**** DONE: 1/48 Gloster Gauntlet II – From WW1 to WW2 GB

[Airframes]

Looking good so far Vic, and glad the Humbrol worked! Don't know if you want to try it, but for silver-doped fabric, I normally add just a small drop of gloss white. This gives a sheen with a different tone to the 'bare metal' areas, and works quite well.

 

[woody]

Nice painting Vic.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Thanks for the comments guys, the painting is done and a coat or two of Future applied, so now were ready to start the rigging process. I've just got to spend time cutting the shims then well make a start and I'll try to remember to have the camera in one hand while doing it.

 

[Crimea_River]

Lookin' fine!

 

[meatloaf109]

Please do, I am most interested in the fixing of the rigging to the eye bolts!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

A progress shot of both bi-planes side by side. These are now ready to have the initial rigging threads installed.

My decals are mainly for the Gauntlet as the Gladiator is without the 56 Squadron red and white check. The arrow at the bottom which has the squadron badge in it will go on the Gladiator. These are dot-matrix printer decals given a couple of coats of decal protection fluid. The reason for more decals than are required is so I can layer one atop the other to increase the density of colour. I did this with the Gannet and it turned out okay.

Time to do the ground work for rigging. First I need to cut some shims at 1.5mm long from Nickel Silver tubing size 0.6mm od by 0.4mm id.

Using the calliper jaws as a guide, I butt the end of the tube against the outer jaw face and place the knife blade tight against the inner jaw and the roll the blade over the tube until it cuts through. This will give you a reasonably accurate size to each shim, the miniscule difference undiscernible to the Mk 1 eyeball.

Once cut, I've inspected the shims as some will have a minute flaw, a shaving of curled metal at the end where the cut was not clean, these have to be removed and then each shim drilled out to give a clean entry and exit hole. This is important as the thread has to be passed through the shim, down through the buckle eye and then back up through the shim. Remember the shim is only 0.4mm id and the thread I'm using is between 0.175 and 0.25 mm diameter.

These shims have been drilled out with a #80 drill which is about 0.35mm diameter.

To prepare for the rigging which I will start tomorrow, these are the bits needed:

1. Lots of shims (I'll lose a few in the process).
2. The buckles (many of these will also ping onto the carpet).
3. The silvered invisible thread.
4. A very sharp knife, this is a #10A scalpel but I will probably use a #11 which has a more acute cutting blade for tight spots.
5. A pair of long nose smooth jaw pliers, these will be used to flatten the shims just above the buckles.
6. A good pair of tweezers.

 

[Wayne Little]

Excellent Vic!

 

[meatloaf109]

Oh, I get it now! The shims are actually crimps, that's how you get the rigging tight. I can't believe I missed that before.

 

[tigerdriver]

wow

 

[Rogi]

Wow Awesome

 

[T Bolt]

Wow is right!!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Wow!…………………..Thanks for all the "Wow" guy's, very much appreciated, honest!

To continue with the tutorial you will have to forgive me for the quality of some of the photos, all were taken under an LED light which comes as part of magnifier lamp. No natural light as we have the curtains all shut up to help keep out the 42C heat simmering outside.

All of this work I carry out over a green card for two reasons: 1. You can find the tiny shims and buckles better. 2. On a cutting mat the shims collect static and when you go to pick them up with tweezers, the usually shoot away and go walkabout with the carpet gremlin. The card stops the static.

You also need a very steady hand. Old codgers like me quite often find we have this problem and no, it's not the result of last night's tipple or three.

So on with the demo.

Start by cutting your threads. To many can never be enough and I tend to cut lengths on the very generous side, the reasons for this will become apparent later.

Starting with a shim, a thread length and a buckle, pass the thread through the shim. Then feed on the buckle.

The next step is to feed the thread end back through the shim and gently pull the shim down the thread. Go carefully as the silver thread can sometimes catch on the buckle eye and pucker. If this happens, the best thing to do is start again with a new thread.

With the shim butted up against the buckle, crimp the shim in place and with a sharp knife, carefully trim of the surplus tread tail.

The next stage is to shim and buckle the other end. I found this was easier to do the threading at this stage rather than when one end is attached to the model. With this end we will just push the thread through the sim and buckle, and then back through the shim pulling the shim down the thread so that you just make a rough loose loop. This is also where the extra length of thread comes in to play. Plenty of spare will prevent the loop coming adrift when your fiddling with the rigging on the model and it also gives a good length to handle when tightening the rigging after attaching the second end.

This last pic is an example of the silver thread coming adrift after puckering. One other tip is also to make sure your thread end is cut cleanly with a sharp knife, it needs to be a clean cut for the return thread through the shim.

That will be it for the moment folks, I've lots of threading to do!!

 

[Wayne Little]

 

[Rogi]

Wow X2 - The Sequel

 

[Gnomey]

Great work so far Vic!

 

[ccheese]

Like the man sez.... WOW !

Charles

 

[Crimea_River]

As they say on the easy coast, Lord Jesus......

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Thanks a bunch for the nice words folks.

A bit of a boring subject I know, but for them's that are following this form of rigging, here are a few more shots of the process.

One box full of rigging strands complete with shims and buckles either secured in place or ready for sliding into place on a taught line.

The beast to be rigged.

First step is to select an anchor point for the first buckle, I usually select the one that is very hard to get at. This will be the end of the thread that has already had the shim crimped and thread secured.

I then pull the other shim down the doubled over thread making sure the two threads and loop remain threaded within this shim. Care is also needed, ensuring the thread is not snagged.

Once I have the length of thread (loop end) almost to the required length of the rigging, with care and at this stage great patience, I secure the second buckle in the hole that had been drilled earlier. At this stage one has to take care not to get glue on the little eyelet or the thread as we need to use this buckle and shim for tightening the thread.

Once the buckle is located and glue set, taking the shim in a pair of tweezers, grab the loose end of the thread and gently pull the thread through the eyelet and shim to tighten the thread. You may find a second pair of tweezers are required to help feed the thread through the buckle eye to prevent the silver in the thread puckering. Holding the loose end of the thread as close as you can to the part that will form the rigging, slide the shim down the thread to the buckle and secure with a dab of glue. When set, gently with a sharp knife, trim of the loose end.

That's it folks, sounds simple but I do advise patience and caution while doing this and please check each process. I have found that one should check the initial anchor point of each rigged thread as the shim could well be pointing at the wrong angle, even after you have pulled the thread tight.

 

[meatloaf109]

Painstaking, but the end result is awesome!

 

[woody]

Where do you place the orders for the rigging really nice work Vic.