Devo Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 Almost there Beardie. I see you used the high detail option for the guns. How the hell did you get the cooling jackets done? I tried on my DV but buggered them, so just used the molded on guns. Concur with lozenge decals...add rigging for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickE Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 Great progress , it looks fantastic so far, love the detail on the engine. Bye the way what paint did you use for the guns, it looks spot on? Mick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 She is coming along great Marty. Lovely details on the engine, and the guns look sorted. You`re doing a grand job mate. Well done. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 5, 2017 Author Share Posted June 5, 2017 Devo I never find the cooling jackets that easy. They need quite a bit of force while rolling them around a suitable round thing or they go a kind of hexagonal shape at the ends. I find it best to roll them in stages, first curving them slightly around something with a fairly large diameter and then something a little smaller. I don't do the recommended annealing as I find that there is a real risk of deforming them if you get them too hot. Mick, the guns are done with Alclad 'steel' colour and a very slight touch of Alclad 'jet exhaust' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickE Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 OK thanks. Jumping in on your reply to Devo, I formed the guns for my Fokker Eindecker using the Small Shop Brass Assist rolling tool. It makes a difficult task easy and is not limited to just the cooling jackets. There are various diameter size rods in the set used with an aluminium block that has about half a dozen half moon slots milled into it. Mick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redcap Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 Blimey Marty you knock these out quickly don't you - I'm envious. Great colour choice mate! Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 5, 2017 Author Share Posted June 5, 2017 Thanks Gary, I am working hard on this one, after it is done I will need to take a wee break from Wingnuts to crack on with my He.111 roof hanger as I have bits of that monster lying everywhere and, if I don't get back to it I know it will just lie around in pieces for ever. I am a little worried that it has an almost 'stars and stripes' feel to the scheme but I am sure the black crosses will cancel that out once they go on. I rather fancy doing a green stripy Pfalz D.IIIa. Pheon decals include that one on one of their Pfalz sheets although I am not sure whether that would be value for money as I don't think the stripes are included as decals so I would just be shelling out for a set of Balkenkreuzes and a partial serial number. After that there is a nice blue striped D.V on one of the WIngnuts AM sheets, again there is the question of value as I don't believe they include the stripes on the decal sheet. I reckon three or four models with a similar candy stripe in different colour would make a really eyecatching line-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 8, 2017 Author Share Posted June 8, 2017 Well hello sports fans. Some more progress has been made so I thought it was time for a little update. Since the last installment I have not done a great deal more but it has seen the model really getting close to completion. Undercarriage was added first The undercarriage was rigged with invisible mending thread with turnbuckles at the anchor points on the fuselage underside made from 0.09mm wire looped and twisted and fed through a piece of 0.4mm (Outer diameter) aluminium tubing. I tied the invisible mending thread to the loop end using a fishermans half bloodknot (A touch of CA is required or the knot is likely to release when you trim the end) and then fed the twisted ends into the holes on the fuselage and glued them in place. After that it was a matter of feeding the other end through a hole formed (I believe intentionally by Wingnuts) where the aerofoil of the axle glues to the struts of the undercarriage, pulled them taught and CA'ed them in place. This gives the undercarriage a decent level of reinforcement. At this point the cabane struts were only sitting in their nice snug locating holes. I then glued these in place and left them for a few hours to cure. While this was happening I enjoyed the view from behind the pilots office The red doesn't actually go all the way around the windshield. The colour is only being propagated through the plastic. Once the glue had had a chance to bite I offered up the cabane struts to the top wing and, once again, all credit to Wingnut Wings, they just slotted right on in with no difficult three handed juggling to get all four where they are meant to go. There was easily enough strength in the cabanes to support the wing while the liquid poly I ran into the holes took hold. Next job was to fit the interplane struts. These are supposed to be painted light grey but, I have to admit that, as the kit is molded in light(ish) grey