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First WWI Kit: WnW F.1 Camel BR-1


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Greetings all,

 

Started my first ever WWI kit, and so far it's great fun. There's just something about the whole WnW package. Ridiculously expensive but very alluring. My stash went from 0 to 6 in as many weeks. This is my first build with rigging, first attempt at wood grain, first biplane since childhood, first, first, first, etc. All suggestions welcome!

 

Anyways, couldnt resist some extras, some of which will need a 10x magnifier to even notice, but I'll know its there. 

 

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I spent a good 30 min removing the kit seat pad while trying to save the seat supports before I realized the excellent barracuda cast item comes with its own...So this is what I ended up with. Barracuda gives you the option of a smooth or buttoned cushion, both are beautiful. I went with smooth and I'll probably put the extra to good use in another WnW build.

 

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And heres the whole seat and rear fuel tank assembly awaiting the painting of the black brackets on the wood frame. The glossy effect on the fuel tank is Vallejo "petrol spills"....not sure how I like this product yet, or really if I'm using it correctly. I found that an undercoat of vallejo rust on the cushion followed by burnt sienna oils, then a tamiya panel liner wash produced a lovely leather effect:

 

1KqLYj9.jpg

 

Also finished the induction tube/ammo bin/forward fuel tank/gun suport structure. I'm using a lot of new techinques on this build including a lot of new metal weathering effects. The ammo bins could've done with a bit of a newer finish....as far as I know these birds probably didnt survive long enough for the metal to get this bad...and the macro doesn't help either...

 

r2AWtrb.jpg

 

And again with the petrol spills effect on the filler cap and down the side....this came out a little better I think.

 

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WnW supply's the vickers with solid blast shields (?) so I hollowed them out and added 0.4mm brass tube.

 

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Next up is the BR-1 itself. Its no Taurus Model's masterpiece but WnW does an incredible job for OTB injection molding. The parts recieved a coat of alclad black base, then various shades of Mr. Hobby Super Metallic 2 (first time using it, and I like it a lot). The first wash was of burnt umber, french ultramarine blue, and pthalo green oils and gave a good interesting look IMO. Then various random application of Vallejo petrol spills as well as "oil stains" (as opposed to the former, I love this product), with oil stains more heavily on the heads of the cylinders where castor would be spewing forth.

 

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Decal 90 in the instructions is far too big to go on the side of the crankcase proper so I substituted it with decal 89....but 90 was so beautiful I stuck it on anyways, apologies if it's not accurate...

 

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The ignition wires are Uschi 0.03mm "rig that thing"

 

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Next was my first attempt at a laminated prop. I used a base of XF-52 flat earth, then masked with strips of electrical tape, then went over it with XF-9 hull red. This method only worked out for me because the rest of the prop will be grey.

 

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And after using oils and a custom mix of tamiya clear shades to make a brown varnish, the effect is not really visible in the pic, but it's pleasingly subtle in person.

 

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I then used the same colors, with RB Productions wood pattern airbrush mask to put a wood grain on the struts:

 

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It looks very pronounced here but it toned down with oils and the same varnish coat. It's now barely perceptible in person so probabaly not worth the effort, but I think the technique may come in handy on lighter wood parts in the future. You'll notice I also spent time filling and sanding the numerous ejector pin marks on the frame. This a quirk of this kit that WnW is typically not known for, granted most wouldnt have been visible but some would've, so I used it as an opportunity for practice.

 

hXlyqdO.jpg

 

The last thing I did....and I really did it....was kind of destroy the aircraft's interior metal surfaces. I was attempting George Johnson's metal weathering technique, demonstrated in his Stahltaube videos on youtube...but I went too heavy with the sponging of gunmetal and oily steel and also didnt take enough of the neutral wash off. I think the interior of these birds up near the engine could have gotten pretty grimey, thus my liberal use of petrol and oil stains effect, but I took it too far. I learned a lesson and thankfully much of this will be barely visible anyways. The panel in between the lower wings will eventually get masking and a wooden frame along with the sides of the cockpit.

 

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Lastly I attempted rib shading for the first time. I used XF-82 Ocean Grey for the battleship grey of the horizontal stabilizer. Masked with 2mm tamiya flexible tape, sprayed near the ribs with XF-82 + a few drops of XF-1, and then overcoated the whole thing with highly diluted XF-82. The effect is difficult to photograph but it actually turned out well when viewed in person. The elevators will get a beautiful variation of X-28 Park Green as worn by the kit marking option D.

 

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Thats all for now, thanks for viewing!

 

 

 

 

 

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Thank you 11bee, we'll see how it looks when it all comes together!

 

Here's option D that I chose:

dPpDjbl.jpg

 

Question for anyone with the knowledge: I assume that personal/unit makings such as the grey/green tailplane/elevator on this aricraft would be painted over any factory stencils. Any reason I should apply decal 85 as per the instructions? I'm thinking no.

 

Also if I should move this thread to In-progress, let me know. Wasnt sure where to stick it.

 

Thanks,

Edited by EZhotshot511
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Thank you 11bee, we'll see how it looks when it all comes together!

 

Here's option D that I chose:

dPpDjbl.jpg

 

Question for anyone with the knowledge: I assume that personal/unit makings such as the grey/green tailplane/elevator on this aricraft would be painted over any factory stencils. Any reason I should apply decal 85 as per the instructions? I'm thinking no.

 

Also if I should move this thread to In-progress, let me know. Wasnt sure where to stick it.

 

Thanks,

This forum is pretty "quiet".  I'd suggest moving to the In-progress forum.   For my last 32nd build, I found I got much more feedback and interest over on LSP so I did duplicate updates both here on ARC and over there.  YMMV....

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi, 

 

Totally awesome work! 

Many things that I would not have done, or certainly not done that well. I really love what you did with that Barracuda seat.

 

I suspect you may have made a mistake with the Vickers guns. I'm not sure, but I think that is a watercooled gun and that the sleeve that you hollowed out contains the water and should be closed.

 

Cheers, Stefan.

 

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