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Avro 504 K - 1/72nd ##FINISHED##


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@Ventora3300, @TonyW, @Lawzer

 

Thanks for your comments gents.

 

Mike, The struts were painted with Humbrol 9 Tan which gives them a nice varnished look in this scale. I may try something different on the prop though, we will see how I am doing for time. I had a read through your F.2B build which gave me a timely reminder about completing the decal stage before starting the rigging.

 

Tony. I am going to rig it with Uschi van der Rosten's Superfine thread, this is elasticated like EZ line and the Superfine is recommended for 1/72 scale.

 

Ian, No offence taken buddy. I am pleased with the way that these two turned out, the main challenge was trying to get some variation in the leather shades.

 

Further work today has seen the decaling almost completed with only the rudder left to do, and the crew are now in place too. I have temporarily fixed it on the stand see how it looks and to allow the decals to dry. I will give it a couple of clear coats to seal the decals in and then I can start some of the rigging work.

 

43792534605_22bb68c5ae_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

43792535165_aaba577173_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

44701474841_dd9827ae4b_c.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

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6 hours ago, TonyW said:

Very clean and tidy modelling. I'll be watching with more than a bit of interest once you start rigging. I've yet to have a go and I can't keep putting it off!

Ditto!! - and eyeing off my Heyford, 2 x Gladiators, Pup, Stranraer, Walrus, 2 x Siskins, Tiger Moth, Dragon Rapide (one for the Heller GB), Swordfish and 2 x Furies !!! - Can I contract this chore out to someone - Please ?? 

 

This 504 is looking smashing as all your WIP's tend to do John. Once again, very impressed and equally hooked. 

Cheers.. Dave  

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20 minutes ago, nimrod54 said:

 

 

43792535165_aaba577173_c.jpg

 

Whoops!! Looks as if the novice trainee has clipped a hedge or two on his way in to land! 

Imagine surviving the turmoil on the Western Front, to then be 'promoted' to CFS Flying Instructor !! 

Love this shot. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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On ‎15‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 22:31, Rabbit Leader said:

Ditto!! - and eyeing off my Heyford, 2 x Gladiators, Pup, Stranraer, Walrus, 2 x Siskins, Tiger Moth, Dragon Rapide (one for the Heller GB), Swordfish and 2 x Furies !!! - Can I contract this chore out to someone - Please ?? 

 

This 504 is looking smashing as all your WIP's tend to do John. Once again, very impressed and equally hooked. 

Cheers.. Dave  

Thanks a lot Dave. I hope that the build is proving useful. I have a couple of Eduard 1/48 kits (Albatros D.V and a Hanriot) I would like to make. The rigging looks to be a bit simpler so I may tackle adding the turnbuckles too.

 

On ‎15‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 22:35, Rabbit Leader said:

Whoops!! Looks as if the novice trainee has clipped a hedge or two on his way in to land! 

Imagine surviving the turmoil on the Western Front, to then be 'promoted' to CFS Flying Instructor !! 

Love this shot. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

Yes there must have been a heck of a conversation 

 

CO to Sqn Ldr. "Yes, we would like to offer you the opportunity to take the back seat in an Avro 504 and pass on your combat skills to a complete novice".  

Sqn Ldr to CO. "You must be *@!?* joking sir, are there no test pilot jobs going?" :lol:

 

 

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John, when you get the chance can you please photograph your tools of choice that you use to tackle this 'rigging' theory. I've got a bobbin of this Uschi stuff although need to wear multiple layers of vision magnification to see the damn thing. I'm especially interested in the type of tweezers you use and how you go about the order of application (.i.e - cut thread, apply CA to thread?, add thread to model, or add glue to model, attach thread to glue..... etc.etc.). I seem to try all options and usually waste so much time, saying so many bad words and not getting much done. This 504 is looking even more impressive with every WIP shot. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

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18 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

John, when you get the chance can you please photograph your tools of choice that you use to tackle this 'rigging' theory. I've got a bobbin of this Uschi stuff although need to wear multiple layers of vision magnification to see the damn thing. I'm especially interested in the type of tweezers you use and how you go about the order of application (.i.e - cut thread, apply CA to thread?, add thread to model, or add glue to model, attach thread to glue..... etc.etc.). I seem to try all options and usually waste so much time, saying so many bad words and not getting much done. This 504 is looking even more impressive with every WIP shot. 

