Bristol F.2B WW1 Fighter by CDW - FINISHED - Eduard - 1:48 Scale

[Old Collingwood]

Amazing work   - all that  fine detail.

 

OC.

[CDW]

Thanks for the nice comments, much appreciated. While I had planned to use a very fine monofilament line and micro tubing for the rigging, I had to switch out to Infini lycra thread. In the past, had successfully used the monofilament and micro tubing for rigging 1:32 scale WW1 aircraft, but found the combination too unwieldy for this 1:48 scale model. Just not enough space to make it work for me. Half that battle is keeping the right focal length between my Optivisor and the model. That’s an issue no matter what medium is being used for rigging. At the right focal length, I find my visor often collides with the model. Several times I almost dropped it because of that. In hindsight I should have made a slightly larger loop for my tie off points. Next time I will do that.

I wonder if the Eduard WW1 aircraft kits are reboxed Roden products. Anyone know? In past experience most Eduard kits I have owned were reboxed for their use. The 1:48 Tornado and 1:48 Mi-25 kits come to mind. They are actually Revell and Zvezda kits with Eduard details, instructions, and decals. I ask because I see some interesting 1:48 scale WW1 kits from Roden and may be interested to acquire a few. If the Roden kits were as nice as this Eduard one, I would be pleased.

Edited November 7, 2022 by CDW

[AJohnson]

Great model, superb finish and neat rigging! 👏

[ccoyle]

I'd like to get some more info on the Infini line, with which I'm unfamiliar. I looked it up online just now and see that it comes in a variety of colors and diameters. The line that they recommend for 1/200 scale ships is half the diameter (and twice the price) of fine EZ Line, and supposedly stretches, same as EZ line. Do you know if it is round in cross-section (EZ line is flat), and how well does it glue to different materials?

[CDW]

Pictured from left to right are rolls of Infini "medium" size rigging, EZ Line "fine" rigging, and Infini "fine" rigging.

The first thing to take note of the terms medium and fine are only consistent between like brands. Both the Infini medium and Infini fine are both smaller diameter than the EZ Line fine. The Infini fine is very very fine indeed. Almost invisible. I can't really see a lot of difference in cross section. I magnified the photo as much as possible to let you be the judge of that. All the lycra thread I have worked with seems somewhat inconsistent in cross section. It looks flat, it looks round, it looks something in between, but once it's stretched it all looks alike to me with my mk.20-20 eyeballs.

The Infini packages give the actual diameter measurement. EZ Line does not but it's obviously the thickest of the three.  

Edited November 7, 2022 by CDW

[ccoyle]

14 minutes ago, CDW said:

mk.20-20 eyeballs

 

I just had an eye exam a couple of months ago, during which my ophthalmologist informed me, at the ripe old age of 59, that in addition to my numerous floaters, astigmatism, 20-30 vision (corrected) in one eye and 20-40 in the other, I now have "all three" kinds of cataracts in their early stages of formation. No doubt this is from years of squinting at tiny modeling elements. 🙄

 

I may just have to pull the trigger on some Infini line -- I'm a sucker to try new things. Your comment about the medium vs. fine makes me wonder whether fine may not be better -- at stand off viewing distances, 1/250 wire rigging does really kind of disappear. What are your thoughts?

[CDW]

Just now, ccoyle said:

 

I just had an eye exam a couple of months ago, during which my ophthalmologist informed me, at the ripe old age of 59, that in addition to my numerous floaters, astigmatism, 20-30 vision (corrected) in one eye and 20-40 in the other, I now have "all three" kinds of cataracts in their early stages of formation. No doubt this is from years of squinting at tiny modeling elements. 🙄

 

I may just have to pull the trigger on some Infini line -- I'm a sucker to try new things. Your comment about the medium vs. fine makes me wonder whether fine may not be better -- at stand off viewing distances, 1/250 wire rigging does really kind of disappear. What are your thoughts?

