GrahamB

Hi, a few shots of my completed Walfisch. I ventured into a 'build-log' on the WW1Aircraft forum: http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3333.0, with the finished thing on http://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3478.0. A beautiful aircraft and a really nice kit. Cheers, GrahamB

Really lovely - those wood decals certainly work too. One small point - do in-line engines create such a mess on the underside of the aircraft? I saw a beautifully made/painted model of a new WNW release at the NZ show recently that had an in-line-engined aircraft with the mess and splatter of a rotary underneath - spectacular but not convincing. Cheers, GrahamB

Hi Infofrog, I'd like to say good luck with your red Albatros - single colour schemes are surprisingly hard to get right - either too clean and toy-like or lacking in subtlety. I'd also like to join in the advise with the woodgrain effect. Acrylic base coat in yellow/sand/buff/cream colour (look at your pine furniture and any plywood you have) and don't be afraid to vary this - several patches of slightly different tones matches real wood. The oil streaking has to be very light - Jonners' 'less is more' is spot on. Also again don't be afraid to do this in layers - after one thin streaking/grain coat let it dry thoroughly then apply another thin coat of clear acrylic (or transparent yellow, or transparent orange - Tamiya do these) - then apply some faint streaking again using a different oil colour - finish with a clear acrylic. And yes, beware paint on all mating/gluing surfaces in WNW kits - tolerance are very fine. Do not take them for granted for fit (I made a foul-up on my precious LVG CVI because of this) and test-fit, test-fit especially before closing up the fuselage - but keep your build 'clean' and you should have no problem. Have fun! Cheers, GrahamB Just got back from the NZ IPMS Nationals where WNW were on display and many superb WW1 biplane models on show - made my poor Pup look very sad.

Guess what? At today's show the WNW had the Roland CIIA Walfisch out as well. Damn - I bought the CII yesterday and would have 'preferred' this one. Should be on the WNW website this week (Monday I would guess). cheers, GrahamB

Hi, well I have one in my sweaty hand - a beauty. Jamo (James Fahey) will be posting more up on the WW1 Aircraft forum and I'll put some photos up here from the show - a large part of a table with beautiful WW1 biplanes - largely Richard & Dave from WNW and Jamo himself. A challenge with the Walfisch is to avoid too much of a toy-like look from the basically one-colour pale blue finish. The made-up display model was spot on with modulations of colour and subtle weathering - Dave of WNW will be putting up some help with this on the Tips section of the WNW site at some point. Cheers, GrahamB

Very, very nice. The Lanc scrubs up nicely in the maritime colours. Cheers, GrahamB

Hi Christian, the other commentators provide a good summary of this. I understand that all Skuas were camouflaged post-factory (probably in some haste) so there was a great deal of possible variation in paint application. The colour photos of the Skua recovered in Norway- by the Germans at the time - I believe show unequivocally its 'Extra Dark Sea Grey'/'Dark Slate Grey' scheme to have a high tonal contrast completely in the 'wrong' direction (see Nick Millman's post with reflectance values). Other b/w photos of Skuas show this phenomenon, but beware of Skuas and Rocs in the Temperate Land Scheme (I see these as being more hard-edged, contrasty, and I use the roundel red as a reference). Real (factory) Temperate Sea Scheme applications show much less contrast but good quality/professional colour photos tend to show the ESDG just darker than the DSG, when fresh. The many b/w pictures of Swordfish also show the effect of film type and filters on the appearance of the TSS - and this has led many an illustrator (and modeller) to reverse the tone and even colour on profiles - in some ('orthochromatic' effect) the slate grey is darker than the sea grey and in others ('panchromatic' effect) the sea grey is darker (which is what it should be, just). My two models of the Skua and Fulmar are my take on this change but the tonal contrast may be slightly too high on both. Cheers, GrahamB

First class!

Thanks Rowan (and others!) Your instructions with the decals are excellent (as ever), especially the drawings of the lamps and Holt flares - I managed to wire these up but these can't be seen in the blurry bits of the photos. I had some small hassle with the metal panels in front of the shortened cockpit opening - but used thin brass sheet with suitable small cut-outs for the Vickers - the cocking handle (?) had to be inverted so as to poke through a little cut-out. Added some (spurious?) rivets with punched plastic discs. If anyone is doing this version just make sure you get the cockpit opening far enough back to accommodate the Vickers and the small windscreen.The night sights were just bits of brass wire and thin strip. The ejector chute on the left side of the Vickers is again just thin brass sheet rolled/moulded around a plastic strip (but get join out of sight underneath) - and just flexible enough to take the slight bend/kink. Black was Vallejo Modelair 71.052 German Grey for the rib-tapes (but beware lifting with the masking tape) with main being Vallejo black primer and 71.052 in about 3:2 ratio. Can't remember what the clear-doped was but was a Humbrol enamel for the rib tapes and a slightly darker Vallejo mix for the main. PC10 in this instance was MrHobby H78 (olive drab 2) with a touch of a buff or light brown for the rib tapes, then main was H78 again but with spot of MrHobby H47 Red Brown and black. What fun! Cheers, GrahamB

