbly unless you contrive some structural rigging.

Paul.

[keefr22]

One thing with the Fokker D.VIIs. These are the only Wingnut kits I've heard of a fit issue with -

You can add the Sopwith Triplane to that. I had awful fit problems trying to get the completed interior into the fuselage. Gaps around the lower nose, cowling, fuselage top decking....took hours of gentle fiddling & fettling to get the fuselage together. I've heard of fit issues with many WNW kits, often put down to the accumulation of layers of paint interfering with the 'well engineered parts'. I tried my best to alleviate that problem by ensuring that all the glued surfaces were cleaned & sanded before gluing, & trying to make sure that any surfaces that would touch the fuselage interior were also free of paint - didn't make a blind bit of difference.

And the undercarriage was a 'mare! Still, after 6 months work it looked a treat - until the lightweight cardboard backdrop I was using to take pics of it fell onto it - & completely destroyed said undercarriage!! It's now waiting for me to find the will to make a new u/c from soldered brass strutz!

To be honest, they are stunning kits - in the box & when built. Personally I find eduard 1/48th WW1 kits a whole lot more fun to build.

Just my opinion of course.

Keith

[drdave]

Definitely the pfalz DIIIa. Easy rigging, no wood grain. Definite fit. Do as much or as little on the engine and cockpit as it can't be seen. Easy colur schemes, but very colourful. I echo the posts about the PUP, DVII and Tripe. They need some fettling to get right.

I've done a lot now and I would day the Pfalz and Rolands are the easiest builds.

[Shar2]

I've only built the Triplane so far, but have quite a few WNW kits in the stash. I loved it and didn't hadn't any fit problems, just found it a really enjoyable build.

[Paul Thompson]

I've only built the Triplane so far, but have quite a few WNW kits in the stash. I loved it and didn't hadn't any fit problems, just found it a really enjoyable build.

I've built the RE8, Bristol Fighter, Sopwith Pup, Rumpler C. IV, Roland D.VI and 3 Albatrosses. No problems with any, apart from finding it neccessary to use wire rigging to prevent the undercarriage wobbling on a couple of them. Maybe I was lucky.

Paul.

[Shane]

To be honest, they are stunning kits - in the box & when built. Personally I find eduard 1/48th WW1 kits a whole lot more fun to build.

Just my opinion of course.

Keith

Me too mate. Far too many bits in Wingnut Wings kits. The old Aurora and Lindberg kits were optimum.

Shane

[keefr22]

Maybe I was lucky.

Paul.

Or I was unlucky. That's usually the way...!!

Although it saved me a pile of money - it put me off buying any more!

K

[Tin_Bitz]

Thanks for all your inputs, I assumed that them being 1/32 that they would be easier than te Eduard 1/48 kits. I don't mind a bit of rigging I was more concerned with the. Wings sitting on flimsy posts and being all wobbly.....

I had read a bit about the wingnut kits and everyone seemed to rave about them

[Shane]

You're in the running for Comedian of 2015?

....serious?

Not many bits, easy to put together even for me. No problems getting the interior to fit, and a blank canvas for anyone who wanted to stretch their skills.

I still have about an half dozen of them set aside.

Shane

[Viking]

I'll second what drdave says - the Pfalz. Just be sure to scrape the paint off the sides of the bulkheads etc to ensure a snug fit.

I've built 3 D.VII's now, and you absolutely must pay attention to the fit of the fuel and ammo tanks etc to the side framework. There are lttle lugs on the framework that fit into recesses on the tanks. If you don't get these right, the interior assembly will force the fuselage halves apart later on.
I also found that fitting the forward fuselage cowling panels requires your full attention. It does all fit together well, but my first one came out slightly wonky when viewed from above, and I had to pull it all off and start again. My second and third builds were fine, 'coz I knew what to be careful of!

Having built the Bristol Fighter, RE.8, LVG, Alabtros, Pfalz, Pup, Fe.2b, D.VII, Roland D.VIa, SE.5, Hannover, & Snipe, I'd suggest that you need to use 'functional' rigging. I.e fishing line pulled taut at each end. It adds an enormous amount of strength to the model, particularly the undercarriage. It is really amazing to see how strong the undercarriages become with an 'X' of rigging in them. Just like the real thing.
Personally I would never try to rig one of these with stretched sprue or that E-Z line elastic stuff. Its fine for the smaller scales, but not on Wingnuts.

One last thought, no one has mentioned the Roland C.II. I have one but not yet built it. It looks to me like it could be the ideal first build. No cabane stuts, and strong basic structure with simple rigging.

Wingnuts kits require care in building, everything will fit but you need to prepare everything and test fit twice and glue once.

HTH

John

[gcn]

I'd argue that the d.vii doesn't have fit issues. Pay careful attention to the instructions and they pretty much fall into place. Don't pay attention and yes you can get into alignment problems. Making sure mating surfaces are free of gunk applies to all WNW kits.

Based on what I've built I'd probably plump for the pup or Roland d.vi but pretty much any of the single seat aircraft are a good place to cut your teeth on.

I disagree with John regarding EZ line, I think it is suitable as is fishing line as is knit in elastic. Fishing line can be beneficial if you need to add some structural integrity. I've found it useful to line up the undercarriage on the Albatros.

