Group Build: Biplane - barnstormer to fighter

[Pantherman]

Looking really good!

Many thanks, I'm really enjoying this build. Pantherman

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Right on Pantherman! I knew you would do that engine Justice.

 

[kevin]

A few more things done,
The rest of the tail is on, and so is the lower wing.
I'll say again, I'm very happy Eduard supplied the camouflage stickers for the wings. There is no way I could paint that and have it look good, or even acceptable. Especially at this scale.

 

[kevin]

Looking at my pics zoomed in, I can see my clear coat has crinkled some paint and stickers.......not so much of a heavy hand next time.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Looking at my pics zoomed in, I can see my clear coat has crinkled some paint and stickers.......not so much of a heavy hand next time.

It's looking good though. I'm glad those were decals too. I wasn't envious of you when I first saw that plane. I said to myself, have fun with that paint job

 

[BarleyBop]

look good

Oh, it looking good!
It looking great!

really enjoying this build

We are, we are!
Especially the bronzy copper bits!

 

[Ron2]

A few more things done,
The rest of the tail is on, and so is the lower wing.
I'll say again, I'm very happy Eduard supplied the camouflage stickers for the wings. There is no way I could paint that and have it look good, or even acceptable. Especially at this scale.
View attachment 195327
View attachment 195331
View attachment 195332

that is a cool looking plane!

 

[Ron2]

Fuselage is together. Glass was a nightmare. Got glue everywhere so had to pop out all the windows and spent 30-40 mins cleaning them. I don't understand why the door is separate when the instructions have you glue it in place. I spent 20 mins sanding the door trying to get it to fit and then decided I'm going to glue the door open instead. This windshield doesn't want to fit and I'm tired of messing with it.

 

[Jakko]

There is no way I could paint that and have it look good

An article in an ancient issue of FineScale Modeller had a technique for doing that: make stencils by printing out (well, photocopying back then) the camouflage once for each of the colours and cutting out only the polygons for one colour in each. Since the pattern was printed on the fabric on the real plane, it repeated after a while, so all that's necessary is to make a set of stencils for one full length of that, then place one on the model in turn to spray the first colour, move and repeat as needed, and then do that again with each of the other colours.

I strongly suspect that this takes a good deal of practice and chances are still fairly high that you'll end up with one or more stencils slightly off, though.

 

[Pantherman]

Just the semi-gloss finish, the clear parts and the rigging to do. Pantherman

 

[kevin]

Since the pattern was printed on the fabric on the real plane, it repeated after a while, so all that's necessary is to make a set of stencils for one full length of that,

That's good information to know. That must be the reason Eduard broke up the decals into sections instead of having one large one for each wing.

 

[Ron2]

That's good information to know. That must be the reason Eduard broke up the decals into sections instead of having one large one for each wing.View attachment 195390

That looks like it would be tedious to try to paint. I wonder what their thinking was? You've got these earthly colors for the wings and then bright blue and yellow fuselage- that would seem to undo any camouflage of the wings.

 

[kevin]

I agree....
The kit supplied decals to camo the whole plane, but I chose the more colorful option. Looks like units and / or individual pilots had the freedom to alter color schemes done at the factory when they received the aircraft.

 

[Jakko]

Don't forget that aircraft camouflage is always a compromise between the enemy not being able to see the plane well enough to shoot at it accurately, and friendly forces both seeing and recognising it so they don't shoot at it.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Trying to decide should I paint things separate like the tail feathers? Sometimes when I decide to paint separate it turns out to be a lot more work than I wanted or anticipated. Joining the two halves together went okay. I should have trimmed the gas tank former just a little bit to make the two halves fit together in the front better but I didn't. I ham handed it so now I have to use putty. Lesson learned. Dry fit. And then dry fit again.

 

[Ron2]

Trying to decide should I paint things separate like the tail feathers? Sometimes when I decide to paint separate it turns out to be a lot more work than I wanted or anticipated. Joining the two halves together went okay. I should have trimmed the gas tank former just a little bit to make the two halves fit together in the front better but I didn't. I ham handed it so now I have to use putty. Lesson learned. Dry fit. And then dry fit again.

I don't usually paint separately but this build I'm trying it. You should too- that way the odds are one of us will get it right!

