Great Air War

[ZeroTwentythree]

After years of enjoying Blue Max & Canvas Eagles, I've decided to start my own collection, and hopefully play more frequently, and maybe recruit some new players. These are the first non-wargaming-specific plastic kits I've built since I was a kid. The few I've already got are old Airfx kits, and I've got a few more Airfix & Revell kits on the way. In the next few days I plan on ordering a single flight stand kit from CorSec Engineering (Omni-Stand with sphere magnet.)

The first two kits I've built are a Sopwith Pup and a Fokker DR.I, both from Airfix. I still want to do all the rigging, and then (obviously) paint them. More comments about the kits, etc. are on my blog.








I've barely started this project and I'm already looking around at 1/72 infantry, etc.  

[Blue in vt]

 

Looking Good 023!  Can't wait to see these painted with your usual skill.

Cheers,

Blue

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks. I'm pretty sure this will also involve a little bit of an adjustment or learning curve, moving from painting mainly toy soldiers to painting models.

I'm waiting on getting the hardware for the flight stands before I can start painting. There will be one piece mounted on each plane, so I want to install that before painting. I think I may be able to make use of it for the painting process as well.

[ZeroTwentythree]

No rigging needed on Dr 1 thanks to Anthony's genius.

Thank goodness for that!



I've started the rigging on the Pup. I've done the cross bracing so far. I've used 28 gauge steel wire. The rigidity helps make it easy to assemble. But it does look a bit thick.

In order to help work on it, I got impatient for working out a way of mounting. So I glued a small #40 nut on the bottom of the plane, roughly at the center of gravity. I then cut  few 4" lengths of 1/2" wood dowel, with a small wood screw in each end. So I can use RE magnets to hold the plane on the dowel, and the dowel on my steel work table. Hopefully the nut works with the Omni-Stand I'd like to use. Based on the strong bond with the magnets I've already got, I think there are some other options as well.

[ZeroTwentythree]

Almost finished with the rigging on the Sopwith Pup. I screwed a few things up, and it's not the cleanest bit of modeling, but it's my first one and 1/72 scale isn't exactly large. I forgot a second (forward) tail stabilizer on each side.  I will go back and finish that.





I also put together (minus pilot) the Albatross D.V. This is the last of the original 3 Airfix planes I had.





So, my question is... do I continue rigging all the planes? Some of them are far more involved than the pup. I'm trying to weigh the time & effort involved (which is significant, but not a horrible experience) with the fact that these are for playing games, not just display. So I've got some concerns about durability as well.

Here's a comparison shot.





Still waiting on the batch of allied planes. Lost out on the German planes I was hoping to get on eBay, but I did stop at the semi-local hobby shop (Wings Hobby Shop in Lakewood, OH -- no web page). Like just about everything else in this damned city, it's on the opposite side of town from where I live. The selection of 1/72 WWI planes was predictably small, but they did have some. I grabbed a Fokker D.VIIF and two more DR.1's (one for me, one for a friend.)

The manufacturers are Eduard and Roden, and I can already see that they are better than the Airfix DR.1 and Albatross. The Airfix Pup was really a nice plane and of similar quality to the new ones I got, though.


Ordering a (some) flight stand(s) tonight.

As I've been inhaling all nature of unhealthy fumes while working on that first plane, I've been wondering... Why does Snoopy fly a Camel rather than a Pup?

[Marine0846]

Does rigging of the planes make thet stronger, that is would they be able to stand up to players moving them around.
If yes, then rig them. If not, don't.
Also do you think they look better rigged?
Just a couple of my thoughts.

[archangel1]

...As I've been inhaling all nature of unhealthy fumes while working on that first plane, I've been wondering... Why does Snoopy fly a Camel rather than a Pup?

Because the aircraft involved in MvR's final flight (May's and Brown's) were Camels.

Most of the Airfix kits are nearly 50 years old so aren't quite up to today's standards.  The Pup was the last of their releases and really is a jewel.  The Airfix Hannover (which isn't half bad), the Roland and the 'Harry Tate' are your only choices in that scale so you're stuck with them.  Otherwise, Roden is your best bet for most a/c, unless you want to spend the money on the better Eduard kits.  Revell does a pretty decent Sopwith Tripe and their latest incarnation of the Dr.1 is quite nice, too.

When I last counted (several years ago), I had over 100 different 1/72 WWI birds (including some vacuforms, though) so you've got lots of choices.  The total's probably a bit higher, now.

[ZeroTwentythree]

I've managed to get some more planes. More Airfix, but also some Revell, and a couple Roden and an Eduard DR.1 to build for a friend.



I received the two Omni-Stands I ordered from CorSec Engineering. I got the 5" bases. They are clear acrylic but come with paper backing on both sides -- which I suppose makes one of them "fronting" -- and a metal threaded receptor in the center. The paper is still on in the photos below. The two telescoping rods have spherical magnets on the top, one 1/4" and the other 3/8".

