Probably mostly your fault of course.
Having read many articles on the site I now am awaiting several packs of Aeroclub Rigging, some obscure Tamiya paints, an order from Bob's Buckles, and hopefully some PE from Karaya for the cooling jackets at least.

Basically chose the WNW LVG as it represented somehting of a challenge. I haven't built a kit for some twenty years or so!

Think i'm dreading the lozenges most of all. Decided to go for 12 as the decals look good.

Would like to join the campaign if at all possible, and hope to post up some photographs as it progresses.

Here you go Steve just read and sign up!
Click here.

Steve, welcome to Aeroscale. As far as the kit goes, the lozenge decals are great. I just got a second one. My pointers for the decals are:

1. There are lines along the sides of the decals. Be sure to trim the sides a hair or two. If you dont, you will end up with a very noticeable line.

2. You have enough to do the job, but dont waste any. Measure twice, cut once.

3. I used a gloss white base coat. They stuck great.

4. They settle great with solvent.

5. Be sure you keep them straight.

6. Do them over a few days. If you try to do them all at one time, you will not enjoy the process.

7. Be sure to read Stephen's "Lozenge 101"

The decals look great when they are done. You picked a fantastic kit to build for your return to the hobby. There are a couple LVG build threads already going. Be sure to check them out for tips on the build.

Thanks for the replies, the article on Lozenge is very useful.

Two things I and probably many others might be struggling with on the LVG..........

Is there a general consensus on whether they did or did not use edging tape to reinforce the lozenge fabric at the leading and trailing edges?
The instructions clearly show that this shouldn't be done, it refers to the one restoration as having unusual taped edges. However the majority of clear photographs where a leading or trailing edge is shown, the fabric does precisely that?

The other query relates to the flooring of the cockpit.

I've seen plenty of good photographs where this is shown as plywood etc. However the area where the observer would put his feet down seems to be typically a frame with no solid material.
I haven't seen anything that shows this to also be plywood.
Elsewhere i've seen the point made that the instructions for the kit show planking in the obervers area on the overhead shots.

Anyone any clues what actually happened there?

The best answers I can give are ;

1. Rib & edging tapes were standard. Yet there was some late war developments that had cotton batting under the Flugstoff (fabric covering) and the upper surface and lower surface fabrics were French stitched like the seams on a pair of jeans.

2. On two seaters in 1918 there would always have been flooring in the front and rear cockpits. Too much equipment not to have it. There could be cameras, ammunition drums, maps, bombs, grenades just to name a few items.

Congratulations on being the 14th member of the WNW GB.

Possibly the least inspiring first photograph of a build!

The main areas are now undercoated, have now started using lots of oils and wondering if they'll dry!

The cockpit area is still a long way from done, but at least it is looking a little more wooden!

Welcome aboard Steve, very nice progress indeed. The Captain and Stephen won't steer you wrong. Looking forward to seeing more progress shots. Artist oils take some time to dry so patience is a must.

Regards, Dwayne

It is looking very much like wood. You are off to a great start. While you are waiting for the paint to dry, you might want to start the lozenge. It will help you to avoid the temptation to see if it is dry yet.

I bet they still aren't dry.

Not too sure my photography skills are getting any better!
What the shot is intended to show, is that the fuselage is now largely together. The undercoat is on and ready for a lot of oils. On the plus side the fuselage all fits nicely, and there don't seem to be many gaps etc. It should be interesting to see what a very average build turns out like.
Wouldn't mind an opinion on the paint for the wings. The theory is that this is the gloss undercoat ready for the dreaded decals. It is pretty dark though, presume no risk this will show through?

I used white from a rattle can. Only because I have a big ol can of white. As long as you used gloss, you should be fine. There is a lot of color (opacity) in those decals. I can't imagine any undercoat showing through. What I did was cut a decal, put it on, put the solvent on it and set it aside to dry. Move on to another wing and repeat. By using the solvent after each section, I believe you may avoid the solvent from creating any problems at the overlap. I don't know that there will be any problems, but with the limited nature of the loz, why chance it. Be sure to trim a small amount off the sides of the loz to avoid lines. (Ink lines along the edges of the loz). I think you will find this stage of the build very rewarding. I think one of Stephen's laws is "Don't fear the lozenge"

Also, any stray cat hairs (a commodity in my home) or dust particles, etc. will show through the decals. Be sure your surface is clean before the decal goes on.

