World War One Whifs

[Glenn Gilbertson]

Welcome and congratulations on very fine work!

[kerick]

With the way some of the aircraft from that period looked its hard to tell the whiffs from the RW!
Would you please tell us your technique for rigging? It looks great!

[NARSES2]

Fantastic 

[Captain Canada]

Very cool. Love the paint and the third engine ! Thanks for the link to the build thread as well.

[stevehed]

Thank You Gentlemen, your comments are much appreciated. As for the rigging I use several methods. On the Fokker holes were drilled into the fuselage sides and invisible thread with a dab of polystrene glue on the tip were located into the holes. Leave to dry for an hour then put some CA gel onto a pointy cocktail stick and touch it into the hole alongside the thread. You could miss out the poly stage it's just that I find it gives me more maneouvring time than CA. The invisible thread has been cut long enough to go from strut to strut in one length. Before I start rigging I cut a small nick into the topmost and lowest parts of the strut with a razor saw. The thread can be wrapped around the strut with part dropping into the cut which locks it in place while a dab of CA secures it. Continue to the last strut and then cut the excess off. If the struts are wide enough a hole can be drilled through it and this makes the process much easier. Other methods are to drill half way into the upper wing, secure the wire and pull it through holes in the lower wing that have been drilled all the way through. These are secured with CA and the holes have to be touched over with more glue or filler. Not an easy task as far as I'm concerned. IMHO there is no correct or better way to rig as the aircraft layout and size are often the determining factors as to which method to use. More often than not several methods are needed. For example I had a wire come loose on a small kit which would have been impossible to replace with invisible thread. I had to resort to a piece of heat stretched sprue which is yet another method favoured by many but not alas me. Thread has strength and acts like rigging while hss is purely decorative I believe.
Regards,
             Steve

[NARSES2]

Your method of cutting nics in the strut is very interesting and not one I've heard before. After the CA has set do you then remove the thread wrapped around the strut ? Or am I being daft and not reading you correctly ?

[The Rat]

Why have I only just found this post? Great work! 

[stevehed]

Your method of cutting nics in the strut is very interesting and not one I've heard before. After the CA has set do you then remove the thread wrapped around the strut ? Or am I being daft and not reading you correctly ?

NARSES2

No, it has been looped and pulled tight into the nick before a touch of CA is applied. Then the loose end is run to the next strut. Only when the thread is tied off at the last strut is the loose end cut off. The thread is fixed at the starting point, usually a hole drilled into the side of the fuselage or looped around a nicked cabane strut. It's not perfect by any means and won't stand close scrutiny but it looks ok from a normal viewing distance.

THE RAT
            Thanks a lot.

Regards, Steve

[NARSES2]

Thanks Steve, much appreciated 

It's something I'll give a try on the Airfix Be 2c when it comes out

[zenrat]

Hmmmm.  Some useful information there.  I have some 1/72 bi-planes to build and am always after easier rigging techniques as progress on the "shrink me down to 20mm tall" machine seems to be very slow.

[stevehed]

The latest whif is based on the Roland WD single seat naval fighter. It was never a serious contender as aerodynamically the airflow from the wings interfered with each other as the wings were too close together. It was eventually accepted as a trainer and Roland scrapped the project or so we believed at the time. But, having been made aware of an experimental Aviatik aircraft that sported a gull wing, Roland resumed work hoping to create a viable alternative to a conventional upper wing. In that aim they were successful but less so in convincing the military authorities. So here is the Roland WDII operating somewhere in the Aegean Sea area of operations in 1918.








Build thread http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=47677

Regards, Steve

[DogfighterZen]

Looks great, i love the colors on that one, and the gull wing too!

[Captain Canada]

I like the triple but I really like the float plane ! Reminds me of my Grandfathers old Antic when we were kids.

[ysi_maniac]

Hi All,
        This is my latest addition to the Whif Armada. Built for the current BM Whif GB it is based on Anthony Fokkers first attempt at a fighter, the twin engined M9. It flew terribly but opinion at the time reckoned it could have been made into a decent aircraft. So here she is with all the modifications this aeronautically challenged ex baggage handler could muster. The Fokker K.1 multi engined bomber/long range recce aircraft of an as yet unidentified Feld Flieger Abteilung on the Eastern Front 1917.





And here's the build thread.
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234986324-fokker-k1/

Regards, Steve

Love this! 

[zenrat]

The Roland looks good.  Scratchbuilt floats?