I had a chance to spend a couple hours at my stoodio between running errands today, and couldn't wait to test them out. They are exactly what I'm looking for.

I've used small nuts glued on the underside of the planes, as close to the center of gravity as I could get. I don't remember what size (saved the label in the container in which I'm storing them.) The smaller, 1/4" magnet is just strong enough to hold the planes in position. The larger magnet is almost a bit too strong, but I think I may keep a couple of those around in case I end up with some larger/heavier planes.

One mistake I made on the Fokker DR.1 was that I glued the nut appropriate for balance, but not far enough back from the plane that spans the landing struts. So it fits a little awkwardly. I'm not certain I can fix that at this point.








Almost done with the first DR.1. Not sure I got the colors & effect exactly right. Should look better with the markings on it.





So I'll definitely be picking up some more of the Omni-Stands.

I'm also looking into the hex map issue. The two current options under consideration are 72" x 48" felt European Field map from Hotz Mats, or having my own design printed locally on 72" x 48" outdoor banner vinyl. The former is about $60, the latter is $140.

[carlos marighela]

I think that looks splendid.

I've always found rigging biplanes a pain, so I've avoided it but the job you have done on that Pup makes me think that the effort is well justified. Excellent work, please keep posting updates.

[General Roos]

Wow! That looks awesome! 

[ZeroTwentythree]

Thanks for the compliments.

Just noticed that CorSec also does hex mats. I will take them into consideration too.

(I think I fixed all the links above, too.)

[Skratch]

Nice work, can't wait to see it painted

[ZeroTwentythree]

This is a worthy tribute to those amazing guys, going airborne in bits of wood and fabric and hammering each other with machine guns. Far more guts than I could ever assemble.

That's the source of a large part of my interest. It's amazing to imagine the things they did with such basic planes. Crazy stories of guys standing on their seat to pound on a jammed gun in the middle of a dog fight, etc. And I just love the design of the planes in the first place.


Update...

I picked up a couple of paints for the Pup today. I took the Airfix colors, looked up the equivalent Vallejo Colors on the The Ultimate Model Paint Conversion Chart and got something that looked not entirely dissimilar from what I expected based on illustrations, profiles, etc. Not really happy with the colors. The fuselage/wing color seems too light.





I haven't even bothered to show the bottom, as the color looks more "banana" and less "clear doped linen."

On the other hand, now that there's some paint in it, I like the rigging better. The glue joints are too pronounced, but I do like the rigging itself.

Still more touching up and finishing to do. And decals, of course. I'm not a huge fan of waterslide decals, so I'm probably going to postpone for a bit and then do several kits at once.


In other news...

I've started putting together the Eduard Fokker DR.1. for a friend and I've got to admit that it's a huge step up from the Airfix kit. Hopefully I can do it justice. I'm looking forward to working on the paint scheme (Lothar Von Richthofen)

[archangel1]

You're certainly coming along there.  I agree about your main Pup colour, though.  It appears too light.  PC10, which was the major 'colour' used on British fighters, ranged from a greenish olive to darkish brown (chocolate).  Yours certainly isn't 'chocolate'.  Melted milk chocolate, maybe. 

The problem with converting one brand of paint's colour to another's 'equivalent' is that it's a bit of a mine field.  I've seen a couple of 'matches' that were anything but!

Working from Wingnut Wing's Humbrol base for their Pup (if anybody knows, it'll be them - they've got real ones to play with!), I came up with these Vallejo colours for British WWI aircraft.  There's not a lot of choice for paint schemes.  (NIVO's a whole other can o' worms!)

PC10 Early (top of wings, fuselage) - 887 Brown Violet (V#124)
PC10 Late (top of wings, fuselage) - 872 Chocolate Brown (V#149) (I think this is the original Airfix selection)
Battleship Grey (usually cowling panels) - 973 Light Sea Grey (V#108)

Here's where it gets a bit 'you pays yer money, you makes yer choice'.  The first colour is Wingnut's recommendation but I think it'll prove too dark for 1/72.  It may be fine for their 1/32 kits but I haven't got that far yet on mine!

CDL (Clear Doped Linen) (undersides; sometimes overall) - 819 Iraqi Sand (V#124)

Going way back to Humbrol's discontinued line of WWI paints, I came across a second Vallejo variant that might work better in the smaller scales.  It certainly looks closer in their paint chart.

CDL (Clear Doped Linen) - 858 Ice Yellow (V#13)

Hope this helps.  Good luck!

Mike

(I have to go back to work on my 1/32 Gotha! What a monster!)

[HerbyF]

Gad I had a bunch of these planes back when I was a teenager. In my early twenties we played WWI dogfights with them. We used rubber bands to stick the tails to a dowel on a stand. It is amazing how long these kits have been around. And are still the basis for gaming. I think mine are still in a box in the basement somewhere.