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Latest builds by a novice


StuartMont

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Just wanted to show you the latest additions to my 1/32 military aviation “museum”. When I look at the models y’all post it makes me pause - but what the heck.  I still have to rig the Stearman Kaydet Biplane (ICM) and the Sopwith Triplane (Wingnut Wings). The ceramic wire I purchased is too thin for the 1/32 scale.  Recommendations?  Both of these models went together well.  The decals provided with the Kaydet were very troublesome and I had to use paint to “fix” a few of them. They take quite a while in the water.  

The TBM Avenger (Trumpeter) was the most challenging model I have built (of course there have only been 11).  The color markings in the instructions were inconsistent to say the least.  I had to use online model paint conversion charts to determine the color and the codes in the plans appear to sometimes refer to one brand of paint versus another.  For example, if I went by the code in the instructions I would have painted a detail “tan”.  However, every photograph I could find online showed this particular detail interior green.  This happened a total of three times in the plans.  Also, the photo etched parts along the “seam” of the folded wings were very tough to attach and I could not get the wings to seat cleanly when unfolded.  Thus, the folded wing display.  I had to do a lot of dry-fitting and sanding in several areas of the build.

Great news for me though, the boss has approved the purchase of an airbrush so those ever present brush streaks will soon be a thing of the past.  I’ll have to do a lot of research on the best airbrush to start with.  Recommendations are always welcome.

As always please feel free to critique.

Hope you don’t mid but I also added the current status of my museum.

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You have no reason to pause Stuart! These look amazing, especially given the limited circumstances you have. Congrats on the airbrush approval. The ones I use are an Iwata Neo, Badger 105  and a No Name "cordless" airbrush. I also use a Sotar 20/20 for fine detail work.

 

Thanks for posting the museum status pics. You've got a lot of attractive and well built models!

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Thanks very much Mark.  These forums have been massively helpful.  I will definitely look into the airbrush models you noted.  

The choice of 1/32 scale for my models was one that effectively eliminated any of the WWII bombers that I would love to build.  As Gil noted in his recent post of that incredible model he just finished they are massive and would not fit into my space constraints.

Stuart

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Gotta agree with Mark, your fledgling museum is off to a fine start! That PT-17 is especially eye catching!

I haven't been able to find the ceramic wire in anything larger than what is sold by Wonder Wire. My 2 choices for 1/32 rigging are either stretched sprue, or thin floral wire. You can usually get a handful of the wire at your local florist, and they may or may not charge you. The thinnest works well, but is also easy to kink, and thus has to be handled carefully. Videos on stretching sprue can be found on line. It takes practice to do it and also to get it taut once in place, but is also readily available in your kits. Hope this helps!

 

Gil :cool:

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Thanks very much Gil.  I love the color scheme of the Kaydet.  The yellow took a lot of patience but I think it paid off.

I read several posts about rigging and many modelers use the stretched sprue method.  However, I'm intrigued by the thin floral wire idea and will probably give that method a try in this case. 

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Here's a 1/32 Hasagawa F4B-4 that I did using the floral wire.... you need a good pair of dividers to measure the distance as exact as possible and then care to keep from bending/kinking them, but they seem to be about right in thickness for me.

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It comes in a dark green color, but I usually paint mine black.

Gil :cool:

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Very nice Gil! Is the floral wire round in profile or flattened like flying wire?

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It's round.... and too hard to flatten by rolling. I think someone does make scale, flattened flying wires for the WWI 1/32 Wing Nut Wings models, but you'd have to do a search to see who.

 

Gil :cool:

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No... just used the kit marks. But you could drill holes as long as their angles were exactly correct. Otherwise they might tend to make the wire bend or bow.

Gil :cool:

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  • 4 weeks later...

I wanted to post some very messy progress photos of my first attempt at rigging a biplane.  I decided to start with the Kaydet.  I used 0.4 mm floral wire.  This converts to 0.015" at 1/32 scale equivalent to 0.48" (12.8 mm).  How does this look from a scale perspective only. 