Thanks guys. Here's the undersides. I can see a pale colour edge on the lower fuselage longeron on the original photo of C.312 and I've surmised that this could be some repainting, possibly using some spare white/pale grey from the starry night/moon decoration. As I understand as well, the black undersides (upper wing only required) and (partial) topsides were predominantly an anti-glare finish - from the fuselage and wingtip lights as well as the Holt flares when landing - rather than a purely night camouflage. The WNW Pup is a delight although there are some fit problems easily solved. Some have said it is a beginners kit for rigging but beware there are 20 wires/cables in the rear fuselage/tail assembly - a real birdcage! Cheers, GrahamB P.S. Forgot to say that the upper wing roundels should have a black outer ring - i.e. the standard white ring was over-painted. I didn't want to risk it with masking etc - bit of a fright just doing the inner black ring (also the white over-painted).

Hi, one for you jckspratt1 ! A different take to the Pheon interpretation of the colours, and only first attempts at photographing these large biplane models. I really, really like this kit (2nd I've done) and it's a pity that the interior (I thought my best efforts so far) is practically hidden by the non-standard small cockpit opening. Cheers, GrahamB

Hi Paul, Thanks for replying. It is a little black rubber O-ring (3mm). It was on one of the H & S cleaning brushes - I may have forced it too hard. Whether it had been there for a while or had just been removed I don't know. I see that there is an H & S 'sealing kit' with these tiny O-rings (plus larger-diameter types and the PTFE types - I can see one of these on the AB end of the nozzle) but again no clue as to where they belong. Cheers, Graham

Hi, just had a minor calamity as when I was cleaning my newish H & S Evolution with a reaming brush a small rubber O-ring (ca. 3mm diameter) appeared from the body (I assume). I cannot fathom where it has come from and so how to put it back - it is not obvious in the little instruction booklet that came with the airbrush. Please help! Cheers GrahamB

Hi Nick, sorry to have introduced a 'error' in describing AM Sky Blue - I'm not equipped with a spectrometer like you! I was only basing my description based on the Vallejo pigments that I needed to achieve the Methuen value, with suitable paints straddling this - one more 'true blue', the other greenish blue: "........Modelcolour 906 Pale Blue and 885 Pastel Green. I use Ian Huntley's Methuen call-out of 23A2 for the Sky Blue and the two Vallejo colours are excellent matches for hue for the 22 and 24 colours respectively, straddling 23". The result, and the Methuen, is a very good match I think to the 'chip' you have presented here. ​A complex and fascinating subject. Cheers, GrahamB

Hi John, I delved into this colour when making my Skua and found Ian Huntley's description and Methuen colour match extremely helpful (I don't have a copy of the RAF colours chart/book - sold it many years ago). It is a pale blue with hint of green - which is highlighted by the hues needed to create this colour with white as the basis (I was using Vallejo paints - see my post). I would say it is like RLM 65/76 but lighter (and less saturated). I would not call it a grey blue particularly - just pale blue. The last photo in my post about the Skua is very representative of the actual model colour - the first batch have reproduced too blue-saturated. Even so, I can see why the RAF in the Mediterranean Theatre etc preferred it over Sky which is really an unsaturated yellow-greenish grey (not duck-egg to my eye at all). Anyway, I'll let the Forum top bods deal with this properly. Cheers, GrahamB

Hi Joachim, thanks for comments. The aerial wire is an indulgence - it is a product from Uschi van der Rosten: 'superfine' elastic rigging thread of 0.01 mm. However, one can get the same thing by splitting the cheaper Easiline stuff - you need to snap this under tension then pick up the individual threads according to the thickness you need. The UvdR products (three thicknesses: 0.03, 0.02 and 0.01mm - for 1/32 1/48 and 1/72, but suitable for various applications/scale) save one this hassle, but not one's wallet! Cheers, GrahamB

Excellent work. Italian mottle schemes are really hard to master. Cheers, GrahamB

