Hints and Tips...

[Ross_Moorhouse]

Thought it would be a great idea if we had a tread for hints and tips. So to start off...

My Wood Grain Method.... http://www.network54.com/Forum/messa...eid=1077082169

Simulating Wood Grain
Simulating wood grain is one of the toughest tasks a modeler can attempt. I don’t like decals as the solution since by its nature decals can only be printed with a few colors and this does not represent the differing tones you see in wood. In addition, most decals “overdo” the grain and make it much too prominent. If you took a piece of wood and shrunk it to 1/48 scale you would not be able to see the individual grain, you would see a series of differing color tones. Unfortunately, there is only one solution, you must hand paint it!

There are two choices of wood color for the Albatros fuselage, a lighter honey-yellow color or a darker reddish-brown color. As far as I know there are no pictures of 491/16 so you can pick either (there is a picture of Richthofen and some Jasta 2 mates standing in front of an Albatros D.II that has a darker fuselage with a small white stripe on the engine cowl and Windhoff radiators, but there are no stenciling or markings visible that could firmly identify it as 491/16). I chose the darker color because: 1) I already have a ton of Albatros fighters finished in the yellow color; 2) early Albatros fighters were often stained a deep red-brown; and 3) several artist renderings of 491/16 have it depicted in the darker color.

I have had good success using a dry brushing technique with a rake brush that I used for simulating wood grain finishes. A rake (or comb) brush is a specialty brush that has the filaments spread apart to provide a “streaky” type effect. Picture in your mind what a rake or comb looks like in profile and that is an apt description. These brushes are difficult to find, but many specialty art stores do stock them and in a pinch you can use a well “worn” standard flat brush instead. I highly recommend them because you can do some interesting effects using them.

Starting with a base coat of Model Master Military Brown airbrushed on, I lightly dry brushed with a rake brush successive colors of MM Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber atop each other in a random pattern. The beauty of MM paints is that even after they dry, they can be blended with the successive dry brushed paint, giving a wide range of tones in the finish.

The real key to the wood finish on the Albatros is really the “varnish” layer you apply after your dry brushing session. It is this last “layer” that really blends, accentuates, and adds depth to the finish. Take a peek at the picture of the final dry brushed finish and then compare that to the final finish, it is amazing what this “varnish” layer accomplishes.

I let the dry brush layer cure overnight and then I airbrushed many coats of Gunze Sangyo (GS) Clear Orange (H92) mixed 1:1 with Tamiya Smoke (X-19) thinned with Polly Scale Airbrush Thinner 2:1 to simulate the stained wood varnish. A word of caution, you must apply many, many, many coats of this mix (I probably did about 10-12) to get that nice rich reddish-brown hue.

by Bob Laskodi

[Ross_Moorhouse]

From our own Eric...

Rigging wires/control wires ..... New Member would like honest critique. Lots of pics.

Welcome to the 'Drome, Simon!

The only advice I would offer you is on rigging, especially monoplanes like the E.III. It looks like you're using monofilament (fishing line, invisible thread) and running it through the wing. This is an easy way to do it; the problem is that the monofilament doesn't make a sharp bend but rather curves as it's passed through the hole, resulting in wires that look slack, even though you know you pulled them as tight as you dare. A similar thing happens at the back end on the rudder/elevator control lines - it's even harder to get a short run of monofliament to pull out straight point-to-point and stay that way. I speak from experience, not criticism - I've been there.

My suggestion, for what it worth - try straightened wire for the control lines. It's hard to find some that's thin enough to look right, buut in 1/48th scale you can get away with strands stripped out of the copper side of speaker wire. Cut a piece about 4" - 6" long. Get yourself two pair of needle-nose pliers and wrap each end of the wire around the jaws of one of 'em a few times so it won't slip out, then pull. The wire should stretch about 1/4" or so and as it stretches it will straighten itself out perfectly. Pull too far and it will break - and you'll break a lot of them until you get the feel of it. I did and still do. Color the straightened wire black with a marker and go to town. It can be cut with an Exacto knife and will hold in place with just a drop of white glue.

