Scratch builds, same scale as the cards. (pic heavy)

[DentedHead]

Hi Folks,

Thought I'd cross post here, this is a cut'n'paste from the Board Game Geek forums...

I recently got into Wings of War, starting out with the first two WWI sets. After a couple games, I decided I needed mini's, but being a modeller first and gamer second, I scratch-built some, and decided to show them off here :) They're smaller than the official models, mine are the same scale as the illustrations on the cards...

Fokker Dr.1:
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1365_edited.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1367_edited.jpg

Albatross D3:
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1369_edited.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1368_edited.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1371_edited.jpg

Sopwith Camel:
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1372_edited.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1373_edited.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1374_edited.jpg

and SPAD XIII:
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1375_edited.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1377_edited.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1378_edited.jpg


For those interested, the bases are 3mm perspex, and the planes are made from sheet and rod styene..., a 101 follows.

Comments and critique welcom :)


Dent.

[DentedHead]

Cut'n'paste again, this is "Part 1: Construction" of the 101...Very little of my work is planned ahead, so this may seem a little... disjointed. Feel free to ask about anything.

TOOLS. I used:
scalpel style stanley knife,
tweezers,
wire clippers,
flush-cutters" (these are like side cutters, but lack a chamfer on the outside edge of the cutters),
a metal ruler,
fine flat modelling file (I prefere the diamond grit typr to the teethed type, they clog less)
fine sandpaper (180grit or more)
a pinvice with drill bit slightly smaller than the wire you mount the model with (I used a paperclip, and a .75mm bit),
and decent CA adhesive (superglue/crazyglue). If you have more patience than me, and use 3mm styrene instead of the perspex, plastic glue will do instead of super-glue.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1403.jpg

MATERIALS: I used some 3mm white perspex (sheet styrene will do instead), 1mm styrene sheet, 0.3mm styrene sheet, 0.5mm styrene rod, and a paperclip. I'll later cut a prop-disc from clear plastic (old blister packs are perfect)

First, cut the rough shape of the fuselage out of 3mm sheet. The easiest way to cut sheet styrene is to score it along a metal ruler with a sharp blade. Score it a couple times (about 1/2 way through), then snap it rather than trying to cut all the way through. There will be a raised burr where you cut it, you can scrape the stanley blade along it to remove it (same as removing mould lines from plastic miniatures)
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1380.jpg

Make the tail end a mill or too longer than shown on the WoW card, this will be trimmed later. The front should start right behind the prop.

Next, sand the tail end evenly on both sides to get the taper, and carefully cut the edges to round the fuselage, leaving the bottom where the wings will mount (you'll need that part square).

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1381.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1382.jpg

Next, cut the rough shape of the wings from 1mm styrene.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1384.jpg

Be sure to make a center line (scoring it with the stanley will preserve it during sanding). Sand the outer edges to shape. For added detail, you can score in panel lines, then scrape the point of the blade along them to clear them out. Dont make them too deep, yet, you can always deepen them later.

Next up it to sand the upper surface to a vague airfoil shape (taper down towards the trailing edge), then round the front edge top and bottom, and deepen the panel lines if required. Then cut the wings 1mm either side of the center line and file a slight angle to creat the dihedral angle once glued to the side of the fuselage.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1385.jpg

Next, cut the tail surfaces from 0.5mm styrene. This is fiddly, so be prepared to have a few attempts before you're happy with the shape. Use the file to get rid of the raised burr on the edges from cutting.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1389.jpg

Then carefully trim a slot to fit the tailplane into the fuselage. Once you are happy with that, trim the rear of the fuselage to suit, and add the rudder.
Now is a good time to drill the hole for the mounting wire. You'll want to enlarge it slightly, and roughen up the end of the wire with the file. Test fit, and glue it in when happy. Then, make a smallish hole for the antenna post behind the cockpit. Sand a slight taper on the end of the 0.5mm rod, then cut about 4mm off, and glue it into the hole made for it.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1391.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1392.jpg

Now you can glue the wings on. Be sure to fix them evenly. If the dihedral is wrong on one wing (or both), it's better to remove it at correct it than leave it looking wrong.
I decided the exhausts were part of the charm a spittie has, so I began making some by cutting notches into a strip of 0.5mm sheet...

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1393.jpg

Then cut them off. They'll be too big at the moment, but they're too hard to handle any smaller. Glue them in place, then file them to size. At this scale, they are "suggestive" of exhausts, rather than accurate depictions.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1394.jpg

The base is cut out of 3mm sheet, with a hole in the center to take the mounting wire, and grooves scored in for the firing arcs. Once assembled, it should look something like this:

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1395.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1396.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1397.jpg
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r103/dented_head/Wings%20of%20War/IMG_1398.jpg

Stay tuned for "Part 2: Painting",

Cheers,
Dent.

[Oberst Hajj]

Very cool stuff Dent!

