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Hubert Boillot

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Posts posted by Hubert Boillot

    List of large scale Golden Era aircraft

    in LSP Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hubert Boillot

    3 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

    Just curious.  Would that resin Lagato kit of the Avia B 35.1 be considered golden age?  The aircraft was designed in the mid 30.   It flew in the later part of the 30’s.  Certainly a good looking Czech aircraft.   

     

    Typical of the transition between Golden Age and the new era that began with WW II.  I guess, as there is nothing like a cutoff date, you can have it in any of the two eras. 

    To give another example, I tend to view the Dewoitine 500/510 as Golden Age, and the Ms-406 as WW II ...

    Or the Hawker Fury was Golden Age, but lived in service until after the Munich crisis, which can be related as (one) beginning of WWII   (IMHO)

     

    Hubert

    List of large scale Golden Era aircraft

    in LSP Discussion

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Leaning_Dog said:

    Very impressive stash there Hubert!  :bow:

     

    Quick question regarding the XS Models Hughes racer - do you know if they are still available?

     

    Cheers!

     

    John.

     

    Hi John,

    the XS-models « website », which was never more than a page with pics and a contact address to enquire about prices and availability, seems to have completely gone ...

    Unless someone has a better info than me, it seems eBay is your best bet ...

     

    Hubert

    List of large scale Golden Era aircraft

    in LSP Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hubert Boillot

    On 7/1/2018 at 12:35 PM, ericg said:

    Thanks for the comments and additions guys. Have amended the list with some of the suggestions.

     

     

    C'mon Hubert, show us your golden era stash!

     

    Since you asked ...

    As of this morning. I counted 52 boxes, some of them doubles or trebles of the same kit ... :mental:

     

    And of course, a lot of resin kits, with rather bland boxes ;)

     

    i-7ff8zRt-XL.jpg

     

     

    (Luckily, I have framed my pic so that the other members of the stash don't show up. I am smart, am I not ? :rofl: )

     

    Hubert

     

    PS : + two Gee-Bee R1-R2 currently on the workbench ... :doh: ... and two finished ones, Fisher's ST-M and the Nieuport Sesquiplan ...

    Supermarine WALRUS by HPH

    in Ready for Inspection

    Posted

    54 minutes ago, DeanKB said:

    Oh, it's a beautiful aeroplane! Typical Brit WWII aeroplane - the Spitfire got all the sexy angles, everything else was designed with a set square.

     

    With hindsight, I believe there were only two sets of drafting curves available for the whole aircraft British industry throughout the 30s to 50s. One with Supermarine, one with De Havilland. And then one set was passed to Blackburn in the late 50s ... and they had an orgy with it designing the Buccaneer.

     

    As for your Walrus, Nenad, great result. Makes me want to move mine up the « to-do » list :)

     

    :goodjob:

     

    Hubert

    Wingnut’s Roland D.VIb has sold out

    in LSP Discussion

    Posted

    On the other hand, they have announced opening pre-orders for sets of the DH-2, Fokker E-2 and another one I can’t remember of, with a pilot figure with it. The Fokker has a figure of Immelman.

     

    I thought the DH-2 was sold out, so that would mean, if I am right, that they are starting re-releases, with add-ons on top.

     

    Hubert

    Flat monofilament. Finally found some !

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hubert Boillot

    10 hours ago, modelingbob said:

    Take a look at fly tying thread. Most fly fishing stores stock it. It comes in a wide variety of sizes and features a flat profile. Fly tying thread is different from any other type of thread and is flat so it will not build up bulk when tying flies. For example, Danville 6/0 fly tying thread is about .004" by .002" which is about scale thickness for 1/48. Danville 3/0 is about scale thickness for LSP's. I've tried using it, but I found it very difficult to use in trying to not introduce any twist(s) in the rigging wire. Admittedly, my hands are pretty clumsy and shakey, and my eyes are very poor, so you may be able to get it to work for you. I've settled on .004" & .006"  monofilament fishing line for all my rigging as I don't have to worry about twist. 

     

    Many thanks for the input. Spending time in fly-fishing shops is the first thing I did, although admittedly the ones I ccould find in France in my area were probably not as well supplied of some American or Canadian or English or Irish shops :).

     

    My personal issue with these is that, as their name implies, they are threads, i.e. made of multiples strands. However, they may be suitable, and more scale-like than my find, as your experience indicates.

