I don't think I'll have it in me to keep up Dr.Seuss-esue rhyme throughout the build - but here it goes...

Kicking off the 1/32 WnW Roland C.II (early) Build blog

The is going to be relatively "big jump" milestones of OOB build of just released 1/32 WnW Roland C.II early model "Walfisch".

Immediate note on the kit - it appears that the kit fits a lot better once painted. WnW fit tolerance is so exact, that often the fuselage halves have trouble fitting together due to thickness of paint. This latest Walfisch kit does not have that "problem" - I have either advanced my paint application or WnW listened to modelers and loosened the fit up a bit.

View images / Open images in separate tab for full resolution (1600x)















I have made sparkplugs out of stretched and painted sprue. Made control cables out of 0.010" jeweler's wire.

This is the stage where the frame, interior and the engine are ready to be closed up in fuselage halves.

Ohhhhhh Myyyyyy! Awesome!

Nice work. Realistic but some good contrasts.

You must be pretty happy with that. i know I would be

Wouahhhhh!!!!

Thank you for the praise and encouragement on the early stage of the build - it helps to get going!

Fuselage has been closed up and I'll have another in-progress set mid week.

Note that the interior of the Roland C.II is painted gray-blue - a departure from Eduard's / earlier wisdom of all varnished wood fuselage. While all laquered wood surely looking purtier, the more historically Roland sound interior offers up better contrast. Varnished wood floors pop enough in the closed up cockpit view.

I've wrapped up the week with closed fuselage and base painting of the former, the tail control surfaces and the wings (not pictured)

This is very much a boring stage - most of aircraft, including both sets of wings, will be covered in faint drab streaking - thus I can't do much decal application, weathering or detailing until that is done (as to not have patched appearance).





I've opted to go with gray-green metal protective paint on the CDL side and overpainted blue where fabric is doped. Top surfaces of wings receive an undercoat of Radome Tan - overpainted with the same light gray/blue, this will contrast overpainted wood surfaces of the same color and attain desired surface distinction... Early Aviation subjects - where you want streaky, uneven application



Starting to experiment with Bleached CDL under fabric - the frame is painted with 50% gray over Radome Tan, then dry brushed in cross-patches with flat white... It looks the part, though difficult to photograph



Dark vs Light choice for shading the framing through the CDL - I see it done as a lighter shade, mostly, but I've opted to go dark. As this effect is very display angle specific, this shading meant to represent aircraft in its upright position with sun through the fabric (though this will look incorrect when turned upside down)




This kit is receiving my top praise - it's becoming clear that the team over at WingNut Wings does not just maintain the design edge, but improves with every release. Case and point are the lower wings and tail planes - the wings don't just slide in and attach to the fuselage, but also now have means of interlocking / overlapping with the wing on the other side, resulting in a much more rigid construction / correct angle... Furthermore, this aids in gluing wings to the fuselage where one can limit amount of goop or get away from gooping anywhere near the fuselage. Top wings still just slide in with their stubs lining up - this should be enough with the added rigidity of the

Only gripe are the 2 20kg bombs that are molded as part of a belly panel - looks like it would have been an easy task of making the empty / loaded option... That said, it doesn't look too much of a challenge to do the modification with a craft knife and a correct diameter tube (it's just I didn't recognize them for what they were until after I was done with the area)

The build continues - breakthrough the boredom and swift advance into the detailing / actually fun portion of the process!









The aircraft has been painted overall light gray-blue, with "scumble" (must be a New Zealand thing) finish of very light drab-green. I just mixed fair amount of color that I thought would be appropriate camo color and applied it in streaks - the resulting effect, being pretty similar to Fokker streaked finish on a Fokker F.I, was then heavily streaked over with a lot more of the original light gray-blue. The wing tips are still pretty heavy green, as the desired effect is very faint drab-green streaking as on the fuselage.

Top wings were doped white up to the aileron.

Fish mouth and eyes are applied, along with some of the national markings.

Under wing has faint dark shade of the inner frame, but it's incredibly difficult to photograph - it's a lot more pronounced in real life. I'll either figure out the white balance or you'll just have to take my word for it

A very sad looking fisch build continues:











I have opted to install landing gears prior to putting up the wings - the rigging is just finicky enough to where I didn't want extra bulkiness of the wings when applying tension to the landing gear wires.