[bsmith13]

Good heavens! That's cool! How long does it take you to make one?

[DentedHead]

They take about 3-4 hours, depending on how intricate they are. A WWII mono-wing could probably be done in 2-3 hrs if I skipped stuff like the panel lines and exhausts. The Bi/Tri planes are trickier, as the wing struts are very fiddly, as are the under-carriage's.

Dent.

[Jureweah]

What a wonderful work!!! 3-4 hours still seems to me to be small!!!

[The Blue Baron]

Great work! I would have expected that it took you at least twice the time...

[DentedHead]

Er, I should have specified. Building takes about 3-4 hrs, painting is typically another couple hours on top, again, depending on how intricate the colour scheme is. WWI takes longer, as I like to paint the raised rib ridges.


Dent.

[usmc1855]

Outstanding!

[epsilon_wing]

Very impressive indeed!

[Greywolf]

amazing work.

I wish I had half your talent....

Cheers
GW

[DentedHead]

Just un-subscribing from this thread... If there's a way to do this without posting, feel free to let me know ;)


Dent.

[Oberst Hajj]

At the top of the thread, there is a button called Thread Tools. You can unsubscribe from there. If you still want to track the thread, but not get emails every time there is a new post, you can just change your subscription from instant to either daily or weekly. That can be done via your User Control Panel.

[The Blue Baron]

At the top of the thread, there is a button called Thread Tools. You can unsubscribe from there.

He received a pm tellinh him this haours ago... ;)

[DentedHead]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

Dent.

[Ritterton]

I am in awe....wow....wow...wow

[aarondpjames]

Fair play mate, they are fantastic!!!!
Great work

[Charlie3]

Ok I just give up...Anyone want to buy a whole basement full of models and model building supplies??:rolleyes:
Seriously though very impressive, wish I had time to try it myself. You make it look so easy!

[Zeppelin]

Awesome work.

[filtonflyer]

Outstanding...

[Dimetri1]

Great work. Gives me incentive to build a Sopwith Triplane.

[rcboater]

Great work. Gives me incentive to build a Sopwith Triplane.

Here is my scratchbuilt Sopwith Triplane. I started with a metal Camel kit, and a 1/144 scale 3-view from one of my reference books (Windsock). I made new wings from sheet styrene. The taill surfaces and landing gear from the Camel kit were used, too. The fuselage was reshaped-- I filed/sanded off the Camel's hump, and added about an eigth of an inch to the front of the fuselage to make the nose longer before attaching the engine/cowl.

I build a lot of 1/72 scale plastic WW1 kits, so I had some extra decals in the stash to use for the markings.

Here it is alongside my Red Baron repaint:
http://home.earthlink.net/~billkaja/images/wowTriplanes.gif

Another view, flying over my homemade play mat:
http://home.earthlink.net/~billkaja/images/mat2.jpg

[fotomickey]

Wow... amazing craft-work... love it thanks for sharing

[KiltedWolf]

Wow, outstanding workmanship -- everyone that can do this I am in awe of. Dent, these are some of the finest.

Cheers,
KW

[Capt. DeLorme]

Impressive! Nice job.

[WilliamBarkerVC]

Glorious work! Way more talent than me!

[ara398]

thanks Dent and Bill,

for making it obvious I'm an 'assembler' of kits and not a modeller:(

Truly inspiring stuff! I have scratchbuilt before, but usually its one offs that aren't available otherwise. I 'dips me lid' to you.

Regards,
Adrian

[bumblie3]

Dent,
Brilliant work.
John.

[Capt. DeLorme]

Ok I just give up...Anyone want to buy a whole basement full of models and model building supplies??:rolleyes:
Seriously though very impressive, wish I had time to try it myself. You make it look so easy!

I was thinking the same thing. Is it too late to cancel all my orders?

You know, "scratch built" doesn't seem to capture this. How about "Artistic Aircraft Sculpture?" :)

Truly inspiring though, albeit intimidating.

[Von Rotherham]

Good Lord, and I thought I'd done well just to repaint two existing minis... Brilliant work!

[BigMecha]

very cool! and looks time consuming!

[richard m schwab]

I have missed this thread before very nice!:)

rich

[Akosion]

Darn fine work. The engine exhaust idea is neat.
Aris K.

[Kashirigi]

Those are lovely. Have you considered casting them so you can make an entire air wing?

[Guntruck]

Here is my scratchbuilt Sopwith Triplane. I started with a metal Camel kit, and a 1/144 scale 3-view from one of my reference books (Windsock). I made new wings from sheet styrene. The taill surfaces and landing gear from the Camel kit were used, too. The fuselage was reshaped-- I filed/sanded off the Camel's hump, and added about an eigth of an inch to the front of the fuselage to make the nose longer before attaching the engine/cowl.


Bill, I think that looks really good. I've got to ask though - why did you scratch-build a Tripehound when there is one commercially available?