John Masters Posted October 5, 2018 Share Posted October 5, 2018 I almost began the D.III until I realized that those aircraft were never delivered in time to see action in the Great War. Thankfully, I had a D.IIa, and a better choice I feel, since the D.III is grey all over and this one sports the bright red-and-white stripes of the Austro-Hungarian Navy as well as the distinctive mottled camouflage seen on so many A-H aircraft. I have built these Phonices before and, as I recall, the only pitfalls are the fitting of the stabilizer into the slot so that it isn't crooked and the port-side cabane struts. The strut goes through the exhaust pipes. You'll see. Its not hard to fit, but it is a bother the first time around. I'll be making Phonix J.21 which, as well as the red/white bits has a nifty lightning bolt running across the fuselage. I get to use more Mister Kit paints too! Here are some obligatory shots... Box top... And the sprues...the kit comes with little bit of photo etch and some foil for the windscreen. It has decals for the red/white parts, but I think I will paint those. The Sprues. Sounds like a band...😁 --John 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 6, 2018 Author Share Posted October 6, 2018 The basic starting points...cockpit and engine. The engine for the MAC kit is not very detailed, but has some detail where it counts, namely what you will see outside of the nose--carburation, cylinder heads, exhausts...all of these can end up looking good if one takes a little care to make sure that the pieces are cleaned up well. There was a fair amount of small flash on the exhausts and the carburetor lines. The engine block halves both have moulding lugs on the areas where they will meet. All of these need to be cleaned up and sanded smooth, which I did. The exhaust pipes are attached to the cylinder heads which makes for easy assembly. Next...some cockpit work. I have tinted the seat and the cockpit floor a wooden-ish colour. I'll varnish them in time. That little raised area in front of the cockpit is where the engine will go. This is a good design aspect of the MAC Phonix series. It allows the builder to really test fit the whole unit in the fuselage. Very handy. The points where the control stick and pedals will go will be drilled a bit for a more secure fit. I will be adding a seat cushion. Medical tape suits this task well. Although I skipped a couple of photo steps, I did the work...honest! I have painted the motor and attached it to it's spot. The seat and wooden areas have been varnished with Tamiya Clear Yellow. The PE card offers a few things, two of which are the control stick and the foot pedals. I have used those. My experience tells me to skip the PE seat harness in favour of tape and paint. It looks much better. The PE pieces never stay on and are, imho, too small. While all of that dries and otherwise sets up, I went ahead and began cleaning up the primary pieces--wings and fuselage. On the fuselage I removed the moulding lugs on the inside just as a matter of course. They won't be seen and do not hamper the build in any way, but why not? The wings all had small flash around the edges and needed a good cleaning. I cleaned up some of the scalloping along the trailing edges too, where it was needed, especially on the rudder. The lower wings will attach to the fuselage at those small holes on the sides. That last time I built one of these I remember being very unhappy with this arrangement, finding the mounting pins on the wings to be unsupportive. I ended up drilling and adding some pieces of Evergreen rod for strength. I will do the same with this build. I will also be adding some brass rod for control horns on all the surfaces where they are needed. Good morning and off to work... --John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 6, 2018 Author Share Posted October 6, 2018 Well...I did it again. I assembled and didn't document the whole of the event. I attached the cockpit/engine component inside the fuselage and close it up but not before a little trimming on the end of the engine mount. Even then, I had to add two very small pieces of Evergreen shim in the nose. Others have done this without issue, I seem to have missed that boat. I'll photograph the shim later. The engine access panels and repair openings are moulded in as fine lines, which one could paint if one wishes. I chose to make something more substantial so I took a punch and matched up the size, sanded them down a fair bit, etc...I also added part of the coolant system that is on this motor. Eventually I will have a line running to the radiator on the upper wing. Brass wire control horns...fore and aft... Next up...looking at other builds and so forth to find out where I need to drill the rigging points. There aren't too many, but they are there! --John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 6, 2018 Author Share Posted October 6, 2018 Drilling rigging holes...decided to add hinges to the access ports. Looks much better, I think. One fun aspect of this aircraft is that it had a wooden plywood fuselage. Usually the distinctive splotchy brown and/or green paint was applied directly over the varnished wood. I think I might try that. Varnished spruce with brown splotches...hmmm...the upper panels on the nose will be a light grey, as will the access ports. They weren't always painted over to match the rest of the fuselage. I'll open up the foot steps. There is one on the other side as well. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 7, 2018 Author Share Posted October 7, 2018 Masked important bits, a cotton bud and some woodgrain tint. My feeling that at 1/72nd scale, woodgrain isn't nearly as noticeable. Tonal shifts, however, is. And tinted. the idea is to use a little at a time, dab it on some kitchen paper first, then rub it rather firmly across the surface, front to back, etc... I will wait for several hours (this was several hours ago) and then carefully hand brush on some Clear Yellow. As the Clear Yellow dries it tones down a bit and becomes more like varnished wood. --John 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 8, 2018 Author Share Posted October 8, 2018 The wooden fuselage, pretty much finished. What I did was apply the Clear Yellow, let it dry, then 'burnished' it with a damp piece of kitchen paper. This had the effect of toning down the high gloss into something more scale-related. I will leave this as is. The wings, on the other hand, are a different matter... First round of spraying on the wings. I used the Mister Kit CDL dark for the linen areas. The areas not painted will get get a coat of white first, then the red. The splotchy pant will go on the CDL areas on both wings. Rudder and stabilizer will be red/white. Can't miss this one in the dark! --John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 8, 2018 Author Share Posted October 8, 2018 Fir the most part the body of the aircraft is finished. I tuned