popeye the sailor

the landing gear was done about a week ago.........I did manage to get some wood putty in the meantime. I bought a couple different types.......the water soluble type and what they call plastic wood. I prefer the water based type mainly because it can easily be diluted to a more malleable cream, rather than a paste. done smooth enough, it can reduce sanding, and does stretch it out to cover more surface. I did a little on the fuselage, but I tried the plastic wood.......smelly stuff, but it works well enough. still needs a little more sanding and finish the rest of the fuselage. I hadn't checked on the wing either........that was also about a week ago. it should be totally dry by now. today, I had some time to putt around. I started to think about the engine. the Fokker Dr 1 has a wingspan of 20 inches.......1:14 scale. it features a vacuum form radial engine, to replicate the Oberursel Ur.III. the D VIII was equipped with the same engine, and had the same result as the Dr 1.......poor engine performance. there were experimental engines used in these aircraft, and was later fitted with either the Goebel or Siemens / Halske engines. unfortunately for the D VIII, only 380 were ever produced during the war, and around 85 actually saw combat. most were destroyed after the war, except for the handful that got snuck out of the country. I gathered the parts to start this little task the outer cowl part, the crank case button, and the piston sleeves that were cut from dowel. the sleeves were cemented to the button......of course, I could only get eight of them on, since nine is an odd number for the pie fraction. all I need are the ones that poke out from the bottom cutaway, so it will do. if I had beveled the base of the sleeves in two places, it could be done. now to sand it circular, and round off the sleeve heads a little.......clean the mess up. I may add some tubes on it to further detail it. next was to cut a length of basswood across the grain long enough to go around the cowl face. cutting it in this fashion will make it flexible.......even more so after getting it wet {dried and left damp}. the CA will adhere even when wet, which is a great property for a cement to have the seam was filled with plastic wood filler. the filler doesn't take long to dry.......being made up with Acetone and N-butyl acetate. it appears to sand fairly well.....I think I'll stick to the good 'ole water base though.......less smell and it don't have cancer written all over it before long, the outer edge of the cowl was nicely rounded off. ....and now for the bad part........the engine is too small I think going for a larger button, will allow me to glue on all nine sleeves without having to bevel them. so back to the drawing board for the engine.......but I'm on the right track. hope you all had a great day

looks awesome mate! looking forward to more !

hoping your day went super.........we finished our feast a short time ago..........now this is all can do the only thing left for me now, is to become a paper weight for the couch! happy Thanksgiving one and all!

continuing with the session, the axle was routed through the pad and then cemented to the fuselage. I want to take the time to wish all of you a veery happy Thanksgiving. my small jobs are done for the moment, so I thought I'd sneak in here and see what you folks are up to. time and time again.........I am NEVER disappointed! all of you have a scrumptious holiday!

sounds like a good tip, but I don't normally use CA on these planes, I use white glue. the plans are laid over a build board and then covered with clear saran wrap. I use pins to set the parts in place, since the plans are 1:1 with the model. I really should start a log on my Dr 1 { I even made a mistake in it } I'm sure folks would get a kick out of it {it will be static as well for the curious}. anyway.....I haven't been idle, but here is some more progress I've already done. I did have to laugh a bit with your comment Chris.........after I was done sanding the wing, I had to get a coat of paint on it. one to seal the wood, and two, since it is the basswood side, I wanted to see how much 'hair' would come up. I do need to sand it, so it will be easy to change the color.........still batt'in it 'round in my head what color scheme to go with one thing I didn't give any thought to though.......was the ailerons. I should have marked them with marker pen, like I did with the stabilizer the landing gear got it's change over as well.........I made up a couple of ribs, sanded them to shape, and cemented the cover on it. balsa on top, since it shows where the struts go. from here, the leading and trailing edges were fleshed out. the leading edge had a slight gap, so I added a strip to it. hopefully, I will get some filler soon.

super job so far CW...........and a huge congratz on the homefront!

that's one sweet looking Corsair your working on there I love those gull winged planes........working on a couple stukas at the moment........nowhere at the level your at though. very nice work indeed!

