Here are some pictures of the Vimy I built for my wife- she likes biplanes. It started as a Frog kit but as I lost parts, I canibalized the Eastern Express kit, which is sort of a step down from Frog. As always, all the planes built for my wife do NOT have guns, bombs, decals or any military stuff.
The model is motorized which you can’t see from the pictures because of the flash – it “freezes” the motion of the props. You could see the wrapping wires running from the engines to the fuselage in the last photo.
The wooden struts are simulated by paintig “wood” color from Testors (small bottle), coated with FUTURE when dry. And here is the trick for simulating wood grain: with a foam brush for make up apply coats of real oil wood stain of darker color. I used this method for the propellers as well, but applied a lighter base color.
I did not take photos of the motorizing process, but I am building a V-22 Osprey in 1/48 from Italeri and I have pictures of that as I am going along, which I will post when it is ready.
Meanwhile I hope that you enjoy these.
Borislav
P.S. I added some more pictures past a few posts
B.
That’s a real beauty, and motorized too? awesome[:)] Great job on the rigging, is that metal/steel wire? Thanks for the wood grain on the prop tip, I’ll try it on my next WWI kite[;)] BTW, I built a 48/th Fokker DVII that my wife still mentions once in a while, I think she prefers WWI aircraft too[:D]
thanks for sharing it!
As I was taking more pictures the battery died so I had to replace it an here are some pics. The battery consists of three button cell 1.5v wrapped in masking tape, then I inserted it behind the tail observer. The switch is on the bottom and it is a real pain to operate but it seemed like a good idea at the time. It was my first attempt at motorizing and I didn’t really know what I was doing.
The riging is a really fine fishing line rated at 3lb., which I run through a permanent marker for the color.
Beautiful Vimy. BTW, at the risk of sounding sexist, what is it with women and bipes? I’ve had more than one girlfriend who preferred them. Also, they seem to like really gaudy a/c, and since I like to build gaudy a/c, it works out. Nevertheless, sooner or later my GF’s tend to learn to hate my hobby for diverting the time and money they feel is due them. I wish I had the luck of the owner of my former LHS. His girlfriend (who later became his wife) met him and promptly took up the hobby, mostly doing really elaborate WW II ships with lots of Gold Metal fiddly bits on them. She got real good real fast and it made me feel a little threatened, to be honest. Once again, beautiful Vimy. I wish I could paint woodgrain on props and floors as you have. I can’t seem to master it. Why doesn’t anyone make aftermarket wood props in our scales? Some kind of wood with really fine grain.
tom
hey, i’m diggin’ it. i’m definetly envious of the patience it took to do the rigging!! you must’ve been a spider in your past life!![:D] oneday, i’ll assemble a kit and try out my rigging skills, but no time soon. sweet build friend. later.
Beaut Vimy!!
If your wife prefers non military a/c there is a Vimy at West Beach Airport in Adelade that was the first aircraft to fly from Great Britain to Australia. It is still in its wartime paint but with civilian markings plus the gun positions are covered over.
The a/c was flown by Ross and Keith Smith but I am unable to remember the regestration. It starts G-AA** I think.
Incidently the Eastern Express kit is about the third or forth reincarnation of the Frog molds.
Dai
