Roden 1/72 Felixstowe F2A

[nickdanger]

Here come the decals.

I'm not afraid of complex masking jobs (here's one from a couple years ago that I masked and sprayed in one go)....

But I'm really glad I didn't try to mask the Felixstowe - those curves would just suck.

Edited September 24, 2014 by nickdanger

[Spectre711]

Nice progress. That Red pops!

[mingwin]

Oooh... i like what i see! can't wait to see it with all of its decals on! what a beautiful scheme!

...but is the nose-tip decal right? seems not like on the boxart? (but i've now see that there's at least another build with the nose pattern that way)

Edited September 25, 2014 by mingwin

[nickdanger]

@mingwin - I'm just following the decal sheet instructions. They are a little confusing and there are errors but I'll just wing it.

Decals continue - one side finished:

[IrishGreek]

Really looking beautiful so far! Good Luck!

[nickdanger]

Good news, decals are done. Bad news, bottom wings broke.

Silver lining: the wings were a little droopy - pretty questionable engineering if you ask me.

I'll have to drill out the former attachment points and use a couple tiny metal rods with a little dihedral built in.

Edited September 27, 2014 by nickdanger

[MoFo]

D'oh. Just saw this thread. The two pieces of advice from building this kit myself: DO NOT USE RODEN'S DECALS (they basically ruined my build) and reinforce the lower wing spars, because they *WILL* break.

Guess I'm too late. :(

I don't think it's physically possible to build the kit without breaking the spars. Which is kind of pointless, since they're not visible in the finished model, so they could have devised a MUCH beefier solution and saved a lot of heartache.

[nickdanger]

@MoFo - I should have known better. The Roden decals are stiff and a little off register but I've already put five of the bigger ones on so that advice comes too late as well.

[MoFo]

If they've gone on okay thus far, you're probably fine. Mine shattered in water. A couple of coats of liquid decal film later, they only fractured into a handful of pieces, rather than dozens. Unfortunately, when I tried applying them to the model, they simultaneously started to peel off, and welded themselves to the surface, so I'd have needed a chisel to shift the remnants. They also de-laminated - the carrier film seemed to peel away from the ink and adhesive.

Basically, the decals failed in every possible way that a decal could fail. It was *horrendous*. And since it's not the most robust of structures (I decalled after it was rigged), it wasn't sturdy enough to make repair feasible.

Glad to see yours are working out. It's a tremendously cool subject, and a nice kit to boot.

[nickdanger]

@MoFo - You decaled AFTER? How is that even possible?

[MoFo]

I did the open-top version, so no swirls (masked and painted the zig-zag finish). Added the upper wing. Rigged it. Trimmed my lines and touched up the paint, then applied the decals. The under-wing roundels weren't a problem (in terms of location). The upper wing roundels just slipped under the rigging lines, next to the, err, wing fences. NBD, really - you've got to work around the rigging a little, but since a number of rigging lines exit through the lower wing roundel, it's easiest if that decal goes on after assembly is completed.

I'll also add, rigging is MANDATORY on this build (the top wing is super-delicate until the model is rigged), and I would HIGHLY recommend using monofilament, rather than wire or elastic thread. Monofilament allows you to add slight tension, which will give the whole unit more rigidity and structural integrity - much like the real thing. I'm not convinced wire would add that strength, and elastic certainly wouldn't.

Also, when you're rigging, it's important to work symmetrically, rather than going from left to right. Do the lines in the outermost cells first (left and right), then move inwards. If you do all one wing first, the tension will pull the wings out of alignment, and you'll have problems with your tension (lines too tight, or too loose) by the time you finish rigging the wings. Basically, when you apply tension to a rigging line, it pulls the wing a little bit in that direction; so if you work from left to right, you'll pull the wing a little bit, and a little bit, and a little bit until, when you get to the fuselage, it's visibly slanted. In order to counterbalance all that tension, you've got to pull even tighter on the other wing, which will mess up the tension on the lines you've already installed. If you mirror each line - tighten a line on the port side, then it's matching mate on the stbd side - you'll keep the load even, and the wings straight.

