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ICMF

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Everything posted by ICMF

  1. ICMF
    Hmm... that changes things a bit. Guess I'll have to smoke the sides and do a lighter layer on top. (what's the opposite of smoke? Ash?) Speaking of fabric finishes, there are a few patches with a sort of wrinkled texture on your model (just above the panel with L13; directly below the front of the horizontal fins). What are they supposed to represent? I haven't seen any reference to these areas having a different finish. And in case anyone's interested in what Thorsten is referring to, here's a decent shot. The darker area is quite clear; the lighter patch is hard to see since the top panels just naturally photograph in highlight: It's even more clear (and complicated!) on the later Super Zeppelins:
  2. ICMF
    As an aside, and because of Thorsten's post... The Zeppelin I'm building is L23. I picked this one almost entirely because it was shot down by a Sopwith Pup and, having a 1/144 Valom Pup kit, I figured it'd make a neat pairing. The little plane would give a sense of scale (both size and the difficulty of shooting a Zepp down), and tell a neat story. And that's about it. But, while googling to get the picture from Wikipedia, I stumbled across this specific airframe's German Wikipedia page. Turns out it had a pretty cool career! https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftskib_L_23 And as another nifty little tie-in, the pilot of the Pup that killed this particular Zeppelin was Bernard Smart. He survived the war (winning multiple DSOs), and later joined his cousin's firm, Bowman Models... which made scale model steam engines, boats and trains. I'm building L23 (which has a very important anniversary coming up...) so if you've got more than this one Wikipedia image, that'd be great: (and yes, I know, I've got the wrong rudders. ) Yeah, the looser upper weave has been one of my biggest worries right from the start. It's just really, really hard to make solid paint look see-through. I even (briefly) thought about building the model out of clear styrene, which, given the amount of putty and bodywork... ha! My current plan of attack is to mask around the 'open weave' area and spray a layer of smoke, to darken it and give a bit of depth. Then I'll add some masks to depict the strengthening stripes and shoot another layer of smoke. It you've got a few grand you want to drop at Shapeways... Seriously, it's something I'd kind of looked at (or at least, what would it cost to have the balloon printed), but the costs are kind of crazy ($1000+), which is why I went the styrene sheet route in the first place. Even laser cutting the various template pieces was just stupidly expensive, hence cutting everything out by hand. I guess I could upload the gondola, gun platform and other detail bits to Shapeways for anyone that wants to tackle the project, but that feels a little bit like, 'here's a resin ejection seat, now just scratchbuild everything else'. Plus, Thorsten's card model is an *awesome* piece of work, and it's free! Hard to compete with that. And many of the headaches I've experienced would have been greatly reduced if I'd simply copied his work more closely!
  3. ICMF
    Whoah... it's been a while since the last update. I have been chipping away at the beast, though. So... UPDATE! I ended up sanding back the primer coat to eliminate all traces of Sharpie. Then another few primer coats. A few bouts of curing in the sun, followed by a few more bouts of fixing depressions and sink marks that appeared when it got too hot from sitting in the sun. More primer. More sanding. A brief diversion into a couple of touch up guns, including a Paasche model whose blue powder coat melted on contact with lacquer thinner. It's been busy, but not particularly photogenic. In the end, I went with a spray bomb ivory base coat. This worked well, but again, kind of tough to photograph. Once this was cured, I masked off individual sections and shot a streaky coat of various linen-ey tones to give a bit more visual interest and depth, much like David Straub's build: http://www.wwi-models.org/Photos/Events/y2006/ipms_nats/05-zeppelin/index.html Which is where it lies now: It's quite stark at the moment, but it's not done yet. Tailplanes have been skinned, and drilled out for rigging. The rigging took a bit of head scratching to figure out, but I think I'm on top of it now. That will be done with monofilament, after painting is completed. The nose and tail cone are still just press fit, hence the gaps. You can also see the tail bumper in this view. It was grafted over the lower fin, made from some curved brass square-rod and styrene sheet. Other items of note include the rib tape detail on the fins, which helps camouflage the fact that I muffed up the rib spacing inside, as well as the somewhat wonky, wandering lines along the length of the balloon - unfortunately it's not razor sharp and arrow straight, but it's as good as my patience would allow. I have also got the base roughed out (necessary before I can start adding gondolas): 56" x 12", it's built from MDF sheet and framing, cut and glued together. Aligning holes for the support rods was a little tricky, and I'm glad I don't live in an earthquake zone, but I'd rather sacrifice something that was rock solid in favour of something that looks unobtrusive and 'light'. Next step: I'll be giving the entire airframe a coat of clear flat mixed with the base coat to blend all the tones together and ease back the contrast. Then the upper, central portion will get masked off and a coat of smoke, to simulate the looser weave used to vent excess gas. A few decals, some rigging and it's on to final assembly.
