bstachel

Hey everyone!
This update has been long overdue and i apologize for this. Some bad news so i will jump straight into it. I have been grounded since last week with no flying ahead foreseen for at least two months. I have abused my right shoulder for too long between injuries, and i am at a point in time where my condition cannot be sustained as is, any longer. The shoulder is partially frozen with a very limited mobility range and the pain is insidious, constant and sharp. I was told by my treating surgeon that i have to undergo surgery the earliest possible and have booked myself in for this week. I have been grounded from all flight duties and will have to have my shoulder balljoint fixed and one of the badly fused bones from previous incidents sanded off, the ligament reconstructed and 6 to 8 weeks of heavy physiotherapy. After that everything should go back to normal hopefully. No modeling for some time, which will allow me hopefully more time to follow everyone here and read up on books i have been wanting to read, and spend time with my daughter. I don't know how much mobility i will have straight after the surgery but i intend on trying to build something (probably armor as i have no desire to embark on an airplane adventure and leave my albatros waiting in Doha) with my friends here in Beirut by perusing their benches and getting the extra help for the items that are either too small and fiddly, until i feel i am well enough to handle work on my own. 
With this out of the way, here's tonight's update which will probably be the last one for the next month at the least, the 7th work in progress update here Karim carves his first veneer propeller amongst other little delicacies!
 

