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Thread: Some questions regarding rebuilds and repaints of ares/nexus planes

  1. #1

    Default Some questions regarding rebuilds and repaints of ares/nexus planes

    Greetings chaps (of either sex),

    I'm looking to repaint some of my duplicate planes and start on the hobby side of my new love but need some advice first:

    # To seperate the the planes wings to make access easier for painting is the best method to put them into the freezer, as I've read? Will this loosen the tail aswell as many of my planes seem to be off kilter?

    #How are the pilots attached and is there an advisable method for extraction? What other sources are there (I know of the Peter Pig ones)? Although I may just sculpt some.

    #Rather than strip and repaint has anyone used the prepainted scheme as a base and highlighted and weathered them?

    #What level of painting do people like to see? Do people weather their planes?

    #I like the idea of gimballing my flight stands and have seen two methods (ball on plane to donut magnet on peg, ball on flight peg to magnet on peg). What are the pro's and con's of each methods? I realise that with the later you only need a selection of ball bearings on pegs and it saves any massacring of the actual planes. Is it wrong to cut off a planes thingy?

    Thank you for taking the time to read all that, any and all advice welcomed.

    Andy
    (BALM)

  2. #2

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    Quote Originally Posted by BeneathALeadMt View Post
    #How are the pilots attached and is there an advisable method for extraction? What other sources are there (I know of the Peter Pig ones)? Although I may just sculpt some.
    Both other designers and myself have some pilot alternatives on Shapeways, and Zoe is a fan of human figures for model railroading (N-scale maybe?). Anything's better than the Nexus brown lump, IMHO.

  3. #3

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    Disadvantage - while they look human, you'd need to add goggles, mask, scarf etc to match peter pig etc quality.

    Advantage - cheap, cheap, CHEAP. When painted, and since you've usually only seeing shoulders and head, from more than 3" away they look just as good. Also, a few poses are suitable for more exposed figures - standing gunners - and after softening in boiling water can safely be bent. A bit of milliput, green stuff, or just PVA glue can give them flying coats.

    Pack of 100 is about $2-3 including postage from China

  4. #4

    Thumbs up

    Whilst I have never separated Aircraft to repaint (just carefully work around struts etc) I know many others do.
    As far a gimballing goes I started off chopping the plane peg & using a dremel to make a hole for the Ball. Now much prefer not to butcher the aircraft & the cut peg with glued ball or magnet seems the best way to go.
    I have sometimes just "spiced up" a model by repainting the top wing &/or parts of the fuselage or tail. Sample pics of this & a repaint of a Goring D.VII attached.

    I can recommend the Peter Pig figures & use them for my Shapeways planes.

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    Last edited by gully_raker; 01-21-2017 at 18:56.

  5. #5

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    Welcome Andrew, I hope this helps:

    To separate you freeze and drop in hot water. Then repeat till they ease apart. Once in pieces, pilots are usually easier to remove. Most pilot options have been mentioned but Reverisco also make good lead pilots, Peter Pig gets my vote though, they just look great.

    If you're thinking of weathering on 144 biplanes I look forward to seeing the finished project. You'll mention rigging next, then lozenge, rockets and balloons.

    One you start pimping your ride you won't regret it.

    Ian

  6. #6

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    Thanks for the replies chaps (apologies for the delay I'm not being too functional currently). Thanks RAF and Zoe, I'm going to need gunners for my bombers so they may be the way to go. I've ordered some PP piots/gunners from martin as I love his 15mm. Although I enjoy sculpting and might have a go to see what I can achieve.
    Gully: I not sure what method I intend to use: as separation seems rife with unnerving, potential plastic breaking drama (even worse than just trying to remove the little blighters from their original packaging). I think I need to be brave and just sacrifice one plane and see how it plays out. In regards to the gimballing did you stop due to the plane abuse or because you needed to mod each plane rather than a smaller range of pegs?
    Womble: I've recently come to Wings as a relaxing escape from general wargaming and endless painting of armies (followed by my long term opponent getting bored and changing) with the intent of playing mainly solo and luring in anyone else who moves too slowly near my gaming table. It's already worked on my wife, niece and a long term friend who's never expressed any interest in gaming but turns out is a demon in a camel. I'm looking forward to making some valom kits and repainting some ares planes but probably need to start somewhere simple and see how it goes. I admit I had considered rigging and have been staring at lozenge patterns and suitable decals. What would people rig with? Fly-tying silk, fuse wire?

    Thanks for all yours help, any one else got any tips or advice please pitch in.

    Andy (BALM)

  7. #7

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    Hi Andy

    # I have only removed the top wing on one plane (the Pfalz DIII I'm currently working on). All my other repaints were left in one piece.
    It took two attempts to get it off (freeze, hot water, freeze, hot water), and the undercart assembly came off too!
    Sadly, the horizontal stabiliser did NOT, and is still out of kilter with the rest of the plane.

