Wingnut Wings 1/32 Halberstadt Cl.II (late)

[Neil Merryweather]

Ooh Allen that's rather wonderful!

[Jim R]

That is real quality work Allen. Looks so neat and full of detail.

[JR]

Being too hard on your self there Dude 1,those seat belts look ok . Time for a walk I thing in the snow to cool you down

[Allen Dewire]

Morning All,

Just when you thought it was safe, he's baaaack!!!............(I took pics, cause I forgot yesterday)

Great job so far Allen all looking very nice indeed.

Thank you Mark. I think finally progress is being made...

Very nice! Looks excellent Allen. Never knew these WW1 birds were fitted with radio…..

Thanks too Tim! I really didn't think they did either. They had wireless radios and the case on the side frame was the amplifier for it. Not all planes carried radios though. I'll have to dig deeper for some more info...

Allen,

That really is outstanding. Simply outstanding. It looks a great too.

Very well done.

Andrew

Easy Andrew, you are giving me a swelled head (not a hangover), here!!! Much appreciated my friend...

Hello Younger than me,
Just caught up on your wingy thingy build, and mightily impressed I am. Are you going to be making your own turnbuckles for the rigging or obtaining a set from Gaspatch which are really well worth the sheckles you have to pay out - works out to about four bottles of your beer - unopened...
Will be looking forward to more of this build, keep up the great work.
Take care - Prost
Older than you...

Morn Puppy Love Olderthanme...Sorry to hear about your 'incident' and hope you are healing well with no tendon damage Mike. I have a set of Gaspatch turnbuckles in the stash too. What's nice is the holes for them are already pre-drilled and they fit perfectly. This will be a first for me with the rigging. Luckily, I also got my hands on some Infini 0.135 elastic rigging material too. Unfortunately, the buckles cost me about a half case of Wagner's finest beer though, but it's no biggie. Take care of yourself Buddy and I'll PM you later today...

Outstanding work Allen.

Thanks Boss! I still have to ketchup with your 'Katy' build too. Too many builds and not enough hours in the day...

Ooh Allen that's rather wonderful!

Why thank you Mr. Merryweather! So kind of you to say Sir! We (try) aim to please, your aim helps...

That is real quality work Allen. Looks so neat and full of detail.

A big thanks too Jim! You can see I got lazy and didn't paint parts that wouldn't be seen though. So far, so good my friend...

Being too hard on your self there Dude 1,those seat belts look ok . Time for a walk I thing in the snow to cool you down

Thanks Brother! I'm calm now and we (luckily) didn't have any snow, yet! See below...


I worked this pic below to show the contact points for holding the pit in place. The red circles are the main contact areas, and the blue area is for when you added the radio mount plate.


I first put the pit in the right fuselage half and had to use tweezers to press the pins into the holes. The radio plate mounts (blue circle) were the only 2 points that didn't fit 100%. They were about 0.4 mm off. No big deal as I had shaved the mount pins off a bit too much anyway. I then carefully, added the left fuselage half. Again, I had to use some pressure and the tweezers to fit the pins. Voila,


The pit fit tighter than a duck's butt and the pins hold it all together without any glue. None of the cockpit frame saw any glue and only the accessories were glued in place. Even the MG is fitted without glue and it stays where it should be. Totally amazing!!! When I do glue the fuselage together, it should work very well. The rear wing will squeeze the tail section together and,


the bottom cover plate will hold the belly together. Again, a few strips of tape will hold the front and forward tail tight while it dries. I'll start at the rear and carefully glue my way to the front, flip her over and do the same on the top. The big thing will be the alignment of them to avoid having to use putty on the seam afterwards. Another pic,


Once it's dried, the fun will begin...I have to mask this whole mess to shoot the camo on the fuselage. I have a plan and I'll have to be really careful not to bust anything off. I see I have to touch up the oil pump with a spot of old brass (below the MG). Must have scraped it with the tweezers while mounting it. The radio and amp are barely visible too. The crank wheel on the side is to raise and lower the radio arial while in flight,


The radio and amp are in there though!!! When you squeeze the halves together, the 2 gun ring horns move up into place perfectly above the radio. They will have to be masked too.......

Lots more to do and I hope to get the fuselage glued together today. I'll let it dry overnight and then see where we stand with the join...

Thank you all once again for your comments, likes and interest in this fun thang!!! Hats off to WnW's too, for a really well engineered kitset. Have a good one and until next time...

Prost
Allen

[scottie3158]

Dude,
Apologies my friend I have missed the updates. But now I have caught up WOW and you wanted tips from me, I don't think so mate. Cracking work keep it coming.