Since our last update i have added and completed the decaling of the fuselage and added further shading with oils on some areas of the fuselage. The big step in the build was the modification of the landing gear aerofoil section and the gear legs. Wingnut wings have the parts with the retainers molded on so i sanded those away and scratchbuilt my own using lead sheet, styrene and styrene bolts from Meng. The aerofoil was sanded devoid of details and the correct paneling of the wood was scribed in, the clamps were added on the back section using stretched sprue rod cut to size. The front part is supposed to have six metal hinges which i added initially with stretched sprue cut to size then with lead sheet cut and draped over it then burnished to give the shape of a hinge. The wheel axle was then drilled to hollow it out (although it will be inserted in the wheel and not visible). The wheels have had the same done, the center of the hub was drilled hollow and a small piece of stretched sprue inserted to simulate the retaining rod that wingnut wings partly molded in. The wheels were painted with different blacks and weathered with oils and pigments. The tires were my own mix of two part Tamiya XF19 and one part XF57 buff to give a cream gray natural rubber color (as an aside, by 1917 some of the tire manufacturers had already switched to putting additives to get black rubber tires so i do not know which is historically correct but i do like to do my tires of the era in this grayish color). The aero foil was weathered with a filter, a wash and then the bottom had oil streaking. The top surface received a mix of Ammo Mig engine oil and Ammo Mig fuel stains thinned at different ratios. The gear legs were painted with a mixture of MRP RLM2 and some tamiya Xf76. The chipping was done with Prismacolor pencils and the discoloration was done with postshading and oils. Back to the fuselage, the bottom drain points were added from albion alloys brass tubing cut to size. The real ones are supposed to have a washer and be almost flush but at that scale that would not show very well and i had planned to have punched rings of leadsheet that i would glue down, but at the end decided against it and went the artistic way. The weathering on the bottom of the fuselage was started all the way back in the painting stages and now i added gray oils and black oils for streaking and then locked those in with a coat of lacquer clear then added the oil streaking and staining using the Ammo Mig products. Now the big first for me was to carve my own propeller. Initially i got in touch with the kind people at ProperPlane but then i thought why not try it out myself and that's what i did. I started by drawing out the outline of the Niendorf propeller on paper using the kit prop, and armed with a good photo i found on the net i counted 7 laminations. I had bought around a year ago a huge box of veneer samples off a seller on ebay and have been using those on and off for little additions on other kits i built, but their initial purpose was for carving my own propellers, so i went through the carton of veneers and found two colors that seemed to fit the online photo i was using as reference. The veneers were doused with thin ca then clamped together and doused with accelerator and left to dry. Be careful as the chemical reaction produces some heat. I then glued the paper outline on the laminations but i found it easier for me to draw it straight onto the laminations because the glue spray kept pulling off and i didnt want that to happen while working on the prop. Out came the dremel this time with a drum sander (i keep the proxxon for the more delicate work as the variometer can go much slower in terms of rpm) and i started rough carving the shape. Once that was done it was time to start carving the aerofoil section of the prop which i initially did with the dremel too but at the lowest speed and using all the time i needed to get the general shape. After that i went manual with 320 grit sandpaper, then moved to finer grits once the shape was tuned down to what i thinks looks like a Niendorf. I used micromesh pads to smooth everything out until the surface was super smooth and symmetrical. The prop then received multiple gloss coats with sanding between them. To be honest i am really proud of how the whole thing turned out. I never expected it to turn it out this 'good' to my eye and i think on the long run this is a skill definitely worth investing time on. The hardest part i foresee would be the propeller boss and getting things symmetrical and well defined in that area. Thankfully i have a prop spinner on this build so i can hide my 'okay' prop boss but i am sure this is something i can improve on in the next times i will be carving props. The spinner got the rivets added to the reinforcement areas around where the openings of the props are and painted as per kit instructions. The red circle on the front of the spinner was painted MRP Russian Red for covers by placing a circular template on the front of the spinner and airbrushing directly over it. No paint bleed. i used the .8 circle. The spinner was weathered by overpainting the red part with very thinned tamiya red by brush to look like chipping and the white areas received a thinned filter of gray oils and chipping was done with pencils. 
I also got a basic start on the engine. Going through the 'black' stash where i keep all my ww1 aftermarket i was unpleasantly surprised to find i had run out of Taurus timing gears for the Mercedes D.3 engine and had multiple sets for the Gotha G.V engine the D.4. Ebay to the rescue and 5 sets are on the way so i do not get caught off guard again with the other albatri i have in the stash. Meanwhile i decided to try to scratchbuild whatever i could since i will be away from the bench for a while. I cut off the molded valve springs and replaced them with wound fly fishing wire on the end of a round sander and cut to size and the end of the rocker arms received a punched out styrene disc that sits on top of the valve springs. I added the wiring to the front of the engine and predrilled some other locations for details that will be placed at a later date. I also started on the intake manifold and did the asbestos wrapping using using pipe wrapping tape made of teflon and did the heat shields using lead sheet and the retaining bolts are from Meng. I also used Bo's 3d printed gun synchroniser that attaches to the back of the engine. I suspect this will never be seen after the placement of the wnw photoetch part on top of the guns, but it is a good exercise for me and i am happy to say it looks really good once installed. This part will be wired before installation of the engine in the fuselage. To finish things off the tail was permanently installed and the elevators control lines placed. I also added two photoetch chains from the brand Hauler from Czech Republic, in 48th scale, for the retaining pins on the ammo feed chutes. 
I think overall that is pretty much out progress up to this point. I hope you enjoy!
You have been warned this update will be picture heavy. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