What you see on my F.2B is the medium Infini rigging. I would use the Infini fine size rigging on my 1:700 scale ships. I think the medium scales out to be around 1.2 inches at 1:250 scale.

Failed to answer earlier, but the thread adheres well to any surface I have tried, plastics, wood, and metal, using thin CA. It would be a real pain to use a slower setting glue in my opinion as you would need to hold it too long in a stretched position until it set. But I have heard of those who use acrylic glue. Probably would work okay with as little stretch except as absolutely necessary to remove sags.

[ccoyle]

What the heck -- I ordered both, fine and medium.

[CDW]

3 hours ago, ccoyle said:

 

I just had an eye exam a couple of months ago, during which my ophthalmologist informed me, at the ripe old age of 59, that in addition to my numerous floaters, astigmatism, 20-30 vision (corrected) in one eye and 20-40 in the other, I now have "all three" kinds of cataracts in their early stages of formation. No doubt this is from years of squinting at tiny modeling elements. 🙄

 

I may just have to pull the trigger on some Infini line -- I'm a sucker to try new things. Your comment about the medium vs. fine makes me wonder whether fine may not be better -- at stand off viewing distances, 1/250 wire rigging does really kind of disappear. What are your thoughts?

Was in my early 50's when diagnosed with cataracts and consequently had surgery on both eyes just afterward. Mine came on due to spending a number of years on limerock surfaces in the bright Florida sun. It was common among men in the field of work I was in, road construction. I thought I needed brighter light bulbs to see better, so I kept increasing the wattage until I was working on my models using a 250 watt bulb. My wife said, you need to see an eye doctor. I did, and the rest was history. The good news, it was immediate relief after the surgery. I literally came out of surgery with 20-20 vision. I had mine done at St Lukes clinic where a Doctor Gills was known worldwide for his cataract surgery, people coming from all over the country, and even from foreign countries to get their eye surgery there. Don't know if it's the same today, but I was given the choice of distance vision or closeup vision without corrective lenses. I chose distance vision so I would not need glasses to drive, just reading glasses. Alternatively, I could have chosen one eye with distance vision and the other with closeup vision but I didn't like the sound of that. Dr Gills said you get accustomed to it, but I stuck with the uncorrected long-distance vision for both eyes. Glad I did that. No problems since then, and that's been more than 16 years ago.

 

[Danstream]

10 hours ago, ccoyle said:

I now have "all three" kinds of cataracts in their early stages of formation. No doubt this is from years of squinting at tiny modeling elements.

Hi Chris, let me add to what already said on this subject, having had the same problem and, luckily, a very satisfactory solution of it.

I do not think that you activity of making models had anything to do with the insurgence of a cataract (although I rekonise that you used the sentence ironically). Among causes, we have: genetics, ageing and degradation due to UV exposure. I had all of these (I spent in my youth lot of time in sunny places without any sunglasses protections). Said that, the surgery resolved the problem brilliantly and I could see the world with new eyes (literally).

[Jack12477]

I'm 4 weeks post cataract surgery in both eyes, I'm 81. Medicare won't pay for surgery until the corrected vision is 20/50 and will only cover single vision distance correction, no bifocals, or astigmatism correction. I'm both nearsighted and have astigmatism in both eyes. My left eye finally met the criteria but the right eye didn’t,  but once the left eye was done it created a huge imbalance in my vision which then made my right eye eligible for Medicare coverage to correct the imbalance caused by surgery. ( Love those government bureaucrats! ) As a kid I always wore sunglasses because my eyes were hypersensitive to bright sunlight. But Dan is right it's genetic, age related and UV exposure.  Now I can pass the DMV Vision Test and drive without glasses but can't see (clearly) the food on my dinner plate. 😒  Once both eyes have completely healed the doctor will prescribe reading glasses.  In the meantime they gave me a pair of dime store cheaters, 2.50 diopters, for reading.