 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

Dave, I'll photograph the tools I use before I start the next session and then go though the steps I take to add the threads with some photos of each stage if that will help. There is still much muttering and holding of breath as I add each length of rigging, and the only other thing that you need is oodles of patience.

 

Thanks again for the comments on the 504, I should have it finished on time now, especially with the extension.

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@Rabbit Leader asked me about the tools that I use when doing my rigging so before I started this short session tonight I laid them out and photographed them.

 

30878690418_7e235796ea_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

As you can see, there is nothing special about my kit except perhaps the tweezers which are the anti-static stainless steel type used for electronics and I bought this PIXNOR set from Amazon. The rest of the kit consists of a couple of glue applicators, which are home made using cocktail sticks and fine wires, a scalpel for cutting and trimming thread, a piece of kitchen towel to gently wipe away any excess glue and finally some rigging thread. I place a spot of superglue on a tile, and use the applicators to transfer small dots to fix the thread in position. One thing that I did to the tweezers was to rub the tips with a sanding stick to remove any rough edges that could snag the thread.

 

Assuming that the model has been pre drilled for rigging then a typical application of rigging would start by cutting threads longer than required, I tend to be generous when doing this but I find it makes it easier for me not to have worry about pulling the thread out after feeding it through the pre-drilled holes.  After feeding the thread through both holes at each end of the run, fix one end in position with a small spot of superglue. Quickly soak away any excess glue with an edge of the kitchen towel and allow the glue to set. Once the glue has set, go to the opposite end and gently tension the thread and fix it in place with more glue and clean up as required. Finally, carefully trim away the excess thread with a sharp blade. 

 

The example below shows the application of the strut brace rigging.

 

A length of cut thread

 

44749376201_460b041e34_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

Thread has been fed through the pre drilled hole in readiness for gluing. Because of the strut design on this kit, I decided not to drill the top holes and fix one end where the strut meets the wing.

 

44749376441_2d4ffd326e_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

Strut bracing completed. Once all the wires have been added, check the ends and apply more glue as required and when set tidy these areas with gentle sanding and repaint.

 

44749377001_b21903b165_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

I don't claim that this is the best method and there may well be much better ways to approach the job, but it's the one that works best for me in this scale. HTHi

 

NOTE

** Having had another read through the above, I can see that I forgot to mention a couple of things. First, that I work from the inside out, so start rigging from the fuselage and work towards the wingtip. And second I use a lighter to burn off any glue build up on the applicator which helps to keep the glue spots small.**

Edited by nimrod54
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Excellent Rigging tutorial there John, thanks so much for putting this all together. The photography is so crisp and the explanation quite clear. Besides those hand made sharp 'eye pokers', I've got these basic tools, so there's no reason that with a bit of paitence and a truck-load of luck, even I should be able to rig like a master rigger.

 

Once again - many thanks for taking the time to do this.

Cheers and kind regards.. Dave   

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17 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Excellent Rigging tutorial there John, thanks so much for putting this all together. The photography is so crisp and the explanation quite clear. Besides those hand made sharp 'eye pokers', I've got these basic tools, so there's no reason that with a bit of paitence and a truck-load of luck, even I should be able to rig like a master rigger.

 

Once again - many thanks for taking the time to do this.

Cheers and kind regards.. Dave   

 

11 hours ago, Smudge said:

Thanks for posting your rigging tips, John. I like your glue applicators, might have to nick that idea, cheers.

 

You are welcome chaps, I hope that they prove helpful to you both and I have added a couple of other useful hints to the original post.

 

I have just completed the final bit of rigging on the wings and I now have to figure out how best to represent the skid/undercarriage rigging. But that will probably be a weekend job because I have a pair of Mustangs to finish before Sunday.

 

43858135985_72bbfb7ee2_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

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On ‎19‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 17:43, Lawzer said:

If I *ever* do a biplane with rigging and it ends up 1/2 as good as that I'll be happy!  Top job fella!!! 👍

 

Thanks for the very kind comment Ian. I've had a look at the ski/undercarriage assembly this afternoon and I decided that I need to add a few more rigging lines before I start assembling things. 