  4. ICMF
    Bumped ahead of some Nats news.
  5. ICMF
    Awesome news! Anyone interested in an SS conversion for it?
  6. ICMF
  7. ICMF
    Yes, they're waterproof. Primer was a spray can lacquer filler primer (Rustoleum). Not sure what the paint coats will be, but likely spray can as well, as I have zero desire to paint it with a regular airbrush. The biggest issue is, this is a problem that appears over time, so I'm looking at 6 months to a year before any tests might bear fruit. If they appear, they'll be relatively small patches that I *could* touch up, so do I gamble and hope it all works out, or go through all the work to strip the tape, sand it smooth, treat any ink spots, re-tape and re-prime.
  8. ICMF
    Quick primer coat on. There's a bit of touch up sanding to do, but nothing too serious. What IS more serious: I've got some Sharpie bleeding through where I marked a few areas to be sanded/filled. That's not the end of the world - I can sand it down and hopefully remove all traces of the ink. What IS bad is, I'm almost positive there are other sharpie-ed markings that haven't bled through and which could be a ticking time bomb. Granted, the stuff that's bleeding through was 'full strength', while the stuff that's not showing was mostly sanded away, so hopefully it'll be okay but... I'm worried some unseen bit of ink might work its way out over time. Any suggestions for creating a barrier for the ink? I know paint won't work. Future? I'm tempted to coat the entire thing in decal film... The alternative is to strip the rib tapes, sand the last coat of primer off, strip all traces of Sharpie, re-mark the rib locations, re-tape and re-prime.
  9. ICMF
    Will do. TBH, the detail shots are mostly because it's a pain* in the bottom to set up a full backdrop to shoot the whole thing, and only slightly easier finding a place to photograph it in the first place. And because full-on shots tend to be weirdly long and skinny, because of the nature of the beast. It's hard to compose a great photo of what is essentially an over-inflated cigar. Hoping to prime this weekend, assuming all goes according to plan. Got a coat of putty on the fin joins this morning, and hope to cover the rudders this evening. *ironically, I originally typed 'paint'.
  10. ICMF
    Assorted updates with mixed news. Good: the lathe idea worked (although it was painfully tedious! line a square up to the template, slide it against the Zepp, tick a line, rotate, repeat sharpening your pencil every few dozen lines...) Bad: in my haste to get started and squeeeeeze the nose section into place, I cracked the nose cap. I *should* have disassembled the jig and re-assembled it around the blimp, but no, I had to force it... Good: The nose cap had lost some definition anyway through sanding and filling, and I have a spare, so it's not the end of the world. Bit of measuring and sawing and it was gone. It also gave me the chance to model the ultra-rare, MiG-21-style Zeppelin: Striping went pretty easily with some .7mm Aizu tape (basically, thin width Tamiya tape). About 12m worth - don't think I've ever burned through so much tape so quickly. I also attached the revised tailplanes. They'll need a bit of filler around the seams, and I'll have to re-apply some of the rib tapes which will get obliterated in the process, but it's back to looking like a blimp again. Shaved down some excess plastic and test fit the spare tail cone too, and the fit is almost perfect. Good thing - I don't want to get into a major sanding operation now that the tapes are on! I also cut off the cracked nose, as mentioned above. I trimmed a little too much plastic, so added a .010" shim to build up the gap. Pretty pleased with the test fit: ...and then finally, I decided to test fit the control surfaces. I'll need to tweak the location points slightly, and I need to figure out how to skin them, but it's the first time I've had a basically complete balloon. Quite pleased with things. So a touch of Mr. Surfacer on the tail fins, then it's ready for a final (hopefully, ohpleaseohpleaseohplease) primer coat. Starting to feel like the end is in sight.
  11. ICMF
    So you're saying I should have hired a Sherpa to do all my sanding?