 

12 hours ago, ccoyle said:

No doubt this is from years of squinting at tiny modeling elements

Chris, I'm told that will make nearsightedness worse. 

[CDW]

Flying will be less of a chore with a prop.

 

[Ian_Grant]

Wonderful paint job on the prop! And the rigging, and the canvas painting, and.....

[Landlubber Mike]

Craig, that prop is incredible - really nice job!

 

@ccoyle, I used Infini line on my Shimakaze build and really liked it.  It's definitely better scale for ships than I think EZ Line, which by the way isn't too bad itself.  Properties are very similar to EZ Line.  EZ Line I believe is flat, but not sure about the Infini line - at such small diameters, you really can't see the difference so personally I'm not bothered by it.  As Craig noted, it's nice that Infini includes diameters (in deniers).  FWIW, they also make rigging line for planes.  Free Time Hobbies has Infini line in stock, in fact, I just ordered some as part of an order for other stuff that arrived today.

[ccoyle]

35 minutes ago, Landlubber Mike said:

Free Time Hobbies has Infini line in stock

 

Yep, that's where I ordered from as well.

[hof00]

Looks awesome!!

 

Cheers....HOF.

Edited November 8, 2022 by hof00

[Jack12477]

Looks great !

[CDW]

I will put a dull coat over all to unify the model, but this model for me is finished.

Its been fun, a nice kit for a small amount of money. Thanks for following along, your likes and kind comments. See you again soon with another model.

[Jack12477]

Nice ! Great job on both model and display stand.  👏  Looks like a Lafayette Escadrille airfield

Edited November 9, 2022 by Jack12477

[AJohnson]

Great finish and nice setting. 👏

[DocRob]

A true beauty. I really like the rigging and the prop. With the little base, it makes a very fine addition in the display shelf, Chapeau!

 

Cheers Rob

[Danstream]

Lovely model and beautiful presentation. As said, there is a lot to like: the careful assebly, the great finish, the rigging, the propeller, the many details, etc.

2 hours ago, CDW said:

I will put a dull coat over all to unify the model

Are you aiming at muting the large decals? In that case, I might see your point.

Have you tried to play a bit with post-processing the picture? I would like to see one of them turned into B/W or, better, to sepia.

Congrats,

Dan

[CDW]

10 minutes ago, Danstream said:

Are you aiming at muting the large decals? In that case, I might see your point.

Have you tried to play a bit with post-processing the picture? I would like to see one of them turned into B/W or, better, to sepia.

Yes, to mute the national markings primarily.

I never tried it before, but this is a photo edit I found:

[Landlubber Mike]

Beautiful job as always Craig, and the display base is fantastic!  You've inspired me to pull mine out once I get through my current plane models in progress.

[Old Collingwood]

Excellent finish Craig  - looks Superb  on that base.

 

OC.

[Edwardkenway]

A brilliant set up for an excellently finished plane, great work Craig!

[popeye the sailor]

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

[Canute]

Another superb build, Craig. Very nice display on some cow pasture in NE France.

[CDW]

Public Service Announcement - Newsflash!

Andy's Hobby Headquarters NEW (andyshhq.com)

as of 6:00 PM tonight will be taking preorders for brand spanking new WINGNUT WINGS kits. 

As you may or may not know, Wingnut Wings, a New Zealand company produced the finest injection molded 1:32 WW1 kits ever made but went out of business about 2 years ago. This caused the Wingnut Wings kit prices to skyrocket to astronomical prices on Ebay, making them out of reach for many modelers. Well, today, the kits are coming back on the scene. Andy is received a 40-foot container of the kits sometime in mid-December and is taking preorders as of 6:00 PM today. Don't know exactly what is going to be available nor the prices yet, but you can bet I am going to visit the site at 6:00.

 

 

[CDW]

This is a Wingnut Wings Albatros D.V kit I built in 2019