Many WWI A/C had stitched up fabric on the fuselage to allow access. For example, the Bristol F2B, S.E. 5a, and Eindecker to name just a few. I'd really appreciate if you pros out there could share some of you techniques for simulating this body stitching. Years ago on a small-scale Guillow's kit I simulated this by sewing the stitching into a strip of silkspan and then doping this onto the covered model. Now I'm working with (antique) Solartex on an Eindecker. All tips welcome!

Below are some shots from a full-size replica showing what I'd like to be simulating.

A lot depends on what size model you are building. I simulated the stitching on my Ziroli Dr1 using thread. I took about an 8 foot length of white thread and soaked it in a can of nitrate dope for a few minutes. I took a pine board about 2FT X 6inches, and put 8 finishing nails at each end of the board (Parallel to the 6 inch end, about 1/2 inch in from the end.) I then took the thread out, and stretched it out zig zag fashion back and forth along the board, making sure the thread doesn't touch the board. After the thread was dry, I cut the curved ends off, so I had 8 long pieces of spaghetti. Then I bundled them together, and cut them to the appropriate length (1/4 inch looked about right for the Dr1). I then applied each thread "Stitch" individually with a fine brush and more nitrate dope. (The fuselage was covered with Sig Koverall and nitrate dope). Once they were dry, I applied one more coat of nitrate, and then the colour. A lot of work, but it came out looking really good. I have a close up that I will post when I get home from work tommorrow morning.

abufletcher, I'm about to embark on this area myself soon. I have a SE5a that has stitching on both sides of the fuse. I read about a technique that I plan to use. The technique is pretty simple: the top and sides of the fuse (in my case) have the edge that contains the eyelets doubled with a strip of fabric. You would take something like a 1/2 inch strip and capture the edge of the top or side giving you a 1/4 inch on the inner and outer side giving. This amounts to 3 layers of fabric along the edge. You locate all your eyelet positions and with a tapered soldering tip burn through the 3 layers making a hole for the eyelets. The eyelets are then placed into the holes and peened on the back side to secure them in place. In practice a small phillips head screw driver works well on the back side of the eyelets to snug them on to the fabric. The stitching is then added througth the eyelets attaching both the top and side togather. After sides are joined to the top fabric they are attached to the lower edge of the fuse. Then they are trimmed along the fuse bottom edge giving you a neat finish. Hope this helps. BobH.

Here you can see the row of stitches running vertically up the fuse side. The Dr1 is a bit easier than some of the british desings, because you don't have that row of grommets to worry about. Good luck!

oops, forgot the picture.

You know I had never thought about the DrI having stitching! Those stitches look very realistic! But then this type of stitching is basically just the same as rib stitching. In the "access panel" type of stitching that would seem to be much harder to replicate. And then there's the question of how to simulate really TEENY grommets. I suppose this is the WWI modelers equivalent hell doing rivets!

I had some luck doing this...I covered the fuselage (E-III) traditionally. I made an 'assembly' of pre-made stitching on a board by placing two strips of fabric (rolled to make 3 layers) pinned down next to one another, holes and grommets added, stitching added. It was lifted as a unit and ironed onto the fuselage bottom. I`ll try to post pictures.

John

John, that sounds really good! I'd love to see some pictures!!!

Hey - when you mentioned rivets, a light went on. I have simulated rivets with RC56 canopy glue applied in rows with a syringe. What if you applied the stitches first, then applied a drop of canopy glue to make a "Rivet" at the end of each thread, and then used a hot soldering iron with a very fine point to melt a small hole through the glue "Rivet"? I think I'll need to try that myself.

You can buy the eyelets via Proctor or Mick Reeves. Both are about the right size. I haven't found another source for them as those to Mfg's sell the very small ones that we need for our WWI planes. BobH.

I`ll get some pictures up soon, I`m a little behind the technology curve. As for eyelets, I bought a whole pile of them from an electronics outlet. They are used for building circuit boards, I think. They are actually little funnel-shaped guys, silver in color. They can be glued in or crimped, either way. I`ll look for a phone number or address for the grommets.