     

    Most important for me is the ability of the material to gain tension by heat-shrinking. This way, you get straight wires AND structural benefits. Hence my quest for flat monofilament. Interesting idea worth exploring, nevertheless.

    Hubert

    Flat monofilament. Finally found some !

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hubert Boillot

    4 hours ago, Peterpools said:

    Just a simple observation:

    Unless you are eyeball to eyeball with the rigging, can you really see the difference between round and airfoil shaped rigging? Step back about a good foot and I'm only guessing but the effect should be the same.

    Just my one cent worth's as I've yet to complete a biplane in the last 30 years

    Peter

     

     

    When I did my Fisher Ryan ST-M, I followed Paul’s own advice and did not use the supplied-in-the-kit PE « wires » . So I went with round mono, and, you are right, it is not that noticeable in the end. Certainly not as sore a point as sagging wires would have been.

    Still, I knew I would have preferred a better rendition of these wires, which are noticeably distinct on mostly American Golden Age aircrafts, like the Williams racers or the P-26. Hence my « quest » ... :)

     

     Now, I may have a more satisfactory solution, for some kits at least. I may even do another ST-M (now that’s a lame excuse to have another go at this great kit, simply because I love it ;) )

     

    Hubert

    Flat monofilament. Finally found some !

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Clunkmeister said:

    I'm definitely going to try it. There's some here I trust their opinions unerringly, and Hubert is one of those. If he thinks it'll work, I'm all for giving it a try.

     

    Besides, what's the worst that could happen?  You're out the astronomical cost of a roll of fishing line.

     

    I am deeply honored by this vote of confidence, Ernie. I am usually a stickler for scale-accuracy and in the rivet-counter camp. As such, this flat mono is not scale-accurate, but I am venturing that it might look ok, and is worth a try.  Only after this trial can we say if this wire will appear to represent a streamlined wire well enough ...

     

    1 hour ago, Tnarg said:

    American Standard rigging wires were specified by thread size, but the big one as used on the larger wires for the Gee Bee R-1 and R-2, Boeing P-26, F4B-4 and P-12E was a 1/2" - 20 part. The half inch was the thread size and the width was specified to 0.732" with 0.183" to 0.192" thickness. That flat monofilament sounds about as good as it gets for matching this line. Perfect for the larger wires on those planes. They also used the 3/8" -24 wires (sometimes next to each other) which were 0.540" wide.

     

    Sounds like some Golden Age airplanes could look even better.

     

    Tnarg

     

    Thanks for the input on American wires. As I am not home, I felt it might be ok for American Golden Age aircrafts, but this was just a gut-feel. Now I feel more confident with my instinct.

     

    Hubert

    Flat monofilament. Finally found some !

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, DeanKB said:

    Looks interesting - I use 2lb mono, so 35lb mono must surely look overscale?

     

    2 hours ago, Out2gtcha said:

    Yes, personally I had all sorts of fits trying to tie up 15 or 20 lb. test line. 

     

    Brian, I would not expect to try to make any knot with this one. Just CA glue some straight pieces ...

     

    I did further checks. A "standard" RAF 9/32 RAF wire should be in 1/32 scale roughly 0.1 mm thick by 0.3 mm wide, so in essence the mono I have found is twice the required size in any dimension, and actually 6 times the required scale section. 

     

    Assuming strength is a proportionate factor of the section, we should be looking for 5 lbs strength. So far I have failed to locate any flat wire of this strength / dimensions. As for this one, the only info I had when ordering was strength and "flat". I ordered one to see what it looked like and what dimensions it actually had. By the way, from memory, it is not any bigger than what was included in my Gee Bee boxes by Williams. When I get back home tomorrow, I will have a comparison look.

     

    So this is probably overscale, although probably good for some big bipes. Question is : will it look so out-of-scale on a finished model ? Worth giving it a try before making a definitive call, IMHO.

     

    Hubert

    Flat monofilament. Finally found some !

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hubert Boillot
    Inserted pics + corrected the gauge of the bigger mono;

    As many, if not all of you, know, the drag of rigging wires very soon became an issue for airplane manufacturers. The answer was to streamline the rigging wires, giving them an aerodynamic shape. And it became common on notably the English biplanes.

