Alright guys, since spruebrothers has some great prices on Eduards WWI kits I'm thinking of buying some but the rigging looks rigorous. Does it all have to be done in on sitting or will it look wrong if you stop and go back to it another time?
It's a multi-step process actually. There are tons of great references around for how to do it. Just google biplane rigging or something similiar.
Here's one link from BritModellers forums that I think does a good job of explaining things:
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=67770
Basically you will need to pre-drill some holes in the wings / fuselage before the wings and struts are glued into place. At least some (and probably all) of the holes are going to need to be drilled all the way thru the wings and fuselage unless you are using pre-cut PE. Then attach one end of your rigging wire and glue it into place. I've seen rigging done after the entire biplane is assembled and painted; other folks do the painting in stages. Again check out some references and see what you are comfortable with.
You have multiple options for the type of material to use for the rigging. Invisible thread, mono-filament fishing line, beading wire, stretched sprue and even PE just to name a few. I'm not a fan of using stetched sprue but some folks swear by it.
Equipment wise, you will need a micro-drill bit, a pin-vise, super glue (and possibly putty) and several pairs of pliers / hemostats at the bare minimum. You are also going to need a set of detailed instructions showing exactly where the rigging needs to be attached. Photo of real planes or three view views are absolutely essential.
One of the biggest problems is keep the rigging taut. Sagging rigging looks awful. Wire and thread will need to be pulled very taut and then glued using CA and an accelerant to speed up the drying process. Mono-filament fishing line can actually be tightened further with CAREFUL application of a little heat.
One tip. To keep the rigging wire pairs at the same spacing, predrill a pair of guide holes in a small scrap piece of plasti-card at the correct spacing. Then use that as a guide for every pair of holes you drill. You can use an extra drill bit (or even a scrap piece of thing wire) and run it thru the first hole to hold the guide in place while you drill the second hole of the pair.
And if you are using wire, you can get VERY fancy and fabricate turnbuckles at the ends of the wire.
And lastly, don't forget that a lot of rigging wire pairs actually had wooden block spacers partway up the wire pairs.