Hi Carl
A Google search on the Benz Bz.IV comes up with:

"The red paint on the cylinders denotes that this is a high compression “uberkomprimiert” version of a Bz IV engine, hence the designation BzIVu."

This was in relation to the surviving engine in Brussels that features on Mike Lewis' website, referred to here:

http://www.enginehistory.org/restorations.htm

Scroll down to the Benz

Here is another good quote:

"In the previous restoration 'attempt' the valve gear was painted black. In service this would have been bare untreated metal."

Have you had a good look around Mike Lewis' LVG restoration website? Worth a look. By no means all LVGs had the ubercompressed Benz motor. Don't know if the normal ones had a band or not. I'll keep looking. Ubercompressed cooling system varied from the normal Benz as well.

Regards
James

Red/brown fuselage colour

I haven't seen a definitive answer as to whether the red/brown was a stain or painted on. This thread over at The 'Drome is an interesting read on the topic:

http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/camouflage-markings/41832-stained-german-plywood.html

Dan San Abbott notes "Some LVG C.VI aircraft were stained with a dark reddish brown stain, prior to lacquering or varnishing". This is how I chose to depict my LVG, not with a painted finish. Koloman Mayrhofer's post on p2 is useful about the different shellac types. John McKenzie is an experienced restorer of WWI aircraft and he notes the colour of commercial orange/brown shellac, as new, looks like this on his BE2b reconstruction:



This would be the 'ordinary' colour of the LVG before staining with the red/brown I think.

Did you know Albatros Productions have announced Datafile #138 will be "LVG C.VI At War", due to be published by early December 2009? Over 70 archive photos, extra colour pages featuring close-up details and new Ronny Bar profile art, plus fully detailed 1:48/1:72 plans by Marty Digmayer. Also includes detailed colours and markings notes, kit list and appendices.

I didn't find the old Datafile particularly useful, hopefully this will be the definitive solution!

Happy Modelling
James

I had seen that Albatros Productions was going to do the LVG for release in December. I am anxiously awaiting its arrival. I like the color on the engine and the color might find its way to my build.

I have started the interior in honey, and the floorboard in red-brown. The basecoat of tan seems to have bubbled up on some of the parts. Luckily, it was all confined to the interior where it will not be highly visible. Still, I sanded the parts down and sprayed another coat. I have no idea where the bubbles came from. But it looked like some sort of a reaction with the primer coat. Other than that little glitch, all I accomplished today was to glue some of the parts together (radiator, gas tank, MGs) so when they dry, I can sand and paint them.

Thanks yet again, Jamo

I have been making some reasonable progress and hoped to have some pictures posted. But my beloved old camera is no longer in the realm of the living.

I have been looking for a new camera for the past few days. It is amazing how much you can pay for a decent camera with macro capabilities. But I found a good one that will do what I want. So now I have an early birthday present. A Canon PowerShot SX 20 IS. I will try to figure out which button does what and get some pictures up tomorrow.

The new camera is up and working. Unfortunately, I waited until dark to try to shoot these pictures. They look alright, but I think I need better lighting.

The interior is off to a good start. I decided to paint the seat with a two tone appearance as in the instructions. It adds a little interest to the cockpit. The seat belts are from Eduards WWI German set. I also added some pulleys to the forward bulkhead. The control wires from the rudder bar are going to thread their way through these pulleys. I tried a new technique to do the wood on the floorboard. First I painted a wood tan base coat. Then I did a red-orange coat over that with oils. When all was dry, I did a light sanding to expose some of the base tan. Then I used some Spada wood decals over the top. It produced a very convincing worn wood appearance. On the seat, I used a base coat of buff. I painted a red/leather mixture over the top. When dry, I did a light sanding to produce a worn leather look.


The prop was hand carved from laminated maple and walnut, finished off with a little clear gloss.

Nicely done Carl!

I have started putting decals on the wings. They are going on real good with no problems at all. I painted the wings with a base coat of gloss white from a rattle can. It dried for a few weeks while I was doing other things. They really wrinkle a lot with the decal solvent, but they dry out nice and smooth. There is a lot of wing area to decal, and a lot of decals to cut. I have been working on the lozenge for two days now. It will probably take another day to finish. But then there are all the rib tapes.

What color rib tapes should I use?

Very nicely done Carl ! Interesting way of doing the wood grain .

For the rib taping CDL seems to be what other builders are doing the rib taping in . I have the Windsock , but haven't read it yet .

The kit instructions say to use the CDL ones. This is in accordance with latest thinking from what I have read over at The 'Drome Forum from Dan San Abbott. The Shuttleworth LVG has blue rib tapes but that is no longer regarded as prototypical. Make sure you look carefully at the ailerons in the instructions - the outer ribs do not have tapes - this is apparent from photos in the Datafile if you look hard.

Happy Modelling
James

I saw the discussion over at the Drome, and was leaning towards the cdl. Not very colorful. I have all the lozenge on and will be starting on the rib tapes in the morning.

Thank you, all.

After 4 hours of rib tapes this morning, I have about 4 hours of rib tapes to go. This is definitely not a kit for somebody lacking decal skills.

So where are the D.Vs?

In a warehouse near Wellington NZ.

Tom's Modelworks has reopened, so you should be able to get 1/32 PE for German and British guns again.

In a warehouse with the D.VIIs, I suppose. I think they would look much better on my workbench. But right now, I really don't want to think about more lozenge decals. I wonder what schemes will be offered.