plastic I just tidied those suckers up, popped them in place, taking careful note just exactly which type of struts this machine had as there are early and late versions, and then tipped in some liquid poly top and bottom of each one and.......Job done Last job for the moment was glueing my nicely 'worn' exhaust in place. By the way, if anyone notices I haven't lost my marbles with my placement of the air pump on the rearmost part of the camshaft. This is exactly where it is meant to be on this early model Mercedes D.IIIa engine and is specified for the 'bonus' scheme. All that is left to do now is paint up the prop, rig the beastie (including installing the aileron actuators in the upper wing) and whack some decals on. Fortunately Turnbuckles are only specified for one end of each rigging line so not too much fiddling and faffing. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howlindawg Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 Well that's certainly not going to go unnoticed on the shelf. I'll be seeing after images until lunch time! I'm delighted to see that so much of the cockpit remains visible after assembly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickE Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 It's looking great and in such a striking scheme. Mick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devo Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 8, 2017 Author Share Posted June 8, 2017 Thanks all for your kind comments I was worried that, with the red/white/blue it would look a bit 'stars and stripes' but I reckon that shouldn't stand in the way of a jazzy colour scheme. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyTiger66 Posted June 8, 2017 Share Posted June 8, 2017 That looks stunning Everything about it looks really good; cockpit, engine, stripes, lozenges, the lot. This really brings home how flamboyant these WWI schemes, that we normally only see in black and white, really were. Best regards TonyT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 8, 2017 Author Share Posted June 8, 2017 Yup. I just wish that the British had been as flamboyant in their schemes as the Germans. The RFC machines look very dull alongside the glitzy bold German schemes. My next Wingnut will be the Albatros D.Va of Helmut Dilthey with bright green and white stripes using the OAW kit although I am not certain it was an OAW machine that he flew I believe that, as the balkenkreuz are centred on the control horns in the photo, it was likely to have been. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howlindawg Posted June 9, 2017 Share Posted June 9, 2017 13 hours ago, Beardie said: The RFC machines look very dull alongside the glitzy bold German schemes. Sounds like a good excuse for a What-If? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 9, 2017 Author Share Posted June 9, 2017 A rogue RFC circus squadron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 10, 2017 Author Share Posted June 10, 2017 Well I am now very, very near the finishing post on this little cutie. It is true what they say, stripes are slimming. The profile of the Roland in stripes is actually very sleek. I have now painted up the Wolff prop in my best attempt at three ply laminated wood I might or might not polish it back as the surface is a little rough but the glaze isn't quite hard enough yet to take a sanding/polishing. The prop was first sprayed with 121 Humbrol enamel and, once this was dry I used a range of orangey brown, reddish brown and dark brown with a singwriters sable rigger to paint in the dark laminated wood in the prop. After that I used orangey brown and dark brown oil paint (alkyd) thinned right down and a small brush to try and get a flavour of the grain in the light wood using a very fine, 20/0 synthetic brush. I have also stuck most of the, admittedly few, decals on as shown below At this point I have to say the tail cross is a little bit of a pain but I don't think that WIngnuts could have done anything to make it easier. The cross straddles both the fin and the rudder and across the control horns of the rudder meaning that the only solution I could think of was to cut off most of the lower arm of the cross, take a sliver out of it approximately the thickness of the control horns. I then laid the cross into place above the control horn with the lower part, minus the sliver, below the horns and I will tip in the gap between them with black gloss. I have also toned down the lozenge with a randomly sprayed coat of my favourite glaze medium with a few drops of white added to try and give a faded look with the upper wing being more faded than the lower and no fading to the undersurfaces. My reasoning is that the undersides wouldn't see that much sunlight and the upper wing would receive more rays than the lower and so would exhibit more fading. Finally I am in the process of making up my rigging ready for trimming to approximate required size ready for attachment. As can be seen my turnbuckles, such as they are, are twisted 0.09mm wire fed through 0.4mm(OD) aluminium tubing. The twisted ends will be trimmed down and CA'ed into