Edited September 29, 2014 by MoFo

[nickdanger]

@MoFo - D'oh. Right after I buy the elastic rigging thread that mingwin used for his Nieuports. I really dread trying to use monofilament after getting used to EZline - that stuff is so easy. I assume that the Uschi thread will be similar in terms of easy of install (though it IS pretty thin).

[MoFo]

Monofilament isn't hard to use. In fact, it's pretty much identical to elastic. The only difference is, it's less stretchy, so it provides more strength, but doesn't take 'extreme' handling as well (you know, that kind of poke-it-with-a-finger stuff). That said, it's strong, so if you do inadvertently poke it, it won't break; you'll just push the model.

In terms of installation though, they're both pretty much the same: drill locating holes part way into the upper wing and completely through the lower wing; anchor your monofilament lengths to the upper wing using CA; thread through the corresponding hole in the lower wing, pull taut and secure with a dab of CA; trim the excess thread/glue under the bottom wing with a sharp #11 blade and touch up paint as needed.

You can get monofilament pretty much anywhere that sells sewing supplies (including WalMart), for about a buck. It typically comes in two flavours: clear (clear) and smoke (a dark brown/translucent). You can hit up fly-fishing stores for finer material and/or different shades, but it'll cost more.

[nickdanger]

So something like this?

Transfil Monofilament Thread 100% Nylon

[Aaronw]

Neat, don't recall seeing one of these built before.

[nickdanger]

Bottom wings are back on and horizontal stabilizers/elevators are together.

Building the jig:

Jig (mostly) complete:

Just a couple quick touchups on the hull, build out the engines and engine mounts and the rigging will commence.

Will definitely start with the tail assembly as a warm up.

Putting finishing touches on another flying boat. Building it for an exhibit where I work that will be opening soon.

The Boeing 314, Pan Am Clipper:

[mingwin]

it might be because i'm rather newbe when it comes to biplane, but that lego jig is brilliant!

Edited October 5, 2014 by mingwin

[nickdanger]

@mingwin - wish I could say that I thought of it but saw this guy's bulild

Lego jig

[nickdanger]

Rigging is done for the horizontal stabilizers:

I think that I'm just going to use EZLine - I'm used to it, it looks close enough to scale, it's super easy, it's not like the Uschi line which (while similar) is like working with spider's silk (stuff is tiny), and my experience with monofilament make me wary.

One more batch to paint, then the engine mounts and engines can go on:

Lost the tip of the starboard aileron to overzealous decal solution drying (ie. held the part too close to a lamp) so a little scratchbuilding is required:

[Spectre711]

It's looking good! I have to play around with rigging myself and get use to it.

[nickdanger]

Had a bit of a break due to work related travel, but I'm back to it now.

Installed the EZ-Line on the bottom side of the upper wing:

Got the tail control horns and rigging on:

Just about ready to add the spars and engines + mounts and start the rigging proper:

There are some slight size disparities to deal with but I'm ready to forge ahead.

[Spectre711]

Looking good there! Are the EZ-Lines easy to install (just drill holes and install with CA)?

[nickdanger]

I think it's super easy. Very stretchy and it's almost like it was invented to stick to CA glue: just the thinnest bit and it's rigged.

Obviously it doesn't provide any sort of structural rigidity so I'm taking a chance there.

Nevertheless, Wingnut Wings suggests using it so it can;t be that bad.

[nickdanger]

Well it took a month but finally did the mating of the upper and lower wings.

Spent a lot of time tweaking the jig:

Also had to double and triple check the size of the spars and the engine mounts vis-a-vis the distance between the upper and lower wings:

After a loooooong time trying to figure out the best strategy to install the spars I decided to cement them in them upside-down on the top wing with a little bit of thin Tamiya cement. Then I let them hang right-side up to straighten them out a bit:

While the spars were still a little flexible I put the lower assembly into the jig and ever so gingerly added the top section...along with some weight to squish things together:

The instructions call for the wrong center spars to sit atop the hull/fuselage so need to go back to the box and get the alternates painted, prepped and installed:

Quite a stressful operation and I'm really glad that's over with. Now rigging doesn't seem so scary.

Edited December 1, 2014 by nickdanger

[nickdanger]

First rigging session complete:

Maybe about 20-25% done. Much easier than I anticipated.