As the old adage goes, if you fall off a horse get right back on. I fell off a bit with the RE.8 so decided to start my Hans-Brandenberg W.29 straight away. No rigging here thank goodness! Well, a little in the float department but that should be it.. Oh and a few control cable runs which I have to remember to cut open the holes for BEFORE gluing the fuselage halves together.. (where have I heard that before?)
Anyway, on with the blog!

The kit in its untouched glory. That piece of flat metal will prove to be a bit of a hinfrance while building the interior, just seems to get in the way no matter what!

The longest journey starts with one step, but I hope this isn;t the start of a long journey!

These are the control wire guides that sit behind the pilots seat's bulkhead. I drilled them out with a fine drill I thought was about the right size. The one on the right hasn't been drilled yet. The other thing is that the holes in the guides do not line up with the entry holes on the other side of the bulkhead..

I like to put together as much stuff before I paint them with the airbrush. As well as this small assembly I painted the inside of the fuselage, including the four cockpit fairing pieces.
No radio in this one as I want to have the two forward firing MGs instead. Much more satisfying than a dial and a box in the cockpit.

Some more parts added and the fuselage framing attached to the floor of the cockpit. That metal wing spar has got in the way a few times. Although I am sure it will strengthen the wing to fuselage joint no end.


This is basically the end of a few hours work and the end of the first two pages of construction. All is going to plane so far. The wood in this interior is much darker than in other WNW planes I have built, I did not wrap the control wheel to simulate the rope padding but didn't have anything the right diameter... so I just painted it the padding colour instead.. Slack eh!!

That's all for the first post. Might get some more done during the week if I am lucky.

Thanks for looking.

Warren

Warren, though I am no expert on WWI subjects, this is very nice beginning. WWI subjects and their cockpits always looked like a room full of interesting furniture (cupboards, chairs...) I also managed to acquire some bipes for my stash, so I will closely follow your build and peep for some techniques used. Just keep going!

Thanks Entoni.

You are right about the interiors. Just the opposite to modern aircraft with their sterile, flameproof cockpits. Gives the old aircraft lots of character.

Great choice of kit after the RE.8 Warren! This one is, in my opinion, the best engineered kit of WNW that I've built – perhaps the best I've ever built!

Keep it coming

Mikael

Another one !!!! You have built more kits then I have over the past few years !!!!!!

Will be following this one Warren , almost makes me want to break out the Flashback kit ..........


Terri

@ Terri, I have two 1/72 kits at home of this aircraft, one being the Eastern Express version, and I can't remember who made the other one....Somehow I don't think they will be built now.. I don't think the Flashback kit would be as nice to build as this one.

@ Mikael, will do Sir!

It would appear I am growing a little forgettful....
W.29 Comparison Review

Thanks for the link Warren , I did have the MPM kit as well , not a bad little kit really , needs a lillte to her .



Terri

Needs what??

Greetings one and all.

Didn't get lots done this weekend as I was busy in the forest much of the time cutting down lots of straggly little trees. But I digress...

Well, I got the fuselage halves together. The bottom join needed a bit of Tamiya White Putty, but the top only a little Mr Surfacer 500. As you vcan also see I have got the engine together to the level I need. I do not worry about some of the parts as they will never be seen once the cowlings are all in place. WNW help the detail people out there by providing two right hand side engine halves, one with pushrods moulded in place and one with none. It would be a very difficult job to remove the moulded in rods and replace them.

Clamp city!! The rear cockpit coaming fitted beautifully. I actually put the two halves together in place and glued them. When it set I removed them from the fuselage and filled the seam and sanded it before I glued it back in position.
Then I had to file a little off the front cockpit coaming to get it to fit. I also had to remove a little plastic from the part that goes over the instrument panel as it stood a bit too high.
I think the fit of this kit is the best of any WNW kit I have built so far. So it has gone from not so great with the RE.8 to almost snap-together with the W.29.
Hopefully, next weekend, I might approach the end of this kit. Painting looks like it will be fairly simple. Most of the floats and struts will be black, and most of the fuselage blue-grey and lozenge.
I know I am doing one of the three machine-gun planes, but which one I am not sure yet. Please send suggestions on a post-card to Warren .........
Or maybe just reply here..

Quick update..

Tried to paint the machine gun cooling jackets by brush without primer.. FAIL.. Stripped off paint and will try again tomorrow with airbrush.

Applied engine side cowls but I had my usual WNW Cowling blues (Although the RE,8 and Ninak were fine). One side fitted OK but the other stood proud at the front. I cut out some small pieces of styrene and glued them on the radiator cover. When they have had a few days to dry I will glue the side cowls to them and it should bring them both back into alignment. This has been the only fit problem.. so far.. I am almost up to glueing the pesky Parabellums on and I have heard fit is not so good...

Wish me luck!!

Great to se your progress Warren – I had similar problems with the engine cowlings, and MGs on mine – but a bit of adjusting, and it was fine!

Mikael

Thanks for the encouragement Mikael. WIll have to go and look for your build log again..

OK. Much progress but no pics for the moment..

Painting finished.
Lozenge applied and drying.
Float assembly assembled..

Easy to type but quite a few hours work involved. In the drying times I was going through my list of kits and found 38 I didn't have on the list.., For insurance purposes you see,,If I added up the total value I think I would be scared...

Til I take some photos.. adieu..

Well, it has taken longer than expected but the W.29 is finished for the moment. And here she is, warts and all..






I had problems with fitting the forward firing guns just like everyone else, but the rest of the fit of the kit was almost snap-tite most of the time.

WNW got a couple of things wrong in the instructions but no show-stoppers. For example they quote a 0.5mm drill to drill out the exhausts whereas you really need a much larger one. But the template for fitting the exhausts makes up for that...

So there is another one for the KotS campaign. I don't think I have time for the Gotha so I will take a break and finish off my Dragon 1/32 Bf-110.

Thanks for looking.