  12. ICMF
    Well, I think I've solved my rib tape dilemma. The problem was, I needed a way to securely mount the Zeppelin so that it was plumb, straight and true, with a template underneath so I could mark off the rib stations, yet it had to be free to rotate around its axis. A four foot lathe would be one possible solution, but kind of tough to find, so I sort of bodged my own: The notes should explain things (excuse the blurry, hasty photo), but basically, I can now rotate the model around a rod inserted in the 'spine', while it's held firmly in place with a couple of jigs. So by holding a square to the markings on my template, I can transfer those dimensions to the model, which will mark the positions of the rib tapes. It's basically a fiddly, annoying way to mark off a whole slew of really precise (I hope) points, so that I can connect all the dots. A few more hours of carefully setting the whole thing up, and I should be able to get marking. The really frustrating thing about all this is, if it all goes according to plan, it will probably only take me about 10 minutes to mark everything off. Weeks of planning, hours of preparations, for a few minutes actual work. Sigh...
  13. ICMF
    Thorsten, do you have an ISBN for that book? A quick google search has only turned up a book by Rev. Michael Alder by that name, and when I search for THAT book, the descriptions are all about Jewish solders in WWI. As for the Zepp... More procrastination. I'm still trying to figure out how to accurately mark up the Q class, so I've been goofing around with the R Class in CAD. Because having one Zeppelin scratchbuild in progress isn't dumb enough... Front and middle gondolas are roughed out. Just have to finish up the rear. Then start detailing. And, y'know, get back to the Q-class. For some reason, I'm more inclined to do digital modelling lately; everything fits perfectly, and you never ruin any projects - if you get something wrong, just delete it and start again. And painting is only the click of a mouse, with zero cleanup or objectionable odours involved! Oh, and have I mentioned, these beasts were BIG? Spot the person:
  14. ICMF
    Well that's cool. I'm glad you like it - I couldn't have done it without you! I'm just not sure whether to praise or to curse you for that fact! Seriously though, your paper model is awesome, and your research and presentation top notch. If anyone has had their curiosity piqued by this build, I'd urge you to check it out: http://jleslie48.com/zep/model_parts/Pclass_description.pdfhttp://jleslie48.com/zep/model_parts/LZ_45_L13_Instructions_final.pdf and http://jleslie48.com/zep/model_parts/ Its easy to see, looking at the paper model, how straightforward a jump it is to build it in styrene. Thorsten actually made it look pretty easy, which is why I currently find myself in this mess. As for all the other praise and responses... Glad you're enjoying it, though; it's actually been a good source of inspiration when I face yet *another* round of filling and sanding misery.
  15. ICMF
    While I take a break to ponder how to mark out the rib locations, I've been hitting Solidworks for the R Class. Really pleased with the results so far. ...and a close-up of the aft gun platform (though I really should add panel lines for the wood here... BRB!) I can post a step-by-step in the future, if anyone's interested.
  16. ICMF
    Finally had a sunny day (the zepp is a little big to squeeze into a photo booth), so as promised, more pics. I think I'm just about ready to lay down a final (I hope...) coat of primer, so the next major hurdle will be figuring out how to precisely locate the individual rib stations. I *had* planned to print out a template which I could simply lay along each skin panel, but after all the filling and sanding, the shape is a tiiiny bit out of whack. Unfortunately, a degree here and a mm there, over a four foot span, adds up to about a 3mm error overall. So now I've got to figure out a plan B. First up, an overall view: Zooming in, you can do some archaeology sorting out the various layers. Almost has a psychadelic vibe: Tailplanes are done, but just test fitted. It'll take a bit of putty and sanding to blend these in, but hopefully nothing too serious... Gun platform has been fitted. It's actually *too* good a fit - it press fits snugly into place, so by the time I add a few layers of filler primer, primer and paint it'll probably be too big for the hole. Guess I'll need to do some careful filing (and masking) ...and as a teaser, while it's been raining the past few days, I finally caved in to the siren song of the R Classe schematics.
