Basics, basics, basics.....

[StephenLawson]

I would like to propose a new thread to act as a help to the new people that come to WWI aviation modeling. We could use it to post basic information and helpful general modeling topics. Previous posts or URLs to guide future modelers. As with 'build ' threads we could preface each post with listing the Topics of each thread or paragraph included.

Specifics of how each of us goes beyond basics would of course be upto the individual. But here we could just cover basic how to get started tips. Please remember this is a basic help thread.

Wa-hell then I'll begin at the beginning;

Molded or Union Seams Begin by erasing seams, fill holes and union gaps thin down edges, for a better scale appearance and pay close attention to alignment. One of the sharpest modelers I know told me that he spent most of his time cleaning up a kit. Erasing flaws, sink marks, pin ejector marks, mold seams, flash, mis-mating parts re-cutting misaligned strut holes and etc. Its up to you to say when you’ve invested enough time in your project.

When sanding seams or union gaps protect the detail you want with masking tape. Truing to Square is the process of checking and rechecking alignment planes. This just makes the build more life like in the end. During this process you may fine that you have to re-drill strut locator holes While real aircraft took abuse the only reason for twisted wings, empennage or etc. is a wreck. Keep it straight and plumb using a temporary jig made from children’s plastic ‘Lego’ blocks.

<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Cockpits, planning is the whole key. Often sidewalls are too thick and interior pieces are jammed together that in reality were separated. You may need to carve out the cockpit interior for better simulations. Fuselage/ Wings are critical and need to be represented accurately. Achieving wood grain simulation and Fabric Character in scale is another hurdle for building a unique model. Most often the manufacturers do a reasonable job of replicating these concerns but may need to be toned down by gentle sanding as they tend to be overstated. The reason for this is the manufacturer try’s to envision the piece as finally being painted and accentuating the details will allow them to be prominent even under a thick coat of paint.

Wheels Even wheels need attention. Kit items always have that annoying seam but are not as difficult to deal with as some might lead you to believe. To use it as is with an airbrush go to an art or office supply store and pick up a circle template. To brush paint it use a 01 or 00 brush and paint the outer rim first then fill in the rest to the center. You can paint them in 15 minutes and make people think it took hours. Also if your machine is to be displayed parked note the angle of the tires. Many are slightly toed in at the top. </span>

[JohnReid]

Stephen,sounds like a good idea to me.Would we wait for questions to be asked or just post the info that we think might be helpful to the newcomer? Cheers &#33; John.

[Romani]

I am a completely unskilled, and inexperienced modeller, so I am eminently qualified to give advice to those poor souls new to modelling that don&#39;t know what mess they are getting into, based on my experience

"Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from bad judgement&#33;"
- Ancient Chinese proverb

0.- Preparation

Paint the small pieces like struts and those difficult to hold like wheels while they are still on the sprue. Don&#39;t cut them with a blade or scissors since that usually results on the piece flying away on breaking into your eye or into a portal to another dimension present in every carpet :P
Use a small nail clipper instead to separate the parts from the sprue.

Also, store all the tiny bits into something, self sealing clear plastic bags are the best, if not a small envelope will do provided you keep the habit of pouring the pieces inside a box and return them to the envelope everytime after you get a piece out of it.


1.- Planification.

Plan carefully your moves. Discard the building sequence in the instruction sheet, 99% of the time it&#39;s bloody useless. Do not start building based on ease ("let&#39;s stat with the easy bits to warm up") or difficulty ("once the hard part is done it&#39;s all downhill") or any other arbitrary factor ("since I have the blue paint can open I&#39;ll do all the blue pieces now")

In example, the usual method is to do the fuselage first then attach the wings. But when you realize you are going to need to hold the pieces somehow, is a good idea to leave the tailpane, propeller, pilot and other fittings like machineguns or undercarriage for later, since at various stages you are going to hold the fuselage with your grubby fingers at either end or midway.

Similarly, realize that some painting operations have to be done on 2 stages, don&#39;t think you can go on detailing a piece figuring out later you just have to glue it on.
In the fuselage example, since you have to attach the wings to it and it will involve glue and filler stains, it&#39;s better if you just give the basic coat of paint to the fuselage stablishing the color demarcation zones and then leaving the shading, painting of details like cockpit rims or flare cartridges and of course decal application, until after you have glued the wings.

There&#39;s an exception of this norm of "paint, then assemble" and that is control surfaces. One of the first advices you receive is that they look better if they are cut out and then repositioned. Turns out that is much easier to leave them attached to the wing , fin or tailplane because is much easier to paint or cover them with lozenge decal , before the rest of the wing is done.

But then here&#39;s a twist, if the control surface is painted, is a simple matter of painting the area of plastic exposed by the cut, but in the case of lozenge, you would have to apply the decal to one side, *then* cut the part, and then later apply the lozenge to the other side to cover the cut line.

This just an example of the unexpected complications you can find so think things in advance. The same could apply to national insignia decals (like roundels or crosses) that extend over control surfaces.

Since I have mentioned lozenge decals, here&#39;s another caveat that the most logical order is not neccessarily the best one. Since the upper color overhangs the wing, the novice mistake is applying the upper colors first, since these are the most visible , and applying a certain excess as a safety marging ensuring a good fit, assuming any excess overhang on the undersurface will be covered by the application of the lower color decal cut exactly to size. wich is easier to do since the undersurface is flatter.

Wrong. Decals have a life of their own, and if the decal moves or is a milimeter too long, it will wrap around the edge , or even worse, if you are trimming the excess , a strand can easily stuck to the upper surface, and light colors on dark stand out like a sore to the eye, and removing it it&#39;s very difficult without scratching the decal under it.