yea, some of the parts led to be desired, but other model companies did {and do} the same thing....even more so now in today's kits. some of the metal stuff kind bit the big one too........the metal ornament for the Sergal Thermopylae is so thick, that it is near impossible to bend. I haven't done it yet.....nor have I binned the model.....it sits on my table still {one day I'll get back to it}. I've gone to far to trash it back it the early day of my being a member here, I use to hear of so many who didn't like the plastic stuff..........now, not so much. when I was helping Tom, in the days of the 'real' Billing USA, I would field some of the customer service complaints, and actually I heard more about the printed wood, than anything else. Tom passed along my name to a gent who was having issues with the masting of the Cux 87 {mainly the aft mast, because there wasn't a hole provided for it}. as I did, I connected it to the back of the pilot house with a bracket and made a pot for it in the back of the pilot house base. I hear from him from time to time.......... the plastic blocks aren't that bad actually. on a sailing vessel, they would look ugly, but on fishing vessels, they seem to fit better. that is what I use the for. the 'power' reel blocks used to be metal.....a good look for them.......but in today's kits {and in the fitting kits}, they are the metal pulley spool with wood sides.......you assemble them..........YECH! the wood used is also a good barometer as to the age of the kit. the first Nordkap I built had basswood parts panel billets that the parts were printed on. the second Nordkap that I'm building the Progress from, had mahogany billets. the Cutty Sark that Peter is building was produced around the same time frame as the second kit. the parts that I'm not using, I'm saving for when and if, I ever purchase the the recent production of the Nordkap.........curious to see how much of treat it is, to build it with laser cut parts the other reason, is that I will be able to trace out the hull parts and build a ship that looks almost identical....the Nordepic she's a bit longer than the Nordkap, and making doubles of the mid ship bulkheads should do the job. the parts I saved are for the aft cabin structure. I also have the wrap around parts in the hard plywood, that is seen in these kits. I also have some of the helm parts that I recut using basswood. you can see the deck pulley parts on one of the thin plywood pieces.......I didn't do well with the other pulley parts, so I sourced out some of those 'power' pulleys....I think from Cornwall Model Boats. they still need to be assembled, but they are made of metal for the Zwarte Zee, the parts are printed on plywood, instead of regular basswood....I believe them to be pine. the crane parts are here....there are other parts elsewhere on the billets. on this particular model, the dotted lines are a reference to where structures go...........some dotted lines are done due to any sign of shrinkage. I don't see nay here.....as mentioned, the wood is in pristine shape for the wood sections of the deck, I will have to measure how wide the planking is and go from there. note that there isn't that much cast off wood in these billets.........utilized quite well! and there is one small sheet of thinner plywood........this stuff is hard to cut. this is a smaller scale than the Nordkap, being 1:50 scale. one observation I've made, is that I will need to bevel the cabin parts, since the billets are plywood in nature.....the outer corners will look terrible if I don't looking forward in starting this one!

once the ribs on the wing were sanded to the proper shape, the top cover was laid down. I really should have created a jig to do it, but I was concerned that some CA would bleed out and cause problems when it was time to remove it. so I laid it down a section at a time. there is a sign of warpage....not real bad, but it's noticeable. then it was the effort to round off the leading and trailing edges of the wing. I tried to straighten the wing, but it popped the bond in the center and I had to reglue it. most of this session was in sanding the edges. note the crack at the wing tip.........that was another result from my trying to straighten it. I'll see what it looks like when the time comes to put the wing on........make a decision then. I tried to give you a good view of the edge shaping.......hope you can see it. I will do this to the landing gear pad too.

thanks Ken.......I have some balsa sheet, but it's too thick. I got it for that Wright Bros. kit my son gave me......I need to cut quite a few ribs given that some are missing. basswood has been my go to wood in all my wood builds. I designated the slotted part of the wing the bottom, since it has the slots for the struts. I added the inner and outer ribs and will sand them to the shape they need. next, I added the engine firewall former to the fuselage, bending the side walls to conform to the shape of the former. the slots in the center of the wing will not be used......I will close them up. wasn't thinking, or I wouldn't have opened them up in the first place. this won't be the first boo boo I'll make and need to rectify the bottom of the fuselage was closed up....you might notice the slight bulge on the port side. while all this is going on, I've been sanding........trying to maintain how much repair work there is to do.....I got to get me some wood putty. the slots for the landing gear needs to be done still,

I'd love to try camo work like that........'fraid I don't have the patience most planes rolled off the assembly line with that camo......it wasn't till they hit the field, that they got 'dolled' up

I've built Voss's plane before.......I have the revell D VII in my cabinet.....should be a log for it here very nice job on a lesser done subject........I like the more obscure as well very interesting underbelly paint!