     

    Enter modellers, almost 100 years later, and come the question of reproducing the shape of the flat rigging wires. The answer has been to use Prym elastic thread, or use PE "wires". The first one is very convenient, provided you check it does not twist, the latter ones are realistic, but show a sensitivity to heat conditions, with sagging, or minute structure distortions (like handling your beloved kit by the wings) ... And none has the structural capacity of taut monofilament. They are just there for aesthetics ...

     

    But monofilament is round, and therefore not realistic, especially in 1/32.

     

    I had been on the hunt for a flat monofilament for some time, but this proved almost as elusive as the famous Graal. Sometimes I had leads, which ended nowhere, or I had to buy in bulk out of China, enough to rig all biplanes kits of the world for 100 years :( .

     

    Well, the search is over ! I found some on-line :frantic: !

     

    I found this, hereafter, in a fishing supply shop on Amazon :

     

    https://www.amazon.com/Airflo-Flat-Mono-Running-Line/dp/B077BB121V

     

    I just received the spool today. I just measured it with my calipers. The monofilament is 0.3 mm thick (that is 10 mm in 1:1 scale, i.e. 0.40 inch) and 0.6 mm wide (that is 19 mm in 1:1 scale , or 0.76 inch). This is the 30lb variety, and there is a 44 lb available, which I presume would be bigger in both dimensions. The spool is 50 yards long : should last a few bipes, especially at my current building rate ;).

     

    Finally, If you believe the manufacturer's add, it has very little memory, and should therefore minimize the dreaded "spring coil" of most fishing monofilaments. It just remains to deal with the fluorescent yellow color, but that should be easy to cope with, with some paint or silver Rubn'Buff ...

     

    HTH

     

    Hubert

     

    PS: Here are pics I made ... So interesting ones ;) 

     

     

    i-m4HdKRd-XL.jpg

     

    i-hMKNnQM-X2.jpg

     

    Dipping Canopies

    in Painting & Finishing

    Posted

    10 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

    I don't know if Windex will strip the AKI product, but it's worth a shot. The other thing I usually do is make sure the canopy is spotless before I begin. If you've been polishing it, this can create enough of an electrostatic charge so that the canopy becomes a rather effective dust magnet. I usually 'wash' the canopy in Windex or alcohol (metho, in my case) first, before dipping it.

    Kev

    Yes, exactly. You need to remove the electrostatic charge. You can find in electronic shops and on Amazon static discharger guns, sold for removing static electricity from old vinyl records. Works like a charm to remove static electricity  from odels as well.

    Hubert

    List of large scale Golden Era aircraft

    in LSP Discussion

    Posted

    Thanks for the comments and additions guys. Have amended the list with some of the suggestions.

     

     

     

    C'mon Hubert, show us your golden era stash!

    I need to reorder the stash so that every box fits in the frame :rofl: ...

     

    And, btw, another one (yes, you guessed it, it should be in my pic as well ;) )

     

    Silver Wings' Fiat CR-32

     

    Hubert

    Noob F16 question, please educate me.

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Hubert Boillot

    I am definitely no expert in the F-16, but I'll try yo summarise what I understand.

     

    The F-16 had a very long production life, and was not the subject of a single order, but of a series of incremental orders. Then it was also extensively modified during its service life, including some major changes like a bigger and more powerful engine which entailed a modification of the intake, and other mods, which make the last models infinetely more capable than the early ones.

     

    IIRC, "Block" initially referred to a given production batch, itself linked to a specific order. And when modifications occured, or a new order was issued, a new block number would be given to the batch subject to it.

     

    As far as I know, this is fairly standard practice since WWII for US-produced aircrafts.

     

    But then I will readily admit that a lot of more knowledgeable people are able to provide you with more detailed explanations , and more importantly, what the key specificities of each block are...

     

    HTH

     

    Hubert

    Kitty Hawk 1/32 F-5E Tiger II

    in Works in Progress

    Posted

    I didn't think so initially, but I went back and did a little work to align the black bands as best as they'll get. This build was really a test of the buildability of the model and to try out a few techniques before I build the other two I have waiting. So far, this has been a great build and backdating was a non-issue, but next time I do a 425th aircraft, I'm painting those bands.

     

    Makes a lot of sense for your stated purpose, Michael.

    With this great build, you have demonstrated two things : 1) that the kit decals conform pretty well to these complex curves, and 2) that expecting a faultless fit with decals is still probably asking a bit too much.

     

    Keep it coming :popcorn:

     

    Hubert

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