my attention to the wings which will take a layer of white, then masked and the red. Masked again after if is all dry I will dab the splotchy camo with, I think, a paper tissue. I have to find the right colour brown for this. Apologies...I didn't photograph the white areas on the wings. But I did photo the masked area with the red paint! Fuselage, wings painted, awaiting camo...yes...I see the bit of overspray. An easy fix... --John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 8, 2018 Author Share Posted October 8, 2018 I ended up using the Light Brown Camo from Vallejo Air for the brown bits. The key to this is to use a thin, or thinned, paint. The Air series is perfect for this since it is already quite thin. I used a scrunched up piece of facial tissue and dabbed on the colour, much the same way they would have done it back in the day. They used old rags. Note that the lower wing only has the red and white bands on the underside of the wing. And here it all is unmasked. It's time to put some things together, I think. Tomorrow... --John 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smudge Posted October 8, 2018 Share Posted October 8, 2018 Very nice work, John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 9, 2018 Author Share Posted October 9, 2018 Thanks Smudge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 9, 2018 Author Share Posted October 9, 2018 I decided to trim away the A-H Empire crown and shield decal for the rudder from the decals supplied by MAC. This is what happened when exposed to water: Luckily I have this: And, although the crown and shield are slightly off register (which I can fix, btw...) they look much better than the MAC decals anyway: I'll just gently apply some white to that right hand side of the shield with a fine brush. And then I went ahead and added the cabane struts and the top wing. My ambitious radiator attachment had to go. I can add it back at a later date. --John 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 I love that mottled look, note to self - nick that idea! It's a shame that no one seems to do accurate A-H shields. They all seem to have a pointy bottom instead of an almost flat one, and the crown is too big. I may have to look into correcting that....... Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 9, 2018 Author Share Posted October 9, 2018 Thanks Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badger Posted October 9, 2018 Share Posted October 9, 2018 Excellent work - lots of handy tips which I have bookmarked for when I get round to building my WW1 planes. The mottling effect is most striking. Following with interest. All the best Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 9, 2018 Author Share Posted October 9, 2018 Thanks Ben. It actually looks better with two colours. I left this aircraft with only one, although I might add another, darker brown for contrast. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 Wings are on...landing gear is attached, tail skid too. The struts were not a problem, although they all needed a slight trim of maybe .5mm. Really no more than a quick gentle pass with a sanding stick. . Prop and wheels are ready. Rigging is next and some final touches. Then the wheels and prop go on last. --John 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted October 10, 2018 Share Posted October 10, 2018 Superb progress John. Looking really brilliant. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 10, 2018 Author Share Posted October 10, 2018 Thanks Stix! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 Blimey you can turn these out quickly John, I can hardly keep up with your progress. And all of the highest quality! AW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 11, 2018 Author Share Posted October 11, 2018 Thanks AW. I'll actually be taking a break for the weekend since I will be at a conference. I'll pick it all up on Sunday. I find levels of focus in building that border on mediation and OCD...😉 Also, a fair amount of free time. Single, no children, small family. I'm my own boss too. That helps a lot. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 I get home from my global circumnavigation on Saturday and am itching to get back to my yellow DVII, although Roden struts and jet lag may not be a good combination! AW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 Okey-dokey...rigging...first, the tools of the trade. Not pictured is the jig that will hold the aircraft. I have found that the pointy melted ends of sprue make excellent CA glue applicators. This reduces the amount of glue, keeps the glue specific as to where it is needed and eliminates all that crazy CA 'frosting'. .005 monofilament fishing line, hemostats...I have never tied flies for fly-casting before, but I imagine there are similarities in how I rig biplanes and how this is accomplished. I will try to document as much as I can, but it is difficult to hold a camera in these circumstances. --John 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 17, 2018 Author Share Posted October 17, 2018 This is something to do when one wakes up for no reason at 4AM and cannot fall back asleep...rig and finish a biplane. The jig is up! I have run the monofilament beneath a black permanent marker to darken it. Note: do not use dry-erase markers as the CA glue will not adhere to the ink. Attach some points on the fuselage...let dry! Run the lines through the holes and attach the hemostats--but only when the CA on the fixed end is dry! add a spot of CA where they go into the wing--on the underside, not the top! Flip the bird over and do the same thing for the other direction. Lather, rinse and repeat. Touch up the paint. I used sprue for the rest of the rigging: the cross pieces in the struts, the control horns/surfaces...etc... Apply the decals, adjust some stuff, prop, wheels, add the final little bits of PE (gunsights and generator on the wing) and suddenly, 4 hours later it's done! The decals from the MAC kit were awful so I used my A-H sheet again. They weren't much better. I had to leave off the 'J.27' because those disintegrated in the water. I did scavenge some more A-H numbers that worked. So this is just '25'... Almost...I have neglected the rigging in the undercarriage. I'll fix that sometime today. Some more images in the gallery... --John 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlaStix Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 That turned out beautifully John. All the different effects are very impressive. Top notch modelling all round. Kind regards, Stix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 22, 2018 Author Share Posted October 22, 2018 (edited) Thnaks Thanks Stix. My modelling has improved ten-fold since I started hanging out here. But apparently not my spelling! Edited October 22, 2018 by John D.C. Masters 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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