And for our new update!
drumroll...
First let me say i apologize for the delay as usual. The schedule is just being brutal and i have had this update ready for a while now. I just havent had the time to sit down and get the mac out to post this between flights, or even outstation as i am trying to keep physically busy with walking and going to the gym after long flights. 
I have managed to finish the cowl which was readied for the Brengun photoetch cowling fasteners and has received the HGW etch part that i bended to look partly open. I scratchbuilt the cowling retainer spring and the hook mechanism on both the fuselage and cowl. on the other side of the fuselage which will not have the cowl on i build the mechanism with the spring in the relaxed state. The prominent lip on the cowl that was there for mechanics not to cut themselves was added using stretched sprue. The cowl was weathered with oils, and chipping was done with pencils. I have also predrilled the fuel tank drain port location and the ejector chute exit ports. For the fuel drain i have tried a couple of techniques to get the panel precisely drilled and have settled on using the punch set as it leaves a clean circle rather than successful use of bigger and bigger drillbit sizes which ended up twisting the thin pe part. The louvers have been sanded along with the hatches which will receive photoetch parts. I have taken a polyester mold of the vents from another one of my kits in order to burnish the pe vents to the correct shape when the time comes for me to install them on the fuselage. The fuselage has been painted white as seen previously and gunze sand yellow was airbrushed very thin. once the coat was dry i micromeshed some areas to give it a patchy look which will come through very nicely with the woodgrain. The rudder was modified with the addition of a brass rod at the bottom as the part from wingnut wings doesnt extend far enough to poke into the fuselage where the rudder pedals are wired to the control rod. I opened up the elevator exit points for the rigging, and modified the top side openings with sprue and then placed pe parts from the HGW set. The openings should be oblong and not square as wnw has depicted them. a bit of parallel sprue glued in the square recess then sanded flush, then some chain drilling and cleaning up and the etch part on top did the trick. Rudder was then painted, preshaded postshaded then covered with Richard's Aviattic lozenge decals. Mr mark setter neo and a hairdryer and the decals behalved FLAWLESSLY, as always! The horizontal stabs were painted and a filter of ochre was brushed on the white areas to tone the pop down. More stuff was done but it's been done over a lapse of time so i might have forgotten some of the smaller details. 
I had some time off today so i scratched built a flare rack from spare pe and from albion aluminium rod and have added the hinge at the top of the ammunition cans. I have some supplies on the way that i want to add to the albatros in the forms of pe chains in 1/48th scale and some more little dings and bits that will overall further enhance the little details. I have added some sublte chipping on the horizontal stabilizer and sealed those as preweathering before further assembly. I have the day off tomorrow and i am on standby overnight so progress will be done. The inevitable is coming, i will start working on the fuselage woodgraining and i still have not decided wether to plot my own masks and paint all the markings on, or use the decals and weather those which i am not a fan of doing usually, and i avoid...
 
Thanks for checking in. Your comments are greatly appreciated my friends!
Karim
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now have the fuselage painting complete with engine cowls and underside completed  and then decals on followed by adding the tail plane.
 
 

 

 
Also finally finished the wings adding rib tapes etc with Aviattic faded lozenge on white decal paper followed by kit decals to finish.
 

 

 

 

 
First efforts at adding the individual rib tapes and really happy with the results. Also the white decal paper Aviattic use is exceptional and works so well with no issue's whatsoever! Shame the WnW decals are not so easy to use and pretty thick and need some help settling in to place.
 
Regards. Andy

So the stipple effect has been applied now after playing around with airbrush pressure and paint thinning, thus was applied once I had sprayed a very thin brown glaze to bring together and mute the bright camo colours a little.
 

 

 
 

 
Pretty happy with how that turned out, now to finish pairing the cowls etc and move on the decalling.
 
Regards.Andy 

Base camoflage colours sprayed on to the fuselage and centre wing section.
 

 

 
Not sure but think I'm going to spray a very thin brown glaze over this to bring the colours together a littke more before adding the stippple pattern.
 
Regards.Andy 

Hi all,
A few more bits done.
'Properplane' Heine propeller treated with 'Tamiya' Clear Orange then Hull Red. Weathered with 'Tamiya' Weathering Master Set B (Rust) and 'AK Interactive' Kerosene wash.
'GasPatch' Spandau 08/15 extended handle guns with 'Alclad' Gun metal, then Steel. Weathered with  'AK Interactive' Kerosene wash and 'Tamiya' Rubber Black.
Figures assembled and primed for painting - Anthony Fokker ('Aviattic'), Photographer and camera ('Black Dog').
Mike

Hi all,
Well the engine is done.
There are details I've not added as this model will have the engine fully enclosed.
The second Fokker D.VII will have more detail as its engine will be fully exposed,
Mike

Regards the lozenge on the pilots seat.
I'm not sure how common the practice was to have lozenge linen applied to crew seat, but as an example, here's a shot from Wingnut Wings (Albatros OAW).
Richard at 'Aviattic' supplies decals for the seat in his Fokker D.VII linen effect lozenge decal for the fuselage.
I initially prepared the front face of the metal seat for a wood effect, but then spotted the decal, so applied that.
 