For the insulating tape, I painted some Tamiya masking tape white, cut it into thin strips and wrapped. The wires are some detail wires from the dark-side of modeling (Musclecars). I pulled the copper out of the one side, making the wire hollow. Then I simply attached the wire to the plugs by pulling it over them. I made a decal for the number from a file provided by Jamo. The red on the engine is supposed to denote a high compression engine. The red really look good but doesn't show well with all the other stuff in the way. The engine is a great little kit in itself.

Well the photography is getting slightly better!




The wood is relatively dark, and grain is pretty faint. I'll probably settle with that as many of the photographs look pretty similar. I'd make some changes if I were to do it again. However to redo would I suspect make matters worse.

I prefer having the whole top fuselage assembled together, applying wood grain in separate parts then fixing it strikes me as something of a nightmare. The engine is awaiting a lot of work presently. It does however fit neatly.

The undercarriage was intended as something of a dry run but comes as something of a shock. You probably don't need any glue for this as they largely slot together and clip in place. Very nice indeed.

The only thing so far that I really would have tackled differently is the seat and those belts. With hindsight it would have been easier to bend those into shape on an unpainted seat, then CA into place, and only then to paint. I found the belts tended to lift off pretty easily, taking a coat of paint with them each time!

Wood grain looks good. I used Eduard pre-painted seatbelts. You are doing a fine job. Keep the pictures coming.

Yes looking quite sweet. Interesting to see everyones interpretations of this excellent kit

Keith

The deacls take forever. Best ignore the edging strips as they will take some time to get trimmed into exact position etc. They seemed a good idea at the time!

Good to see you making progress! Applying lozenge can be tedious but it makes a large difference in the overall out-come. Model on!

Nice work Steve. You're doing a good job. I know the feeling, as I am in the middle of building a LVG also. Show us more pictures as you move forward. Ron

Hi Steve:

What I did with mine on the tail surfaces was to cut out new panels, slightly smaller than the size of the tail surface and put it on. It smoothed out the uneveness of the edge and tightened things up real nice. I will take some pics and post them on my build this coming week.

Looking good so far. Yes, the decaling is extremely tedious, but as Carl and Others have said, it is worth it in the long run. I have some cat hair trapped beneath the lozenge. The joys of being a two cat parent.

Nice suggestion on using the second overlaid panel, and at least have plenty of lozenge left.
The edging strips work well, but only where it is straight!

It looks good so far. I am glad to see you updating this post. It looks like you might finnish up in time for the Albatros releases.

Okay, This is a before picture. Not the uneveness around the edge. I didn't like it.



So after I had used all the Lozenge I was going to use, I redid thusly over the old:



Much cleaner and tighter. What do you thing?

OK Marks suggestion definitely works and progress is slowly creeping along.

Ignore the unpainted observer ring obviously (however i was surprised how well this fits together).
You also need to ignore the rigging. I've gone for aeroclub elastic and threading that back through the top centre section looked impossible. I've already atatched this therefore.

The lozenge looks decent enough, though I now fancy doing another lozenge pattern as there are some things i'd like to try out!

I'm currently waiting for a Dremel, as the pin vise failed miserably on drilling out the wings for turnbuckles. I must admit I am sold on the elastic. I wouldn't say it is completely easy to use, but is does make the rigging a little easier and more resilient.
As ever the fit of the build is very good. I was surprised again by a dry fit of the radiator pipe. This slotted into the top wing, and with no glue then stayed in place. I put the model down to get the glue and noticed that the radiator pipe had even found its own location at the front end of the engine. Really no effort at all to get this to slot together.

The wings have been in for a dry run and work, though this is an area that definitely needs some trimming.

next project oddly enough may well be the Junkers, though I really fancy trying a variety with lozenge. I have seen the lozenge coloured fabric to the rear. I asusme there weren't lozenge wing coloured Junkers used?

Mind you, its will still take me some months to finish off this one!