    # I have been unable to get the pilot out! I have considered trying to drill him out, but may instead just hack off his head and replace with a hacked-off Reviresco one.
    The Peter Pig pilots are easy to paint, because they are so over-scale (compare to a Shapeways pilot-in-situ plane). I use them quite a bit, though, because I like the detail.
    The Reviresco pilots are full-body, which is handy for planes where the pilot is exposed (Gotha), or any plane where it is easy to see past the pilot torso and into the cockpit. I used Reviresco pilots in my Valom Fokker DVII builds, because I could glue the two fuselage halves together with the pilot between them, so he sits just right.
    I also have multiple Shapeways standing gun crews (for FE2 and suchlike), plus the Shapeways multi-position gunners from Daryl (Reduced Aircraft Factory) to give variety within a flight.

    # I have never stripped the paintwork off a Nexus or Ares model - I always paint over the existing scheme.
    I have never applied weathering; I have seen some fabulous examples on this Forum, and my limited attempts to emulate them failed badly, so I went back to "squeaky clean".

    A friend of mine, who is a professional figure painter, followed my instructions to the letter when painting up some 15mm Scythian horse archers; he painted beautiful multicoloured, intricately-patterned clothing, then covered them in a thick layer of dirt (as they were described by Herodotus) - he said he cried afterwards!!!!
    I would hate to put myself in the same position.

    # Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - paint them how YOU want them, so that YOU love them; others will accept them however they are.
    There is no hard and fast rule; some like ultra-realistic, others prefer "squeaky clean". Some like historical schemes only, others enjoy seeing fantasy schemes.

    # Gimbal on peg, with donut magnet on another peg.
    Pro - no damage to plane, it is easy to sell on if you should want to.
    Also, no work involved in cutting pegs.
    Just a few gimbal combos needed.
    Con - the plane is high above the gimbal's fulcrum point, so degree of climb/dive/bank is limited, because the plane will slip. "Roughing-up" the ball with emery paper will provide additional grip, but Nexus and Ares planes with a metal fuselage are heavy, and prone to slippage. Larger planes, two-seaters and bombers, WILL slip. Also, the peg on the plane is not always located at the balance point!

    Gimbal on half-peg, donut magnet on half-peg.
    Pro - the plane is nearer to the fulcrum point of the gimbal, so slippage is reduced, and greater degrees of climb/dive/bank can be displayed.
    Con - work needed to cut a number of pegs in half.

    Cutting off a plane's thingy.
    Pro - the gimbal ball sits directly under the plane, so higher degrees of bank/climb/dive are possible most of the time.
    Pro - you can position the gimbal ball precisely at the balance point (on most planes)
    Con - sometimes, on some models, the undercart will restrict the amount of dive you can achieve.
    Con - if you ever sell the plane, you must also include the magnet peg, or the new owner cannot use his new toy; some owners dislike the gimbals, and will not buy (especially Collectors!)
    Con - you need a gimbal ball for EVERY plane you use!!!! (ball bearings are dirt cheap, though)
    Con - tricky business, cutting the thingy off; on some models, the rear struts of the undercart are VERY close, and damage is possible.

    Personally, I have cut off the thingys and attached gimbal balls directly to the planes;
    they look better
    they don't slip
    they fit in better with Shapeways squadron-mates (if some planes in a Flight have a thingy, and some don't, they "fly" at different heights, and peg-counting is trickier and prone to mistakes). The vast majority of Shapeways planes do NOT have an integral peg, and glued-on pegs introduce a weak point.

    Recently, I have begun to leave the thingy alone, and cut pegs in half instead, because I have FAR more planes than I have gimbal mounts (and I have a LOT of gimbal mounts!!!!)
    I do, however, treat new additions to existing Flights the same way as their predecessors, to maintain uniformity in mounting method.
    I laugh in the face of danger - then I hide until it goes away!

  8. #8

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    Excellent, thanks Tim.

    I do prefer the ball bearing directly on the plane method, lots to consider - thank you for the concise reply.

    Wings is supposed to be my break from all the WW2 15mm (that has exacerbated my hobby burn out) I was painting, chipping, fading AFVs and then covering them in mud I also realised that I was detailing and building interiors, painting them and then finishing the model only for 30-40% of my efforts to hidden.
    I might go for a clean and bright look as it's quite charming on the tabletop and would match in with the ares/nexus ones nicely. I'm also going to mix up historical and some fantasy schemes in my collection (I'd love to do B and C flight from 266 squadron and some of Wilks' SE5's from 287) including a personalised kite for my wife (who has three awarded victories and has not lost a plane yet).

    Thanks for all your time,
    Andy
    Last edited by BeneathALeadMt; 01-25-2017 at 14:15.

  9. #9

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    Andy, before you start drilling holes in your planes I would like to share the option that I use......Litko - Flight Peg Toppers.

    You can check out how to do them here:http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...=gimbal+mounts

    Read through the thread as it continually evolves.

  10. #10

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    Thanks Captain that's an interesting alternative, I'll look into it.

    Andy



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