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I was able to add the skid assembly and some of the rigging last night, once I was sure that everything had set properly I glued the undercarriage legs and axle in place. This morning I have completed the rigging of these parts, and with that the majority of the rigging is complete. That leaves the ailerons, elevators and rudder control cables left to do but not before I carry out some paint touch ups followed by a tidy up the wing surfaces along with investigating the reason for the mysterious bubble that keeps appearing at the rear of the fuselage. 

 

43993307615_7fb9493b15_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

43993308715_c619645d66_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

 

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This looks like 1:1 scale, not 1:72. The rigging and paintwork are immaculate (who scraped the black on the undercarriage legs, then? - must have happened during rigging). This will turn out to be an absolute stunner. All the best. Mike

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With supreme quality photographs like that John, I reckon you could make a handsome living outsourcing your modelling skills to 'rig-a-phobic' bi-plane modellers the world over. This is just so crisp and neat it honestly beggars belief. I'd say some more choice words, however the mods have put a limit on how many complementary words one can add to a build thread! 

 

Cheers... Dave 

 

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@Ventora3300, @AdrianMF, @Rabbit Leader, @Lawzer and @MarkSH

 

Thankyou to all above for the generous comments., I made a start on cleaning up the wings this afternoon  the top surface of the upper wing was sanded where holes for the rigging came through and has been repainted. The underside of the lower wing was a little trickier to clean and I opted for a different method, choosing to use a scalpel blade to gently scrape away the glue from each of the attachment points and these now require paint touch ups. Mike should be pleased to know that the damage caused by the careless rigger has been corrected - you just can't get the staff these days. :winkgrin: The wheels were attached too, but I still have to touch in the tyres at the sprue attachment points.

 

29977361497_e605e655d1_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

44913571851_250662b2a7_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

29977360907_7376308c93_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

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Today I decided to tackle the aileron rigging. First I had a look at the photos in the Walkaround section of the forum to get a better idea of the cable runs across the upper an lower wings, I could also see that there were some cable guides and made these from Evergreen strip material, four on top and a further four underneath. Once I finished making those, I ran the first cable from the control horn around the pulley and across to the pulley on the opposite wing finishing at that sides control horn. I then added the four guides before painting these black. The process was then repeated on the lower wing, it would have been better to have made this run before I had rigged the skid/undercarriage because doing it this way has left me with a tricky painting job. After that it was a simple matter of connecting the upper and lower ailerons.

With regard to the rigging, I should mention that some of these runs should be double wires, but in this scale I have chosen to simplify things with a single run, plus it takes me ages to train the spiders that I use for this job.  :mental:

 

44216156394_0c24056aa9_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

44216155924_2d0c79035c_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

44216154854_4f38af9422_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

44216155344_93a76a9da0_b.jpg

by John L, on Flickr

 

I'll try to finish the painting on the underside tomorrow and then I should be able to make the final rigging runs and have this one wrapped up by the weekend.

 

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On 26/09/2018 at 23:25, nimrod54 said:

Today I decided to tackle the aileron rigging. First I had a look at the photos in the Walkaround section of the forum to get a better idea of the cable runs across the upper an lower wings, I could also see that there were some cable guides and made these from Evergreen strip material, four on top and a further four underneath. Once I finished making those a ran the first cable from the control horn around the pulley and across to the pulley on the opposite wing finishing at that sides control horn. I then added the four guides before painting these black. The process was then repeated on the lower wing, it would have been better to have made this run before I had rigged the skid/undercarriage because doing it this way has left me with a tricky painting job. After that it was a simple matter of connecting the upper and lower ailerons.

With regard to the rigging, I should mention that some of these runs should be double wires, but in this scale I have chosen to simplify things with a single run, plus it takes me ages to train the spiders that I use for this job.  :mental:

 

I'll try to finish the painting on the underside tomorrow and then I should be able to make the final rigging runs and have this one wrapped up by the weekend.

 

John, the control cables have turned out fantastically and it's hard to believe this is 1/72 - the Avro looks like it could fly! Having just rigged the Bristol F.2B, I can appreciate now the level of skill you are putting in to run the wires, avoid blobs of glue and a turn out a pristine finish. I've just noticed the red 'sockets' or 'sleeves' you have put on the ends of all the struts - immaculate detailing! This is a cracker. All the best. Mike.

Edited by Ventora3300
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