[HMSLion]

Having built the Bristol Fighter, RE.8, LVG, Alabtros, Pfalz, Pup, Fe.2b, D.VII, Roland D.VIa, SE.5, Hannover, & Snipe, I'd suggest that you need to use 'functional' rigging. I.e fishing line pulled taut at each end. It adds an enormous amount of strength to the model, particularly the undercarriage. It is really amazing to see how strong the undercarriages become with an 'X' of rigging in them. Just like the real thing.

Personally I would never try to rig one of these with stretched sprue or that E-Z line elastic stuff. Its fine for the smaller scales, but not on Wingnuts.

Agree 100%. I rig with .015 wire, and it makes a tremendous difference in the strength of the model. Just like the real airplane.

[seadog]

While on the subject...what's the added cost from customs and those nice people at parcel force to the list price? Getting them to the UK, that is.

F

[sinnerboy]

While on the subject...what's the added cost from customs and those nice people at parcel force to the list price? Getting them to the UK, that is.

F

Finger in the air stuff a bit.

I've always ordered two at a time and I think on one may be two occasions three kits.

I've been stung by Customs every time, The ParcelFarce charge is 8 quid and IIRC the duty has varied from between about 11 beer tokens to about 20 but it has always been less than the 20% it should have been.

That said the duty charged has never, in my case been the a consistent percentage of the dispatched goods value...if that makes sense!

Oh another vote for a Roland CII....as said easy struts & virtually no rigging....good looker to boot!

[Barneydhc82]

I've only built one WNW kit, the Early Snipe as flown by "Billie" Barker, VC. It was a relatively easy build until the control wires were to be installed. I used .010" steel music wire for the cabane and landing gear bracing, fishing line for the landing and flying bracing and interplane strut bracing along with "invisible mending thread" for the controls.

For the fishing line install, I drilled shallow holes in the undersides of the wings and ran them down through holes in the lower surfaces; glued at the top with CA, a weight on the extra line out the bottom CA'd in place the after trimming the excess, I punched a few disks from .005" card for "inspection" panels. This covered up the sloppy trim job and there are always "inspection" panels on the bottom of wings....Right!

I would love to do another few WNW kits of Canadian VC pilots but Mother Nature screwed my hands up real bad

Barney http://www.barneysairforce.com

[seadog]

Finger in the air stuff a bit.

I've always ordered two at a time and I think on one may be two occasions three kits.

I've been stung by Customs every time, The ParcelFarce charge is 8 quid and IIRC the duty has varied from between about 11 beer tokens to about 20 but it has always been less than the 20% it should have been.

That said the duty charged has never, in my case been the a consistent percentage of the dispatched goods value...if that makes sense!

Oh another vote for a Roland CII....as said easy struts & virtually no rigging....good looker to boot!

Thanks for that! I must admit that I rather fancy their Snipe. It would go well with the Hobby Craft Camel I did a few years back... Neither of which I'd recommend for a first WWI subject, the Snipe having 2 bays to a wing.

[Warris]

SWMBO ordered me a DH2 for Xmas which is now sat in the stash but she didn't have to pay any charges which then help the situation now she's seen my wish list

[keefr22]

Thanks for that! I must admit that I rather fancy their Snipe. It would go well with the Hobby Craft Camel I did a few years back... Neither of which I'd recommend for a first WWI subject, the Snipe having 2 bays to a wing.

Always worth checking Hannants first & comparing their price with importing one yourself & adding on the worst case scenario customs charges...

https://www.hannants.co.uk/search/index.php?product_category_id=&product_division_id=&manufacturer_id=362422&code=&product_type_id=&scale_id=&keyword_search=snipe&setPerPage=25&currency_id=

I don't know how they compare at the moment, but I bought my Tripe from them as the difference was only a fiver or so - & delivery was a lot quicker!

keith

[seadog]

Cheers, though nothing is going to happen until we move back to the UK (Isle of Wight) this Spring and I find out if I'm going to have any modelling space at all!

[Stashaholic Steve]

SWMBO ordered me a DH2 for Xmas which is now sat in the stash but she didn't have to pay any charges which then help the situation now she's seen my wish list

One thing I've noticed is that you seem to have a much better chance of WNW packages getting through without being "held to ransom" at the depot during the run-up to Christmas. Anecdotal I know, but a couple of other guys I know who are into WNW have said that they have noticed the same.

Over a beer or two after our local club meet last month, we all put it down to the increased volume of parcels passing through the system at that time of year, resulting in more just getting waved through in order to keep things moving. Probably not a exact science but it would seem to make sense.

In other news, the WNW Albatross D.V sold out last week, so that's 6 that have gone OOP now (plus the first 'Duelists' set).

[PhoenixII]

For ANYBODY ordering from overseas, the quote below is from our own, inimitable, Edgar.

"There is NO import duty on model kits into the U.K., but the sender needs to write the "commodity code" 9503003000 on the Customs label on the outside of the parcel. Google that number, and you'll find that, as of this date, duty is still 0%. VAT is a different matter entirely, but that depends on how the inspector feels when confronted by your parcel."

Warris, SWMBO may be SLIGHTLY happier??!!!

Paul

Thank you Edgar.