Group Build: Biplane - barnstormer to fighter

[Bob T]

I've been reading pages and watching videos on plane rigging and wow....lots of options.
Regular thread, stretchy thread, heat shrinking thread, mono filament line, wire, and PE are all options.
Guys are making turnbuckles and mounting rings in 1/48, which looks pretty daunting.

Fortunately, both kits I have are of planes with plenty of photo documentation.
Just have to decide which one to build.

 

[Pantherman]

I've been reading pages and watching videos on plane rigging and wow....lots of options.
Regular thread, stretchy thread, heat shrinking thread, mono filament line, wire, and PE are all options.
Guys are making turnbuckles and mounting rings in 1/48, which looks pretty daunting.

Fortunately, both kits I have are of planes with plenty of photo documentation.
Just have to decide which one to build.

Just don't forget that the main thing is you have fun building it. Pantherman

 

[Ron2]

I've been reading pages and watching videos on plane rigging and wow....lots of options.
Regular thread, stretchy thread, heat shrinking thread, mono filament line, wire, and PE are all options.
Guys are making turnbuckles and mounting rings in 1/48, which looks pretty daunting.

Fortunately, both kits I have are of planes with plenty of photo documentation.
Just have to decide which one to build.

Turnbuckles???

 

[Bob T]

Turnbuckles???

Yep...most of those wires on biplanes have turnbuckles...

 

[Ron2]

Yep...most of those wires on biplanes have turnbuckles...

Haha. No I would assume they had turnbuckles or a system the enabled them to tighten the cables after a flight. I was surprised people were making scratch turnbuckles.

 

[BarleyBop]

I was surprised

You want the build to look good.

The chances of pulling of half decent turnbuckles 50-50.

Scratch 22

 

[Ron2]

You want the build to look good.

The chances of pulling of half decent turnbuckles 50-50.

Scratch 22

Sometimes less is more.

 

[Jakko]

I was surprised people were making scratch turnbuckles.

I'm not No matter how small the details, somebody will be crazy enough to build it. On another forum, someone who used to be a railway modeller talked about how the real die-hards in that field would scratchbuild OO scale (1:76, except the actual rails) rolling stock from the traditional brass, and when cutting the pieces, take into account the thickness of the paint they were going to apply later …!

 

[Ron2]

I'm not No matter how small the details, somebody will be crazy enough to build it. On another forum, someone who used to be a railway modeller talked about how the real die-hards in that field would scratchbuild OO scale (1:76, except the actual rails) rolling stock from the traditional brass, and when cutting the pieces, take into account the thickness of the paint they were going to apply

To me, it ceases to be relaxing to get overly involved scratch building, or with authenticity factors. I have hundreds of bottles of paint and was caught up in having the "correct" paint for every build. Now, I tend to make it work with what I have if it can be reasonably accurate. After all, most of the time we are weathering and want the paint to be somewhat faded. Plus I just get bored with projects taking too much time.

 

[Ron2]

To me, it ceases to be relaxing to get overly involved scratch building, or with authenticity factors. I have hundreds of bottles of paint and was caught up in having the "correct" paint for every build. Now, I tend to make it work with what I have if it can be reasonably accurate. After all, most of the time we are weathering and want the paint to be somewhat faded. Plus I just get bored with projects taking too much time

I'm not No matter how small the details, somebody will be crazy enough to build it. On another forum, someone who used to be a railway modeller talked about how the real die-hards in that field would scratchbuild OO scale (1:76, except the actual rails) rolling stock from the traditional brass, and when cutting the pieces, take into account the thickness of the paint they were going to apply later …!

as an experiment I took a stock photo of an f16 and asked AI TO SCALE IT TO 1/48 to see how much detail gets lost visually. If you do the math, if you were standing in front of an f16, 20 ft away, to appear 1/48 scale that same plane would be over 900 ft away. Another example is that a 1/48 model being viewed would be like standing 80 feet away from the real plane. My point is, at scale we lose a lot of detail visually. I'm sure this could be argued a number of ways. I try to factor this in when weathering. A real life paint chip might be 1/2 cm - that's not going to be noticeable at scale. Of course, this can ruin the concept of weathering.