their attachment points on the model so that you will mainly see the tube and the eyelet. The Roland only had turnbuckles at one end of each rigging line and so the other end will be EZline straight into the model. I fed the EZline through the eye of the turnbuckle while the other end was pinned down with a weight, twisted it at the eyelet and, holding the end of the line taught in my fingers tipped a tiny amount of CA onto the twist with a fine wire. This method has worked for me before and, at actual size looks pretty good to me. Not big enough to be obtrusive and gives the impression of the appropriate hardware. I plan to trim each one to somewhat shorter than distance it is meant to span, CA the end of the EZLine in it's mounting point and then, with tweezers, pull the other end to it's mounting point, CA and feed into it's hole. All being well the model will be all zipped up by Sunday and I will get down to doing Helmut Diltheys' Albatros D.Va. I may start an SE.5a as well for balance 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viking Posted June 10, 2017 Share Posted June 10, 2017 Wow, thats rapid progress Marty It's a real hoot of a colour scheme! Interesting method of rigging, it looks good in preparation so I'm looking forward to tomorrows update and seeing her looking almost complete. What'll go on the bench next? Cheers John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted June 10, 2017 Share Posted June 10, 2017 You didn't buy that tiny wooden propeller from me, very convincing painting. Can I ask a question that has been bobbing about in my head for while now? I notice that on WW1 German aircraft the crosses appear to change from a Maltese style (Imperial?) to a squared off 'Balken' style at a certain point in time, why is that? I am guessing it's something to do with the Emperor 'running off to chop wood' but would be interested to know the real reason. Duncan B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spookytooth Posted June 10, 2017 Share Posted June 10, 2017 Just caught up with Marty, and boy she looks great. Fine work mate. Simon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 10, 2017 Author Share Posted June 10, 2017 Hi Duncan, there is no real mystery. The EisernesKreuz (Iron Cross) was standard insignia up to March 1918 when Idfleig issued a directive that all aircraft were to be issued in or converted to the BalkenKreuz (Beam Cross) this was supposedly due to the possibility of misidentification by that doesn't quite ring true to me as, even in the heat of battle I doubt an EisernesKreuz could be mistaken for a cockade. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 10, 2017 Author Share Posted June 10, 2017 More on the Iron Cross. I have been doing a little digging as I never like to only have a part of the story. Apparently the directive from Idflieg was part of a directive for the whole German army in March 1918 this would negate it being for reasons of avoiding misidentification. Now I need to find out why it was changed throughout the German military. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 10, 2017 Author Share Posted June 10, 2017 Well I can't find a concrete explanation for the change. According to the Idflieg directive it is specific that it was to improve identification but I just don't buy that. I wonder if, perhaps it was felt that, in the event that the war was lost it would be better to protect the symbol which was used as an important medal and also a symbol of a Knightly order from being trampled in the mire of defeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 12, 2017 Author Share Posted June 12, 2017 Apologies to anyone waiting to see this Roland finished. Hopefully she should be completed and placed in the RFI section on Tuesday night. I have been set back by the fates conspiring to stop me. Spent hours on one pair of rigging lines to the starboard aileron actuator that just would not come good. These actuator lines have turnbuckles partway down them that I tried hard to replicate with 0.4mm(OD) aluminium tube and twisted wire eyelets glued into either end. Numerous attempts to get the assembly together failed with eyelets coming out time and time again, CA not taking on the connections on the actuators and fuselage and EZLine fraying due to overwork. In addition, to be honest I am not very satisfied with the turnbuckles and think I may just use a dab of silver paint on rigging lines in future. Even at 0.4mm the turnbuckles look a bit clunky to me. Studying photos of the Roland the turnbuckles are barely thicker than the rigging lines Anyway I just need to do the empennage rigging now, add the upper radiator connection and a few other small bits and it will be finished. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardie Posted June 13, 2017 Author Share Posted June 13, 2017 Finally the beastie is finshed and interested parties may view the results here, hope y'all enjoy http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235022630-wingnut-wings-roland-dvia/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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