For bracing and warping wires on monoplane wings, I still use monofilament but I run the upper lower lines separately. Drill two holes (one in front of the other, chordwise) at each attachment, loop a new piece of monofilament through them and tie the ends in a loose knot. Pass the bracing/warping wires through this loop on the top and bottom of the wing, and then pull the knot tight. A drop of glue will hold it and the excess can be easily trimmed away. This allows you to adjust the upper and lower wires independently to keep everything taut, and your lines will terminate flat against the wing instead of arcing through it.

Good luck, and keep at it!

[Lufbery]

Okay, my turn.

A while back, I suffered a bit of a setback on my Martin MB-2 kit , when I realized that I had glued the cabane struts together the wrong way! I had glued the two fronts together, and (naturally) the two backs together. This is the second time I've glued the wrong parts together on this kit, and I'm a compulsive dry-fitter. However, the parts aren't numbered on the sprues, so I have a little bit of an excuse.

If you want to see what parts I'm talking about, go to this page: http://www.crossandcockade.com/WNW/MB2.htm and look at the struts around the engines in the last three photos.

Fixing this mess required me to clip off the two struts that connect the front and rear pieces on each assembly. I bought some round styrene stock of the right diameter and tried to butt join the whole assembly back together. It didn't work very well.

Then inspiration hit me. I'd read about drilling holes in struts and inserting wire to strengthen a joint, but I'd never tried it. So I tried it, and it worked!

I have a pin vice and a set of small drill bits that I bought to drill holes for rigging. I drilled holes in the ends of the round stock and corresponding holes in the cabane struts. I stripped the insulation off a spare electrical wire that I had in my basement. The "wire" was actually a whole bunch of much smaller wires in a bundle. I clipped some, and put two to three of these in the holes I drilled in the struts.

Everything fit together perfectly after that. This seems like a fine way to attach all sort of little things will small bearing surfaces.

Regards,

[JohnReid]

Good idea but I think it should be a sticky otherwise the good ideas will just get lost.Just my opinion. Cheers! john.

[Lufbery]

Agreed. Make it sticky, please.

[Lufbery]

Hi all,

Here's another one: white glue is a fantastic filler for gaps between painted pieces.

My regular method of putting down putty and then wiping off the excess with nail polish remover also removed paint. As does the sanding that usually follows.

White glue, on the other hand, is easy to apply, the excess is easy to wipe away with a wet Q-tip, it dries clear, and is easy to paint.

[Capt. Kit Basher]

While bashing a Jenny from the 1/72 Airfix DH4 recently, I discovered toothpicks make a nice replacement for missing/broken/too flimsy plastic struts. Toothpics are easy to cut to length and take acrylic paint well. You need to use CA cement to attach them to the model. Also, you can use either flat or round toothpics depending on what effect you want. Heck, you could even get those fancy colored cocktail toothpics.

One of my favorite "cheats" is to turn the model upside down and drip CA down the struts to fill gaps between the struts and the upper wing.

Your neighborhood budget basher,
Brian

P.S. It's great to be back since my hard drive and motherboard fried 2 weeks ago. I missed you guys!

[JohnReid]

Its a sticky! Cheers! John.

[RAGIII]

Wrinkled Fabric: While working on a 1/48th SE5a I tried several methods of simulating wrinkled fabric. My ultimate solution was as follows.
Use thick Acrylic paint from a craft shop such as Delta Ceramacoat. This is a craft paint intended for Ceramics. The paint is very thick. Brush on the desired area of the model using about a 1/4 inch brush. Lay the paint on thickly! Use a smaller pointed brush and draw through the thick paint creating valleys and raised ares. You can direct this procedure to create wrinkles in the direction and shape you desire. At the edges smooth the paint to blend into the overall fabric covering. For pictures see Internet Modeler,May 2005, or the Most unique builds etc. thread in this forum. This technique will work for SEs, BE's Fokker DVIIs etc. IHTH,
RAGIII

[Ross_Moorhouse]

Scratchbuilding a Model in Card, Step by Step by Eric...

Scratchbuilding a Model in Card, Step by Step

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