The latest Something I 've been doing.........MENG WW1 A7V and MKV Male - OCT 13th

[Brokeneagle]

Ok, Ian, a couple of points, if I may. I'll be brief.

You said you're not a figure guy, and you said you were out of your comfort zone on the canon vignette. My thoughts on the matter,......... you're a natural figure painter, you just didn't know it. You already had all the basics for creating a dio/vignette nailed to a "T", so stepping out of your comfort zone has been a rewarding experience, to say the least. I'm betting you would agree.

Very fine work, and I am certain your customer will be ecstatic to receive this vignette. Awesome work, Buddy!

P.S. Hey, what's up with the sub kits, or did I miss something?

Hey Steve,I really appreciate your time to comment and the positive message, thanks. I struggle with the figures, so this works well with keeping me motivated and feeling like I am hitting the right targets with some 'off topic challenges.......and your right, it has been rewarding and I have learnt some new things(which I always hope to happen with every project).

Subs.........you haven't missed anything but I have! I miss doing subs!
I needed to get these customer jobs out of the way before proceeding any further on the sub project. I wish I could just do 100% on the subs but I can't, I still have to suppliment my income with model commissions and art works, so I fit the subs in whenever possible. My other problem is that I can only ever work on 1 project at a time and don't seem to be able to divide my attention.
I always have to be all in!

 

[Steve Ski]

I understand the "all in" part. No worries, sub it when you can, we'll be standing by. Ruck On, Bby!

 

[Duke Maddog]

Ian, I'm always thrilled to see your work. Well done on the commissions. I think I've only done one "all in" commission job and that was the Liberator bomber due to the time crunch. Otherwise, doing all my other projects along with a commission helps to keep the commission work fresh.

Keep them coming man and believe it that there is a very high interest level for your work.

 

[centaur567]

Regardless of how they turn out, most non modelers will think it looks great. Gary S.

 

[Brokeneagle]

Ian, I'm always thrilled to see your work. Well done on the commissions. I think I've only done one "all in" commission job and that was the Liberator bomber due to the time crunch. Otherwise, doing all my other projects along with a commission helps to keep the commission work fresh.

Keep them coming man and believe it that there is a very high interest level for your work.

Hey Duke, thanks for your reply. I am glad you like the posts and thanks for the support (as always).
Commissions...... thet are a strange beast. Its good to make the $$ but your own projects get puts aside but thats the way it goes when you gotta make some $$$.

 

[Brokeneagle]

A small update that is already out of date, so I will post some more again very soon!


Thanks for looking!

 

[moon puppy]

I can hear the canvas flapping in the wind!

 

[centaur567]

This is turning out great!! Gary S.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Love those old projects! Nice!

 

[Brokeneagle]

Packaged and ready for the delivery to their new owner today! Some more photos as soon as I get a chance.

Now back to some subs and artworks

 

[Brokeneagle]

Regardless of how they turn out, most non modelers will think it looks great. Gary S.

Thanks Gary, thinking on that further I agree and I should not get 'stressed out' on it so much I suppose.

 

[Brokeneagle]

Finished.......... I modelled both planes in the way an armor modeller would, I weathered them. They both have mud thrown up from the wheels and tail from taking off from muddy airfields pre, post or during winter. I also added the oil thrown by these' lost oil' radial engines and blew it down the underbody. I also added the mud to the wheels and axle mount. I left out the rigging around the cockpit omnboth models as these were acceptable abscences for the customer. The Fokker has virtually no rigging anyway, I only added the wingflap wires.
After looking further at period photos, I weathered the lower wings and fuselage sides on both planes to replicate where the pilot enters the cockpit. I specifically had some great references for the side of the cockpit on the Fokker, which was very worn and scratched.
Anyway, here are my first ever WW1 planes and I learnt a lot from having to build a couple of very average kits before I go near my WNWs ones.

Some brief points on the kits now that I have finished them.
The Academy Camel - basic but the fit was OK and it has a reasonable cockpit with reasonable exterior detail. The wingfit was OK but the decals were overly thick and would not sit flat and 'suck down' on the wing surface. I had to cut the wing flap slit which cracked them , so I should have done it before soaking. I did the rigging with Ezyline.

The Roden Tri-plane - Terribble in every aspect. That is the best thing I can say. Lacks detail and the fit is terrible. I had to modify every part before permanently fitting. The decals disintergrated and I ended up hand painting 50%.
I will never build another Roden Fokker Tri-plane ever!
I ended up basing mine on the plane flown by Richthofen around March 1918 that had the markings painted over during the change period when the standard Maltese cross' were modified to basic rectangular arm cross's. The reference for the Roden kit had one under wing retaining the old style cross. I made the rigging out of stretched sprue.
The Fokker Wnumber decals on the sides would not blend and the decal film would not dissapear so I did the best I could to hide the edging.

 

[centaur567]

They look great to me. Gary S.

 

[Rhino]

A fine bit of model making on a Turd Tri-plane! Well Done! I imagine the Rittmeister's Fokker would have been better maintained than this. Still,

 

[paddy]

I really like both of those

 

[jeaton01]

I never build a Roden kit with kit decals anymore. The only way to get them to lay down is with a heat gun and I hate doing that to plastic. The weathering is nice, they look very realistic.

 

[moon puppy]

Excellent report Ian

I will never build another Roden Fokker Tri-plane ever!

And to think I sought out this turd of a kit. I got some aftermarket stuff, once I get back to the bench I may give it a shot just because I bought the damn thing.

Excellent builds Ian, I'm sure your customer will be tickled!

 

[Brokeneagle]

Excellent report Ian

And to think I sought out this turd of a kit. I got some aftermarket stuff, once I get back to the bench I may give it a shot just because I bought the damn thing.

Excellent builds Ian, I'm sure your customer will be tickled!

Thanks MP, I would love to see what you could do with the aftermarket stuff. It's such a bad fitting kit with no details that it would be really interesting to see how well it could come up. I recommend using some spare WNW decals and just don't go near the Kit ones though - John seems to have had the same experience.

I never build a Roden kit with kit decals anymore. The only way to get them to lay down is with a heat gun and I hate doing that to plastic.

Thanks John for your take, glad to know it wasn't just me.
Thank you also to Gary, Rhino and Paddy fopr following and commenting.

I imagine the Rittmeister's Fokker would have been better maintained than this. Still,

Rhino, thanks for the input appreciated.
The Baron's planes were not always as pretty as we believe - the shot below is a close up of the fuselage on the side he accessed his Dr1. Pretty scratched -up. Most of the photos we have are propaganda shots where the planes have been cleaned up for the photo, however, even in these photos you can still see the muddy tires from rolling the plane into shot after the wash.
I also believe that their situation in 1918 would have been no different to the luftwaffe in 1945.No time for cleaning between multiple sorties on the same day, trying to keep the French, American and English aircraft at bay over the desperate frontline.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Ian, you did magnificent work given the difficulty you faced, especially with the Roden kit. I am sure the client will be thrilled; I sure would be if they were coming to me. Most impressive weathering; I still don't know how to adequately weather a plane.

 

[Brokeneagle]

My next thingy......a couple of Mandalorian figures that I grabbed cheap at the super market. Its meant to be a garden statue I think as it is produced in a light-weight polyresin by Disney but with a little clean-up with some putty, sanding and a grey primercoat over the light sand base were ready to go.
The figure is quite large at 40cm (15.7 inches) which is about 1/4 or 1/5 scale.
One is for me and one is for my son. Some fun that should not take to long.

I then added a base coat of Tamaiya flat black straight from the spray can.