ProfSparks Posted October 7, 2019 Share Posted October 7, 2019 Hi All Sorry I haven't been in The Lab much lately, ramping up to Silly Season is getting in the way. Anyhoo, I've had a couple of brief sessions on this old thing with the aim of trying out the Buff / Linen undercoat for a wood finish. It's not wood on the box art, but there are a couple of the 20+ schemes (count 'em) that are Not a high part count But the engine is cute, even though most of it will be hidden away The interior gets a base coat of Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow with Ochre Yellow and Burnt Umber streaks, Clear Yellow and Orange staining, and a finish of Brown Tamiya Panel Line Accent Colour for contrast The sides are joined, and while setting the 'interior' gets some paint There it will probably stay for a while until I pass this way again. Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew1974 Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 So far looking good. I am deeply interested in the Austro-Hungarian Empire's role in World War One so I will be following this build. I have this kit myself in the stashand plan to build it as von Bromowski's mount, complete with the sword "camouflage". I am going to cheat though and use the FCM decals Keep up the great work! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted October 15, 2019 Author Share Posted October 15, 2019 Hi All A brief digest of recent Lab Spasms The engine fits on its' supports But sits too high to get the exhausts on to the cylinders (I know the upper deck part isn't fully down, but it's just the way I'm holding it) This is raised slightly to clear the ports But it puts the centre off centre Regardless, office done! Not much can be seen anyway The nose of the fuselage just about fits the front cowling ring (not) But hey, this isn't about fit, it's about starting wood. Paint time And a coat of Tamiya XF-57 Buff later Looks a little brown to me, so I redid the CDL parts with XF-55 Deck Tan Cursed lighting, magnification and general shoddyness. Anyhoo, as I made little effort to blend in the cockpit decking top part to the rest of the fuselage, I thought I'd give it a different shade of wood with an XF-15 Flesh base. Can't really tell from this photo, but it is. The struts and legs got XF-77 IJN Grey. On removing the masking from round the cockpit decking, some paint was lifted from the Buff coat. "Oh my word, that is unfortunate!" I thought (paraphrasing obviously) Then I had a closer look and thought I might get away with it as wood grain? So I dabbed some off the sides, and hope to blend in some watercolour pencil marks before the Clear Orange top coat. If it doesn't pan out, then I'll know for next time. Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted October 15, 2019 Author Share Posted October 15, 2019 Hi All Just like the busses, nothing for ages then two come along at once. I thought the Deck Tan looked a little grey and flat, what it needed was more of a translucent yellowish tinge. Something like Tamiya X-24 Clear Yellow cut with X-22 Clear? Hmm, poor old mule. At least it's not an Eduard mule On with the Clear Orange sometime soon (hopefully) Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted October 16, 2019 Author Share Posted October 16, 2019 Seen it in the daylight, don't like it 😳. I'm off to eat worms. Cheers Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted October 16, 2019 Share Posted October 16, 2019 Wood mule or not, that engine fit/ location would pee me off. Not to sure how you would get round it if you were fussed. Hope them worms are tasty. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted October 16, 2019 Share Posted October 16, 2019 Looks to me like a cowling error. The engine needs to be central. I use radome tan or clear doped linen as a base for wood. You want it to be a light tan colour, not too orange or brown. Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted October 17, 2019 Author Share Posted October 17, 2019 Hi All 21 hours ago, Courageous said: Wood mule or not, that engine fit/ location would pee me off. Not to sure how you would get round it if you were fussed. Hope them worms are tasty. Stuart Hi Stuart, worms taste a bit like chicken 17 hours ago, limeypilot said: Looks to me like a cowling error. The engine needs to be central. I use radome tan or clear doped linen as a base for wood. You want it to be a light tan colour, not too orange or brown. Ian Hi Ian, I might adjust the cowling, or I might sit the engine lower and just fix the exhausts slightly high. The Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan that I previously used is a recognised CDL lookalike, particularly for larger scales, but it didn't quite do it for me. I put on some Vallejo Model Air 71.075 Sand (Ivory) and it looks to have a bit more life about it. (It photographed a really odd colour so I tweaked it a touch to what I thought it looks like. What's with the pink!?!) Anyhoo, I'm going to give it a coat of Pledge to seal it in, perhaps try a drop of X-24 Clear Yellow in with it just because. Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted October 24, 2019 Author Share Posted October 24, 2019 Hi All I put a couple of washes of that Tamiya Brown Panel Wash on the Flesh wood base The whole thing still looks slightly too dark orange, perhaps I should have put some clear in it to take the edge off? Pressing on, I tried some watercolour pencil on the prop I couldn't quite get the laminations to feel right, so the whole thing became one piece. Next time. Anyhoo, I did the engine cowling, nose ring, and upper wing radiator with Vallejo Air 71.062 Aluminium I'll pick out the various hatches and plates, get the stickers on and then give it some matt action, see if that dims it down a bit. Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 (edited) Lovely work, so far. I Find that deck tan can be a bit yellow for cdl and go for Tamiya buff. For plywood I use desert yellow as a base coat then oils, yellow burnt umber, less is more here, then a coat of Tamiya clear orange. laminated propellers, since switching to paper ones I haven’t looked back, now I haven’t tried to make one in 1/72, but in 1/48 I find it’s the easiest and best looking method. Edited October 24, 2019 by Marklo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted October 27, 2019 Author Share Posted October 27, 2019 Hi All I got the decals on, all ten of them including two on the prop They were thin and quite brittle, all of them cracking into at least a couple of pieces. I managed to coax most of them back together, except for the upper port wing where they just wouldn't sit right. Never mind, I got the nose ring on as close as central as it would go (if you were to do this seriously you'd need to put in some work to get it smooth), and glued on the lower wings I must admit that once the aluminium and markings were on, it didn't look as garish as I had thought. At least it takes your eye away from the nose ring / body step Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted October 29, 2019 Author Share Posted October 29, 2019 Hi All After several rounds of knocking off selected wings and the tail and, I finally managed to get all the body pieces together at the same time. There's not a lot of surface to join between the surfaces, sometimes just looking at them causes a fracture Anyhoo, they've been given a coat of matt to try to keep them solid The little bristles on the coffee stirrer are the six individual exhausts awaiting some paint. How many do you think I'll have left by time I've come to fit them? Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted October 30, 2019 Author Share Posted October 30, 2019 Hi All The good news is, I managed to get them all on without losing any! If it were to be built properly, those exhaust ends would be drilled out. But anyhoo, from one wooden wonder to another Took me a while to nudge the towers and arms into the right positions, but I think I've the measure of it. One strut on and all's well so far... Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 Looks as though you've got the crank central now too. Coming along nicely! Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 Hi All Going to call time on this one. I got the cabane struts on Then they pinged off while puting the top wing on. So I changed tack and started with the outer struts On refitting the cabane struts in the now too small gap, the starboard wing deflected then defected, leaving me dejected. It has served its purpose admirably, and as that great green philosopher once said, "That'll do, donkey. That'll do." Thanks for the company, see you on the next one. Cheers Steve 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 Yes...these are problematic kits. Too bad you are shelving it. I have built several (same issues as you) but a bit of fiddling fixed them up right. Regarding the 'wood' undercoat...I used Radome Tan, let it dry really well, then shaded on some 'darker' wood semi-transparent colour. Then after full 24 hours of drying, I used Clear Yellow. It gives it a better spruce/klinker built look. Please say you'll come back to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marklo Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 (edited) Looks good. A pity you are shelving it. Would love to see it complete with markings and rigging. Struts can me a major pita with biplanes. I almost always have a bit of fiddling. Having a plan is essential. I’d be inclined to drill out the holes for the interplanetary struts (the outer ones) and either scratch some new ones with a bit of brass wire (oasis also do very nice .8mm wires for flower arranging) or pin the existing struts, then leave it to dry for a while. Following which, using a bows protractor ( a compass with two needles) tackle the cabane struts ( the inner ones) one strut at a time. You have a biplane jig so that would be a big help with the process. If it were me I’d feel better not relegating a nice build to the shelf of doom ( I have 2 Daleks and my DH4a and Bulldog are angling that way all of which vaguely annoys me, that said now that I’m airbrushing I’m starting to make plans to finish the Daleks and possibly the other 2) Edited November 7, 2019 by Marklo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted November 15, 2019 Author Share Posted November 15, 2019 Hi All One piece at a time Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted November 15, 2019 Share Posted November 15, 2019 Back! Good! Despite your despair this has been a useful thread. As we speak I have one in the post and have now been pre-warned on what to look out for. Good of luck with the rest of it. Dennis 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Courageous Posted November 15, 2019 Share Posted November 15, 2019 Looking very, very nice Steve, coming together nicely...eventually. Looks like you've centralized the engine, will be interesting to see how the prop and spinner align. Stuart 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted November 15, 2019 Author Share Posted November 15, 2019 Hi All 8 hours ago, DMC said: As we speak I have one in the post and have now been pre-warned on what to look out for. Hi Dennis, main thing I'd do differently would be to leave off the lower wings, turn it upside down and fit the upper wing square and secure on the cabane struts. Then attach the lower wings on the outer struts and what little purchase they have with the body, making sure they are at the same angle (and not flat as I had them initially). If you can do that without knocking off the tail and tail skid a dozen times, and live with or smooth over the nose ring to body join, then I doubt there's much out there that offers 20+ decal versions. Good luck! Cheers Steve 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMC Posted November 16, 2019 Share Posted November 16, 2019 Thanks, Steve, I’ll file that away until I’m ready to start the kit. It was an impulse buy after a bit of curious browsing led me here: and to a few other reviews. I’ve yet to rig and finish a biplane and, more recently, have shied away from war machines but I’ll give this one a try after the Flying Boat and Floatplane GB ends. Thanks again. Dennis 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted November 16, 2019 Share Posted November 16, 2019 Great to see you haven't given up on this. She's looking good! I have one in the stash and picked up some Aviattic sworl camo for it at Telford. Not sure how far up the build list that has moved it though.... Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProfSparks Posted November 17, 2019 Author Share Posted November 17, 2019 Hi All On 11/16/2019 at 1:32 PM, limeypilot said: I have one in the stash and picked up some Aviattic sworl camo for it at Telford. Not sure how far up the build list that has moved it though... Hi Ian, I wouldn't move her up the list unless to earmark her for a casual fling or fancy trying some 'adjustments'. Those decals might be better served on a more benevolent build, but hey one mans meat... So anyhoo, I figured I'd partially rig her And this time I'm really calling her done Thanks to you all for goading me to finish her, she's a pretty wee thing. Comments and suggestions welcome Cheers Steve 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted November 17, 2019 Share Posted November 17, 2019 Very nice result! Rigging and wood finish on the fuselage turned out very good. 1/72 scale WW1 and golden age aircraft models are sooo darned small- they are n pretty small in 1/48 and even 1/32, so what you have managed speaks well for your skills! Mike 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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