Blown Engine...

What a misadventure this has been.  I trimmed some bits of wound guitar string to use as the valve springs on the engine.  I had strings that were 1.1mm and 0.92mm.  I used the larger first but they were too big and very tough to grind down to size with the dremel (several were sent flying off to feed the carpet monster).   After three trys I gave up and went to the smaller size.  This looks better and I was able to mostly grind them down to size without too many flying away.  (This time it only took two trys.)  I did do some damage to the cylinder head as well but it is all repairable.


Here are a couple shots.  The second has the rocker arm dry fit.  I think a little more grinding is required then I will have to repaint everything.  Another method I have read about is to make my own wrapped wire by covering a 24 gauge (0.5mm) core with a 30 gauge (0.25mm) wire.  By using something softer like my NiChrome or Copper it should be much easier to get to size.  Also I can mount it with a 0.5mm hole instead of filling the cylinder head with 1mm holes that weaken the structure.

On a lighter note; here are some final shots of my Nieuport 17 all dirtied up.




Here are some shots of the weathering.


Here she is in her final display above my son's bed.  I figure a dozen more planes and their ceiling will be full >grin< but by that time some of these early attempts may very well 'disapear'.

First Group Build Pfalz D.IIIa

So as part of my adventures on the Great War in the Air Forum I have joined my first ever group build.  The build started on Sept 1st and can include any Pfalz aircraft.  http://www.greatwaraviation.com/forum/index.php?topic=621.0

I am diving into my first Wingnut Wings kit for this project and am pretty excited.



Here is my "open box" shot with the plastic still on the sprues.  I plan on doing this scheme Han Muller Jasta 18.  If Rowan at Phaeon Models gets his Jasta 30 sheets out I may change but I like the colors of this bird.

I washed the sprues and primed a couple.  I had some old XF22 Sky lying around so that primed the cockpit pieces.  I primed the engine sprue black since it is all metal.


Here is the engine block after a test fit.

 
Another idea from Des.  I got an old guitar string and cut it into little pieces.  These became the rocker springs on the cylinder head.


I still need to grind these down to size and it would have helped if I had a better pair of cutting pliers.  The effect is very nice and it was supper easy to drill out some holes and CA the 'springs' into place.


The last thing I did today was make a couple guides for the plug wires.  These will be primed and painted.  I thought I could get farther on the engine but I need brass tubing to make sparkplugs.  I am going slow but really enjoying this build so far.

Build Complete!

Well I have finished the build.  I still need to touch up the paint then seal and weather everything but all the parts are together.  This was a fun build and I am still learning...  here are the pictures.




The glamour shots..




These are some detail shots.  You can see what I mean about touching up the paint.  You can also see my turnbuckles up close.

I should get the weathering finished just in time for the Pfalz Group Build on GWitAF. http://www.greatwaraviation.com/forum/index.php?topic=621.0

Strutting Around

So I thought to get some advice one the best order for assembling the wings.  I posted the question to http://www.greatwaraviation.com/forum/index.php and got a lot of help.  On my first Nieuport 17 I glued in the struts and the cabane struts and as soon as the glue started to hold I smashed it all together and started sewing it up with rigging to hold it in place.  This time was a little different;


First the cabane struts were attached to the fuselage.  This is the back strut holding the windscreen.  The front struts took a little work to keep straight.


The wing struts I attached to the upper wing and let set.  Once everything was solidly held I turned the plane upside down and glued the wing onto the cabane struts and the wing struts onto the lower wing.  I obviously needed some weight to keep everything in place and together while the glue set.  After a couple hours I took off the weight and put the plane away for the night.




Here are some shots of the rigging on the wings.  You can see a couple scrapes that I need to touch up.  I could use a great deal more practice on this.



Here I am about half way through rigging up the the control wires for the tailplane.


Here is another engine shot... <grin> I am still proud of that.

Closing In!

I am posting as an update just to show that I am working on things still.  I have slowed down but not stopped.

I have done some more work on my instruments.  I love these decal from Airscale I will probably have to buy more soon.  You can see that my attempt to use Future as a gap filler didn't work.  I have now tried a little CA (I figure its called Zap-A-Gap for a reason).  The CA filled the seam but it is too hard when it sets. so the sanding is uneven at best.  It looks like I will go back to putty from here on out.


Here I am.  My three year old shutterbug was helping dad out once again.


This is a bit of rigging I missed on my last model.  I didn't see it in the rigging diagram that cam with the Academy kit; but it seems obvious now.  I left the lines extra long because this will be such a tight fit.  (Thanks Des for that idea.)  You can also see that I added holes for the Aileron controls.  The pieces didn't fit well on their own last time.



A couple side views.  You can see the turnbuckles for the flying wires.



I did a dry fit on the propeller.  The decals here are from a Mustang kit.  I know it isn't accurate; but they needed something.

Miss-Fits and other Size Issues

I wanted to start off with a mention for my new home http://www.greatwaraviation.com/forum/index.php .  There are some amazing builds and a lot of great advice to be found there.

I have had some fit issues with the Nieuport;

You can see tow things here; my altimeter is much too large and the internal frame is not fitting into its slot on the port side.

I centered the instrument and was able to better center the frame.  I have learned that the frame and the control stick should actually be up against the seat.  This will have to be corrected in the next model.


I have started to make new instruments.  These are out of regular sprue and are about a third the size.  This should be a better fit.


After much sanding; there is still a slightly visible seam.  The flash makes it look much more prominent then it truly is.  I have tried a thin coat of Future to see if that is enough to cover the flaws.  If it isn't then I will go back to another round of sanding.


These are the turnbuckles for the landing wires.  The turnbuckles are 4mm lengths and the stays are 1mm.



I am using 4mm stays on the flying wires and 1mm stays on the landing wires.


I have attached the first horns to the tail plane.  These are also 1mm cable stays.


You can see several bubbles in the decals.  I have used several rounds of Solu-Set but they won't go away.  The poor quality decals have been the only disappointment with this kit.  I am hoping that between finish and weathering I can make these disappear.