Given all this is better to do the undersurface first, as mistakes or patches on the undersurface are less visible and easier to conceal.

Once you have figured the correct assembly and paint sequence for a piece, write it down, and fit them all in a flow chart or a numbered list of things to do. That way you will avoid forgetting it or doing things out of sequence, and it gives you a encouraging sense of progress as you do items on the list even if the airplane is not taking shape yet.


2.- Alignment.

One of the most frustrating things of building airplane models is getting the wings and tailplanes aligned. There&#39;s nothing worse than seeing a plane with skewed or drooping surfaces.
In WWI planes the wings are one piece, wich is a relief, but since most airplanes have more than one wing, alignment is critical.

The main problem with wings is that even when they fit perfectly into the fuselage they usually have an unwanted diedhral. My advice is that for a lower wing without it is that you hold it into place against a flat surface (like a glass table) and adjust the fuselage to it, not try to fit the wing to the fuselage.

Sometimes you will have to do the upper wing first. In the case of a Sopwith Camel I would do the flat upper wing first, holding it into place upside down and adjusting and aligning the struts, before ataching the fuselage to it, and then the lower slanted wings. Each aircraft is unique,

And finally, with all that filing and gluing and filling and sandpapering to get the angle of the wings adjusted, you might miss that they have to be aligned in the horizontal plane too, that is, perpendicular to the fuselage. I suggest placing the model on a sheet of square grid paper to check that the wings are at right angles to the fuselage, because it&#39;s easy to miss that the wings are skewed at the wing root when you are adjusting the angle, but a milimeter or two at the wingtips are indeed noticeable.


3.- Build your own tools.

Some say that the quality that sets apart man as a species is the ability to build tools. Improvisation is the key. A rig made of bent wire may be as good as fully articulated modeling holder with base and alligator clamps or better.

For example, I&#39;ve run into the problem of sandpapering the wing roots after I&#39;m done gluing and filling them with putty. I can&#39;t use a bent piece of sandpaper because I would erase the first rib. I glued with superglue a small piece of sandpaper to a toothpick and I had an instant sandpaper wand to work on that area and other difficult to reach pieces.



Hope this helps.

[StephenLawson]

Romani; I can see why your having so much trouble. Forgive me but your worrying too much about the process. For instance.

The wing and control surface. Make your cuts before you do anything to the wing then sand off the factory molded seams. You don&#39;t have to separte the aileron , rudder or elevator to reposition it. Scribe light lines in both the top surface and the bottom. Once done ( even with predrilled rigging holes) then paint and decal. When thoroughly dry spray your chosen flat or gloss finish and again when dry, apply slight pressure to the scribed lines slightly bending the surface in the desired direction. No worries. Then attach to the model. You may want to put the smallest amount of liquid cyano (super glue) in the biggest gap of the slice just for strength.

JohnReid; I think that there&#39;s room for both if its readily identifiable to the reader. Hence the larger font size for the topic.

Good suggestions. But, I used to sand off component join lines until I visisited several museums and found a/c often have component join lines.

Thus, research your model. This often means the purchase of book or books.

[JohnReid]

#1 tip would be Research,Research,Research.You can never have enough information.Dont depend on any one source .Example ;there is a very famous painting, by a very famous painter, in a very famous gallery in England, depicting the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.Problem is the subject HMS Victory was rebuilt before the battle and the ship as it is depicted in the picture is wrong.So much for relying on famous painters for research.I think it would have been better not to have painted the picture at all as this only does a diservice to historical accuracy.I think that we should take some responsibility for the accuracy of what we are doing if only as a service to the craftsmen-artists that come after us.If the picture was titled something other than The Battle Of Trafalgar it would not be so bad because as it stands now it is just plain wrong.Beautiful picture ,lousy research. Cheers&#33; John.

[stringbags4ever2]

I believe that the most important tool to have in the construction of a model that you can be proud of is the one sitting right between the shoulder blades. That is correct, folks. It&#39;s your head. Use your head to process ALL of the senses that pass information to it while building the model. And one thing that I must keep reminding myself of..... BE PATIENT&#33;&#33;&#33; I can&#39;t tell you how many models I ruined or almost ruined because I was impatient to inspect a gluing job or a paint job. Allow everything to dry and set as per recommendations.

Of course, when you&#39;re a novice in the WW I build department, like I am, don&#39;t be afraid to imitate the build plans of the modelers you most admire. Imitation, after all, is the highest....., well, you know the rest.

[JohnReid]

Tip 2- Go with you own dreams and dont let that old FEAR OF FAILURE stop you from exploring new territory.Dare to be different .If you are reading this you are already 90% there as interest is the number one factor in being successful at anything.It can be very scary to start something new especially for those who have been very successful in other fields.To become a beginer again and put your ego on the line is not always easy.I taught decorative bird carving to adults for 11 years so I have had experience in dealing with these things.It is ok to copy your teachers or your peers in the beginning ,we all do it , but if you want to be truly creative you will have to have the courage to explore your own ideas. Cheers&#33; John.

[greenknight]

One piece of scale modeling advice that I got as a kid and still try to live by goes something like:

"Think of each sub-assembly as a model in itself."

I want to attribute this one to R/C scale modeling great Dave Platt, but I&#39;m not really sure where I saw it. I find this principle helps me to derive satisfaction all through the build and to exercise patience with the project as a whole.

It can be applied to something as simple as, "I&#39;m going to take these 2 pieces off the sprue and turn them into a 1/72 scale copy of a set of muddy wheels off a Roland C.II."

Happy modeling,

GK

[JohnReid]

Hey greenknight&#33; now that is a great tip Each sub-assembly being a model in itself.That is the best way to think of it and exactly the way I feel myself. CheersJohn