Frank, Thanks, I saw they were reopening. I found my 1/32 German MG Set in a box of other useful PE. I also have already ordered two more sets. It will be good to see these sets back on the market. It will be good to see Tom's name and work will continue.

After a morning day of hard work, the rib tapes are finished on the wings. All I have left to do are the ailerons. I hope to be finishing up the interior and sealing the fuselage by the end of the week. If the rainy weather pulls out soon, I will be able to take some pictures of the progress.

When I finished the decals on the wings, I covered them with microsculpt texture decals. They hardly make any difference on the upper lozenge. (They do show up on the lighter colors, but are almost invisible on the darker colors) I think the appearance of the lower surface decals with the texturing is really worth the effort. Remember, the texture decals are 1/48th scale. I do believe they are perfectly in scale for 1/32.

The decals have not been applied to the ailerons in this photo so you can see the difference between textured and untextured.


Again, the decals have not been applied to the ailerons in this photo so you can see the difference between textured and untextured.

I also got a little bit of work done to the interior. I added the rear of the gauges and wired them in. There is not really a lot of need to do this, but it looks like you might be able to see inside there a little bit with a flashlight under the MG. I have also been trying to figure out how to do the control wires. Lost my fishing line.

For all you out there in cyberspace who are on the fence about whether or not to buy this kit, let me assure you it is a lot of quality for the dollar. One thing I have noticed so far is that the tolerances are very, very tight. So be sure you scrape of excess paint to get a good fit. The decals are the part that scared me the most prior to starting the build. But after working them all into place, I am really satisfied they are top quality. I had feared they would tear or be to thick. They did not tear, They were not thick. And they lay down quite well with solvent. The stitching details on the plastic showed through without being overstated. I had enough extra that I could have done some repair if needed. It would have been nice to have an extra span of upper and lower lozenge, but it was not really needed. The lozenge really looks good when applied. This is a really pleasant build so far.

After getting this kit to the halfway point I went back and reviewed the upcoming releases from Wingnuts. I am really anxious to get all those kits in my build pile. I think I am going to occupied continuously for the next few years. Thank you WNW

I started painting the fuselage today. So I will probably be working on the engine and interior parts, as well as the MGs while the oil paint is drying.

Hi Carl
Fantastic job on the wing decals, I like the look of the microsculpt texture decals and I think that's the way to go.
I've just enquired about shiping to the U.K from microsculpt
I'm in the same boat as you with the control wires!,no clear ref pictures
Andy

Nice decalling job on the wings Carl ! The microsculpt texture decals really add to the over effect and the 48 scale seems to be perfect for these large birds .

Are you going with the same method for the woodgrain on the fuselage as you did in the cockpit ?

Actually, my problem is that I lost my fine fishing line. I will be rigging as shown in the instructions. The microsculpt are really worth the effort on the underside. It is hard to tell if they are even on the upper surfaces. But yes, it is the way to go. You will need about 2 1/2 sheets. But you might want to have extra for other projects. Once you use them you will want to make the effort on all unpainted fabric surfaces. I was fooling around with putting them on some cdl surfaces (like you would find on the bottom of a SE 5a.) They would be perfect for those surfaces also. You can bet I will have them on my SE 5a and Brisfit.





No. The wood grain decals would look kinda corny in this scale. The repeat pattern just wont work for larger surfaces. Also, depending on who you listen to, the fuselage was stained or painted with a reddish brown "something or other" which really muted the wood grain. I have mixed up some oil paint that will match that reddish brown color, and then I will add a wood grain in slightly lighter and darker colors. I am using oils because practice over the last few weeks has allowed me to get a reasonable wood grain appearance. It is the same method I alluded to earlier in this thread, only using oils. Right now, I am watching the paint dry. tic toc tic toc tic toc...I put it under the lamp, tic toc tic toc tic toc... This thing ends the end of next year, right? tic toc tic toc tic toc...

You are a brave man on using oils Carl !

I would not have the patience for waiting on the drying time .

I did not like what I had on the fuselage. So I stripped it down and started over. This go around, I am very happy with the results. My only problem is it is blond wood, not the red-brown I need for the profile I was planning on building. What I planned to do was the blond wood with an over-spray of clear red. But the blond looks so good, I might change profiles.


A shot of the interior. This was done with a white base coat, over-sprayed with a clear yellow-orange mixture. Spada decals over that for the wood grain,


This is the most recent iteration of the fuselage. It is a white base-coat, covered with Yellow ocher oils. Then some creative brush strokes to create some grain-texture. The picture really does not show well, but the color is the exact color of birch plywood,

The other side


Now I am waiting for the oil paint to dry, again, tic toc tic toc tic toc....

Hey, Wingnut, I am ready for that Albatros. Bring it on.

Outstanding Carl! I really like that wood grain!.

Thanks Stephen. I think it is the best wood grain I have ever managed to do. I love working with the oils. I am sure you all have seen my one complaint about oils. The drying time. On the flip side, the long drying time is also oil paints strong point. It allows us to achieve unique affects that I am just beginning to discover.

I do most of my modeling in the mornings. The morning has come and gone. And I have managed to finish all the sub-assemblies, except for the engine. All that is left there is the air intake. The big news flash is that the paint is still drying. I had a room fan running on it all last night, and all day today, and it is still drying. Tomorrow is football Saturday (possibly golf Saturday), followed by football Sunday. So I might be able to resist the temptation to pick it up and try to remove the cat hairs. I hope to get some pictures of the engine taken tomorrow.

Well done Carl! Looks great! You are certainly making great use of the oils!
RAGIII

I concur Carl You have out done yourself with the wood effect !