 
Mike  

Hey gang,
Third part of the build... The updates are a bit far apart but it's because i am cramming the building during the day and at night i am keeping busy with rest and recreation. I had the past couple of days off which i spent in doha instead of traveling back home as i had a medical appointment to attend to. Anyways back to the build at hand. 
In this update, the HGW harness has been built and installed on the seat. I have skipped using the middle sliding part as i have found a photo online where the middle belt connecting the two shoulder harnesses together was omitted. I also noticed in quite a bit of photos in my references that some of the aircraft had the shoulder belts hanging off the side of the cockpit, and this wouldn't be physically possible with the connecting portion as supplied by HGW. The harness was weathered with oils. The ammo cans have been painted dark aluminium from MRP and installed. The woodwork got a glazing of burnt umber. The shell ejector chute location got drilled out in the left fuselage half so i can insert an extension to the kit chute parts after the external woodgraining. The big part of this update is concerning the manifold and multiple valves that are behind the right side panel. Since i had a clear photo in the reference book of the restoration of the albatros by the NASM, i decided to scratchbuild this part. I knew not much of it would be seen afterwards, but turns out with everything installed you do not see any of it. For building that part, i used everygreen styrene rod, albion brass, lead sheeting, MENG styrene hex nuts and a Taurus resin priming cup which i modified. All connection ports have been drilled and are suitable for linking with their respective components throughout the aircraft. To be honest, i considered making a mold of the part in order to cast copies in resin and reuse them in the future, but when i realized nothing would be seen after installation i just gave up on the idea. For the panel the 'valve' is attached to, i used the Yahu colored pe which i attached using krystal clear, cleaned up with a brush and water to leave a neat contour. The control column received the tightening rod adjuster at the neck just below the handgrips, using stretched sprue, the gun trigger comes as a single part and i scribed a line down the middle to make it look like the actual part which is two separate parts. I also scratchbuilt the throttle that is attached to the left handgrip using stretched sprue whose end was flattened and cut to shape using pe flat pliers. All controls received their connections with modelkasten rigging thread as it has a completely round profile and it is made of a sort of rubber which gives it a different sheen than EZline. for the rigging though i have used EZline throughout. I have decided not to install the pulleys at the front for the aileron controls, but instead drilled the holes where the wires are supposed to run, as this area once the cockpit is brought together can barely been seen except by shining a flashlight in. I will tighten the rigging lines once the fuselage halves are closed and then snip the lines as those are where the wingstubs go and the holes will not be seen. Bo Monroe's 3D printed fuel tank is beautiful once you get it cleaned up from the ridges left by the printing process, albeit the cap ends are very delicate. More on those in next progress report. To eliminate the slight printing remnants, i used alclad gray microfiller then sanded the tank faces down with micromesh sponge pieces cut down to size and it worked a treat. The side fuselages also got freeline silver wet transfer nailheads from HGW in the reinforcement plank areas next to the seat. I also added the alternate throttle which is on the left side above the ammo cans and that the pilot uses in case he has a main throttle jam. A few more little things have been done here and there but in real time i am much further down in terms of progress on the kit that i have kind of forgotten about those... At the time of writing this, i am one update behind in terms of progress and i am just ready to close up the fuselage. I will try to post the next update tomorrow so i can bring everyone up to speed with where we currently are, except if i get called out of standby in the morning!
 
I hope you enjoy the update!
thanks for checking in
Karim
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi all,
 
This is the first model I've completed in about two years, Wingnut Wings Hansa-Brandenburg W.12 Early.
 
