masking wing ribs

[Whofan]

Okay gentlefolk,

 

I now have a hankering to make some WW1 models, mailny because I was perusing the stash for a easy job after my difficult Seafire, whe I came across two Mistercraft WW1 planes in 1/48 that I picked up from an LMS a few years ago for £8 each. 

 

Now I don't need reminding about these kits, their quality is not very good, eg they have roundels and serial numbers embossed on the wings and fuselage sides - mostly now scraped and/or sanded off - no cockpit detail to speak of at all, and a very dodgy - in the case of the Sopwith Camel I've been playing with - method of attaching the two guns to the engine cowling.

 

In short, for biplane practice, they might be quite good, but ever up for a shallenge, I'm going to try to build them with the same respect I'd give an Eduard or Wingnut Wings or Copper State kit (and I m a hoping to pick up the Copper State Sopwith Dolphin soon).

 

Among the tips and things I've seen in WIPs here and magazine builds is taping the ribs on wings. But, I need to refresh my memory on the why and how of such masking.

 

Can I find a build by searching WIP forum? Or a magazine article on building a biplane and masking the wing ribs?

 

Nope, which Is why I'm bothering all you gentlefolk to either give me a quick lesson in this technique, or point me to a WIP which includes this technique.

 

I look forward to your help!!

Edited April 24, 2023 by Whofan

[Orso]

 

Here is perhaps one

[Whofan]

@Orso,

 

thanks for this. The technique shown is slightly different to ones I thought I'd seen before, but nevertheless, very helpful.

[Orso]

I built the 1/50 Avro 504 from Smer that had the roundels engraved in the plastic. I used a different approach but I wasn't planning to keep the model after the show.

https://baecklund.eu/scalemodels/gig/48avro504.html

[Whofan]

I’ve done some scraping and sanding to get rid of the embossed roundels, as you said, a tedious job!

 

These mistercraft kits must be re boxes from the 50’s, but scalemates has them as new in 2017!! 
 

The Avro is a very nice looking plane, the scratch work you did enhanced it a lot!

 

Good to see you decided to keep it!

Edited April 26, 2023 by Whofan

[DaddyO]

I've done it on the underside wing ribs on a few of mine. The reason I did was the wing ribs have 'rib tapes' covering the stitching which is an extra layer of doped material to cover and protect the it. This appears lighter on aircraft with camouflaged upper surfaces because of the double thickness. On un-doped aircraft it would appear darker because the shadow of the rib would show through.

 

Easy enough to do, if a little fiddly. Spray the base colour, mask ribs and spray a slightly darker shade of the same colour (This is the 'correct' colour that you want the wing to be so either use a lighter or darker shade for the first coat depending on the effect you are after). Remove masking and check appearance. At this point I usually find a mist coat of the final colour will reduce contrast and blend the two colours making it look less like striped fabric.

 

Hope that helps. Here are the ones I've done so far

 

Paul

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by DaddyO

[Paul Thompson]

2 hours ago, DaddyO said:

I've done it on the underside wing ribs on a few of mine. The reason I did was the wing ribs have 'rib tapes' covering the stitching which is an extra layer of doped material to cover and protect the it. This appears lighter on aircraft with camouflaged upper surfaces because of the double thickness. On un-doped aircraft it would appear darker because the shadow of the rib would show through.

 

Easy enough to do, if a little fiddly. Spray the base colour, mask ribs and spray a slightly darker shade of the same colour (This is the 'correct' colour that you want the wing to be so either use a lighter or darker shade for the first coat depending on the effect you are after). Remove masking and check appearance. At this point I usually find a mist coat of the final colour will reduce contrast and blend the two colours making it look less like striped fabric.

 

Hope that helps. Here are the ones I've done so far

 

Paul

 

 

Very nice, and I do the same - with the proviso that the tapes under camouflaged wings can appear dark as well, depending on the angle of the light. Look at enough photos and you'll see it. Also, if the aircraft has survived for any kebgth of time there will be accumulated grot (dirt, flies, castor oil) either side of each tape which can make telling the relative shades of tape and non tape quite hard. I noticed that when I got some fabric off the Shuttleworth SE5a a couple of re-coverings ago. ALso noticed then that the stitching was fairly course and did make slight bobbles under the tape, but nothing so thick that I'd want to try to represent it with anything but paint. I did try Eduard and Part stitching PE a few taimes way back, using 1/72nd on 1/48th models, and the result was gross.

 

(Other) Paul.

[Whofan]

@DaddyO,

 

Thanks for the explanation, which the photos show nicely.

Edited April 26, 2023 by Whofan

[Whofan]

Paul, 

 

Thanks for the additional info. 

 

I may be having a go at these very soon!

[Brandy]

I work in 1:72 so this advice is based on that.

For undersides I don't add any raised details. How you do it depends on what colours are involved.

For bare fabric undersides with the same on the upper surfaces, ribs are darker. I would mark them with a thin pen and overspray to reduce the sharpness.

For bare fabric under with a darker colour on top, ribs are lighter. I spray white, mask the ribs and spray clear doped linen colour, then remove the masking and give it another thin coat of CDL to reduce the rib tapes and blend them in a little more. 

For upper surfaces I personally don't like raised detail as I think it's overscale. When I have added it I used micro masking tape then oversprayed the upper colour. Otherwise,mask the ribs, spray the upper colour a little heavier than normal, remove the masking and spray again. When the masking is removed it leaves a very slight edge which can be sanded down gently to give a subtle rib effect.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope that helps.

 

Ian