ccoyle

The kits come with templates for cutting the glazing from the modeler's choice of material. In this instance, I used a molded after-market canopy. Such canopies are usually kit-specific, meaning that a canopy for one kit may not fit a kit from another publisher, even if it's the same subject. However, in my experience, even the fit with the intended kit (i.e. a Halinski canopy with a Halinski kit) can be problematic and depends greatly on the skill of the builder in getting the cockpit dimensions just right; get the dimensions off a millimeter here and there and all sorts of fit trouble follows. I have had to 'fudge' the fits on more than one molded canopy.

Very interesting piece -- well done!

I think that it's safe to say that a model of a U-boot or other submarine, having a relative paucity of structure compared to a surface combatant, really depends on the painting and weathering skills of a modeler in order to bring it to life. This you have done in spades, Greg!

Beautiful work, Glenn!

Yep, beneath the grating is definitely not correct, as the beam would largely block the open grate and thus defeat the purpose of placing a grate there in the first place.

The Big Reveal! So, one day shy of two months from the beginning of construction on this project (though it felt like longer), the Bf-109E-4 is complete. The final bits of construction consisted of small parts that needed to wait until the final stage in order to avoid getting knocked off repeatedly: tail wheel, antenna masts, gun barrels, aileron counterweights, pitot tube, and canopy. All in all, a challenging project without too many issues, though I did find some post facto construction errors and did wind up with a few tiny "mystery parts" left over. Enjoy the pictures!

Landing gear under construction. First are the main wheels -- 20 parts each. Wheels mounted to struts and gear doors. And finally main gear mounted to fuselage. My goal is to finish this by the 4th, to make it an even two months since the start of construction.

So, I recently decided to suffer the injustice of high postage costs from Poland and ordered a batch of kits. The VERY NEXT DAY I learned that Kartonowa Kolekcja, my favorite publisher, just published a new kit. It's a Nieuport 16c.1, complete with Le Prieur rockets. The Nieuport 16 was an updated Nieuport 11, so this kit amounts to a repaint and slight modification of the older release. I was hoping that the next kit might be a SPAD, Albatros, Swordfish, or Fokker DVII repaint, but no joy. Still, this kit is a nice addition to the KK catalog

Getting the rigging done on these is a combination of getting a general idea of how biplanes are rigged (comes through practice), learning to read and interpret rigging diagrams (also comes with practice), and scouting images on the internet (yep -- practice . . . nah, just kidding on that one).

Welcome, Zac! I actually think a well-motivated beginner might be able to pull off the Endurance. Having no guns and being square-rigged on only one mast, it lacks some of the elements that can make a first build particularly difficult. The photo-based instructions should also be very helpful. Be sure to create a build log when you get started, and you should be able to get lots of advice along the way. Cheers!

Not really. These days I'm using mainly Evergreen Canopy Glue, but I have used lots of others over the years. I still use CA (thin & medium), Aleen's Clear Tacky Glue, and contact cement for various tasks.

Flaps and ailerons built and installed.

Great! I'd be interested to see pictures of that kit when it arrives. The only photos I've seen of the printed parts were taken it what appeared to be poor lighting. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the two Answer kits I spoke of earlier, the Nimrod and the Nieuport 28 -- they're both incredibly nice-looking biplanes -- I couldn't resist (don't tell the missus)! I also added a Stearman PT-17 Kaydet to the order and laser-cut frames for all three kits, plus resin wheels for the Nimrod and some frames for a Fiat G.50 Freccia I have in the stash (the desert camo on that kit matches the livery of my CR.42 Falco).

Okay, as you can see in this photo, I had to abandon the plan to install the canopy as a single piece -- it just wouldn't fit properly. Instead, I had to cut the canopy into five pieces and juggle them around a bit. One of the reasons I like biplanes is the general lack of canopies on them!

I'm sorry to see that -- your work looks great to that point. I hope it finds a good home!

Tonight's work involved a bit of squinting. The tiny gun sight contains 14 parts.

I agree -- well done indeed!

The dollar is trading high versus the Polish zloty as well, which makes it a great time to order card models, but the shipping is where you really take it in the shorts. 😬

Very nice -- congratulations!

Hello all you friends who model other things besides ships! You may have noticed that a number of topics in this section have been tagged with the word 'done'. Yes, that tag means exactly what you think it means -- it indicates a project that is finished. If you wish to see a list of all the finished projects in this sub-forum, simply click one of the 'done' tags and they will come up in a list (all 316 of them as of this writing). A reminder: Why have we used the word 'done' in this section and not 'finished' like everywhere else? Because MSW is first of all a ship modeling forum, and we want people who click a 'finished' tag, hoping to see only ship models, to in fact see only ship models. We will reserve 'done' for non-categorized builds, thus keeping the two groups -- ships versus everything else -- separate. You can add the tag 'done' to your completed projects or have me tag them for you. As always, I will be watching out for your 'done' projects, but some folks are less effective than others about alerting members to the fact that their done projects are indeed done. Another reminder: Other than indicating projects as 'done', we DO NOT use any other tags in this sub-forum! I had to expunge a few recently. Again, this is so that ship modelers don't get non-ship results in their searches. So, got that? Clicking a 'finished' tag will return ONLY finished ship models. Clicking a 'done' tag will return ONLY finished non-ship projects. Thanks and enjoy!

Hi, Steven. I'm the guy who wrote the "Cautionary Tale" post. I have seen beginners take on very difficult models as first projects and complete them, but one of the things that I pointed out in my article is that such accomplishments are quite rare. Based on my many years of moderating this forum, I don't think that it's a stretch to say that about 90% of beginners who attempt large men-of-war like Victory eventually give up on the attempt. To back up my assertion, I invite you to check out this link, which lists all of the build logs for HMS Victory on our site that include the words "first build" in their titles. As you will see, the one thing that all of those build logs have in common is that not a single one of them is tagged as being finished, even if a few of them did reach advanced stages of construction. So, the cautionary is exactly that -- a cautionary tale. No one is saying that you can't attempt Victory on the first go at this hobby, but if you were to complete it, it would be an extraordinary feat. Kind regards,

Nice work, Richard!

Beautiful work!

Great-looking model!

Next we move on to the canopy. I do things a little differently than called for in the diagrams. First, I tend to not use the internal framing, for a couple of reasons. The 'glass' of the molded canopy is not the correct scale thickness, and adding two layers of framing seems to make that fact more noticeable, at least to my eye. Also, I find it nearly impossible to get the internal and external frames to align correctly. To disguise the fact that I'm only using the outer layer, I paint the back of the frames with the correct internal color; when seen through the canopy, it is difficult to see that the internal frames are not used. Second, the canopy framing comes in three pieces. I find it much, much easier to work with the parts after cutting the framing into smaller sections -- seven in this instance. The framing is glued with canopy glue. I'm getting better at this process, but I still had a few minor smears to clean up. Here is the canopy with its framing: I did not notice until AFTER I had completed this work that I had got the main left- and right-side panels swapped. 😬 There is a very slight difference between them, which hopefully will not create a fit issue later. The canopy glue requires 24 hours to fully set, and I will give it the full cure time before cutting the canopy free of the surrounding plastic, otherwise the bending and flexing that inevitable occurs during that task tends to work the frames loose. Oh, almost forgot to mention that I plan to complete this model with the canopy closed, not because I wish to hide the cockpit detail, but because of the 109's odd distinction of having a hinged canopy that swings open to one side instead of sliding back on rails. Displaying the canopy open would inevitably create a part that just begs to get knocked loose. Cheers!