mozart Posted December 19, 2022 Share Posted December 19, 2022 Yep, soft pastels are the only way to go, and it’s worth warning people who haven’t used them off of buying oil pastels. As the name implies they are very greasy and won’t deliver the subtle variations that soft pastels do, just a horrid smudgy streak instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 Starting to look like a biplane now, at least. Rigging when I get back from the holidays... Rockie Yarwood, patricksparks, Landrotten Highlander and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 2, 2023 Author Share Posted January 2, 2023 Slowly digging into the rigging here, now that I'm back from Toronto. Instead of E-Z Line, I'm using this for the thinner wires: Unlike E-Z Line, it has the advantage of being perfectly round and smooth, as opposed to rectangular-ish in cross-section and variable in thickness. The DISadvantage is that it is much less elastic than E-Z line, with maybe 10% max stretch, and even that requiring you to pull pretty hard on it. It has been a challenge to use, but looks nice once in place. I did some research trying to figure out whether the rigging on this aircraft would have been painted in the camo colors or left as bare metal. I did not get to a satisfying answer, although I did run across an *extremely* heated exchange on Britmodeler about whether the rigging on WWI RAF biplanes was painted. Amazing how wound up people will get about toy airplanes ;-). Regardless, needing to move forward, I opted for bare metal, and so gave these lines a coat of Mr Color silver once they were in place. The diagonal inter-plane braces on the Gladiator were substantially heavier stock than the rest, so this 0.2 mm line would be very underscale. I chose to use 0.5 mm aluminum tubing instead. I drilled 0.6 mm holes, carefully aligning them to aim where the braces needed to go, and cut the tubing a touch long. I was able to slip it in with a slight flexure, allowing it to snap back straight once in place. On the real aircraft these braces were ovalized, not round, but I could not come up with a way to ovalize my tubing without putting a bend in it. Since I did not want to try and install it under tension (which would have required drilling through the lower wing the way Mozart did on his), I just left it round. Still looks OK, I think. I still have a number of additional braces on wings and empennage, plus the aileron and rudder control wires, yet to go. Hopefully another couple of sessions sees those completed. Every time I build a biplane I'm reminded of why I don't build biplanes very often. But it will look cool on the shelf when done. Alain Gadbois, MikeMaben, KiwiZac and 9 others 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMaben Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 ...yes it will Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Posted January 3, 2023 Share Posted January 3, 2023 Looks great! Iain Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 3, 2023 Author Share Posted January 3, 2023 23 hours ago, Alex said: Slowly digging into the rigging here, now that I'm back from Toronto. Instead of E-Z Line, I'm using this for the thinner wires: I had a random thought, so tested it. It turns out that this stuff, like stretched sprue, will shrink when heated. That's going to make the rest of this SO much easier. Might even change my attitude on biplanes a bit... ;-) LSP_Kevin 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 6, 2023 Author Share Posted January 6, 2023 OK, time to stick a fork in this one, I think. It's rife with little flaws, but nothing glaring enough to detract from the impression on the shelf, so I'm going to move on. It was a fun build, and probably the right level of challenge to limber up on after a year plus away from the bench. It's amazing what you can forget... BradG, patricksparks, Christa and 19 others 22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denders Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 I think it looks great! Who carries Modelkasten on this side of the pond? Dave Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 7, 2023 Author Share Posted January 7, 2023 2 hours ago, denders said: Who carries Modelkasten on this side of the pond? Dave I’ll take a look and see if I can reconstruct where I got it. Could have been mail order from Europe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Posted January 7, 2023 Author Share Posted January 7, 2023 2 minutes ago, Alex said: I’ll take a look and see if I can reconstruct where I got it. Could have been mail order from Europe. I ordered it on eBay from a model shop in the UAE of all places. Marginally cheaper than ordering from Japan. It’s not cheap, but I figured that 25 meters of it was probably enough for the rest of the biplane models I will ever build… KiwiZac 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denders Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Ok, thanks, Alex. It looks interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BradG Posted January 7, 2023 Share Posted January 7, 2023 Great job mate, I will start the gallery! Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kagemusha Posted January 8, 2023 Share Posted January 8, 2023 Very nice Gladiator, great to see a model in unusual markings. Alex 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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