"My 1/48th Roland CII has more stuff attached" Topic

Namely the rigging and undercarriage. Read all about it here on my blog:

link

Goodness, something akin to giving birth, eh? It has turned out nicely so far though, and remember: what doesn´t kill you makes you stronger!

I've used steel wire for rigging in the past. Did this kit come with pre-drilled holes for the rigging?

Damon.

Ha ha, I wouldn't go that far, but yes, the period of time it is taking seems to mirror a pregnancy! I could have built a real one in less time…

Thanks though, I am not far off finishing it, then I can turn to other projects!

Hi Damon, there were a couple of places on the kit where the rigging would fit, but they are not fully drilled out, neither is every location marked. I thought about steel rigging, but wouldn't you have to get the measurements incredibly accurate to fit the line?

Surgical steel suture or wire can be used like monofilament fishing line to do rigging. Seems to work best on 1/48 scale or larger planes so you could use it here. (Make friends with someone at your local veterinary office to get some wire suture.) I tried it for 1/72 (the only scale sanctioned by God Himself!) but it didn't work well because of the tension needed to keep it dead straight (it warped the wings).

Thanks for the info sloppypainter, I'd never thought of using wire suture. I'll look into it!

And handy too for those x-acto mishaps

You can also use streached sprue. Hold a piece of the sprue the parts are on over a lit candle. When the sprue begins to sag just rapidly pull the sprue to whatever length you want. Cut to the length you need and glue in place. Back in the day used to blow cigarette smoke on the sprue and it would tighten up, I believe a hairdryer would do the same.

Hi Damon, there were a couple of places on the kit where the rigging would fit, but they are not fully drilled out, neither is every location marked. I thought about steel rigging, but wouldn't you have to get the measurements incredibly accurate to fit the line?

Not so accurately. I used piano wire once upon a time, very thin but strong and resists bending better than more mild steel. If the wings are in two parts, there usually will be a cavity in the middle. If you drill the holes all the way through you can be more ballpark with the measurements. Also using a compass to measure between points help quite a bit, cutting a bit extra so you have some wiggle room.

Sadly the example I did this on took a tumble and I did not have the heart to repair it.

Last crack I had at a WW1 fighter was an ooold Eduard E.V/D.VIII Flying Razor in 1/48. This kit came from before Eduard invested in good plastic molding technology, and may have been a bit more than I could handle. One of these days I'd like to get back into WW1 aircraft (one of my favorite periods), but I have lots of other kits and wargaming projects ahead of this, and I want to do a super-detail job on a 1/350 HMS Dreadnaught (1915 fit) before I get there…

Damon.

Skeets, yes that is exactly what I did for this kit.

Damon, you should try out the new Eduard kits, I have a Pfalz DIII by them and this Roland, both have been a pleasure to build (even the rigging…), plus I have two Eduard Albatross DVs in 1/72nd scale waiting to go next!