vince14 Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Well pretty much none of that true. I've built several WNW kits, including the Gotha G.IV, Brisfit, and Salmson and not one shows any sign of sagging or deformation in the landing gear, struts or wings - or indeed any part of the kit. The Brisfit is now getting on for 10 years old and is as sturdy as the day I built it. Derek B, Jeff T, Rick Griewski and 5 others 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Griewski Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) I want to think that when a model of a biplane is evenly rigged without force bias that the wings and landing gear will be much, much stronger against shear forces than before the model is rigged. Just like the 1:1 real aircraft. Too much compression will do in flimsy supports. The rigged model however will prevent or delay the shear/twisting /splay that usually happens right before a collapse. A three legged stool is much stronger with spanner between each leg. WNW kit designers do seem to trend toward scale sizing. But that is what makes the kits so amazing. Edited March 23, 2021 by Rick Griewski Clarification Gigant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Out2gtcha Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 4 hours ago, Gigant said: As I understand, starting with their Salmson biplane, practically all of WnW's kits have weak landing gear struts, wing sag, etc., which is the result of trying to make tiny detailed things like struts and wing attachment points exactly to scale out of soft plastic. Although I have bought a couple of their kits, the one that really scares me is their Bristol F2b. After building the old Aurora kit with the stubby fuselage stand-off struts for the lower wing attachment, I simply would not want the pain of figuring what type of fixture it would take to get a soft plastic WnW fuselage to not try to rotate on me while standing in them while the glue is setting up, in addition to the worry as to how substantial it will be for me to finish getting the upper wing with all of it's eight inter-plane struts and cabane struts to behave. Frankly, I see this trend as a "cop-out", where under the "true to exact scale drawings" caveat, they obviously do not take time to test-fit the parts to see how practical it would be for the average builder to assemble their kits without heavily investing in buying or making special jigs and fixtures, that have very limited use beyond a single build or two. IMHO, that is the main reason why most WnW's kits are still sitting around here and there unbuilt in their boxes, popping up on eBay and Amazon instead of showing up a built projects on model airplane websites. Honestly I have found none of that to be the case. I have a DH.2 that is going on 12 years old built a Felix and Gotha for two different clients, and as recently as 1 month and a half ago spoke to both. Both models today are "just the same as when you sent them several years ago" according to my customer that I built the Gotha for. So no, I would have to say that overall none of that is true from my experience. monthebiff, Derek B, scvrobeson and 4 others 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dutik Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Just because it's that nice. Built by a fellow years ago. Regards - dutik Gazzas, williamj, scvrobeson and 4 others 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petrov27 Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 Only three built WNW here but no issues at all with the struts nor sagging of any kind on them after years. Wish I could say the same for myself Gary Needham, Pup7309, Rick Griewski and 5 others 4 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gigant Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 4 hours ago, vince14 said: Well pretty much none of that true. I've built several WNW kits, including the Gotha G.IV, Brisfit, and Salmson and not one shows any sign of sagging or deformation in the landing gear, struts or wings - or indeed any part of the kit. The Brisfit is now getting on for 10 years old and is as sturdy as the day I built it. 3 hours ago, Out2gtcha said: Honestly I have found none of that to be the case. I have a DH.2 that is going on 12 years old built a Felix and Gotha for two different clients, and as recently as 1 month and a half ago spoke to both. Both models today are "just the same as when you sent them several years ago" according to my customer that I built the Gotha for. So no, I would have to say that overall none of that is true from my experience. Well, thank you gentlemen for your encouragement for me to "venture out" a bit! Rick Griewski 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbk57 Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) I agree with the poster above to a point. Their engineering is highly aggressive, i have never built any of the big ones so don't make a comment on sagging bowing or anything else like that. However I have built the Dvii, the DV, the Pup, the Camel and another of the single engine ones. As to the DVII I found the landing gear strut attachment to be on the ragged edge of too small and it went together but it was anything but strong. I also had experience with key struts that were deformed, not fully formed or otherwise had minor flaws. To me the DVII was somewhat on the flimsy side. The Albatros was a little shaky but it was okay. With respect to the DVII though when I saw how tinny the fittings are holding the upper wing in place and how the landing gear mounted to the frame, I would not want my life to depend on that plane staying together. The upper wing impresses me as something just above suicidal. Now the reality may be far from that but I would to want to pilot a real one. One more point, my highest praise to those above who have 1, built the big WNW kits and 2, made the rigging of such quality that it is a strengthening element of the model. That is just real skill. I used the stretchy stuff, which does not add much strength for the rigging I did. Edited March 23, 2021 by cbk57 Pup7309 and Gigant 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pup7309 Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 The D7 top wing is pretty thick and struts delicate but the physics on the 1:1 is another thing. It has been mentioned MvR was a week away from getting this type, luckily for allied pilots he didn’t. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pup7309 Posted March 23, 2021 Share Posted March 23, 2021 (edited) Coming back to the hobby I’m pretty amazed by some of the best kit engineering of the last 20-25 years, and modelling results. Edited March 23, 2021 by Pup7309 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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