Biplanes and Other Rigged Aircraft

Fantastic and striking build, Bert! Great job!

1 Like

Thanks Jesper!

1 Like

Having chosen the version that has that translucent, unpainted wings effect has sort of come back to bite me. I haven’t done this before - so I started on the tail feathers and that didn’t look very good so now I am trying the wings. I guess masking is meant to be therapeutic, I don’t know about that but it is time consuming to achieve small effects.
Working underneath the wing I am trying to get the structure that should be visible with sunlight shining through the linen effect.
So starting with the horizontals, which is two main elements and two medium supports.
Started like this

to get this

Then a bit of recycling for the vertical bits (sorry the technical terms escape me)

to end up like this, though pic has skipped a masking step

Flip the wing over and mask the ribs to keep them white

before shading in between to leave this

I was originally going to cover with some light coats of XF57 (Buff) as a sort of aged linen effect but considering my attempt on the tail I bought some aged linen decals from Aviattic and will try those on both sides and see what we get. Actually, whatever it looks like it will be the outcome since I have spent enough time on this part of the build - this is a rigging campaign after all!

cheers
Michael

6 Likes

Well that didn’t quite work out as intended. The linen effect decals where more translucent than I thought. It was OK for the topside of the wing but the lower wing the ribs are too heavy. I will have to take photos inn bright sunlight to ensure it doesn’t look out of place. A lesson for next time because once I get the wings attached it will be on to the rigging.

cheers
Michael

6 Likes

My WnW Stahltaube - Steel Dove - is complete.

The rigging was a labor of love - sort of. It took me far longer than I anticipated. WnW suggest not using turnbuckles but they are such a key element of the plane and prominent in the photos I felt I had to do them. I think there may be around 50, plus many centimeters of EZ-line as well.

This plane is early war, when pilots carried pistols and small bombs, which they tossed out I guess when they thought it might annoy troops on the ground. They quickly passed into training planes in 1915 when the Fokkers came into service.

The plane certainly looks like a bird in flight.

may be not so much in profile

Rigging was most complex on the tailplane

in cross section

and the detail in the stay

the rigging supporting the wings was numerous, from front on

and the control cables that allowed the wing warping

The radiators under the wing. I left the right hand engine cover off to still see that earlier work.


and the cockpit


and a final shot

cheers
Michael

14 Likes

That is awesome work and! Your hard work certainly paid off!!!

1 Like

Beautiful job Michael ! Thanks for sharing.

1 Like

Wow. …

1 Like

That’s absolutely brilliant rigging work! :star::star::star::star::star:

—mike

1 Like

Have you tried tying flys for fishing?

1 Like

Thank you all! Very much appreciate the comments and the likes.

cheers
Michael

1 Like

Hi Greg, I haven’t been fishing since I was a little kid. I think of fishing as somewhat similar to watching test cricket - a lot of waiting and often no result!

cheers
Michael

Ok I am in just clicked going, I will start with a small easy one since I have not built an aircraft kit in almost 20 years I think, pic below of what I will go with.
IMG_2451 (600 x 365)

1 Like

That is just a stunning model. Your struggles with trying to get a translucent effect on the wings resulted in a convincing finish. Are you happy with it?

Did you take any pictures of the process of rigging the model? Did you have to plan to work from the inside out or something else?

I’m sure many of us are inspired by what you have achieved and would like to learn from it.

Paul

1 Like

I love the Sea Otter! Considering it was a difficult kit the results are superb. You rigged it with metal wire. Do you have any tips for those of us who might like to try that technique? How did you measure the wires to make sure you got no sags or gaps?

Paul

1 Like

That Pfalz should give you some challenges. Have you decided how you will rig it yet? Its a great looking airplane and I look forward to seeing how you progress.

Paul

Thanks for your reply, I have already started on it and I see what you mean by challenges, no numbers on any of the parts and some parts just don’t fit very good. To rig it I will try Infini fine rigging line in black the size is 0.082, we will see how this goes, wish me luck I may need it, lol.

That is one of ICMs early products and very much in the “limited production” category. Its not a shake and bake kit but it is of an interesting and rarely modeled subject. See the Supermarine Sea Otter done earlier in the thread. That too was a challenging build but it came out really well.

Take plenty of pictures to share with those of us who want to learn rigging and other modelling skills.

Paul

Thanks!

And I actually just stuck each time a wire in its place and marked it with a marker, then cut it, and glued it in. Then proceed with the next.

A small update, engine is done and I finished the engine cowling tried to give it some visual texture you see on these Eindeckers some times, I think it worked.
IMG_24521 (600 x 483)
IMG_24541 (600 x 493)
IMG_24531 (600 x 457)

1 Like