As you can see I've made a real mess of the job and am going to have to do a lot of cleanup at the locations of the wire ends.  One piece bowed.  Markings on the model where wire ends need to go have been few and far between.  Perhaps I covered them up when I painted.  Therefore this was done by sight from the plans and when I looked at it the second time I found several mishaps. 

I must ask if you use some kind of "jig" to hold the pieces in place while the glue cures.  That is the cause of the mess, constantly reapplying CA to the ends of the wires and holding them in place long enough to "stick".  I finally tried small pieces of putty to hold the top end of a wire and fix the bottom end with CA where required.  This was a mistake since removing the putty in order to apply CA takes more than enough effort to pull the pieces off.

I may actually just pull off the wires I have attached, cleanup the model, and start over.  they come off very easily.

Any and all thoughts would be most welcomed.

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I may be alone in this but I use stretched sprue. You can stretch it to any thickness you desire and if you use an appropriately colored sprue, you won't have to paint it after installation. If you want more info on how to stretch sprue, PM me as it will take up too much space here. Before you start construction, determine the location where each piece of rigging ends and drill a small hole/dent there large enough to accommodate the sprue being used. Then when ready to rig, measure the length of the piece needed with a pair of dividers/calipers. These come in many shapes and sizes and I have several for use in difference spaces. Use the length from the dividers to cut a length of sprue. Cut it a little longer than needed. Now test fit the piece to make sure it's not too short/long. You want it to bow a little and I explain why later. Put a small dot of ordinary white glue in the end locations of the piece and insert the ends. It should bow, as I said. The beauty of white glue is that it is so forgiving. Screw up, and you can easily remove it without damaging anything just with water. Do several pieces at a time. I try to work all the pieces in the same plane, vertical or horizontal or otherwise. Then let the white glue dry entirely. This usually only takes an hour or so. Now, and here's the magic, Get a  small piece of thin wooden dowel. Light a candle and put the end of the wood in the flame until it's lit. Let it go until there's a slight red ember. Now blow it out. It will smoke and that's what you want. Arrange it so that a section of bowed rigging is in the smoke. Too far away and nothing will happen. Too close and you'll melt the rigging and have to start again, which is easy using white glue. Get the range just right and the plastic rigging will shrink taut. Sometimes slowly, sometimes all of a sudden. It will take practice to get the distance just right, but when you do it will all go quickly. For longer lengths of rigging, you may find it necessary to jury rig some sort of support to hold the piece in place while the glue sets. This method is cheap like practically free, relatively easy, requires no special tools (other than the dividers), and is very forgiving of mistakes. The photo is of an Aurora 1/48 Spad rigged in this way. In larger scales, however, rigging wires may not be round, so other materials may be called for. 

 

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Ron, thanks so much for taking the time to describe your method. I have read posts about stretched sprue. I’m not going to lie, I’m a little intimidated by it but will definitely take time to fully digest your recommendation.  Can you explain what you mean by “PM you”?

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Your work looks nice, Stuart, and you will love the airbrush.  I recommend a gravity feed type.  For rigging I use EZLine as well as some I got from Wing Nut Wings when they were still active which works well for the streamline wires.  One thing to note is that on the Stearman the wires bracing the tail are about half the size of the ones on the wings.  The tail uses about 1/4 inch wide by very thin stainless steel streamline wires while the wing wires are about twice that size, also stainless steel streamline.  My hands are not steady enough for working with wire and I don't like the ceramic wire due to it's somewhat dangerous characteristics when it fractures.  As for stretched sprue, I've been modeling for close to 70 years and have yet to master it.😝

Here is my DH-9A where I uses the EZLine and WNW elastic thread.

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Thanks very much John. The DH-9A looks fantastic, much more complicated rigging. Since this is the first time rigging for me I choose a method that seemed easier based on what I read and watched.  I’ve learned they all have their issues 😀

It sounds like I should paint the wires when I’m done. 

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Stuart, PM means Private Message. It's a way of 'talking' that does not appear on the Forum. Theres a icon at the top of this page that looks like an envelope. Click it and then you can send a message. 

 

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