Magnus inspiring work! But 1/144 is just on the too small in size for one who has hands the size of dinner plates. It's why I prefer the larger scales and why I work in 1/72nd scale so rarely. But I can cetainly appreciate the exsquiite work applied to these micro flyers! Looking forward to seeing you finish these before you find the next "Ohhhh! bright shiny!!!!"

Gary! I've come to the conclusion that the fiddliness is a huge part of the attraction: this kit comes in 1/72 and 1/48 scales as well so it strictly isn't necessary to do it in 144 :-) ...

Chris! I'm hanging in here, I promise to finish them!


Props are almost finished! The wooden ones need their spinners painted (one yellow and one blue) and a leading edge protection strip in some kind of copper alloy.



Magnus

And now the props are almost very close to perhaps being finally finished!


Blue and yellow spinners and a brass strip along the leading edges! Let's call it a day...



Magnus

Very nice woodgrain, Magnus.

Super work Magnus, great detail especially in this scale.

The downside is that you need to get so close that I can't see the legendary "sticks"

Cheers, D

Magnus,
I'm really impressed. Painting looks great, as does the decaling. But those props are outstanding.
Joel

Gary and Joel! I wasn't overly happy with the wood effects to start with (I think I had a different picture in my mind and I also felt that I messed up the painting) but I'm rather content with it now! Thanks!

Damian! I promise to do something a bit more stick-friendly for my next project !



Magnus

Can't put this one off anymore - I've arrived at the rigging! Last week I could always blame the lack of rigging work on "just another coat of clear that will need to dry" but no more such!


This was really done yesterday: thin stretched sprue painted black and attached to the pre-drilled holes using white glue...


...and after drying (and carefully checking the load-bearing capabilities of the white glue) mounted on top of the struts! Times 3...



Magnus

Sigh... My stretched-sprue-rigging-plan failed miserably...


It still looks OK here but I never managed to heat-stretch the tangle of threads the way I had hoped. Some snapped, some melted while others were still fairly limp...

On my way now to find my spool of elastic rigging thread!



Magnus

3+ years later...

This project stalled at the rigging stage. With a bit of planning, I should have drilled through the lower wings so that I could have threaded the rigging through, locked them with glue, sanded the surfaces smooth and finished them after the rest of the model. Sadly, planning was out for lunch when I started the project so there I was trying to rig three ridiculously tiny biplanes on the fly. No wonder it all stopped with screeching wheels...

They will get a second chance now though, using elastic rigging thread instead of stretched sprue. It won't be easy but at least a tiny bit closer to possible...


One end can always be attached using super glue, the other end (which will then be stressed) is more troublesome. My friend Anders says he is using super glue for that but I can't get it to bite, no matter what kind of super glue I try. I have now resorted to using UV-hardening glue (a neat glue that is commonly used by people tying fishing flies) and got a bit on the way yesterday.

Let's see if I can at least finish ONE of these now!



Magnus

I must have been rather fed up with these since I didn't find it worthwhile to invest the very few hours needed to finish them. Anyway, I can reap those benefits now !

The UV glue helps a lot even if it isn't easy. It is still a fair bit of trial and error, I have also limited the amount of rigging to one aircraft per evening, not more...


The German one with the canopy is more or less finished...


...while the Czech one misses a windscreen and cockpit coaming!


Rigging using elastic thread.



Magnus

So, that's it !

After three years on the shelf of shame, I finally managed to finish the rigging.


I ended up with a whole little squadron of these !

























All three now added, safe and sound, to the collection!

They are really tiny but still very good kits, you will need good eyesight though ! I've got a Mark 1 Models Gloster Gladiator in the same scale but I won't touch that one anytime soon !





Magnus

Lovely little birds, Magnus. If I think of how tiny they must be I believe you do have a good eyesight. Now they will change from the shelf of shame (whatever that is .... I would call it shelf of stopped for a moment or someting like that) to the shelf of pride for sure.

That Gladiator you mentioned, I guess it would come in the colours of famous F19, right? If you build it.

I have also an Avia 534 somewhere in my stash but in a slightly bigger scale and I'm afraid to begin with it because of the rigging ....

Torsten

Torsten! Thanks a lot ! That Gladiator will be a Finish one, I'll save the F 19-aircraft for an Airfix 1/72-build!

That Avia rigging isn't too complicated, you'll make it!



Magnus

I'm glad you didn't finish these till now; it gave me a chance to catch up with these cool kits. :-) I would have never considered building a 1/144 scale kit until Fred sent me a couple from Platz to review. I was stunned by the quality!

I have Eduard's Avia in 1/72 scale waiting in my stash. I might have to grab these too. What paint did you use for the olive colored pair?

splendid work Magnus!

Wiggus! Regarding the paint: it is a home-made mix of Gunze paints, it could possibly be their olive drab with a bit of yellow in it but I'm ashamed to say that I didn't write it down !

Jonathan! Thanks for passing by, it reminds me of posting in the 144-scale thread!



Magnus

HA! I never write my mixes down either. I think I'm going to keep a notebook full of notes, but when I'm hummin' along it always ends up being "a pinch of this and a dash of that, and some of this for good measure". :-)

Magnus, superb work.

I have been struggling with a resin Wapiti biplane and it’s rigging. I had started using EZ line and gluing one end and then either stretching it over a strut (prior to upper wing being on) or trapping and glueing it under a freestanding strut . Obviously not too much tension or it would threaten to pull the strut over!
BUT I am thinking about drilling micro holes to pull the thread through as well.

Wiggus! There is one big advantage of being less than organised when mixing paint: you get a bit of natural variation between the models. I did a pair of FW-190s that were both painted in the same session, I weathered them differently so in the end I got a bit of a difference but until then the pair looked a bit odd, being identical.

Peter! Micro holes is a good idea, messing around with glue on an already almost finished model is always risky. I'll do that for sure on my Heinkel build (if I get so far...).



Magnus

Hot damn Magnus!! Superb job. I was proud with my Sweet Bf.109s...not that much anymore...

You've done some very solid small scale models yourself so don't feel intimidated ! Thanks for your kind comment !



Magnus

Congratulations Magnus! Well done! I had forgotten about these.

Gaz

Gary! Thanks ! I had almost forgotten them myself !



Magnus