I Used Aviattic's WW1 German Naval Hex  decals instead of the kit ones.
 
Top wing crosses are masked and airbrushed after I had an incident with the decals, and had to scrap them.I hope to put this in a water diorama later on, just have to get the products and find the time to do it.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
All comments and critiques welcome,
 
Thanks for looking,
Cheer's,
Jeff.
 

Beautifully done, Mike!
Richard

Hey gang, an update today. I was supposed to fly home today to see my daughter but i have been sick with fever these last few days, and it got worse after my flight call from standby yesterday. Either way the day before the standby call i received, i had already started by filling in the light ejection pinmarks on the fuselage halves. Back from the flight yesterday afternoon i managed to sand those flush, and prep the fuselage halves for the coming woodgraining. We start the build by tackling the interior of the fuselage woodgraining using Uschi woodgrain decals Ronny Bar edition, pale, laid on top of a coat of MRP pale wood. The interior green areas received a preshade of RLM02 from MRP and then the wingnut wings tamiya paint callout which was postshaded with Alclad hot metal sepia. Station 8 bulkhead behind the pilot seat got the crossmember shading as per the original structure plans (Smithsonian restoration of the Albatros DV) as wnw moulded the part as a single piece of styrene and then i covered this with Aviattic lower 5 color lozenge decal to add some color to an otherwise all wooden cockpit. The callout for the seat is leather but i decided to go for a wooden frame and add the resin HGW cushion. The cushion was hand painted with successive layers of acrylic browns highly diluted with lacquer thinners. Its a delicate process as the lacquer will eat through the previous layer if you do not wait until your previous work is dry, which is quite quick. I then added a glaze of burnt umber oils which i wiped staining the base paint layer. Chips and scratches were painted with buff and the cushion buttons were painted hull red. A very dark rust wash was then added, the cushion sealed with MRP flat and when dry buffed up with a finger. I have been finding the finger buffing technique to be the best at representing the sheen of used leather. The woodgraining of the bulkheads and the seat have been done with the RB etch woodgraining stencils, and then blended in. I forgot to add a picture of the reference materials i am using for this build, of which i will add a photo below!
For those of you who will notice the printing dots on the decals in strong closeup photos (of which me!), if you decide to use Alex's woodgrain decals i can reassure you they are invisible to the naked eye even at close distance...
I am planning on heading home after tomorrow if i feel better, to spend the remainder of my monthly string of days off home, so tomorrow the plan is to get the HGW harnesses assembled, weathered and installed along with laying down a quick glaze of oils to give some life to the woodwork... bear in mind nothing has been done to the fuselage insides yet, no washes no weathering nothing, this is just the raw state product...
 
looking forward to your opinions and ideas gang!
Karim
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone!
i would like to apologize for not having had the time to be here as often as i would have liked... i have been extremely busy of late in my professional and personal life and the time at the bench has taken second place... I am modeling on the side but it has taken a sort of a downturn the last couple of months with more and more flying and less and less time spent at the bench during shorter stays at the apartment. Between the post of the Aviattic Marienfelde, and this post i had started work on a Zukei Mura TA152 H-0 which turned into a nightmare with me having to rebuild the whole profile of the wings, a ton of scratchbuilding and modifications and eventually when the steam ran out and the kit was almost completely assembled and relegated to the 'to be finished someday' section of the cabinet, i did what everyone under stress does. I went back to my little bubble, my comfort zone. I went back to the bench with an urge to build wood and fabric flying stringbags. Great War aircraft. To me the beautiful flying machines of that era give me the opportunity to go wild replicating wood, canvas and letting my artistic side run wild while trying to be accurate and push the envelope at the same time.
I fell back on the albatros, of which i have 14 iterations of the kit in my stash (my all time favorite aircraft of ww1, with so many beautiful schemes i don't think having 3 dozen of those in the stash would be enough!) onto which i will be throwing a bit of aftermarket, and eventually as need arises, will dip into the aftermarket storage box for ww1 i keep on the side.
I am planning on finishing the kit as Hans Von Gössel's beautiful wooden albatros with the skull on the sides and the top wing, i will be also throwing in Bo Monroe's 3D printed radiator, fuel tank and gun synchro mount, HGW's textile harnesses, Uschi's woodgrain decals, Richard's Aviattic fabric lozenges for the wings and the rudder, HGW etch (Maybe!), Master brass LMG jackets, and scratchbuilding as the inspiration hits...
 