[papa 695]

Coming along very nicely indeed.

[Tim Marlow]

Superb Allen. Don’t envy you the masking though, quite a lot of fragile stuff in there to snag it…..

[Jim R]

So nice to have such a good fit that you don't risk messing up parts already painted with glue. As Tim says masking will be fun!!

[Andy the Sheep]

My name's Andrea and I'm an Allen's WnW build addict. :smiling4:
I'm impatiently waiting for the next steps, but, please, leave all impatience to me :smiling:

[JayCee]

Coming on excellently, Allen.
John.

[stona]

That looks great.

I confess that I had to look this aeroplane up, as I don't know much about WW1 era machines. I can see you've got some challenges ahead, but if you carry on like this I doubt they'll bother you

[Allen Dewire]

Just me again,

Dude,
Apologies my friend I have missed the updates. But now I have caught up WOW and you wanted tips from me, I don't think so mate. Cracking work keep it coming.

You never need to apologize Bro!!! I can't keep up with 1/2 of what's going on here. The people need to slow down building stuff or get jobs or something!!!...Thanks for the kind words and I'm sure you still have some cool tips up your sleeve though, Paul...

Coming along very nicely indeed.

Thank you Ian and I'm sorry I couldn't find my flyswatter in time to check out your finished Fire bug truck build. I will later...

Superb Allen. Don’t envy you the masking though, quite a lot of fragile stuff in there to snag it…..

Thanks Tim and masking will be fun. I think wrapping the rad hose in saran wrap and making a canopy for the rest might do the trick. My foam pieces really won't work this time and the masking has to hold out for 7 sprayings...

My name's Andrea and I'm an Allen's WnW build addict. :smiling4:
I'm impatiently waiting for the next steps, but, please, leave all impatience to me :smiling:

You are crazy Andrea!!! Love it!! I think a nice bottle or 3, of Bardolino or your favorite grape will cure you of your addiction my friend. if not, then maybe matron might be your only hope!!!...

Coming on excellently, Allen.
John.

Thanks too John!!! I am dreading the next few steps and doing the wings though....

That looks great.

I confess that I had to look this aeroplane up, as I don't know much about WW1 era machines. I can see you've got some challenges ahead, but if you carry on like this I doubt they'll bother you :smiling3:

Well Steve, you probably know more about them than I do. They are fascinating things for their time and must have been pretty wild to fly around in. I guess I have, sort of, caught the WWI wing thingy bug. Wingnut kits are truly great to build and I think the kits are smarter than I am sometimes. Thank you for looking in too, Sir...


Not really an update, but I'm so glad I didn't glue the fuselage together earlier. Once again, I perused the instructions all the way through, and found I had again missed an important step..........Can you say, Rigging???...Yup I needed to rig the control cables for the flappies and the fin steering thing on the back end, from the inside. That took up the afternoon, but I got it done without pulling the fuselage back apart. Sorry, no pics.......

As I said before, the masking will be very important to paint the fuselage. There are 7 colors used in the camo on it. I will definitely need to work up my hissy stick skills for that. Wings are just lozenge decals and will be a huge test too. I must be crazy!!!.......

Thanks again one and all for dropping in and watch this space....I need a cold one, or three...........

Prost
Allen

[Tim Marlow]

Just me again,


You never need to apologize Bro!!! I can't keep up with 1/2 of what's going on here. The people need to slow down building stuff or get jobs or something!!!...Thanks for the kind words and I'm sure you still have some cool tips up your sleeve though, Paul...


Thank you Ian and I'm sorry I couldn't find my flyswatter in time to check out your finished Fire bug truck build. I will later...


Thanks Tim and masking will be fun. I think wrapping the rad hose in saran wrap and making a canopy for the rest might do the trick. My foam pieces really won't work this time and the masking has to hold out for 7 sprayings...


You are crazy Andrea!!! Love it!! I think a nice bottle or 3, of Bardolino or your favorite grape will cure you of your addiction my friend. if not, then maybe matron might be your only hope!!!...


Thanks too John!!! I am dreading the next few steps and doing the wings though....


Well Steve, you probably know more about them than I do. They are fascinating things for their time and must have pretty wild to fly around in. I guess I have, sort of, caught the WWI wing thingy bug. Wingnut kits are truly great to build and I think the kits are smarter than I am sometimes. Thank you for looking in too, Sir...


Not really an update, but I'm so glad I didn't glue the fuselage together earlier. Once again, I perused the instructions all the way through, and found I had again missed an important step..........Can you say, Rigging???...Yup I needed to rig the control cables for the flappies and the fin steering thing on the back end, from the inside. That took up the afternoon, but I got it done without pulling the fuselage back apart. Sorry, no pics.......

