Good luck!

Well, the lamp is assembled and I have all the tools I need, so I'm ready to go. First project is 1/72 wargaming plane repairs. I'll post pictures as I go. First, here is the table itself, with the models that need fixing.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...leFinished.jpg

You shold have collected diecast.....usually much tougher :03:

Does anyone make a diecast Voisin LA.III? Oeffag-Albatros 253 series? If they did, would the models be light enough for our clothespin clips to hold them? :sunny:

First one finished. It's a Morane 'P' two-seat parasol fighter, converted from a couple of the old Revell Morane 'N' kits. It's at least ten years old. I did it first because all that was wrong was a couple of broken rigging wires. It turned out that replacing them was too hard, given that the original rigging was done as three pieces of monofiliment line, running through and around. It turned out the only way to do it was to cut away all the wire and start from scratch. It took about an hour.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...s/MoraneP1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...s/MoraneP2.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...s/MoraneP3.jpg

It's a little rough around the edges, but it is a wargaming toy and sees a lot of use.

[edit] The joke's on me. It wasn't until I looked at the pictures that I realized the rudder is missing! I guess it's not done after all. I can't find it among the junk, so I'll have to make a new one.

Doubtful at best :o

It doesn't matter. The real bottom line is that having models is great, but it's the building itself that gets me off. I can't even remember how many planes I've built, put on display in hobby shops and then sold. Back in those days I didn't have a real camera, so there are no pictures, no records. So I keep building.

This is weird. The rudder from the Morane was missing, so I was going to build a new one. I got a rudder from another Eindekker kit and was ready to start carving it to the correct shape when I dropped it on the floor. I got down under the table and found it...sitting right next to the original one! So the eindekker rudder went back into the spares box and the original went back on the plane.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...anePrudder.jpg



The next step was an easy one. My kitbashed Morane 'G' had lost a stabilizer, but I had it with the other missing pieces and it was a 30-second repair.

The 'G' was the 80-horsepower predecessor to the famous 'N', commonly known as the 'Bullet', because they thought that giving the fuselage a round shape would make it faster. Of course adding a 110-hp engine didn't hurt.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...s/MoraneG1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...s/MoraneG2.jpg

When you build models for as long as I have you tend to buy, trade and collect a lot of stuff, including decal sheets. I have a couple of WW1 sheets with lots of logos, including a Mann-Edgerton builders label for the Sopwith 1-1/2 Strutter. I like this model because I also have a nose logo for this particular Morane-Saulier.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...eGMSemblem.jpg

Of course looking at that picture showed me a couple of rigging wires on that one that were loose. They aren't actually broken so I'm putting off re-rigging it until later.

Nice job Steve! When you've done all that, you might consider building a 1/32 Gotha G.IV :o

That looks a lot like an Eindecker, other than the tail:hmm2:.

Yeah, I think that the Germans captured one and copied/improved it.

Pretty much. Pfalz built their own copies, but under license, and at the end of the war paid Morane-Saulnier all the royalties they owed. Fokker puchased a used Morane 'H' early in 1914 and then built his own version without ever paying Morane-Saulnier anything. His improvement was a big one. The Moranes and their Pfalz copies were all made from wood. Fokker built his out of steel tubing, a techique used on all Fokker aircraft thereafter.

Speaking of Eindeckers...

This is a stock Revell E.III that I had some fun with. One of the wheels had come off, and the propeller was broken. I refitted the wheel, and stole the prop from one of my spares kits.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...Eindekker1.jpg


The model is in Austrian markings.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...Eindekker2.jpg

One of the many things people have produced over the years is a variety of metal props, engines and guns for WW1 and WW2 aircraft. One of the packages I bought was a pair of Austrian Schwarzlose guns. That and a photograph I had in a book prompted me to build it this way. Here is a link to an article on the Schwarzlose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzlose_MG_M.07/12 and here is a close-up of the gun on the model.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...arzloseGun.jpg

^

Nice job on the pilot!

