Ramblings Over the Front

As you know, there are many designers on Shapeways offering 1/144th scale World War One aircraft. Many of these offerings are now being covered within the Nexus/Ares range of miniatures, but there are many others out there to help fill in those holes not covered by the official game miniatures. Last year I ordered a Plalz D.XII and a Kettering Bug; the Pfalz is still to be painted, while the Bug was kindly painted for me by Smitch. The stories I have heard about my gaming buddies and what they have had to go through to get their Shapeways planes ready for painting has kept me from pushing forward, that and the fact that I haven't painted a figure for years! But with Reviresco making full coverage decals for many planes, I thought it might be time to give Shapeways a shot.

Recently I ordered two of the colinwe (WOW) Hanriot HD.1s (in WSF) to give my Wings of War/Glory Belgian air force a bit of a boost. I went with the colinwe version as he has a peg at the bottom of his aircraft for use with Wings of War/Glory pegs. However the peg is a bit too small and I will have to beef it up a bit so that the plane fits securely. For the Belgians I have the Nexus/Ares RE.8, Sopwith Camel, and the Hanriot, all in Belgian markings, but as I doubt we will see any further additions to the Ares Belgian offerings, and as I really dig the Hanriots flight characteristics within the rules, and with Reviresco making full coverage decals for the Hanriot, I thought this might be the way to get into getting some Shapeways planes into my collection. By the way, the service from Reviresco was amazing, had my questions answered immediately, and received the decals within two days of placing my order online. The Shapeways planes only took about a week from ordering to receiving, so my experiences with both manufacturers has been very positive. Reviresco includes a sheet of decals and instructions for each of their decals packs.

So, this is Part I of my Hanriot Shapeways/Reviresco project - prepping the aircraft.

The decals look great, and are *almost* perfectly sized with the Hanriots. I can see by eyeballing that I will have to paint a bit on the wingtips to ensure full color coverage, but I expected to have to do that anyway. The decals no doubt are going to be tricky as I will have to work around the struts and undercarriage. As you can see, there are various aircraft one can make from the decals, both for the Belgians and the Italians. I ordered two sheets of decals so I could do two complete Belgian planes. The Italian decals will go to The G Dog for his Italian air force.

Smitch and The G Dog both told me that a mixture of white glue and water will make a good base for prepping the planes as the material is extremely porous and that a coat of primer will not do the trick until I have applied a few coats of the glue mixture. As you can see in the pics, WSF really should be WSG, with the G standing for grainy.

I have started with a 60/40 mix, 60% water and 40% white glue. Makes for a bit of a runny mess, so I might increase the glue content a bit for future coats. I made sure to slather the mixture on all parts and pieces as I want to ensure a good foundation. (I decided to coat the Pfalz as well, since I made up a glue mixture) There isn't as much grainy texture on the Hanriots as compared to the Pfalz, and as I am going to attempt to cover the Hanriots with decals, less prep work should be needed. Now that I have the first coat on, I just need to wait until tomorrow to apply the second coat.

Next time - Priming