As a prelude to starting a Blog, here's a first look at the latest release from Wingnut Wings - a superbly detailed kit of the somewhat unsung workhorse of the German WWI bomber fleet, the AEG G.IV.

Link to Item



If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

OH!
Indeed beautiful. But this is only a dream for me, for obvious reasons

Hi Ryszard

Yes, I reckon I've got a special responsibility to build this beauty, or else our Early Aviation crew will never let me live it down! I'll start preparing a workspace today, so look out for the Blog very soon.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Well, by my standards this is now an unnaturally tidy work area - i.e. I can actually see it!



So, there's no excuse not to get started on the AEG when I get home from work tonight.

All the best

Rowan

If I had one I would send it to you. I am sure you would do a fine job on it.

WNW kits are always special, thanks for the review, Rowan!

(translator)
I'm glad to hear that

Cheers everyone for looking in.

@ Stephen - Be careful what you hint at - you'll have a queue a mile long at your door if people think you're giving away the Wingnut Wings samples you received!

Anyway... back to the build. I made a nice easy start this evening, just getting my head around the cockpit layout:



There's a choice to make straight away as to whether to open up the bomb-cradles in the nose. I reckon I will - after all, who doesn't love an office full of bombs! (Answers on a postcard elsewhere, please...)



The trickiest bit of surgery in the cockpit is on the instrument panel, because the designers included some items added by the British on a captured example:



All the best

Rowan

Hi again

I did a little bit more work on the cockpit earlier - opening up the holes for the bombs and preparing some of the smaller parts. Watch out for the part numbers on the main bomb-rack pieces - they're misprinted on the instructions.

Also, an annoying surprise awaits you when you trim off the extra instruments from the panel - there's a locating pin hole lurking behind the large one on the right:



The locating pin is rather a loose fit in the hole, so it'll need a dab of filler. Presumably, some of the cabling on the back of the panel is spurious too, but I'll probably leave it be.

More soon.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

I squeezed in an hour or so earlier. Lots of gentle prep on cockpit parts ready for painting, so nothing dramatic to show. But working on the cockpit parts was a reminder of just how good WNW kits are...

First off - shock, horror! There are actually a few ejection pin marks!:



But closer inspection shows they're not much more than a difference in texture on the parts. A few swipes with a fine sanding stick removes them:



Ejection pins are a fact of life, but it does rather raise the question that, if WNW can make them this painless, why do they have to be so bad (naming no names...) from some other mainstream producers?...

More soon.

All the best

Rowan

Lovely build so far, Rowan. Would like to see this one next to the Felixstowe.

Cheers Bill

That would be one heck of a display! I think the AEG would be positively dwarfed by the Felixstowe.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

Just a teaser to show how the cockpit elements are beginning to come together:



This is all without cement at this point so, as you can see, the fit is excellent. Hopefully, I'll get a day off work on Monday so I can start to spend hours instead of minutes at the workbench - and really have some fun throwing some paint at the beast.

All the best

Rowan

Looking good Rowan and I'm looking forward to seeing paint applied

Cheers Mal

Surprise, surprise, my "day off" ended up being partly devoted to work - but I did manage to block in the basic interior colours:



I've used Gunze Sangyo paints mixed to WNW's FS matches. I'll let these basic coats dry thoroughly and then I can start to have fun detail painting, plus shading and weathering.

All the best

Rowan

Looking good Rowan does the kit include the lozenge decals?

Hi Mal

Surely you're not saying you haven't read the review?! (Richard Alexander also made the decals a major point in his News release.)

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

I did a little bit more today, and used an Eduard scribing template to mask off one of the fittings on the floor:



Double-checking the "Kanzel" layout seemed a bit odd, because the screen for the nose gun position totally obscures the bomb-release panel:



So, I've done a "field modification" and trimmed away part of the offending item:



Note: I'm not suggesting anyone should follow suit - this is totally without any photographic evidence to support it.

All the best

Rowan

Hi again

A little bit more progress. I'm still blocking out parts in the cockpit - and everything's in its basic colours, so looking a bit flat and toy-like. I've test-fitted the commander's bomb racks - he certainly had plenty to keep him from getting bored on a sortie!:



I may well thin down the tail fins on the bombs a bit - they do look a bit chunky (the photo really accentuates it).

I couldn't resist jumping ahead to begin work on the engines. For someone like me more used to working in 1:48, the sheer size of the brutes is exciting:



Finally, the latest edition of Windsock has just arrived. Sadly, no full-build of the AEG yet, but you'll not be surprised to learn that Ray Rimell gives top marks to this awesome kit.



More soon.

All the best

Rowan

On the reference up the page, of sitting the AEG next to the Felixstowe what would REALLY be nice is a Sopwith F1/3 Comic night fighter. Another Double kit? Maybe?

Captn Tommy

Hi Tom

That would indeed be rather special! Just the prospect of a WNW Camel of any variety is enough to set the pulse racing.

Ironically, if we're thinking in terms of "Dogfight Doubles", I've just snapped up a WNW SE5a while they're still available, so my shelf line-up won't be too far off the box-top scene one day.

All the best

Rowan

Well no I didn't read it all, It was obvious that the kit is very good and that I probably won't be getting one. That is a shame and its not the price that puts me off and I get the import duty bit but what the post office ask for makes my blood boil! I haven't built any of the WNW kits that I have so I can't really justify getting this or the Felixstowe, which is one that I would like to have I could buy them through Hannants but they are even worse, when I checked with them before buying the Roland there price was the same as WNW but in £ so was massively more expensive!

Could you do me a favour and scan the lozenge for me?

Rowan,

just stopped by – this is looking both superb and magnificent – what a kit, I'll be following your progress keenly! And, I will get one myself, hopefully in a not too distant future...

Cheers /Mikael

Hi Mikael

Many thanks - I'm going to try to stay focussed and do this beautiful kit justice. I hope you do get one - I'd to see what you could do with it!

@ Mal - I'll try to do the lozenges for you at some point. Do remember, though, they are totally different for the late-model kit. These are the large, painted (not printed) type.

I know what you mean about the Royal Mail charge grating. I presume it's a one-off fee per package, so if you bought several kits together, that part of the cost would be unchanged. Still, as you say, with Hannants swapping UK sterling for dollars (and adding P&P) - it's cheaper to buy direct from Wingnut Wings (or, at least it was for the SE5a I just bought) and well worth waiting longer for the package to arrive.

I've got a bundle of overdue Reviews to work on, so I may have to back-peddle slightly on the AEG while I publish them. I'll try to post regular updates though.

All the best

Rowan