Because of the claw break on the landing gear, I had to install wheels - unlike most aircraft, that can rest on bare axle, this aircraft must have wheels... Speaking of the claw brake (I call it a plow) - I've immediately installed the flip cage as that's what I imagine happening when the former being deployed... Wonder why it never caught on?

All rigging lines pre-installed, except for the ones rigging the forward firing Lewis gun... Wings are ready to go on next and are fully prepainted and will be rigging in no time...

I have opted for unpainted aluminum cowling - since it was often done that way during repair and it's visually appealing. Ocarina exhaust offers a good contrast in this area as well.

Then it's seeing to the number of details, weathering and doing a victory lap

Moving along really well with the build Ivan . I really like how your effect tuned out on the camo





Terri

Thank you, Terri

As predicted - moving right along... It's worth noting, that Walfisch can be placed quite atop of the "first Early Aviation that's easy to build" list - the outer wing struts are easy to align and also quite sturdy. Upper wing does not overhang the fuselage and the alignment is a snap. Rigging is pretty basic/sparse, though follows a relatively unique pattern - follow instructions and don't let previous rigging experience lead you astray.

All linked photos are 1600x for closer inspection.



There is just enough weathering on the engine cowling and Ocarina exhaust to keep photos interesting.



All decals are applied. Because this is a WnW kit, there are details like wireless generator on the landing gear strut and rather unique "fishy" anemometer.



Window frames are bare aluminum (because because), though the glass will not looks as clear once the model receives its due of field weathering... Note that the starboard side's aileron controls cross, while port's are straight - this is by design.



Faint, see-through framing effect on the underside of the wing planes to simulate bleached CDL. Cartograf decals supplied with the kit are top notch and provided the necessary motif.





Couple of rare shots of the Walfisch on its back - with the observer LMG and forward firing Lewis in its high, over propeller mount - it would be quite difficult to position the finished model.





Left are the props (one for the generator), forward firing Lewis mount and the observers LMG... Then weathering will commence - historically, this machine enjoyed quite a long service by the time it has acquired all of the field mods and accoutrements.

This build is finishing itself, at this point.

Hey Ivan !

Man that is beautifully done so far





Terri

Now that some kinda nice. Like the affect you got under the wings.

A very nice build, paint and rigging until now.
Martin

ON THE INTERIOR...

Varnish OR shellac when it dries is usually a high gloss, especially clear in the days of WWI. Would not the interior of the Walfisch be glossy? maybe scuffed but mostly gloss?

In the engine compartment the black staining (excellent by the way) would be oily and thus also or more glossy?

This is for the group
so I'll start another thread.

Beautiful model
Captn Tommy

Thanks all - for the praise and encouragement to go on A day or two from final-ish results!

CaptnTommy:

The interior of most (possibly all) Roland produced aircraft is described as dull grey/blue and is most certainly painted - it is certainly not varnished / shellacked wood. Photographs in WnW instruction booklets all show the former, though lightness of the paint may be argued. Floors are wood and I've opted to make them pretty shiny and varnished panels. It's enough wood for me, since you mostly see flooring when peering into open fuselage.

The engine bay would also be relatively dull - the exhaust build up is quite dull and a lot more like dust in appearance... Pop open hood of your car (unless you drive something uber new or detail your engine) and it should look like brown dust everywhere - I often use black, both artistically for contrast and to make up for 100 years of Air Pollution Restrictions.

You could introduce fresh leaks of oil, splatter and runs where it's carried by the slipstream - that could be quite shiny. I used to do that heavily but it's a hard effect to do without really fine brush - or you get a catastrophic failure of the engine effect / possibly ruin the scale effect.

The Walfisch is a done deal - one detail has been left off, (will add it in a bit) so see if you can spot it. View images / separate tab for 1600x size



















This was uneventful but very enjoyable build - rigging up the forward firing Lewis gave me some trouble, as well as anemometer departed from the wing once or twice. Fun was had and I hope it shows.

This kit is very highly recommended to either a stone-cold early aviation beginner or seasoned rigging slinger.

BRILLIANT! The build and paintjob are magnificent.

Gary

Can also be seen up on the WingNut Wings Customer Gallery (submitted it today with a usual Aeroscale plug) and trying its luck on "unnamed monthly modeling contest".