 

[Rockin' Rob]

I don't usually paint separately but this build I'm trying it. You should too- that way the odds are one of us will get it right!

My money's on you. I have bad luck with wet dreams.

 

[Ron2]

My money's on you. I have bad luck with wet dreams.

Lmao.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Doing some putty work along with using 500 primer. Good stuff. And whether or not I paint Parts separately I think depends on several factors. The type of plane. The design of the plane. And the most important part of all how the manufacturer does the engineering. I always try to look way ahead in the instructions on the steps to build it because, at least with me, if I can put plastic against plastic and use the thinset and melt the plastic together I feel it makes a way stronger build. I found some kits have such close tolerances that if you paint something that needs glued and you have to scrape it off or sand the paint off? You can screw it up real quick.

 

[Ron2]

Doing some putty work along with using 500 primer. Good stuff. And whether or not I paint Parts separately I think depends on several factors. The type of plane. The design of the plane. And the most important part of all how the manufacturer does the engineering. I always try to look way ahead in the instructions on the steps to build it because, at least with me, if I can put plastic against plastic and use the thinset and melt the plastic together I feel it makes a way stronger build. I found some kits have such close tolerances that if you paint something that needs glued and you have to scrape it off or sand the paint off? You can screw it up real quick.

I learned that lesson the hard way with my ZM build. Man did I have to do a lot of work to fix my mistakes. It's funny because I just hit one year of modeling and I've come full circle with my glues and some techniques. In the begging started out with tamiya thin but started experimenting with contact glue, Revell contacta, and CA. Started using CA pretty heavy and realized my builds were getting sloppy with glue. Now I'm back to a thinset glue (make my own and have different "heats"). I think a biwing plane is one of the rare times to paint before putting it together. We'll see!

 

[Ron2]

Closer. Thought I was going to get some blue on this tonight but will have to do so tomorrow.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Engines looking good Ron squared! And yes. These biplanes have challenges all their own. Mine might be a little different than everyone else's cuz it was carrier based and the wings folded back. These planes didn't need a long Runway or a carrier ship. They also loved flying in rough weather. Kind of like me when I flew radio control. I built my own planes out of wood and about that time foam was coming out. I absolutely hated foamies. Stupid planes that weighed about half an ounce. Slight breeze and you were grounded. That wind would be ripping and I would be up there just having a blast for about half an hour at a time. Nitro methane lasts a lot longer than 3 minutes of air time on a battery

 

[wjbrandel]

Cockpit is painted and ready for final assembly and install

Put down primer and found seams, so I filled them. After they dry I'll sand them down and reprime.

 

[BarleyBop]

Loving the rich colour palette and materials of these planes!

 

[kevin]

Loving the rich colour palette and materials of these planes!

That is a big reason why I jumped in on this group build. It's nice to use some different colors I wouldn't come across on my usual builds.

 

[Rockin' Rob]

Oh yeah! If I could put down some yellow or a nice red tail, I'm happy.

 

[Ron2]

Engines looking good Ron squared! And yes. These biplanes have challenges all their own. Mine might be a little different than everyone else's cuz it was carrier based and the wings folded back. These planes didn't need a long Runway or a carrier ship. They also loved flying in rough weather. Kind of like me when I flew radio control. I built my own planes out of wood and about that time foam was coming out. I absolutely hated foamies. Stupid planes that weighed about half an ounce. Slight breeze and you were grounded. That wind would be ripping and I would be up there just having a blast for about half an hour at a time. Nitro methane lasts a lot longer than 3 minutes of air time on a battery

My mom's husband was into that before moving here. Unfortunately he was intimidated by "all the rich guys with their expensive planes" and stopped. Or maybe he just didn't feel like he could socialize with the guys at the airfield. Idk. I was actually thinking about building a plane myself!

 

[Ron2]

So I forgot to pair the tail so I'm going to need to wait an hour two, tape it and apply my yellow coat. I'm liking the colors though. Added some black to eh blue to deepen it.

 

[kevin]

Yellow is looking good, usually it's a hard color to work with, at least in my experience.
What brand of paint are you using?

 

[Ron2]

Yellow is looking good, usually it's a hard color to work with, at least in my experience.
What brand of paint are you using?

The yellow is Tamiya LP-8 over Mr finishing white primer.