Thanks guys. The reason for the 'sand & spaghetti' scheme is contentious and there is a long thread on the Forum. I go along with the idea that, if the colours were 'purple, blue and grey' as was mentioned by one witness, then it was probably a cloud-scape/recessional landscape camouflage. Anyhow, a different punt to the usual sand-green mix (supposedly mimicking Italian camouflage). Also, images of Fulmars with these schemes show that the base colour could be either darker than, or paler than, Sky. IMHO the only colour (paint) group that works this way would be blue (not 'sand'/'stone') - either the background is AM Sky Blue (paler than Sky) or Azure Blue (or perhaps Light Mediterranean Blue) - darker. Speculation though. I'm not so sure about the pale wash now - too stark. Looking at photos one does see pale (dust?) panel lines etc. I'm not the world's best model 'weatherer' and start to panic at this stage as it could easily turn to custard. Yes Bill, I am old enough! Cheers, GrahamB

Hi, finished this a few weeks ago during my mini blitz on FAA subjects. A fairly straightforward build but somehow I didn't warm to it. I used Modeldecals except for the code letters that are from the kit, as the former were too large, I reckoned. Went with the purple/blue/grey interpretation/verbal evidence of the 'sand & spaghetti' scheme but was for a while stumped by that damned colour Azure Blue. It was impossible to mix with the paints that I had until I realised that Mr Hobby Violet was very close to one of the quoted matches. Tried adding some blue but it's still not right. I've yet to see any of the new Humbrol paints out here in Kiwiland. Used WEM EDSG and DSG as the colours are good and provide the correct tonal relationship. The Sky is a mix but can't recall what at the moment - matched to Nick Millman values/Ian Huntley Methuen as I see that most Sky paints are too green. Anyway, getting near to finishing a WNW Sopwith Pup in a starry 'nightfighter' scheme - a step up in the exotic from the Fulmar. Cheers, GrahamB

Hi Bill, I think I've asked this question here before and perhaps 'silver' (aluminium) is the way to go. I think there was a tendency later anyway for the wheel wells to be the same colour of the undersides (eg. black where the port wing was black etc) and not regarded as an 'interior'. Looking forward to seeing your Skua finished. Cheers, GrahamB

Thanks Claus for the backup and reminder about the Dark Sand 5E3 reference. It is surprising how dull the colours are - or at least the Huntley Methuen references - the DRS is not as bright as the Italian "Marrone Mimetico 2". Dark Sand is a quite non-descript, slightly brownish (orange), grey. Enamels: My tin of Phoenix Precision P991 Track Dirt is perfect for the Methuen 7D4 Dark Red Sand (but need to be slightly lighter and 'orangey' for scale); I think Humbrol 160 is OK for this colour but needs a bit of grey to tone it down. Humbrol 116 (Rust) would work for 7E5/Red Sand but again is slightly too bright - needs touch of grey - or add white to 160. Acrylics: For Vallejo users I would (and did I think for the Vincent) use 872 (Chocolate) with spot of 929 (Light Brown) for DRS to brighten it up (could then add white for scale) - or add a bit of 825 (Camouflage Pale Violet Brown) to 872; a reasonable Red Sand could be achieved with Modelair 035 (US Flat Brown) or Modelcolor 825; Dark Sand is more difficult with the Vallejo I have but can be achieved with about 50;50 mix of 884 (Stone Grey) and 886 (Green Grey). For interest, I don't have many problems airbrushing with Vallejo Modelcolors providing they are thinned with a touch of medium and Vallejo airbrush thinner. I have more problems spraying their primers without thinning (as one is supposed to be able to do). Cheers, GrahamB

Hi Adrian, Ian Huntley published some Methuen values for these quite a few years ago in SAM, probably based on the preserved colour cards that have also been posted on this site.I have temporarily mislaid my source for this but will follow up this post: Dark Red Sand is about Methuen 7F4 - a quite dull red brown, for which FS.30108 is also a reasonable match. Red Sand is about 7E5 - brighter and more saturated, for which FS.30117 is OK Dark Sand Methuen I've not immediately to hand but my notes say that Humbrol 110 is fine for this. I can track down Vallejo and other colour matches that I have in my own swatches but for the time being the FS. values at least (if you don't have a copy of Methuen) could lead you to Tamiya etc via the various on-line paint matching tables. I hope this helps. Cheers, GrahamB

Looking good Bill, going to put mine to shame. Cheers, GrahamB

Flippin' brilliant. Time we had a good (cheap) Hampden in 1/72 too. Keep up the good work - but you might need a rest now though? Cheers, GrahamB

Very nice. It's a long time since I built a Spit but this kit is waiting for me in the Wellington model shop - just hope it turns out as good as yours. Cheers, GrahamB