This project will be slow as i am dealing with other major developments in 2019 (ALM Studios amongst others) but i am hoping updates will be regular and we all have a good time on this build thread.
As always your comments and participation are always something i look forward to.
At the time of writing this i have already finished woodgraining half a fuselage and am starting working on the little bits here and there so more photos soon of the measly progress i have achieved...
 
Thanks for looking in!
Karim
 

 

 

 

 

Hi all,
The additional linen baffle (wind break) that was fitted to some Fokker aircraft is done.
The shoulder straps passed through slots is this baffle and down to be attached to the cross bar of the seat frame bulkhead, which had at the top the standard linen baffle.
 
Mike
 


 

Hi all,
No magic involved.
The reversed lettering is a decal that is part of the set I used from the 'Aviattic' - it's a separate decal applied over the internal 4 colour lozenge.
'Fokker D.VII (Albatros built) ATT32164 (Clear Decal).
Richard even supplies the lozenge decals for the additional 'wind break' baffle which was fitted behind the pilots head and in front of the seat frame baffle.
The coloured shot below is from the Canadian restoration of a war prize Fokker D.VII. It was comprised of parts from different Fokker D.VII aircraft, including OAW built Serial No:6506/18, 8318/18 and 8502/18 and was partially restored in 1963.
The B/W shot is of a similar baffle fitted to a Fokker DR.1.
 
Mike
 

 
 

Ok, dangit. How did you do that?

Hi all,
The first Fokker D.VII cockpit is complete now and fitted into the fuselage.
I've added detail, such as instrument cables, grease pump and fuel pressurization pump pipes, under floor cross bracing, engine control rods etc.
I still have to finish it by adding the pilots shoulder harness, which will be attached to the seat mounting frame through the additional linen 'wind break' behind the pilots head,

Mike

Hi all,
The first cockpit is nearing completion.
I still have to fit the instrument panel, compass, tachometer, shoulder harness and engine bearer frames.
Also finish rigging the various control lines and the hand throttle and gun trigger cables,

Mike



.

Nice. The vague letters on the inside of the lozenge is a nice detail.

Hi all,
The cockpit is getting close to being closed up now.
Mike

Hi all,
I'm making a start on the 'full built' Fokker D.VII.
Cockpit items (not yet completed) and flight control rigging and cockpit frame cross bracing.
Mike

Hi all,
As some of you may know, this time last year the modelling community lost 'Des Delatorre', a great inspiration and owner of the 'WW1 Aircraft Models' web site and forum.
Dave Wilson, who now runs the forum, has organised a memorial group build in honor of Des.
I thought I'd like to attempt a double build, consisting two Fokker D.VII aircraft and two figures.
A complete Fokker D.VII - Wingnut Wings Kit No:32027.
A 3D printed 'Aviattic' skeletal Fokker D.VII from 'ShapeWays'.
Anthony Fokker figure from 'Aviattic'.
Photographer figure from 'BlackDog Models'.

Mike

Thanks a lot for your kinds words, really happy you enjoyed it !!
Airacare84 i used Aviattic decals 4 color and blue rib tabe.
This is some wip pics.
X15
 


 

Hi everybody,
Really happy to show you my last built, the famous WNW Fokker DVII, with HGW seat belt and Aviattics decals.
Paint with Gunze and weathering with oil paints.
Have nice building for 2019 !!
X15