"Reviresco Friedrichshafen G. III finished" Topic

John at Reviresco asked me to take a stab at this fellow and I was happy to oblige. This was a challenge of a different sort, as this is a mixed media kit – double-fold card-stock wings, tail-planes, rudder and rear fuselage, and white metal undercarriage, main fuselage, bombs, engines and crew. .20 brass rod or substitute is needed for struts.

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I would not call this an easy kit, or a difficult kit… just different, and not a starter kit. Working in paper takes a different mindset and a gentle, patient touch, but if you follow the instructions and cut carefully, the product turns out wonderful. It is not a one-nighter. Rather, this is a good project to work on concurrently with something else, particularly as the card-stock needs some drying time each time you glue.

I deviated from the instructions in a couple places:

- I used balsa strips as wing stiffeners rather than the rod as recommended in the instructions
- I used balsa for struts instead of rod
- I used a thin sheet of balsa to thicken the tail-plane

I used a mixture of Elmer's carpenter glue and super glue to join the paper to the metal – a bead of superglue on the metal and a bead of Elmer's on the paper. I have often found that mixing glues works well for joining very un-like materials together.

One nuance of working with the card-stock takes a lot of time to rectify… as you score and bend the paper, a bunch of blatant white seams appear – these need some deft brushwork in a neutral near-matching color if they are to be hidden. Left untouched, the aircraft had an "outlined in white" look to it.

A note of caution: Glue and paint needs to be used very sparingly on the card-stock, as it is very porous, likes to soak up whatever you are using, and discolors easily.

Note also that this kit come with two sets of paper parts so that one of two different aircraft/camo schemes can be modeled.

All in all, I enjoyed the kit. It took me several nights of occasional attention. Well worth $15 USD clams, and the paper aspect does not detract a bit when she sits with her metal kin.

Thanks John!

Fantastic work!

I like it!

mjc

Looking good!

So, what does the wing look like? There is a subtle look to printed stock that is different from a painted or decaled model.
But, heck, they sure look good.

So, what does the wing look like?

Not exactly sure what you are asking… does it stand out from the painted or decaled wing? Not so much that you would notice. There is a bit of a sheen, but not more so than a decaled wing. No ribbing though. Total flat effect, but that never bothered me… in fact I almost prefer non ribbed because those models that attempt it usually have the ribbing way out of scale.

Nothing wrong with a slight sheen either – rather like the real thing when new.

Nice machines there,dude.