Steve Percifield

My Feedback: (14)

Just curious, how many hours a day do you guys work on modeling?? You are obvious very productive when you do work. I guess I spend too much time day dreaming or trying to figure out how to do something. I've been modeling over 45 years but have never tried scale before now and the WW1 thing,and I find the detailing part very slow and painstaking. I have to research and learn everything and it takes forever when you don't know where to start.

steve p
www.hoosierdawnpatrol.com

BobH

My Feedback: (2)

Steve the last WWI plane I built was my SE5a and that took me 3 years to complete. I'm kinda like you are in as much as I'm not a fast builder and I study parts a lot before I make them. Also I kind of enjoy the problem solving aspect of things so I wasn't in a hurry.

semeraro

Steve,

that question is hard to answer. Some days I spend all day working on the plane and then I can go weeks without touching it. It depends on family etc. I think my story is typical of us all. This is my first large scale model (I built stick and tissue fac scale and semi scale RC before this). I am building this for competition but it is by no means a museum scale model. I have great respect for the guys who build to that standard. There are several of them on this newsgroup. I dont build to that degree of accuracy. I have found that much of the work on this model has taken less time and effort than I thought it would. Part of that is because I have Dave J showing me how things are done. I was afraid to even try to duplicate the varnished fuselage of the DV until Dave showed me building it was not that hard. I was going to try to duplicate the grain with paint. Dave said the balsa has grain already in it just use that. Another thing Dave keeps telling me is to stop thinking too much. Just dive in and build. There is no screw up that cant be fixed. Building with Dave Johnson is a great learning experience. I wish that more new would be scale builders could do a group build with Dave. It takes the mystery out of scale ( some of it anyway ) and is a real confidence builder. I would never be as far as I am on this plane had it not been for the help and advice I get from Dave. Anyway, enough about Mr. Johnson. I dont want to give him a big head.

I guess different people build at different rates. What matters is that you enjoy what you are doing. Scale modeling is the best aspect of the model airplane hobby to me.

Dave S.

semeraro

A bit more progress to report. I am in the process of mounting the guns. I have the fuselage hole cut out and am doing the final shaping on that. I also have the wood going on the struts and gear. The guns are just laying in the fuse in the pictures so the alignment is not perfect but you get the general impression. The struts need shaping and some bondo. Making slow steady progress.

Dave S.

cocobear

My Feedback: (2)

Some cocpit pieces, weight table(painted on), and engine installation. It is a Fuji 43 which fits entirely within the cowl.

semeraro

More progress. Glued in the gun mounting plate and added some feed chutes and shell casing chutes. The pictures tell the story. I am not sure now if I didnt mount the guns too high. I also sheeted the wing stubs and added the leading edges. No pictures of that right now though. Couple of more holes in the fuselage and I can stain it.

Dave S.

WacoNut

Great Looking Builds Guys,
I will be follwing to the end to see how these fine birds finish up.
Anthony

semeraro

Got more work done on the airplane. I attached the fin and the tail skid to the fuse. Also cut out all of the access holes for the radio gear and the exhaust for the engine. As you can see there was some glue leakage in spite of my best efforts. I used 5 minute glue on the bottom skid attachment because it is on the bottom and I did not want to wait for it to dry. I thought I would be clever and use 30 minute epoxy on the fin to allow me time to wipe any extra away with some alcohol. I thought I had done that but it seems some glue still managed to leak. It is a small blemish. I am going to sand it a bit to try to reduce the size. All will be well after I stain the fuse and run a bead of epoxy along the joint.

I could not resist the temptation to see how it would look with the rudder attached. I put the rudder on and found that the rudder had warped. So last night's effort was spent doping the rudder ( it needed it anyway) and blocking the warp out. Since I had the dope out I threw another coat on the wings. They needed it too. I am going to let the rudder sit for a couple of more days, maybe a week. It takes a while for the dope to do its thing.

I keep finding things to do to keep me from staining the fuse. It is an opportunity to really mess up the model. I am going to give the fuse one last going over and then bite the bullet and stain it. Wish me luck.

Dave S.

semeraro

Well I could find no more excuses for not staining the fuse. Here are a couple of pictures of how it turned out.

Dave S.

