Ends of threads super-glued into their respective holes - more difficult and messier than I had expected! And surplus thread cut off.


Masking in place before primer...


And a primed top wing! As expected, there is a tiny bit more work to do before comitting to camouflage but I think the strategy with drilling the wing worked out well.



Magnus

I'm not sure I'd call it "cheating" Magnus

"Putting the odds in your favour", sounds better to me

Oh dear, with all that rigging, what have I let myself into?

With both a Swordfish and a Gladiator planned for the Bi-planes campaign it can't be worse than a Walrus? Can it?

Your Gladiator looks amazing! Careful sanding that top wing, mate

Russell! Due to Airfix design the model is remarkably sturdy but I took great care anyway and was rewarded with a "safety at work"-diploma ! Regarding the rigging, most of it is the same no matter what biplane you build. There probably was a rigging manual for people studying aircraft design in the 1920's... A Walrus probably has the same amount of rigging but it should ideally be a bit roomier to work on, being a much larger aircraft!

Seeing the end of it now! I'm going looking for a pair of roundel decals, I won't mask these if I can avoid it!



Magnus

Looking good Magnus, really clean work tidying up the rigging points through the top wing!

Cheers, D

Not many parts left now! I've cleaned up and masked the vacform canopy and will paint it later tonight.






Magnus

You can already open the hangar doors, Magnus. Your Gladiator looks really fine and colourful

Excellent work in the Gladiator Magnus!!! Congratulations!!!

Excellent work Magnus!

Friends! As usual, thanks !

With a bit of luck I might be able to finish this one this weekend!





Magnus

That looks utterly delightful.

Plenty of time left in the Bi-planes campaign yet, Magnus

Friends! Thanks !

This one is now officially finished! I might give one of these another go in the future but then it will be Finnish or possibly Swedish!

















There are a few things that I could have done better and rigging was fairly troublesome, I might try fishing line next time since stretched sprue isn't very strong and it is very difficult replacing broken rigging once the top wing is on and has been painted. Another thing that I don't like is the engine cowling, it feels a bit featureless and I have no idea how to liven it up. I might try and draw a few lines on it using a pencil to emulate the edges of the sheet metal parts.

Anyway, enough complaining, there are lots of things I like with it as well and I can always do another one !

Time to retire the avatar...

...and move the Gladiator to the collection!



Magnus

Don't be too hard with yourself, Magnus. I know, we're always our biggest critics but you've done a great job on this build. As I said before, it's very colourful and I like that black/white underside. I'm always amazed how you can build these tiny models (and even tinier) and I sometimes struggle with my quarterscales ....

Again, well done! I wonder what comes next ....

Torsten

What Torsten said: don't be too hard on yourself, Magnus!

This is one amazing build!

Torsten and Russell! Thanks for you kind comments and consolation, that's what friends are for !

Now off to something completely different!



Magnus

Absolutely stunning, Magnus !!
I can hardly believe that this is only 1/72.
Wouldn't get it so great!!
With my "drummer sausage fingers" I prefer to stay on the King Kong scale 1/32.

Cheers
Stefan

Lovely as usual Magnus. Your rigging looks good!

Stefan! The beauty of modelling - everyone can find a scale and size that suits them ! And after what I have seen of your models, your sausage fingers do seem to work alright anyway !

Neil! Thanks a lot! Rigging was a lot of fiddly work and I am not sure if I'll do it the same way once again but we'll see!



Magnus

Hi Magnus

Sorry to drag you back to this build, but I've hit a bit of problem with my own effort...

I'm trying to fit the photoetch floor plate from Eduard into the cockpit.

The Eduard instructions call for the PE floor plate to be slightly bent, but then how is it meant to sit on the plastic part?

Any chance you took some close up photos of yours before closing up the fuselage?

Russell! I hope this helps, these were the four photos that showed anything of value. No shots of it mounted in the fuselage .








I think I modified the Airfix interior as per the Eduard instructions, you can see the original plastic below the front lip of the seat in the pic above. The back end of the floor boards is glued on top of that and the front end just rests on the plastic in front and was fixated with a drop of glue but there is no positive location or ledge for it.



Magnus

Thankyou Magnus

Those pics are a great help!

The Eduard instructions aren't really clear on where the floorplate should go-it's almost as if it seems to "float"over the top of the plastic part