The Unofficial Airfix Modellers' Forum

The finish looks very close the box art.

Getting ready for decals now. The stack of wings is just test fit. I toned down the green with a very misty spray of light blue, and added the white fields for the crosses.

You have nailed the streaky finish perfectly to my eyes.

Thanks Jeff and James.

Here is something else that's been ongoing for some time. Eduard's Junkers J.1. A real oddball of an aircraft (so I love it be default). The model has been a bit fussy thus far, and I'm not looking forward to the funny strut work for that heavy upper wing. A jig will come in handy.

Meanwhile, paint is on. This thing looks like what Prince would fly if he'd been around back then.

Ralph, that is a beauty! Fokker too. I like the recent developments in WWI aircraft modelling but am totally afraid of touching anything from that era. If I screw up there is not even a parachute available!

I used to be anxious about building biplanes because of the rigging.

Over the last few weeks I have learned that:

Rigging a biplane is EASY. Getting the wings to line up, and doing the strut work, thats whats REALLY HARD!


Anxious moments here



I wish I had predrilled deeper holes on the fuselage sill where the X struts brace. As it is, they rest as nearly butt-joints against the fuselage, and aren't doing much to give rigidity to the whole structure.

I'm not too pleased with how this is turning out, and I'm not sure if I'll be seeing it through to the end. But if nothing else, I learned a lesson from this model:

aaaaaaaaannnnnd into the garbage it flew!

Oh dear! That's a shame after such a great start. Better luck next time!

That's a pity, Ralph as the model was shaping up nicely. I agree with your assessment of biplane building 100%. In my (limited) experience rigging is fiddly and time consuming but is not unduly difficult, the really difficult part is fitting and lining up the upper wing and the struts. Gets me every time and is the main reason I don't build many bipes. A jig of some sort might help I suppose

it is what it is. Some of the struts began to detach and attempts to get them back on turned things into a gluey mess. My fault for not studying the instructions and doing a better job of enlarging the mounting holes on the fuselage. Live and learn.


Meanwhile, work on the Fokker continues

I'm almost ready to mount the top wing. Here is the upper decking almost done. I just need to add the flare rack, and attach the rigging lines to the fuselage. The lines on the landing gear are one. I really like how they look with those turnbuckles.

That triplane is really looking good, Ralph and indeed you have done excellent work with the landing strut rigging. Hopefully the top wing will not cause problems - at least the design of the aircraft means there are relatively few struts!

Thanks, Shaun. These last few models really made me appreciate how difficult strut work is.


The upper wing went on tonight. It looks fine up front, but the rear cabanes did some sliding around after I applied glue - so there were some messy smears back there. I let the glue dry and buffed out as best as I could, then repainted. Its not 100% but you have to look pretty close to notice.

I had a really hard time with the aileron control wires just because it was hard to access the attachment points. Next time I will drill holes all the way through the wing.

I'm really pleased that my turnbuckles line up with the lines, correctly. They extra thread still needs to be clipped. That will be for another night. Doing this wore me out.




in the home stretch now.

Man, that looks good. I also pre-paint the wings and fuselage of bipes (you may have seen Iggie on here successfully build a bipe up, rig it and then paint it - different strokes for different folks!) and indeed that can make the process fraught with the danger of spoiling the paint with glue when it comes to attaching the struts and upper wing(s). Is the IPA an indicator of your stress levels caused by this process? and did it taste good?

I got bought a Roden 1/72 one and I was thinking of selling or kitbashing it as I wasn't keen on this finish though now seeing yours I may reconsider

ShaunW wrote:Man, that looks good. I also pre-paint the wings and fuselage of bipes (you may have seen Iggie on here successfully build a bipe up, rig it and then paint it - different strokes for different folks!) and indeed that can make the process fraught with the danger of spoiling the paint with glue when it comes to attaching the struts and upper wing(s). Is the IPA an indicator of your stress levels caused by this process? and did it taste good?

I'm going to do an experiment using iggie's approach. I have a 72nd scale Polikarpove biplane that is all in one color (red). It only has a few flying and landing lines, so it might lend itself well to full assembly pre paint.


On the other hand my Wingnut Wings Camel is supposed to arrive tonight, so all my attention may shift to that, and there aint no way I'm not pre-painting subassemblies on that


As for the IPA, its as essential to a quality modeling session as a sharp blade, or fine grit sandpaper.