SoftScience Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 (edited) Hiya, all. It seems like Casa del Softscience, winter is the season of biplane building (and discontent - there is ALWAYS discontent). I've already pulled all the biplane boxes from the attic (that's a loft to you UKasians) and may or may not have added two new purchases (I did, I totally did) to the multiwinged stash. I decided to start off with the simplest one in the collection - Eduard's 1/48 Roland C.II. This attractive little two-seater features a cigar-shaped fuselage, with all four wings mounted directly into the fuselage sides. This means simple strut work. And if anyone of you thinks that biplanes are hard because of rigging, then you're 1000% wrong. They're hard because lining up the top wing on the struts is hard. Its what your boys back then would have called "beastly unfortunate" . Anyway, the Roland has two simple wing struts, and no cabane (thats above the fuselage) struts to screw things up. It also has neat little side windows and cute little curtains to put inside them. The Eduard kit (and its Revell reboxing) is pretty simple. I don't know when it came out, but it has the soft blobby details of Eduard's 1990s-era stuff. This is not the profipack boxing, so I was left to scrounge for details from my spare's box. Luckily I have an almost complete fret of German WW I stuff from i don't know what. This is the aircraft I'm building. But I haven't settled on a paint scheme yet. Edited November 25, 2018 by SoftScience 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted November 25, 2018 Author Share Posted November 25, 2018 I started the build days before I started the thread. To date, I've finished up the cockpit, which began by giving all the main parts a woody finish. This was done with a sandy yellow base coat, brushed roughly with raw sienna oil paints to give it that wood grain look. The oils were then sealed with a variety of clear, clear yellow, or clear orange coats, to simulate different woods. As you can see. Some look better than others. Later all the different bits were added, and poof, just like magic, a complete cockpit was ready* *the magic required about a weeks worth of work, Vallejo and Tamiya paints, some decals, and a bunch of random PE. Over the days, I also slapped together the engine. I didn't give it too much TLC, as most isn't going to be visible. I may add TLC to the cams and exhausts, once paint is done. Anyway, I threw the engine onto its retainers and glued the fuselage halves together. Fit was less than good. But this being a WW I plane, there won't be too many panel lines to goof around with, so filling and sanding wont be as much of a process. The sharp eyed will note that I did not add the cute little curtains. The decals supplied, look a little crappy. I couldn't bring myself to cut corners on a detail so central to this craft. I guess not all of these things had the courtesy of a country home decorator. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted November 25, 2018 Author Share Posted November 25, 2018 Does anybody know if the fishscale patterns worn on some of these planes are available as a decal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drift Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 You mean the lozenge effect? Yes, you do get them in decals. https://www.aviattic.co.uk/132-decals.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 I don’t know whethe the Roland CII ever had the lozenge fabric being from earlier in the war, unless you can find a photo of showing it I wouldn’t go down that route. AW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortCummins Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 I think he means this... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TallBlondJohn Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Not all Walfisch had the curtains AFAIK. I suspect they came and went depending on mission. That said, this one even has pot plants! 2 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattlow Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 12 hours ago, SoftScience said: Does anybody know if the fishscale patterns worn on some of these planes are available as a decal? Yes, ironically Eduard did them in one of their boxings... http://www.hyperscale.com/2009/reviews/kits/eduard8043reviewrb_1.htm Maybe put out a call for surplus decals in the wanted section...? Matt 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 5 hours ago, TallBlondJohn said: That said, this one even has pot plants! And the bird cage hanging off the Mg. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted November 25, 2018 Author Share Posted November 25, 2018 (edited) 14 hours ago, Drift said: You mean the lozenge effect? Yes, you do get them in decals. https://www.aviattic.co.uk/132-decals.html No, not lozenge. As @Mattlow pointed out. Eduard used to include them in earlier versions of the kit. This fish scale camouflage. This decal didn't come with my boxing. I wonder if it is available aftermarket. Edited November 25, 2018 by SoftScience 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duckwizard Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 I guess Eduard recognized in the meantime that a whale (Wal) is no fish (Fisch). 😛 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Oh that's a nice project... I've been tempted by this kit, and I think that someday, I ll buy one ! Great woodwork on the internals !! Sincerely. CC 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted November 25, 2018 Author Share Posted November 25, 2018 1 minute ago, corsaircorp said: Oh that's a nice project... I've been tempted by this kit, and I think that someday, I ll buy one ! Great woodwork on the internals !! Sincerely. CC If you have not built a biplane before, this is a good first-time around kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted November 25, 2018 Author Share Posted November 25, 2018 19 minutes ago, Duckwizard said: I guess Eduard recognized in the meantime that a whale (Wal) is no fish (Fisch). 😛 They seem to follow the doctrine of the medieval Catholic church: anything that swims is considered a fish. Cod? Fish Whale? Fish Dolphin? Fish Beaver? Fish Vinnie The Snitch? Swimming with the fish 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted November 25, 2018 Share Posted November 25, 2018 Hello, I finished the Grumman F3F-2 and I'm doing the Airfix magnificent Walrus. I also started 2 Fokker Dr I I'll tag along if you Don't mind ! CC 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted November 26, 2018 Author Share Posted November 26, 2018 And now I wait for filler to dry. Quite a bit of filler was needed to shape the gunner's opening and the lower wing. Lots sanding and shaping to come. Thourghouly not fun. I should find something else to work on while this sets and cures. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted November 28, 2018 Author Share Posted November 28, 2018 First round of sanding done. As always, I ended up sanding a lot of the filler right out of the recesses. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it happens often. Nevertheless, it's coming to shape. Enough filler stayed on, and now I'm augmenting with some Mr. Surfacer. Hope this does the trick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andwil Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 7 hours ago, SoftScience said: As always, I ended up sanding a lot of the filler right out of the recesses. I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but it happens often. Happens to me a lot too so I’ll be interested to read any explanations for it. Maybe using too coarse a grade of sander? AW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 Maybe applying too much pressure? Let the tool do the work! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 28, 2018 Share Posted November 28, 2018 (edited) Lovely work, I've built this several times in 1/72 and the eduards kit is definitely on my radar Guilty little secret, the absolute best way to line up the two wings on a biplane is to use the kit box as above, works every time. The finsihed article, Airfix Be2C converted to a single seater nightfighter. Edited November 28, 2018 by Marklo 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted December 8, 2018 Author Share Posted December 8, 2018 (edited) After much sanding and filling, I was finally able to shape the wing joint and gunner's opening. The rest was pretty quick. Some hole drilling to come. Edited December 8, 2018 by SoftScience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestFan Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 I've got the same kit at the same stage, stalled as the rigging has put me off so I shall watch your progress with great interest. Please post lots of pics! Looks good so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now