Wingnuts Wings' LVG C.VI

Started by Paul Higgins · 33 · 10 hours ago · LVG C.VI, WnW, ww1
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    Paul Higgins said 1 month ago:

    Hi, guys... at last, I am able to make a contribution to this group build. Having had some time earlier today, I really enjoyed looking through the contributions so far - many aircraft kits, at least one submarine and an airship amongst other wonderful subjects. I think this GB will be very interesting indeed.

    So, I'm in the early stages of my build and although this kit is marked as 2008, therefore making it one of the earlier WnW offerings, it is of typical excellent design and the pieces look very good indeed. As ever with any model, the proof will be in the fit of the parts, so I hope it's up to the usual high standard in that regard as well.

    I started with laying down a white, then pale tan enamel undercoat for anything that needed a wood-effect finish. Once dry, I applied a thin coat of burnt sienna oil paint to the relevant parts and after it looked dry a while later - the emphasis being on the word 'looked' - I carefully drew a pointed-tip paintbrush through the oil paint to get the effect I wanted before the paint dried fully. These parts were left to dry overnight and I was pleased with the outcome. The pilot's and observer's seats, along with the circular gun mount, had burnt umber applied and worked in the same manner.

    Afterwards, the pieces needing to be finished in grey-green were painted up, mainly the small access hatches and louvres as well as both the cabane and interplane struts, with the attachment brackets and sleeves on the latter two picked out in black. Then the engine was assembled; the top and bottom sections were painted seperately before being brought together and the lower areas were blackwashed to tone down the metallic shade that I thought was a little too shiny.

    The latest bit of work was to apply the small transfers to the instrument panel and one to the side of the cockpit framing; these were done last night and left overnight to dry thoroughly.

    So, that's the state of play so far. I'll have more photos to add as I go along - thanks for looking in... ;-).

    6 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month ago:

    That's a great entry, Paul @paulh
    Nice start already on the wooden looks and the engine.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month ago:

    Excellent entry and ditto start, my friend @paulh!
    Looking forward to your next steps!

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    Paul Higgins said 1 month ago:

    John/ Spiros... thanks, to you both. I hope to get a bit more work done in the coming days.

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    Tom Cleaver said 1 month ago:

    Wow - where did you find this at a price that didn't force a change in the national debt? This kit's been made of unobtainium for years!

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    IAN Convey said 1 month ago:

    An impressive kit Paul, nice work so far. This group is certainly bringing some exotic kits out of hiding.

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    Paul Higgins said 1 month ago:

    Hi, guys... back with a further small number of photos; these are mostly showing the cockpit from different angles once the fuselage has been closed up. I found the fit very tight, especially when I tried to get the bulkheads to settle into position. I don't know if being one of WnW's earlier models, the fit of parts wasn't quite what we came to expect later. The upper coaming - not shown here - was also an area that needed some firm pressure applied and then taped up to hold things in place while the adhesive dried out. As it is, you can see from the photos the 'glue and tape' process on the rear fuselage.

    The interior seemed a little open, that is to say, I have built WnW kits where there's a lot of parts to add in, but when the coaming is attached, the visible areas are much reduced and look just about right. The instrument panel has the customary small decals to attach; I lost the handle from the control column so I had to fashion another from stretched plastic - not really how it should look but better than nothing.

    I've already dry fitted the engine and cowling covers - pretty good, all things considered. The edges of one of the cowlings had to be manipulated slightly to improve the fit. The last image showing the underside of the fuselage also has some gapping at the edges, and these have been filled and are shortly about to be sanded smooth. If that all goes well, then an undercoat onto the fuselage can be applied ahead of starting the colour scheme, which will be a camouflaged fuselage, with the wings being lozenge-covered. More to follow in due course... ;-).

    5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Paul Higgins said 1 month ago:

    Tom... I've still got a few other 'Unobtainiums' to build... :-).

    Most of my WnW kits were acquired a few years back when I was still working and had the funds, but my attitude was always "choose carefully and buy wisely". For better or worse, if folks want these kits, they have to expect to pay more now that they're as available as hens' teeth, but I have most of the ones I want from that particular range - note the word 'most'... ;-).

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    Paul Higgins said 1 month ago:

    Ian, thanks for your comments... ;-).

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month ago:

    Excellent work done on the interior, Paul @paulh

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month ago:

    This is a wonderful interior, my friend @paulh!

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    Paul Higgins said 3 weeks, 5 days ago:

    Guys, a further set of photos from this build. The first two show the winter cowlings in place; with the exception of the nose cap and the small cover behind the engine, I found that most of the engine covers needed tweaked at their edges to get a better fit. You can see the issues this created in the second image, where the part that is the gun trough doesn't properly fit. This was because the area of the part that goes over the fuselage behind the engine stood far too proud and needed to be manipulated to lie in place properly. This casued the front of the trough to partially drop at the front, causing the gap under the winter cowling. I managed to plug the gap with AK model filler and sanded it relatively smooth before laying down an undercoat for the colour scheme.

    I was able to get the white undercoat applied yesterday afternoon and carefully coated the parts with Future, and once dry, I used a piece of light grade wet 'n' dry paper to sand the surfaces of fuselage, wings and tail to eliminate any surface debris. I didn't want to be painting or applying lozenge transfers onto untreated surfaces, although there's usually some area I've missed.

    As a result, the wings and tail have been hiding in the desk drawer to keep the dust off them, and the work on painting the camouflage scheme was done this afternoon; I started with the pale green which needed a second coat as it was a little too dark, then the dark green and finally the mauve. I have no information as to the finish on the underside of the fuselage, so I will make it natural wood effect, probably in a reasonably light shade. The forward areas of the engine cowlings will be white/black/white bands. Firstly, however, I will have to apply two good coats of Future to the fuselage and then with a steady hand, paint some lettering onto both sides of the fuselage as these markings appear not to have been produced in 1/32 scale by anyone as an after-market option, so... wish me luck!

    5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    IAN Convey said 3 weeks, 4 days ago:

    Even WNW kits have fitting problems , but you have remedied that quite well Paul. Paint job looks great as well.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 weeks, 4 days ago:

    Excellent result so far and really effective approach to overcome the kit's presented challenges, my friend @paulh!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 3 weeks, 4 days ago:

    A very nice approach to solve the issue, Paul @paulh
    Great paintwork.