Sethhunter

Very nice builds! What muffler is on the FUji - I have a Bisson but it's a bit bit big for the front end of my Pfalz DXV.

cocobear

My Feedback: (2)

They are from Bennet

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

Your fuse looks great. Being a professional woodworker for a long time, I think one of the tricks to the panels would be to get all of the glue removed. That is where good old Titebond works well. Anywhere you have residual glue, the stain will have spots. With a damp rag the Titebond can be removed easily. I have found Super glues are very difficult to remove and will not take the stain either.
Regaurdless, your fuse will look very good after a few coats of clear. Good job!

semeraro

Thanks vertical,

The only way I have found to remove CA is to sand it off. I only have a couple of spots where the stain didnt take and they are small and on the bottom of the tail. I have used titebond alot in my building career but I cant imagine trying to do a fuselage like this with anything but CA. It would take quite a while to wait for the glue to dry and keeping the panels in contact with the formers would be hard. It could be done but if you are careful the CA method works ok.

Got the ailerons covered last night. Pictures later. Soon I should be able to put on some big black crosses and it will really start to look like an airplane.

mcjustis

Dave,
I'm just wondering about your exhaust. I see in the pic in post #180 that the exhaust has a tube coming off of it.. Does it exit at the belly of the plane? I am ready to start building mine and I need to get the engine details finalized and am considering this engine for my 1/4 scale Dv.
Thanks,
Martin Justis

TFF

What are you using for stain?

semeraro

TFF,
I am using minwax golden oak to stain the fuselage. The top coat is minwax polycrylic.

Martin,
The engine exhausts through the bottom of the fuselage. Two small holes are opened near the centerline and the exhaust is routed out there.

semeraro

Finally posting some more progress photos. I have finished the wings except for the markings. I have also put 4 coats of polymicro on the fuselage. It makes quite a differance. I put her together for a couple of pictures. Here they are.

Dave S.

JohnF

Very nice Dave. Looks just like DJ built it. I am sure it will fly that way also.

clearblue

My Feedback: (5)

Holly cow Dave!!! She looks great! I cant wait to see you and DJ flying these Beautiful Planes. I'm Jealous,Envious and Proud. Keep the pic's coming. Jim

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

That looks really good. What did you use for rib tapes? Those were a real pain on my DVII and I may end up redoing them.

semeraro

Hi Vertical,

The tapes are solartex believe it or not. They have a blue that is just the right color. The stuff also tears perfectly straight with the grain, that is along the roll direction. All I did was measure the correct width for a tape, start a short cut and tear along the long direction for a perfectly straight tape. They even have a rough edge like the real thing. Dave Johnson told showed me how to do this. He is trying to convince the solartex folks to make a salmon color. I guess they think it wont sell very well. Hell I would buy some.

Got more work done on the detail bits for the DV. I started building ammo cans. The cans are under the guns inside the plane but you can get a good look at them when you look inside the plane. Again, I am following Dave J's technique. Dave cut out a patern for each can for me. I copied the pattern on some poster board that my wife picked up for the kids. I used balsa to set the spacing and made poster board edges. I glued the balsa to the patterns first with CA and then glued the edging with a bit of overlap with formula 560. The overlap makes it look like a sheet metal edge. The pictures tell the story. The first one is the raw material. Picture two shows the cans with and without the edging in place. I have to add some details like doors and such and then paint 'em up.

Dave S.

vertical grimmace

My Feedback: (1)

That Solartex idea is great. I may have to do that. You added dope over the top i take it. The problem with my tapes is, used ribbon from the fabric store and dyed it with RIT dye. After 2 years, the color is fading back to white. Plus the material was just to thick to lay down properly I believe.
With the Solartex, you can actually iron it down and then dope on top to really lock it into place. fabulous!

semeraro

I stick the solartex down with a monokote trim iron. That way I can seal it around the rib stitching easily. A regular iron would work too but I bought this trim iron and by god I am going to use it for something. We then dope over the top of the solartex. I put the rib tapes on after the fourth coat of butyrate on the GT fabric. By then most of the shinkage is done and you can tell if you will have to do it over. Then there are four or more coats of dope on top of the original four. I hit the surfaces with 400 between coats. Sometimes the edges of the solartex have sharp edges and sanding knocks them down. Plus sanding smooths the finish a bit. I enjoy covering but am ready to move on after doing all this doping.

FliegenderZirkus

Hi folks,
i'm verry surprised that there are so many enthusiasts in USA for german wwI-fighters ! Dave - you did a very good job with the Albatros. I joined the forum to congratulate you and because i want to see the maiden flight. I am a "woodworm" too. I am a member of a german rc oldtimer-club. If you need any further informations about the Albatros - say it.
Greetings from Germany - and please excuse my miserable English.
Christian

There is an interesting LINK for Jasta 5 (Jagdstaffel 5) - the green tails !
[/link]http://www.jasta5.org/

cocobear

My Feedback: (2)

I saw Dave S's plane today and the pictures don't do it justice! I gotta stick the cockpit bits in but that's about it. The only stuff left to make is the axle fairing and instrument bezels and needles.

DJ