Ah...well... :arrgh!:

I'm sure it would be really fun. If only I could play with my soon-to-be P-40B. :cool:

Years ago we had a fairly large group. One of the regular questions was "What should I build first?" We always suggested that the new player just borrow whatever was needed, and build whatever struck his fancy. The way our system works makes it possible for players to have pilots with their own careers. Some have developed aces with 5, 10 or 20+ kills. I've done that, but I also have pilots with many missions and no kills. Like any personalized game it can develop in a number of ways. These days the biggest part is just socializing.

I would recommend asking at the local hobby shops if they know of any Mustangs & Messerschitts groups. If that doesn't work you might try Craigslist, though I doubt any groups would be using that method to look for new players. Still, it doesn't hurt to try.

After three coats of primer and a whole lot of sanding the fuselage was finally ready. Yesterday afternoon I cut out the lower wing. An hour last night and two more hours today were spent cutting out the lower wing and sanding it down (I said vac kits required a lot of that). It has to be done very carefully since once you take off too much there's no way to put it back. The wings on more modern planes are thicker and like most kits come in two halves. WW1 aircraft have thin wings and there is no real underside.

So after sanding a little bit here and a tiny bit more there it was finally ready. The kit was designed so the lower wing is one piece that slots into the fuselage for structural strength. I had to carefully cut in from the back of the fuselage and fit the wing. This took an hour or so of fiddling and adjusting until it was right. Once it was glued in and completely dry I added some superglue to the insides for more strength. Once that was dry another coat of primer went over the whole thing and I'm done for the night.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps4f142fda.jpg

Steve, are you going to paint it in the colours of the aircraft you described a page ago?

Which description was that? I looked and I'm not sure which you mean.

The current answer is "I don't know." The few pictures I've looked at seem to describe either a white fuselage and linen wings, somewhat like the Bleriot, or all white. I ordered a book that will help a lot, but it hasn't come yet and with a national holiday tomorrow it won't come until Friday at the earliest, possibly Moday or even later. I have to either make a decision without the book or stop work until it comes, since with this type of biplane it needs to be painted before the top wing goes on. Part of me wants to wait for the book, and part of me wants to press on now, not wait five days before resuming work.

I hate decisions.

I'll look into that. We don't really have a Hobby Shop. We have a Hobby Lobby and that's it.

I wish we had a good Hobby Shop but the next best thing would probably be the Boy Scout Store. :hmmm:

I'll look around. :arrgh!:

I don't remember the aircraft a page ago...but it was probably awesome.

My major decision today was "Landing gear up?....or down?"

I ended up leaving them down so I can set it up on my shelf. :rock:

I also had to decide between Drop Tank and Bomb but that was an easy decision. :sunny:

That's usually the first decision for anything with retracts, and that's usually the way it comes out, and for the same reason. All of mine are "wheels up" these days because of the whole game thing. They store more easily without wheels and they look silly "flying" with wheels down.

On the other hand since I'm doing mostly WW1 anymore it doesn't matter.

Now I have a dilemma. I ordered a booklet on the Voisin awhile ago, and it still hasn't come. If I wait for it I might not see it before Monday, maybe later. If I make a decision as to finish now then the $25 spent for the book is wasted. I can't start another project because the next few I want to do are kits on order.

Probably I'll see what still needs repairing and rigging. there are more than a few that need some attention. I didn't do them during my original fixing frenzy because what needs to be done was minor and the planes were still in good enough condition to play with.

I've looked at colour schemes and can only find white or beige examples so I'm wondering if that is what you would be restricted to?

http://www.wwiaviation.com/french_2seaters1914.html

http://www.md-11.org/voisin.htm

http://www.jitterbuzz.com/MAN_1965_01.HTML

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/0...um-Photo-Diary

A specific scheme. Windsock Datafiles show dozens of photographs with detailed analysis, plus closeups of specific parts of the aircraft. sometimes they'll even uncover rare camoflaged versions. It's more question of paying good money for a source and then making a decision without ever even seeing it.

I've just had a look...great specialist site...obviously quality and detail come at a price.

They manage to have great pictures of the most minute details. That's the only reason I knew about the ropes holding the gear mountings on the Bleriot.

With nothing else to do I went ahead and prepped the upper wing. This one only took about two hours total. It won't be mounted until the fuselage is painted, but it's ready now.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps16aa1fee.jpg

Looks kinda big.

What scale is this? :hmmm:

ROFLMAO....follow the thread or at least read before you post :o

:):03:

Leave 'im alone, Jim. He can't help himself.


Umm...

LOL :)

Well, the book didn't come Friday, and it didn't come Saturday, so today I decided to work on some more ships. This is the Scout class of 1885. Called 'Torpedo Cruisers', they were the first attempt to make a seagoing torpedo boat. Later they were reclassified as '3rd Class Cruisers'.

The ships were about the size of a WW2 destroyer. While this makes them small compared to a battleship, alongside a locomotive they were huge. It's hard to look at a tiny model and remember that these ships were 225 feet long and displaced 1,600 tons.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps543d1a63.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps847a76e1.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ps80374c55.jpg

Ah...foot in mouth once again. :har:

I've been following the thread but I forget some of the details.

That must be a close up picture because 1:72 looks smaller than that. :hmmm:

Take another look at post #143. The Voisin had a body barely big enough to fit the two crewmen, but it had a 48' wingspan, ten feet more than a P-38 and almost half that of a B-17.