Se5a For The Wwi Gb

[crookedmouth]

This is my entry for the WWI Group build and the build thread can be found here. Bear in mind it's my first ever rigged bipe, sp be gentle...

The rigging was my least favourite aspect of this build. I realise now that I could have done a much better job - the first few wires went in fine, nice and taut, but after that I seemed to lose the will to do it well enough. Consequently the aft mainplane wires are horribly saggy - more so than is apparent from the pictures. I lost my nerve and didn't rig the tailplane or any of the control wires either.

The decals went on beautifully - thanks to Rowan for those - but I'm not sure I've done them justice. In the end, I decided not to do the checkertail plane but did "C1117 Capt Ira Jones 74 Sqn". Dunno why - I suppose that I just liked the big "T"!

Despite the rigging nightmare, I think I'd like to try another bipe sometime soon. I suspect that I'll try the fishing line rigging and drilled installation method next.

All said and done, I'm dead happy with this. It won't win any prizes but in many ways it's the best model I've done to date.

[Deacon]

Well done mate, that looks great. I'd e pleased to have that on my shelf.

I am making up an SE5 for a mate so will be going through your build thread for reference.

Deacon

[crookedmouth]

Well done mate, that looks great. I'd e pleased to have that on my shelf.

I am making up an SE5 for a mate so will be going through your build thread for reference.

Deacon

I'm happy to give you any tips, but the WWI GB has several SE5a's being built by better modellers than me so you really need to take a look!

[keith in the uk]

It looks good to me Decan , i hear you about the rigging , i have a Pyro Fury built but just cant get motovated about the rigging

[beeza1]

Nice looking 5a, the finish looks very good.

Can I ask you, what did you use for the rigging?

Des.

[crookedmouth]

Nice looking 5a, the finish looks very good.

Can I ask you, what did you use for the rigging?

Des.

Stretched sprue. First time and last. If I do a rigged bipe again, it'll be with fishing line, I think

[Van]

Beautifully done!

van

[The Velociweiler]

Aeroclub sell a little bobbin of elasticated filament for rigging - it's worth seeking out and is very easy to use and cheap too.

[gcn]

My initial thought on mine was to go for fishing line with Bobs Buckles and either .5mm brass tube or cable insulation.

I was reading an interview over on Aeroscale where the Wingnuts guys use knit in elastic so I googled a found this link where there is even a guy saying he uses the stuff to rig biplanes.

rigging

So I ordered a couple of rolls and they came the next day. Very stretchy stuff that looks like it will be just that little bit easier to manage over fishing line. Cheap as well.

[crookedmouth]

My initial thought on mine was to go for fishing line with Bobs Buckles and either .5mm brass tube or cable insulation.

I was reading an interview over on Aeroscale where the Wingnuts guys use knit in elastic so I googled a found this link where there is even a guy saying he uses the stuff to rig biplanes.

rigging

So I ordered a couple of rolls and they came the next day. Very stretchy stuff that looks like it will be just that little bit easier to manage over fishing line. Cheap as well.

Nice tip! The wife's eyeing up a new knitting project so I may slip this one in under her radar.

[bertie]

Now that SE5a looks rather smashing. Tell me, what brand ,shade of green did you use? It looks very effective.

[crookedmouth]

Now that SE5a looks rather smashing. Tell me, what brand ,shade of green did you use? It looks very effective.

Thanks. It's my own proprietary mix, handed down from generation to generation since time immemorial.

Actually it's a 50/50 of Humbrol 155 (olive drab) and Revell 32117 (africa brown) with a dash of white to lift it up a little. I then brushed over heavily with the same again but lightened with a bit more white to accentuate the ribbing. If you take a look at the build thread here you can see that it looks quite close to the box art.