Graham T Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Ah "man flu", feeling like #### but at least I get a couple of days to make progress on this. I haven't made a biplane since I was building 1/72 Airfix kits as a kid, 40 odd years ago (the Tamiya Swordfish doesn't count on account of it's superb, near idiot proof engineering!) & as per the title, I think I may have done better with another subject/manufacturer than this. Don't missunderstand me, the kit is an absolute gem with beauitful, flash free resin main parts that exceed the quality/precision of some main stream injection moulded kits, along with a sheet of brass detail parts. Where the problems lie (for me at least) is in the quality of the instructions. There's rather more guesswork involved in identifying parts & where they go than a biplane newbie such as me is comfortable with, most notably concerning the undercarriage struts & the cabane & interplane structs that appear to be indentical to one another but which I suspect aren't & are going to cause me issues when I eventually get around to mounting the upper wing. I intend to paint the fuselage & lower wing, then attach the upper centre section with the cabane struts attached to it. There's no guidance reagrding the degree of stagger so I lined everything up by eye using CA glue & the box art for a guide which was quite fiddley to say the least. The struts feature wire inserts for added strength. Small location points for the struts are provided & I drilled them out to give a better anchor. Having done so the centre section now looks as though it's going to sit far too low over the front fuselage in front of the cockpit. To check this I attached the telescopic gun sight & sure enough it looks like I'm going to have a problem. I refilled th location holes in the fuselage with CA but it's too late to do the same with the ends into the centre section so it seems there's a fun time ahead! The undercarriage caused similar issues of alignmnent & location but I think I managed to nail it together & provide at least a reasonable facsimile of the real thing! As things stand I'm nearing the painting stage, having attached all the small detals such as the etched stitching strips, gun sight, etched step locations, tailplane & it's supprort struts along with the tail skid (THATS not going to last the build process!). I left the guns off for now as they'll cause handling problems down the line. Now I just have to guess the colours as there are ZERO colour call outs for any components. Regarding this matter, I painted the fuselage inside dark earth with a gloss varnish to represent wood & the typical Hawker tubular frame cockpit assembly black with steel seat etc., but rest assured that whatever colour you choose can't be seen when everythings closed up. The engine is a model in itself & impressive when assembled & will be left off until last knockings. The apparent gap in the fuselage in front of the cockpit is filled with CA & polished. So it's all a bit fraught but hopefully I'm not going to let it defeat me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DougN Posted November 1, 2011 Share Posted November 1, 2011 Looks like you're doing quite well to me Graham! Here is a link to another build of the kit, perhaps you can PM David (the builder) to get some advice: David's Finished Woodcock Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p-26luvr Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 The Woodcock is one of the early British fighters that is interesting to me. Your work so far looks very good to me. I will be waiting to see it finished. Carl T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted November 4, 2011 Share Posted November 4, 2011 Superlative of the day for me is "Cor"... and Cor, that looks like a nice kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 Blimey, my eyes! Did some more work on the engine. Not perfect but I'm satisfied with it as a first attempt at this kind of thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Rogers Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Looking great so far Graham, good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunshine coast Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Nice work so far ..... don't worry ..the eyes will get used to it .... eventually ! Regards Trevor ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted November 5, 2011 Author Share Posted November 5, 2011 Just removed the masking after having sprayed aluminum over the main airframe. I'd previously sprayed Humbrol 125 satin grey on the metal fuselage forward panels which has come out a litle darker than the tin lid suggested & probably too dark for the real thing. In the absence of colour call outs in the kit instructions or period colour shots, it'll have to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Rogers Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 Coming alive now Graham isn't it. Guess you could mist some lighter grey over the 125 if you wanted to, I wouldn't bother personally. 1) You might end up spoiling a nice finish so far, and 2) I think more of a contrast on a model can really make it ping when it's all done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killingholme Posted November 5, 2011 Share Posted November 5, 2011 (edited) I wouldn't worry about the contrast between the doped silver and painted grey- Here's a Dankok: http://www.airteamimages.com/116934.html http://www.airplane-pictures.net/image78612.html Something similar appears to have been the case with the Woodcocks: http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/hawker_woodcock.php Will Edited November 5, 2011 by Killingholme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p-26luvr Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Your work so far looks just great. Thanks to Will for posting the pictures of the Danecock, they are teriffic. Carl T Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted November 17, 2011 Author Share Posted November 17, 2011 Getting some rigging done! The port forward flying wires ought to be parallel to one another so I screwed that up, however they are so firmly attached with CA that I'm worried about pulling apart the whole wing assembly if I try to redo it. Guess I'll have to live with it, all in all I'm quite pleased so far with my first efforts. For the rigging wires, I'm using 20lb clear thread, that I'll paint silver once it's all installed. The engine is assembled & painted, along with the prop that I've painted using a dark brown gloss to try & replicate a dark mahogany effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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