hey there as Chris said......it's up to you. I looked in on a couple of other forums {real boats and sailing}..........sounds rather confusing to me. then again, I'm not a real sailor {I play one on modeling sites}. they appear to furl for the majority of the time in use......only taken down for repairs. running rigging via blocks at the top of the mast and at the end of the gaff...thinking there ought to be a fastening at the base of the gaff for the bottom corner of the top sail, but not sure how that is done. a model always looks good under full sail

I started with the rudder, since the triangular part was loose in the box. the rudder part itself doesn't look anything like the era tail rudder, that these early planes sported. I assembled it anyway and will add to it later. it wasn't too hard to guess which former went where.........I started from the tail and will work forward on the fuselage. I didn't bother to punch out for the rubber band. the fuselage lacks formers for the front section, so I will have to make some for it. the split towards the front is intentional, since it needs to wrap around the nose former. the slots are so darn big.......I will need to get some wood putty {I ran out}. the bottom is basswood......I went only so far with it for now. I have done some sanding as can be seen......trying my best to keep the dings and scratches from occurring in the balsa. I may do some form of inner framework and a seat once the fuselage is formed....I'll leave the top open. normally, the top is a paper cutout on the diagram sheet.......I will make it out of basswood. there are no machine guns either.......I will be making a pair. I have a pair of plastic ones from another model that I had gotten an upgrade for........but I don't think 1:48 will work for this scale. in fact......there is no scale listed for these older models, they only list the wingspan. this one has a 14 inch wingspan. I'm sure that scale classification was in play around this time. early in the modeling history, there wasn't one........everyone made their models from scratch. trains modelers suffered the most, because they couldn't sell or trade their models with other train enthusiasts...they wouldn't fit their tracks. when plastic modeling {using molds} came into being, scales became more crucial, and odd scales at that. later, the more common scales we know today came about when the scale classification equation came into effect. I went back to the rudder and added a piece of balsa, rounding it off to look something like what it should....not exact, but good enough that's one of the wing ribs next to it........scary huh!?!?!?! I rounded the outer edge of the rudder, since I won't need to thicken it up. neither will I need to do that to the stabilizer. this is what I got for the main wing. since this part has the strut holes......oversized .......I took a sheet of 1/32 basswood and traced the outline for the top. once the ribs are in place, I'll sandwich the top over them. we'll see how that works out more on this tomorrow thanks for look'in in!

