Rumpler C.IV Finished

[ericg]

Thanks Doug. I have a few things in mind to get around the issues. I was thinking that the lozenge would come from different rolls as you have pointed out so that's why I am not too cut about it. I should be able to incorporate most of the fixes just in the normal course of weathering.

[chukw]

Fantastic!  

[Whitey]

Did you find any of your missing parts under your table Eric?

 

A bit of Tamiya smoke on the rib tapes will blend them in nicely.

 

She's looking damn good mate.

[ericg]

No parts found Pete!

 

I think I will re-skin the top of the port wing so that it will match the starboard side, this will look less obvious than having the two bottom wings a different colour and would make some sense given that the bottom wing would be in the shade of the top wing most of the time and possibly be less faded. In consultation with the local Wingnut Wings guru (Simmo. a brown tinted varnish may also work to blend in the effect.

 

It is much more challenging to get this scheme to work than the camouflaged ones, that's for sure. Should look pretty good once done.

 

Eric.

[Tnarg]

Why not just like the differences in lozenge tone? As for the white showing through, add some slightly different lozenge patches on top. Field repair. Even better.

 

Did I mention that this is a very fine build? Thanks for letting us watch.

 

Tnarg

[ericg]

Hi Tnarg,

 

I thought it would be better to start again on the bottom wing and have them both look the same. It looks much more odd in person that what it looks like on the screen.

 

I had a bit of think about the rib tapes and wanted to do better. Cutting them by hand was proving to be very difficult to achieve consistent rib width and was adding to the complexity of having to lay just under 100 of the damn things on the wings. There had to be a better way!

 

I stripped the rib tapes that I had already applied to the top wings and started again. By designing a quick pattern using the mask cutting software and getting the depth of the cut just right, I was able to get my Sillhouette Portrait machine to cut rib tapes at exact widths consistently and accurately, and without the damage caused by the knife blade as previously mentioned.

 

 

 

This is a better way to do it by far in terms of speed and accuracy.

 

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Good use of technology, mate!  I've been eyeing off one of these cutters myself, but just haven't quite had the spare dosh. I don't have room to put one anywhere, anyway, but you've really show how useful they can be.

 

Kev

[Nillus]

Great skills displayed, Eric.

I like the way you attack a problem...under the desk time combined with profanity.

Most excellent.

[ericg]

Good to see you chipping in Nillus!

 

I was waving to you as we taxied past but you must have been ignoring me, or concentrating on getting this beast airborne mate!

 

 

I have finally finished the Lozenge. Just under 200 decals went into the upper and lower wings. I used the mask cutter to cut 2mm strips for the leading and trailing edges of the wings. It was a very tedious process to get them to conform to the curves of the wing but worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

The start of the rigging. Luckily Simmo.B reminded me that I needed to do a bit of work on the lower side of the upper wing before I glued it in place. Have used the excellent Gaspatch anchors.

 

[dodgem37]

Really nice.  Love the pattern contrast between base and ribbing.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

[Simmo.b]

Bet ya glad that's over!!

On to the rigging!

[ericg]

I have now attached the top wing to the rest of the model. Instead of getting a fancy jig I felt the best way to approach it was much more low tech, and did it the way that WnW recommends it to be done. After gluing the inner struts to top and bottom wing I left it to sit in the box bottom for a couple of hours followed by spreading open the outer parts of the wings and inserting the outer struts. This way, you only have to worry about 4 struts at a time rather than eight. Elastic bands are holding the parts together.

 

 

I decided to go my own way with adding the brass tubing to the swaged ends of the rigging and needed a solution to cut the tube in exact lengths. Once again the low tech route was taken. By cutting a small groove length wise in a wooden stick and gluing a stopper at one end and then cutting the brass tube with a blade over a marked line, exact lengths of tube can be produced very quickly.

 

 

Here is the undercarriage rigging. Should have this build done pretty quickly.

 

[zak]

That is one lovely looking model!

[ericg]

Onto rigging of the wings. I am using my technique that I come up with during my Tiger moth build to seat the turnbuckles. By heating up the tang of the Gaspatch turnbuckle until it is red hot and then inserting it at the correct angle using tweezers into the plastic you avoid the need to drill holes and it uses far less room to manoeuvre into place. The turnbuckle is easy to pull back out once cooled and then put back into place with superglue. The drawback is obviously the fact that you are working with red hot metal in close quarters to your almost complete model and there is no second chances..... Just my sort of modelling!

 

Anyway, here is the model, wings glued and with a couple of wires on the wings.

 

 

A different angle. You will notice that I have started some of the weathering process by fading the upper cross decal with some Tamiya buff to match the faded Aviatic lozenge.

 

 

Completed prop. One coat of future followed by clear yellow, then sealed with a further 2 coats of future for depth.

 

[LSP_Kevin]

Spectacular!

 

Kev