Wingnut Wings Bristol F.2b Fighter

[jpc1968]

Wow. Just, wow!

[thug626]

Good evening everyone.
Leon, Thank you kindly my good man. The radiator set the end width of the engine bearers....the rest just fell into place.
TRM, Thank you very much good sir.
Joelsmith, They are attached to this.....A Fat Boy Lo

Since then the engine is pretty far from stock.

JPC1968, Thank you very much for the compliment.

The tail feathers are now mounted and the painting of the prop has begun.


The initial painting of the prop with MIG oil to simulate wood grain.

[thug626]

I didn't mean to ignore you PJ2. Sorry about that. Way too much multi tasking on my end here.
I have a couple of display cases to place the builds when I am done. Every once in a while, they end up in the case at the LHS.

[Leon]

WOW... The prop looks fantastic Dave! It sure looks like real wood.

[thug626]

Thank you kindly Leon. Looking forward to getting the red stripes and Bristol decals on it.

[wbill76]

Nice to see you're still plugging away on this one Dave!

[panzerjager2]

Dave, THAT'S AWESOME.....  Being able to share that's cool. And you never know, some kid may pop by your LHS and catch the bug..... I can still recall the feelings I had when I first saw displayed models way back when I was a kid....... you know when dinosaurs roamed the planet...LOL 
PJ2

[thug626]

Good evening everyone.

Bill, Still plugging away at it. Not even done with this one and I'm eyeballing the FE.2b kit.
PJ2, Thank you kindly my good man. I hear ya! I still remember seeing a Lancaster at a shop when I lived in Southern California...an age ago. The Tigercat I built several years ago is still in the window at the LHS.

[thug626]

Good evening everyone.

The prop is (mostly) done. Today was a lot of masking and air brushing. The leading edges of the prop were painted with Vallejo Copper to simulate copper sheathing. The red strips were then painted with Vallejo RLM 23. It's a wild color to work with. Everything was shot with very light consecutive coats. The RLM 23, initially goes on looking magenta/pink. After building it up, you end up with this amazing red. The leading edges received a wash of Prussian Blue to give it a patina and tone down the copper. The pics make it look too pink.


The Bristol decals need to dry out a bit before hitting them with a satin varnish.

Here the prop is dry fitted. There is still some work to do on the engine first...more plumbing and exhaust stacks.

[Leon]

Prop looks fantastic Dave!

[panzerjager2]

Dave is that real wood??  Damn that looks good

[thug626]

Leon Thank you kindly for the compliment.
PJ2 No real wood was harmed in the making of the prop. It's all "smoke and mirrors". Acrylic, oil, and metallic paint was all that was used.

[panzerjager2]

I don't care if the Genie in the bottle "blinked" it up for you....That's some awesome work 
PJ2

[thug626]

LOL! I could use a Genie. Thank you kindly PJ2

I got the exhaust manifolds painted and mounted. I used about six colors including a metallic one. Everything was airbrushed. What isn't shown is that the ends were drilled out and received a swabbing of MIG smoke pigment.


The gun, gun ring are assembled. I used EZ Line Heavy for the bungee cord.


A view of the underside. The rounds are molded in to the drum magazines. These were painted with AK brass wax paint.

[Leon]

Nice progress Dave! The engine and gun assembly look great.

[thug626]

Thank you kindly Leon. I’m going to hit the gun assembly with some satin coat. It’s just a bit too bright.
Currently the beast is sitting inverted with s rack of newly attached Cooper bombs attached. It’s getting close....

[thug626]

A good bit of rigging (for the tail feathers) and control lines were completed today. It was however, at a cost. Two snapped ailerons, three inter-plane struts, all four cabane struts, and the wind screen. Everything has been repaired, and the wind screen was found on the bench. One of the ailerons fell to the floor, and when I rolled the seat back, one of the wheels rolled right over it. I actually found the snapped off control horn and re-glued it. When I realized the wind screen had come off when I found it on the bench, I realized it was time to walk away.

Here is the left upper aileron. It was one of the casualties.

All of the control lines are done. Save for a couple. I need to figure out how the lines for horizontal stabilizer trim are routed.

The pic is a bit fuzzy. The poor digi cam was not wanting to focus where I wanted it to. You get the general idea of the underside rigging for the tail feathers.

[Leon]

Nice save on the repairs Dave! That would have been enough for me to put it back on the shelf and find something else to build.

[deafpanzer]

DAMN!!! Amazing work as usual!!!

[thug626]

Good morning Leon. Thank you for the compliment my good man. Fortunately, the repairs were nothing like my initial issues with the rigging (still not sure what happened there). This setback was pretty linear and easy to figure out. All of the unseated struts were hit with thin CA and accelerator. You know the whole "hind sight" thing? Looking back I should have used a bit more glue for the struts, and used fine brass wire to reinforce the ailerons. Next time.

Good morning Andy. Thank you for the compliment my friend.

More later today. I need to head to the garage to throw steel and work on forms.

[thug626]

Almost all of the rigging is done. I had realized there were two spots that still needed it. The landing gear. Easy fix. Then there was the matter of the elevator trim lines...not so easy. First things first. Here are a couple of pics of the tail feathers all rigged up. In the first pic you can see the elevator trim horns near the center of the pic. These should have lines extending forward. There were no cut outs provided, either by the manufacture or myself. I looked at the color plates many times when I was trying to decide on a marking option. It just never registered. No worries. It'll get straightened out.


I had to use the LED flash light to light up the elevator control horn.

This was shot to show the landing gear cross bracing. Also you can see the cross bracing between the fuselage and wing. The Bristol was one of the few aircraft that had ventral cabane struts.

[panzerjager2]

Dave, No Bull, everytime you post, you BLOW my mind with detail.... that Lewis gun with the ammo/rounds on the underneath FRICKIN AWESOME. Your builds are a real treat to watch... 
A humbled PJ2

[Leon]

My hats to you Dave! That is some awesome work on the rigging.

[wing_nut]

SCHA-WING! Dude that's Smokin'. OK 2 movie references there The proper is just beautiful.

[jpc1968]

That rigging work Is insane!

[Deleted]

Looking splendid Dave !

[moramarth]

Stop fibbing. That's a real Brisfit, you've just photoshopped it onto pictures of your workbench.  No other explanation... 

Cheers,

M

[thug626]

Good evening everyone.
PJ2, Thank you for the compliments my good man. A mutual admiration society is going on here. As you appreciate my build, I am blown away by your scratched panzer and figures.
Leon, Thank you very much buddy. The rigging does add to the visual "candy".
Marc, Nicely done with the movie references. I got both. The proper was a blast to paint up.
John, Thank you kindly my good man. I think I'm getting the hang of it.
Carl, Thank you for having a gander and for the compliment my good man to the north.
M, Now really?! If I had a real Brisfit, trust me, I'd be out playing or tinkering with it. I'd be too damn busy for fussing with photoshop. Sad, but true, the pics are only of a plastic kit. A fun plastic kit mind you. Except for that episode where I could not get the rigging to glue. We'll just chalk that one up to an "outlier" and toss it.

[Deleted]

[TRM]

Stunning work Dave!! I'm sold on the prop alone...LOL! Loving all the rigging...keep it going!!