hi there...I'm back. good to see some have chimed in I didn't get a chance to further tell you all about the kit.......it's rather sad really. I've built around ten of these planes, not counting the one I built during my days at school........I only had one that was a real flyer. first off.....I'll reply........ you know it Chris, and I knew it.......Richthofen spent most of his career in an Albatross, when he wasn't test flying proto types. he never got to fly his latest test plane, the Fokker D VII........he died by the time they came off the line. he was prolific in flying the Dr 1 though......and it was in the famous red one that he died. why they let him fly was odd........he was messed up from other injuries he received in prior battles. it is known that the crash didn't kill him.......he died by the bullet. the other one I built was red as well........from what I have dug up, this was the only model produced by Comet. it may have been a Guillow's offering that I built. it definitely was a stick 'n tissue plane. good to see you here OC.......I have a lot of catching up to do! these are not easy kits to build......balsa is so easy to break! hello Dave..........yea, about that after looking at the condition of the contents, I decided to go static with it. it is missing a lot of detail that is the DVIII. a few years ago, I got back into it by building a Guillow's Spitfire MK1. even though it is fly - ready, I've never flown it. I can't attest that it would ever fly....balance, dihedral.....so much goes into it before the rubber band is wound and let go.........luck does the rest I don't use the dope.......the stuff can't be used in a closed environment...smells way too much! I start with spraying the parts with diluted white glue. it tightens up as it dries.......I give it about two coats. it does loosen up when I change over to paint, but it tightens up for the last time as it dries. as mentioned, I estimate the kit to have been produced around the 70's.......the price extensions say it all this is the order form and mini catalog.......the prices don't seem like much, but back then, it was a king's ransom. I was about 14 in 1970,.....graduated high school in 1974....by my birthday in 1974, I was in sunny Florida. I told the story at an earlier time, but here goes..... Lake Mac was a man made lake...circular in shape. on our side, the road followed the lake edge, then made a circular turn away, which created this round grassy area, with palm trees and picnic tables. across from this circle, there was a barbed wire fence, with marshy scrug brush and saw grass beyond.........and to the right of that was another barbed wire fence border, with the same terrain on the other side. by the time I built the D VIII, I had built a P40 warhawk, Dehavland mail plane, and one other plane that I can't recall........all three fell in ruin......crashed. the mail plane had an interesting send off.......I gave it a Viking funeral...complete with fire no matter what I did to this plane, it would not fly straight....just kept wanting to stall and hit the ground. it was a good thing the grass was high, or it wouldn't have lasted as long as it did. it got to the point.....after repeated repairs, that it was deemed a loss, so it was decided to put her out of her misery. after dousing it with lighter fluid, I held it while my friend Mike lit it up......sending it out over lake mac. darn thing never flew better!........went straight out.......a climbing stall......a right bank, which sent directly back at us! we got out of the way...........but I wish I had a video camera, so I could capture how it ended up crashing at the water's edge! so cool! the first flight of the Fokker was awesome!......it even glided for a short time after the rubber band had run it's course. the third flight........she flew straight.......across the road, and over the barbed wire fence. by this time the rubber was expended........gliding further, she decided to bank to the right...........right over the second barbed wire fence! I went out to get it....talk about mucky! I was up to my knees in water. the plane had skewered itself on a reed.......I broke it off so not to damage her too much. I was coming out of the 'fields', when this old guy in a pick up truck showed up {Mike knew him}. he looked at me and asked if I was the guy he saw out in there.....I told him it was me......my plane flew out there and I went out there to get it. he then told me that it's not a good idea to be runn'in 'round in there.........there's snakes 'n gators in there! Mike told him I just moved to Florida....he basically just cautioned me about going in there again. ...mentioned something to Mike about his dad and the fire department, got back in his truck, and left. I did not go back in there again I never saw one in lake mac........but I did see one sunning himself on a log in lake Diaz {and to think I swam there off a sand bar!} anyone why built one of these model can attest to the die cut parts.........they are terrible! this kit is no exception.......it took some creative cutting to remove the parts. some I had to imagine the cut lines from the instruction diagrams. being a struct o speed kit, the main wing is just the topside with ribs that curve it to create a foil, to channel the air. it lacks detail to distinguish it as a D VIII...and the way it's assembled would make it look even more lame than it already does { I was thinking Endecker, rather than the EV Chris.......your current project looks so cool}. {I have to remember that the Endecker was a very early fixed wing, so not to confuse anyone}. the landing gear is the same way........just a flat piece of balsa. so I decided to beef it up and make it a static model......I'm sure it will never fly with what I want to do to it. as mentioned, there is no tissue.......it is constructed totally of balsa. they supply a strip of balsa, to be contorted to form the prop, but there is a plastic one in the box.........no thrust button though. that's OK......there's no parts for an engine either, which I intend to add {or something reasonable}. the decals, if you can call them that, are a bit of a joke too. there are some in black on the diagram sheet, but I have some decals I think will work better. I need to fasten the diagram down to flatten it out.......it's not like the normal stick 'n tissue, where it is used as a template. you might be able to glean some of the assembly construction of the model. I have some of the balsa stringers from the Spitfire left over.........what else I need will be done in basswood.

I have a few moments......so I'll continue. there's no production date that I can see.......best guess is maybe back in the '70's. kit number #2305.......the kit back then sold for $2.50. I have pictures of the brochure that came in the box, but the pictures must still be in the camera. Comet fly models has been around since the 30's........bought out by Guillow's in 1998. ok........guess we can hit the road now who waits for who?

Hi all........sorry for being lax in the model department, but I've been busy on other things. I have had time to put around......this is a recent acquisition. I recently bought another older Billing kit of the Zwarte Zee tug boat.......I wrote about it in one of the sub forums, thinking that an extra set of eyes might help me find a fitting kit for it. I'm not too concerned with it, but I may have to source parts for it........but along with this model kit, I bought this one.......... I built this same model back in the 70's, back when I first moved to Florida. it was my best flyer.........actually, the only decent flying model I built at the time. I can't say that though 'cuz I built a Piper cub when I was still in school that flew fairly well {that's a semi long story } looks can be deceiving though........... come to find out, this isn't the kit.........the plane was much bigger and was covered in tissue. this particular kit is completely wooden....balsa! I need to get a move on though..........the admiral wants to go shopping, so I will be back soon to add more information.....and some pictures of the kit itself. I'm hoping that I can go somewhere that carries wood putty........I'm gonna need it be right back!