This was a big job. Many years ago I kitbashed an AEG B.II, a German 2-seater so early that it wasn't even armed. During the couple of years I didn't game at all I left my stuff with Rocky for anyone to use. The whole tail section of this one was broken off and gone. I wasn't looking forward to building a new one from scratch, and as it turned out I didn't have to. When I got my case full of models home and took them all out, I found the tailpiece stuck in the foam rubber under another plane. It was still a big job. I had to mount some brass rod inside the fuselage to make sure it didn't happen again, then glue the whole thing back together. The tail as it was would't fit over the rod, so I had to cut away the bottom and sides and mount the top to the rods, then build new sides and bottom, new tail supports and a new tail skid.

In spite of the repairs the model is still pretty hammered from years of abuse. What can I say? It's a wargaming toy.

Here is a front view, showing the wire wheels and radiators. The wheels were purchased in a store at the time, and the radiators are brass wire wrapped around a piece of plastic and given a black wash.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ls/AEGBII1.jpg


From the rear quarter you can see the observer standing in the back, holding a carbine. Our game even has rules for shooting rifles. :sunny:
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ls/AEGBII2.jpg

I've just had a question from Red October1984 in the 'What Are You Doing Now In Real Life' thread about the airplane game, and rather than go into a lengthy explanation with pictures there I figured I'd do it here.

Mustangs & Messerschmitts was created by my late friend Rocky Russo and current friend Doug Larsen. Rocky had played D&D with Gary Gygax himself, so the name was sort of a tribute. M&M is a World War two game, with WW1, '30s, Korea, Arab-Israeli, Vietnam and modern variants. It's a game system designed for people who like to build models. The models are mostly 1/72 scale, and are fitted with a tube in the bottom which mounts to a steel wire attached to a clothespin. The arrangement allows for the model to roll and pitch. The clothespin clamps to a six-foot dowel that slots into a trolley that rolls around the floor. The whole thing allows full freedom of movement in three dimensions. The control sheet has all the information for the plane the player is "flying", including how many rolls of the rear wheel it can make per turn, how many inches it can climb without losing speed, how many inches it can dive, how tight it can turn. Turning is controlled by a steel pin attached to the wheel castor, and is stopped by pins placed in holes equal to the turn radius for that plane.

Gameplay is slow, but relative performance is highly accurate. I've posted the pictures elsewhere, but I can't find them, so here they are again. Lately we've only been playing the WW1 variant, Triplane, so all the pictures are from that era.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...uff/Stands.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ChuckPeter.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...taAlbatros.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ne8-004A-1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...eve/Fok3-1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...lethreat-1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...Eindekker1.jpg

I have that kit!:salute: Nice job on it.

Thanks! I can remember when they were $0.98. These days they are supposedly going for $15-20, but I've seen them on Amazon and eBay for $5-6. I bought a bunch of old Revell kits to use as spares many years ago, and still have several each of the Eindekker, SPAD S.7, Morane-Saulnier 'N', Nieuport N.28 and Fokker Dr.1. Mostly they're pretty bad compared to what you can buy today, but they're great for spare parts and can serve as a basis for other things. I've kitbashed Morane-Saulnier 'G' and 'L' models and Pfalz E.I and E.II kits, as well as a Fokker E.IV, from the E.III kit; and a Morane 'P' parasol 2-seater from two of the 'N' kits. Making stuff nobody else has is always fun.

I've finally finished repairing all my broken planes. I had promised myself that I would rig each one as I repaired it, but I got sidetracked repairing all of Rocky's broken models, so I ended up only rigging the ones I've already shown. This final one, though, is unusual. The Airco DH.5 was a "staggerwing" configuration, which means that the top wing was behind the bottom wing. I built the model a long time ago, and in a hurry, so the markings are all hand-painted and are sloppy. I keep reminding myself that it's not a display model, but a gaming toy, but I still plan to go back and redo it someday, or maybe build another one. That said, this is one I did take the time to rig, because the rigging itself is cool.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps02c3c943.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...pscff774fe.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...psce1c1a86.jpg


Now I'm finally ready to start something new! :D

I'd like to see them before you repair them...

Before and After Shots would be kinda cool. :D