pheonix

Evening all, Many thanks gentlemen for the very kind and encouraging comments: I really appreciate them all. I have done some more construction work and painted the bulk of the model and it is beginning to look like what you see in the photos. I completed the horizontal tail unit by cutting and inserting between the rear fuselages a piece of 30 thou card with Evergreen strip (10 x 20 thou) ribs. I also added the small units on the outer sides of the fuselage plus the tail bracing, and then the two rods which were set between the forward parts of the fuselages: I assume that these were for the engine controls on the starboard side (the pilot sat on the port side). Painting followed - mainly acrylics for the upper and lower surfaces but Humbrol enamel white for the floats because I have some left from the past and I find that it gives a better coverage than the acrylic paint. The struts were Revell SM 382 which is another enamel - I just like the soft brown to represent the pine of the struts. The cockades were home printed and the serial came form an old set of RNAS/RFC numerals from Pegasus. The rudder stripes were painted: The white dots on the upper surfaces are holes for the struts. To put the top wing in place I used a procedure which I have found from experience is most suitable for multi-bay biplanes. I put some of the cabane struts into the lower wing - in this case the pair on the inner side of each fuselage, and the outer pairs of main wing struts. I used ordinary styrene cement and placed the inner struts against the fuselage sides first, then quickly added the two outer pairs and lowered the top wing. I had put drops of cement into the respective holes in the top wing. I was lucky because three of the fuselage struts fitted exactly and the fourth only need a minor adjustment. The outer struts were a little more fiddly but still went into place quickly. The whole assembly was jigged with paint pots to keep it square while it dried out overnight. The result was what I desired: This structure was quite robust when dry and allowed me to put in the remaining struts, one at a time, without problems. After these had been put into place I again left the assembly for a couple of hours to set properly before I added the kingposts on the outer parts of the top wing: The model is now ready to add the floats and that will be the next stage. Thanks for looking. P

Only just seen this: an oldie for certain which I too built as a floatplane decades ago! I also did the conversion to the AOP IV with invasion stripes from Airfix Magazine form the late 1960's - one of my first conversions and it took several years because I did not have suitable plastic for the centre glazing. I still have the model in my cabinet - nearly 50 years later! Will follow this with interest. P

I have just been looking at the photos of your two completed models and they are superb. These are types which are completely new to me - and I had to take a second look to see that they are amphibians. The Be-200 is particularly eye-catching in that civilian scheme - such a nice change. When you finish you will certainly have a great collection of Russian types there. P

That is super! I used to have this kit but sold it a couple of years ago when I decided that I had too many kits and not enough life left to build them! This is a type which has always fascinated me because of its odd shape - you have really made the clog look impressive. First class build and build log - both very enjoyable. I am off to have another look at those lovely photos. P

That was a lot of work to produce the jig - mind you with a wood model a strong jig would be necessary to hold the weight! I am with Mark in that I use lighter materials and whatever is available at the time on or around the table where I make my models. Still there are some good ideas there which I will be keeping in mind if I do decide on another giant sized project in future. In answer to the question "what do I do now?" I would suggest finishing what is an excellent model in progress! P

Very impressive. I have found that with items such as struts a compromise has to be made between accuracy and strength: sometimes they are not true to scale but they are there to do a job as well as look nice! P

That looks really good. I would also use film and probably paint for the 7 but I have also printed my own transfers and find that it is not as difficult as you might think (and I am a Luddite too!) P

Looks very good Steve. The engine support platform on these flying boats always looks a bit intimidating before you start but in reality they are straightforwad to put inot place. P

Very neat way of bending the plastic for the wing without having to cut it in the centre. I had a similar problem with the H-B W13 but there was a straight centre piece to which I could attach the outer panels. It would not have been possible to make that wing in one piece but future flying boat wings with sweepback may be different so I will bookmark this. P

Evening All Thanks Pete, Dennis, Charlie, Stuart, Torbjorn, and Steve for the encouraging comments. Steve: I do not know the Strutter kit so I cannot comment whether trying to use the fuselage would be a short cut for this model. There is a strong similarity in the shape of the fuselages but I am not sure about size. In any event if you have suitable engines and cowlings, building the rest of the fuselage from scratch is not such a difficult task. Writing about engines I made two from a piece of sprue which I filed to the correct size for the centre and then added the cylinders from thick rod. I scribed the cylinders to represent the cooling fins and used thin rod for the push rods on the front. The second fuselage was completed in the same way as the first and then I could cut out and add the fins to both. I also added the cockpit coamings at the rear from thin rod. The observant modeller will see just how much filler was needed to fair in rear fuselage decking on the second fuselage! One of the problems of these limited run kits is that sometimes the fit is not as good as WNW for example!!? With the fuselages complete I could glue them to the lower wing. I did this one at a time and placed the wing and fuselage over the plan to make sure that all was correctly aligned: which I am pleased to report is the case! Unlike the fuselages the wing to fuselage joints needed almost no filler at all - so sometimes limited run kits can be good after all. However the underside of the fuselage should protrude slightly below the under-surface of the wing so to make this look more realistic I cut some thin pieces of 20 thou card which were shaped to the under-wing profile on one edge and straight on the other. These were glued under the wing to align with the sides of the fuselages and then the gap between them had some card glued in place and finally liberal amounts of filler - which is even now setting so that I can start to sand and level it: Thanks for looking. P