As I said before, the masking will be very important to paint the fuselage. There are 7 colors used in the camo on it. I will definitely need to work up my hissy stick skills for that. Wings are just lozenge decals and will be a huge test too. I must be crazy!!!.......

Thanks again one and all for dropping in and watch this space....I need a cold one, or three...........

Prost
Allen

I know there are lots of potential problems in the build, but you will breeze through them with your skills. Going to be great when you finish it Allen……

[Allen Dewire]

So nice to have such a good fit that you don't risk messing up parts already painted with glue. As Tim says masking will be fun!!

So sorry Jim, I missed you in my replies earlier. Brain fart I guess!!! In reality, there is no real way to glue the pit in place after the fuselage is together. And there is no way it could fall apart once it's in there. Great thought when the kit was made. Masking???...Yea it could be tricky, but like I said to Tim, it has to stand up for 7 different color paints on each other. Then a clear coat, decals and then a matt coat on top. I'm nervous my friend...

I know there are lots of potential problems in the build, but you will breeze through them with your skills. Going to be great when you finish it Allen……

I don't know Tim. A few points are scary when I think about them. the lozenge wing decals are the biggest. Thanks for having faith in me Sir. Time will tell.......

[Allen Dewire]

Evening all, from a warm and still windy Bamberg,

Progress has been slowly moving along and after getting the rigging done, from the inside, I could finally glue the 2 halves together. I started in the front and moved my way to the rear,


I only like to use 2 clamps as my other ones don't open wide enough. You can see the granny hairs rigging sticking out of the backside. I glued the next section,


Everything went together quite well and didn't pop apart. While the fuselage was drying, I found more things that needed paint and after looking at some ref pics, did some mods, along with assembling the landing gear,


The pics showed the observer's MG had a front sight, so I nipped off the sight from the etch sheet, sawed a slit in the front sight of the MG and CA'd it in place. I still have to add the decal to the Oigee sight and glue it on the MG too. Then comes the ammo drum and that MG thing is finished. After the fuselage had dried, I did a test fit of the steering thing on the rear fin,


Perfect fit and the only downside was accidently nipping off one of the rigging cables...Oops, Dumb moment...As this sits fixed with a pin into the fuselage, you have the option to do this,


I might give the big fin thing some character and turn it. As I said, it was warm today (16° C), I decided to give the main wings a coat of paint to prep them for the lozenge decals. I use Tamiya paints as I find they have more bite than normal acrylics. Unfortunately, I don't have any that are gloss. I have a bottle of X-22, so I mixed a combo of German gray, XF-62, X-22 and IPA, using my GGFGS* method. I got it wrong, as I didn't use enough X-22 to offset the matt German gray. It went down great, but wasn't even a satin finish to the eye. I let that dry and decided to shoot a coat of X-22 and IPA to shine it up some...

Now my kitchen counter is about 2 meters away from my spray booth and I mix my paint in a syringe on the counter, then take the syringe to my booth. I had cleaned my AB and the nozzle/needle sat on my counter. I went to shoot some IPA, to make sure the AB was clear, grabbed the nozzle/needle, and screwed it on the AB. I began to shoot and the IPA bubbled out of the cup cap. Huh!!!...Tried it again and...Huh!!! I then screwed the nozzle off and....!!!!!!.....Play the Twighlight Zone theme loudy........The needle was GONE!!!!!!...WTF!!! It fits tightly into the nozzle, so there is (usually) no way it could fall out. We're talking about this,


The white needle on the left that goes into the gray nozzle and looks like the tan piece on the right when inserted. Never had a prob before, so I guess today was my (un)lucky day. Grabbed the flashlight and went about looking for it on my hands and knees. I have tan marbled linoleum in the kitchen and similar colored wood flooring in the living room. Looked everywhere, for an hour, and it was nowhere to be found!!! I then broke out my other 0.4 white needle, from an ancient single action and shot the gloss on. The whole time, with the damn music from the Twilight Zone playing in my head!!! In the end, we had this,


It still doesn't look too glossy (bad pic), but should do the job when applying the nasties decals. I went with dark gray hoping it would dull/darken the lozenge decals when I put them on. At least that's the plan...

I will do another search in the morn and maybe get lucky and find it...And everybody thought Rod Serling was long gone...Thanks for your time and for looking in on this (mis)adventure. I hope you all have a great week and plenty of bench time...Need beer!!!...

Prost
Allen

Note...* GusGoFastGuesstimationSystem