  17. ICMF
    This month I have mostly been: sanding! Like, a sickening amount of sanding. Think it sucks having to putty, sand and feather in some ill-fitting, 1/2"2 Landing gear door? How 'bout filling and sanding 671 square inches of long, straight, facets. I think I'm nearly done smoothing out the balloon. I actually came *this* close to binning the scratchbuilt part and just printing out the entire envelope, as I wasn't satisfied with the somewhat wavy seam lines. I wanted something crisp and geometrically perfect, and computers are much better at that than people. But, after many, many applications of putty and careful sanding to try to straighten the creases as much as possible, I'm finally at a point where I'm pretty much satisfied. Still not 100%, but it's pretty close. I'll shoot some pics of the putty-speckled mess ASAP - it's really not pretty at the moment. Hopefully I can get a coat of primer on this weekend, then it'll be ready to have the rib tapes tediously applied (some .7mm pinstriping tape), another coat of primer and then finally, *finally* ready for paint! Oh, and plus scribing the surface detail, and adding the tailplanes, and scratching some sort of brass tail tip so the resin part doesn't keep %$#@ing chipping, and, and, and... Also: jeebus help me, I've just received a copy of the R-Classe Datafile and I'm already starting to goof around in CAD. Maybe my project for 2016? Eep! And just so this post isn't *completely* devoid of pics, here's a quick comparison of the various Zeppelin Classes. Other than the Q Classe (which is the one I'm building), they're just rough sketches, but they're all properly scaled, if the shapes aren't 100%. From top: M Classe, the relatively puny early war Zepp, more reconnaissance oriented than a bomber. Q Classe (subject of this build) R Classe (the first of the Super Zeppelins; bigger balloon for a higher service ceiling in an attempt to skim over British air defences) W Classe (the Afrika Shiff, designed to fly from Germany to Tanzania, to resupply troops) Hindenburg, just to show how truly massive the airships got. The Q Classe is huge in 1/144. I can't even imagine a Hindenburg!
  18. ICMF
    Sharp looking build! Thanks.
  19. ICMF
    http://barracudacals.com/products.php?cat=33 They're out.
  20. ICMF
    Somebody forgot to take the pledge. (even moreso in the first week of March!) https://youtu.be/kXYXuXX48m8
  21. ICMF
    These are posted with Roy's blessing. No worries about spilling the beans.
  22. ICMF
    Barracuda Studios are entering the WWI market with some resin seats. Multiple styles coming soon. These are NOT available for sale yet, and Barracuda aren't taking pre-orders, but they should be announced shortly. More info should be available to members of their 'Ready Room' Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barracuda-Studios/317557141608943(See the 22 March update) Pics of some 1/32 masters:
  23. ICMF
    Minor update. The scratched styrene tailplanes were getting battered a bit from handling (it's hard to be really delicate with the tail when you're busily sanding four feet away...), so I decided to re-do them in brass. Re-printed the tailplane skeleton templates, bent and trimmed some brass square rod to shape, then soldered all the bits together: I'd post in-progress photos, but there's not really all that much to show. Tons of tedious measuring, cutting and filing, but nothing terribly interesting. Just imagine the before photos being of a straight rod, and the after photos showing slightly bent rods lined up with the templates, plus a whole bunch of short rods. :)/> The various bits and pieces were taped down to the templates to set the alignment, then a drop of flux and a couple of seconds under the soldering iron to secure everything. Next step will be to (re?) skin these in styrene sheet, cut the plastic tails off the Zepp and attach the brass replacements. Note the extended lengths of rod towards the bottom/rear corner of the fins - these will get anchored into the spine, which should add a nice bit of rigidity to the whole assembly. Assuming I can drill the locating holes correctly... sort of feels like I'll be doing keyhole surgery! Interesting statistic, though: the four tailplane skeletons took just under eight feet of 1/16" brass square rod.
  24. ICMF
    The fascinating thing, to me, is that it was so damned hard to shoot down a giant bag full of hydrogen. You'd think, 'wow, balloon full of hydrogen, that'd be super explodey and dangerous.' You'd be wrong. The problem was, there was so much hydrogen - and so little oxygen - that it wouldn't actually ignite. So they had to use a mix of explosive shells to blast massive holes in the envelope, which let the balloon's hydrogen mix with atmospheric oxygen, followed by incendiary rounds to ignite the fuel-air mix.
  25. ICMF
    I sincerely appreciate the compliment, but it's somewhat undeserved. This is NOT the result of great precision: Great precision would have involved at least 20 fewer hours of sanding, and obviated the use of literally *pounds* of filler (and three full-sized cans of primer). Which is really to say: it's less about being a great craftsman or having amazing skills, and more about just mucking in and DOING it. When you hit a snag, figure out how to fix it and plow through. Don't let yourself be intimidated; just practice and push your skills when you get the chance. At the end of the day, the only way to do it is to do it. I'm not a master modeller. I'm just foolish enough to think "I can probably do that" and too stubborn to admit "maybe I can't".
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