so cool! I'm currently working on it's cousin the Fokker D VIII love the looks of her

wicked cool model Greg!........I've not seen one like this before, with the exception to Star Wars stuff ! super paint and great weathering....looks very awesome! wouldn't want to be staring down the chap either 😷

thanks Johnny the Sergal Thermopylae is definitely not for the faint of heart.......I still have it on my main table. I was going to continue with it when another gentleman here on the site decided to build it. as I recall, he did a fairly good job of it, being his first wood build. I would never advocate that particular model to anyone wanting to start out in this hobby, but as I've said, there are many who have selected models that are over their experience level and have gone on to create a really nice model what I see are folks who want to excel, and it makes me glad when they do! I'm not a stranger to these older Billing kits.....I got my start on one I can't wait to get started on the Zwarte Zee, but first I gotta finish the Progress, which is from the second Nordkap kit. hello Jan.....I've had different experiences with older Billing kits. the fitting kits used to be mostly metal.......some parts were duplicated in the boat kit in wood. the winches were all metal, the cranes and a few of the pulley parts were in the kit, printed on the parts billets { I was terrible at cutting them out}. thankfully, the pulleys were available in metal from Billings and I was able to order them for the Nordkap. I ordered some for the Progress, but I had to get them from somewhere else, because at the time Billing didn't have them {I think they were discontinued}. there were limited fitting kit offered at the time I built the Nordkap, and the Nordkap wasn't one of them. so with the help from Tom, he scarfed some of the parts together for me.....at the same time though, Harold found the fitting kit that he had and passed them along to me. I had double the booty to outfit the Nordap! what I found is, the older the fitting kit, the more metal parts. Billing's expanded their fitting kit selections to include the Cux 87, the Mary Ann, and the Nordkap. in these fitting kits though, there are more wood and plastic parts..........not what I would have wanted.........but at least I now have the parts for the Progress. I built the wood parts from the kit too...........the crane for instance..........it's in wood from the kit, and plastic from the fitting kit. the winches are a mix of wood and metal........the original metal winches can be had though......I think they are still listed in the Billing's parts. I'll be sure to list the wood parts that would also be found in the fitting kit when I start to build the model. I'm sure that I can source out most of the parts for this model....just for a chuckle, I did another quick check. B B USA only lists six of them......only the Smit Rotterdam is shown. Ages of Sail shows the same six. I'd have better luck at Cornwall......they list the Rotterdam and the Bankert {they are almost sold out though}. but for folks who find and purchase one of these older kits, it is hoped that the original fitting kit comes with it.......one, you'll have the entire kit......and two, you'll be more satisfied with the contents

might be a good idea.....back then, there wasn't much in the way of 'real' chrome on 'em.

very nice looking model Craig.......the rigging is really sweet! well done with the display stand too

we all do what we can the one single 'art' that anyone can learn in the beginning, is scratch building. I figured that out right from the start........the parts that I could cut out correctly with the Nordkap, I had to make the part. I was quite satisfied with how well the ship built up, considering the age of the wood.......the scratch build parts were created from the cast off wood. I intend on doing the same thing with this one, just as I have been doing with the Progress, which is being built from the second Nordkap kit I got. the second kit came with mahogany planking, which I did not use.......I'm saving it for something else down the road {haven't quite figured that out yet}. I had a closer look at the strip wood that came with the Zwarte Zee. while the parts panels are definitely basswood, the planking might be Obechi. older Billing kits had mahogany wood in the early days, turning over to basswood........taking a guess, I'd say around the 60's or 70's. Obetchi is a soft African wood....a lot more forgiving than basswood, but doesn't sand as smooth. I like it though as a planking, because it behaves better and you can get better contours, especially around the stern area. there are also the thicker pine strips for the framework and trim mahogany. the planking is 1 mm thick, so getting it to lay down good will be critical.......sanding might create thin spots if one isn't careful I prefer the 1.5 mm for the extra thickness, but it's not a game changer. will I need to order something like a fitting kit?..........probably not......just figure out what size the screw needs to be, order the required railing posts......maybe a few other things. I think I have enough in my inventory to fit her out.........I most likely will modify a few aspects too

well worth the effort the rigging looks very good!

is that photo etch?.........looks really good as to how thin they are. wish I had decorations like that for my Sergal Thermopylae. they are so thick, it's a b...... to bend them! really compliments the model Peter!