John

I thought I'd reactivate this old thread now that I'm thinking about the fuse stitching on my Snipe. I'm sure Steve and Bob have some ideas to contribute.

This is what I did on my 1/3 Pup.
The eyelets were installed using a small eyelet tool that my wife has for her crafts. It works great. I first bonded together two pieces of coverall and made the strips to length. I marked off 1/2 in intervals and inserted all the eyelets. Once completed I then doped the length of eyelets to the airframe. I stagered the two rows to get the offset needed. Took some time to do all the eyelets but the end result is well worth the time spent. Then I laced it up with some nylon thread and it was doped with the colours that I was using. I have attached some pictures of what it looked like when I first did it, then as I painted, then after it was painted. Took a bit of work and it sure is worth the work.

Craig

Craig, that looks fantastic! At 1/6 scale I'll have to be doing something a bit different but that gives me some ideas.

The stitching on the side of my VK Camel presented the problem of available eyelets being too large for 1/6 scale so I put a piece of wood under the area, drilled it and stitched away, minus eyelets. A thin wire (I know, this metal could be causing my radio problems..) gave the appearance of a hem. Now if I can find those photos of this area, they will appear below.
By the way, the vertical stitches looked different so my stitching there was done before covering.

Here's my first attempt at stitching. I started with a 3/8" strip of solartex then folded over (and ironed) the edge to make a 1/8" double layer. I then laid down two of these strips on a piece of tape that held them in place. Next I marked the position of the holes and then did the stitching with a double strand of sewing thread. After I finished the stitching, I turned it over and very lightly scored the tape so that I could remove the tape from the edge of the solartex. I then ironed this onto my practice piece.

It still needs work. This is the same stitching pattern as on Craig's Pup but done this way you only see half of the diagonals rather than the V pattern (which I prefer).

BTW, I tried simulating the grommets with white glue and a tube (rivet style) but that attempt failed miserably. []

On the final version, I'll use a black Sharpy pen to trace the line of the "crack" between the seams to give the impression of a gap.

BTW, here's the way I ended up doing the stitching on the bottom of my EIII. I just painted a bunch of staples white, poked them through the fabric, and CA them in place. The impression of grommets was produced by drawing a little half-circle around the end of the stapes with a Sharpy. Then I gave the whole thing a dirty wash which settled in around the edges of the staples. I think it does a pretty good job of simulating the look in the first photo I posted in this thread.

Dang,that looks pretty darn good!
For those of you who want brass eyelets you might want to look in "scrap-booking" (for making scrap-books aka photo albums)area of your local crafts store.They have sizes that would work for 1/4 and 1/3 scale but smaller than that I don't think they have any that would look proper,at least in MHO and in the stores around here.

Mick Reeves sells small eyelets that would work for 1/3 and 1/4 scale (and maybe even 1/5 scale). I think at 1/6 scale though it's going to have be more about simulation.

http://www.mickreevesmodels.co.uk/


Here's a source for those "doll" eyelets:

http://www.tinyzippers.com/dollcrafteyelets.html

Don,
I also used the eyelets Mick sells for the 1:3 scale pup:



But I think they are very small; look at the cockpit trim, I also used them there but they seem to be a bit small,
in other words might be worth trying on 1/6 scale? what do you think?



Frank

Frank, I think I'm going to get me some!

Hi Don,
I used the Mick Reeves eyelets for my VK Camel, many years ago and they worked great. They may have been a tad too large, but after the stitching was added that was hardly noticable. Wouldn't they need to be overpainted anyway?
CT

Here are the steps (and the result) of my second attempt a the stitching. It's better but still not perfect (and maybe still too large).

I've been looking at Craig's stitching again and if I understand his method correctly, he did the stitching AFTER attaching the fabric with the eyelets to the frame. That's why we can see the threads in the gap.

Is this right Craig?