08 November 2011

Dogs & Birds (Pup & Albatros)

Almost finished with the rigging on the Sopwith Pup. I screwed a few things up, and it's not the cleanest bit of modeling, but it's my first one and 1/72 scale isn't exactly large. I forgot a second (forward) tail stabilizer on each side.  I will go back and finish that.



I also put together (minus pilot) the Albatros D.V. This is the last of the original 3 Airfix planes I had.


So, my question is... do I continue rigging all the planes? Some of them are far more involved than the pup. I'm trying to weigh the time & effort involved (which is significant, but not a horrible experience) with the fact that these are for playing games, not just display. So I've got some concerns about durability as well.

Here's a comparison shot.






Still waiting on the batch of allied planes. Lost out on the German planes I was hoping to get on eBay, but I did stop at the semi-local hobby shop (Wings Hobby Shop in Lakewood, OH -- no web page). Like just about everything else in this damned city, it's on the opposite side of town from where I live. The selection of 1/72 WWI planes was predictably small, but they did have some. I grabbed a Fokker D.VIIF and two more DR.1's (one for me, one for a friend.)

The manufacturers are Eduard and Roden, and I can already see that they are better than the Airfix DR.1 and Albatross. The Airfix Pup was really a nice plane and of similar quality to the new ones I got, though.


Ordering a (some) flight stand(s) tonight.

As I've been inhaling all nature of unhealthy fumes while working on that first plane, I've been wondering... Why does Snoopy fly a Camel rather than a Pup?

9 comments:

  1. That rigging looks great! The information I had about rigging from TMP suggested that it made the models stronger, do you think that is true?

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  2. Rigging looks good but the tedium of doing it.....

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  3. I don't know if they are stronger. I don't think I've got enough experience to compare, but I would imagine that it couldnt hurt, as long as we don't have to deal with the rigging itself falling apart and becoming a maintenance liability.

    I know I had one glue joint break once already, while I was working on it. But my methods & materials may not be the best. (CA glue & steel or brass wire.)

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  4. If you decide to do some more mail order,check out Scalehobbyist.com.They have some great prices,and it looks like 65+ kits in your scale.

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  5. I think scalehobbyist.com is going to be my new best friend. Thank you.

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  6. Youre welcome. I've only done one of those kits(R's Bristol 2 seater) and I said never again. I'm not much of a precision modeler.

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  7. I'm not normally a huge precision modeler, but it's an interesting change of pace. Not that I would emphasize "precision" in my case. :)

    A good part of it is that I just love the planes and enjoy the game.

    As far as scalemodeler.com, it's not just the planes. My mind started drifting into, "well, maybe I should look at 1/72 WWI ground forces too..." followed by some reading at www.plasticsoldierreview.com. So now that I have the last piece of the puzzle -- the supplier -- I also have someone to blame when my daughter doesn't get any presents for her first Christmas because daddy needed to stock up on toy soldiers. ;)

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  8. I thought about WH's Great War rules with the half price sale,coupled with the ton of nice 1/72 plastics.Zvezda,especially( I have always wanted to do Tannenburg/Masurian lakes!)However,my birthday money went in another direction,15mm Sci-fi.

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  9. hey nice work on the rigging. i play Canvas egles in 1/144 scal so its a bit small for rigging but i concidered using fuse wire - have you thought of trying that out?

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