 

[BarleyBop]

@Ron2

Interesting observations on perception of scale and detail!

From a cognitive perspective though, (as opposed to purely optical) vision happens in the brain... And most people, if you asked them, would not say that the heads two rows away in a movie theater were half the apparent size of those in the next row from them.

So scale is a tricky business indeed!

I like to think of scale model building as finding the right balance between actual and inferred detail... Keeping in mind the intended viewing distance: sitting on a shelf, or through a macro lens!

 

[Ron2]

@Ron2

Interesting observations on perception of scale and detail!

From a cognitive perspective though, (as opposed to purely optical) vision happens in the brain... And most people, if you asked them, would not say that the heads two rows away in a movie theater were half the apparent size of those in the next row from them.

So scale is a tricky business indeed!

I like to think of scale model building as finding the right balance between actual and inferred detail... Keeping in mind the intended viewing distance: sitting on a shelf, or through a macro lens!

I like that. I heard that argument used against using spinner props on planes, the poster was stating that your brain fills in the spinning blade so there's no need for the spinner. I agree with that perspective it's an interesting hobby we have with a variety of ideas and viewpoints. At times I will contradict my own "philosophy" during a build adding a detail that no one will ever notice because it's hidden or they simply don't pay attention to.

 

[BarleyBop]

Sheesh, I'm wondering if I'm going to get nailed as an accessory after the fact now that @Edbert has cornered the Wingnut market!

 

[Edbert]

Guys are making turnbuckles and mounting rings in 1/48, which looks pretty daunting.

1/48 is past the limit of my sanity-o-meter.

I'm hoping I can pull off /32, luckily most 1/32 biplanes build out to be smaller than many 1/48 jets.

 

[Bob T]

We are driving back to the Midwest to visit our family and friends July 1st. Gonna be gone for near a week.

Might have to start this one early.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Hey now. Wait a minute. I'm going to pretty much build the model oob. I hope y'all aren't expecting me to scratch build spark plugs and turnbuckles? I think I'm about a year or two away from that shizzle

 

[BarleyBop]

Didn't you know?!
This build is specifically for the shizzle counters!

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Didn't you know?!
This build is specifically for the shizzle counters!

Hmm

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Well, okay. I guess that leaves me out. Maybe next time

 

[BarleyBop]

Maybe next time

Wha...? As if?! Ya gots to hop on...
"We leave no modeler behind!"

 

[Tommergun]

Well, I'll be building this old mold 1/72 Avia from my stash. Definitely no shizzle there!

 

[Bear43]

I saw the topic and ordered myself the Roden Gloster Gladiator.

 

[BarleyBop]

Gladiator

Nice! I'm trying my hand with the Roden Sea Gladiator!

 

[Rockin' Rob]

I don't know, everyone. I should be done with this tomorrow and then what should I do? I don't know what to do next. Hmm

 

[BarleyBop]

I don't know what to do next.

Hmmm. such a quandary. Hmmm.
I know: you could just wing it. Times two!

 

[Rockin' Rob]

I might have to at least clean my workstation and look inside the Box tomorrow.

 

[wjbrandel]

I did it, I broke open the box to sniff plastic and start prepping. Nothing is glued together yet...I promise.

The instructions are nice, not quite as good as trumpter USS Texas but close.

Got a choice of 3 different pilots, 2 French and 1 American. I'm thinking about building the Rickenbacker plane, mainly because I have his biography.

 

[wjbrandel]

The kit has a lot of good molded in details and not a lot of flash. The only thing I am not looking forward to is the rigging, mainly because I have never done rigging before.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

I think I'll join you. I cleaned up my workstation and well, what can I say? I looked inside the Box. And then I ruffled through the box and pulled out the instructions. And one thing led to another and pretty soon I was sanding off little Nubs of plastic. These cockpits sure are different than modern planes.

 

[Pantherman]

I may have accidentally started as it's the weekend and wouldn't really be able to do much on the 1st as it's midweek. I can only hope I'm forgiven....... Pantherman