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Josh Patterson
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Lindberg 1/48 Curtiss BFC-2

November 24, 2019 · in Aviation · · 15 · 2.8K

Due to Robert Knaack's article on November third I was motivated to get off my butt, order some EZ Line and finish my . It also got me excited to build the FBC-2 from Freedom Models! The problem was I, like many others have been put off by the rigging. (This is also the reason I have avoided building a Wingnuts Wings kit despite the fact that they are 1/32 which is not my usual scale. They just look like great kits!)

This was my first attempt at rigging with EZ Line and it was a cakewalk, even on this smallish plane. I started on the left side so my learning mistakes are on that side. The FBC-2's rigging is done in pairs so instead of running them separately, I looped and secured them around one end of the cabane struts then attached the other ends one at a time. Getting the length right isn't imperative which makes things easy. EZ Line stretches an impressive amount

so it's best to cut a bit short then stretch and secure the end. To attach the single ends I held them with tweezers (a good pair is a must especially with the diameter I used). I placed CA on the end of the line, sprayed the model with accelerator then touched the line to the surface. The entire rigging session was about an hour and a half. The only frustrations were when the line would slip out of the tweezers.

As far as building and painting the plane it's all OOB. The kit fits together nicely if suffering from a bit of flash. Overall the plane was painted Testors Metallic Silver which is a good facsimile of aluminized dope. The tail was painted with Model Master Willow Green (denoting being stationed on USS Ranger) which is quite a pretty shade of green. For the top of the upper wing I used Caterpillar yellow which I think looks pretty good. I used Gaurds Red for the cowling as it was the closest match to the decal stripe on the top of the wing and fuselage band. The fuselage band along with the fully painted cowling denoted a section leader. (The number two and three planes would have the top half and bottom half of the cowling respectively painted red. The red denoted the first of six sections of three planes each followed by white, blue, black, willow green and yellow.) The decals on my kit were extremely thin and snuggled down to the surface very nicely. I did end up tearing the stripe on the top of the wing but that was the only mishap. The decals were also nice and glossy so they blend in with the sheen of the paint.

Now I feel the confidence to build interwar and WWI planes. I do have a Gloster Gladiator, Bristol Bulldog and a pair of F3Fs in the stash (not to mention the FBC-2 to add) so now I feel I can get them done. A big thank you to Robert Knaack for posting his article and getting me motivated! Yellow wings are fun!

Reader reactions:
13  Awesome

8 additional images. Click to enlarge.


15 responses

  1. Nice job. I've got a roll of it at my bench for a few future projects.

  2. Turned out very nice

  3. This is a great looking build, especially from a Lindberg kit. Lindbergs can be tough, but they sometimes have models of planes (and ships, and armor, etc) that no one else seems to have. Thanks for the info on EZ Line. I have been reluctant to build anything with more than one wing because of the rigging, but your article shows there may be hope for us non-biplane guys.

  4. Great job Josh! I must’ve built 5-6 of those as a kid. Great model.

  5. very nice to see

  6. Josh,
    This is a neat looking little Biplane ! I like anything from the "Yellow Wings" era... These old Lindberg kits are not too bad if you spend a little time with them. This is what we grew up building...(toss in Monogram and Revell kits) ...they still work.

    I'm going to need some of this elastic rigging material soon... so thanks fellows @jpatt1000
    @blackadder57

    for sharing the information about where you get it and what you used.

    Well done my friend,
    and "liked"

  7. That looks awesome, Josh! I really like that willow green too, and I'll have to remember that Cat yellow idea. I also just got some EZ line and really like it, went around putting antenna wires on all my planes because it was so easy. My next biplane model will make extensive use of the stuff.
    Two thumbs up!

    • Thank you for the motivation Robert! I just checked out the Yellow Wings site this morning. Looks like I'll have to gather generic markings to do the FB2C and paint the stripes. One of my F3Fs will be painted as the one my friend Gene Chase flew (and also he and a passenger) bailed out of at EAA in '71 (Four years before I was born and almost 20 years before I met him!) so I'll need generic markings for that too.

  8. I have built several of these "Goshawks" my first one probably about 1956 or so. I have one in the stash with some nice markings for it too. Just might tackle it next. You did a great job on it and brought back many memories.

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