Just catching up again Tony - there is just toooo much to read every time it is posted! Super paintwork and wonderful explanation of your techniques - some of which I intend to try out for myself! They might help me to make better models in future - but nowhere near as good as this . P

That is simultaneously sad and frustrating. I sincerely hope that it is repairable because it was looking super..... P

Some extremely interesting types there. The engine tower for the SM 55 looks very convincing - just enough rough to make it look real but not overdone. Good conversion of the engine on the MBR2. P

This is looking super! The large flat brush and thinned acrylics method can give as good results as an airbrush. With reference to the camouflage pattern, you will have to use smaller brushes but still use thinned acrylics and several coats. I do so regularly as I do not have a spray gun - er sorry airbrush - and I find that I can still get a very good finish. Learned that trick fro a fellow modeller who also uses this technique - and he has had othersclaim that he must have used an airbrush to get the excellent finish on his models! P

Glad you have got the wing sorted out - the improvement will make you feel better even if the original warping would only be seen by the most eagle eyed! With reference to bending styrene using hot water, I know a large number of people argue for hot but not boiling water. I frequently bend styrene sheet in a pipe for wing blanks and I always use boiling water for about 10-15 seconds followed immediately by cold water to "set" the plastic. I find that unless the water is boiling the plastic is not flexible enough - BUT I do not leave the plastic in the boiling water for too long or it will curl at the edges. I think you used the correct approach - increase the temperature until you get the effect that you want. P

Thanks for the tip Jackson: I had not thought of that. I do not know precisely which base this aircraft flew from, but many of them had concrete platforms and I think that they would all have looked much the same. I will certainly give your idea a try. P

Evening All, This was built as part of the Flying Boats and Floatplanes GB. Construction was from plastic card, strip, rod and wood, and it was rigged with rolled 40SWG copper wire. The markings are from Arctic Decals and were commissioned by me - they are of excellent quality and highly recommended. The base is not finished: I am going to ask for help from members of my modelling club at the weekend to help me to get a better representation of the concrete platform which was at the base on the Adtraitic Sea from which some of these flying boats operated. This machine represents an aircraft in the spring of 1918. The Hansa-Brandenburg was designed by Ernst Heinkel and his team for the German Navy but they showed no interest in it so it was offered instead to the Austro-Hungarian Navy KuK Kriegsmarine) who had issued a specification for a large general purpose flying boat powered by a 350 hp Austro-Daimler engine. The navy ordered 60 machines in late 1916, the first of which was delivered in March 1917. Following the crash of the first example, delivery was delayed such that delivery of the the following 15 aircraft was not completed until March 1918. A shortage of engines meant that although most of the airframes were delivered in 1917-1918, many of the 134 manufactured were placed in storage and not used operationally. The first W13 to see action was K366 in August 1917 and this machine was used on subsequent bombing operations until it was shot down in October 1917. [ Other machines were used in the bombing and reconnaissance over the Adriatic Sea. Durazzo (an Italian port) was bombed successfully in June 1918, and later in the closing months of the war they were deployed against land targets in Bulgaria. One machine (K405) was taken by the Americans as war reparation in 1919 and shipped to the USA where it was stripped down and rebuilt. It was thoroughly tested before being scrapped in 1922. Thanks for looking. P

Super job. I like the support plates for the struts. Superb photography too which does real justice to a first class model. You state that Copperstate Models made them for you - are they available as a set from the same company? P

Got to agree with all of the above and more. A very impressive model in every way, but especially the wood fuselage. P

Interesting to see one of these in different markings from the Great War. Very well finished.

1/72 Scratch built Hansa-Brandenburg W13, KuK Kriegsmarine,, Spring 1918.

My thanks to all of you who have dropped by and left positive comments. I am pleased to be able to report that I have now finished this one, including a base, but I am still not happy with the latter and will take some advice from members of my club on Saturday to see what I can do to improve it. I want to represent the concrete platform at the edge of the slipway and I have real problems representing such surfaces. To complete the model I added the propellor, windscreen, bollards and bomb release gear on the front and rigged it with 40 SWG rolled copper wire. The base is hardbard attached to a wood frame with standard HO guage rail track. I will post some photos in the gallery and others in the RFI section with some historical notes later this evening. This has been an enjoyable build and I now have a type in my collection that I have wanted for some time. Thanks for looking. P

That engine is very realistic - as good as many kit samples that I have seen. Getting the platform for the engine is important - as you write it really must be square or it stands out horribly. The upper wing shoukd not present too difficult a problem, and with a simple jig you should be able to align it properly too. P

I agree with the others - an amazing aircraft extremely well presented, especially with the base. Many congratulations on this build. P

I use Humbrol model filler - it sets well and has enough plasticity to be able to work it well. I have used the same tube for years and it is now running out but I have a new tube in stock! P