Halberstadt Cl.IV

[jimkrauzlis]

Great stuff, John!!

Always a treat to see your work on this and any other project...the detailed information and photos are very much appreciated!

Cheers!
Jim

[Don Boose]

You are indeed a master of rigging, John!

Don

[DrLaser]

Thanks guys - but the rigging has only begun!

This is the part of the build I like most - because I can clean up that rat's nest of rigging. My procedure is to use a Lego jig to immobolize the plane, securing it so I can work on it with two hands free.


I first need to seperate, identify, and tag the rigging with miniature clothes pins for easy handling (got them at Michaels). I'll start with the two rigging wires that attach at the front landing gear strut. I want to get those out of the way since they attach at the front-most point. I group all the rest, clip them, and get them out of the way. I then attach more clothes pins to the rigging under work and start to tension them. The procedure is to use my fine tweezers to snug the rigging from where the rigging starts through each corner to where the rigging enters the fuselage. You can't pull it through from the front. Need to work one leg at a time snugging as you go. The clothes pins act as simple weights to maintain the tension. I just want to snug it - not put a lot of tension on it to cause any distorsion. I just want to take out the kinks and get a nice straight line on the rigging.


Once I'm satisfied, I use regular cellophane tape (or thin packing tape) to secure the rigging inside the fuselage. I could also use contact cement, which I have to use sometimes, but tape can work here, and it is easier. I use something to press the tape to the paper and rigging and get all the air out. Then I repeat for the other side. I hope you can see the tape. I try to tape over the entry hole in the fuselage to strengthen it.


Now I work on the remaining rigging, using the same procedure, taping off where I can. The rigging looks good and snug - just need to cut off the excess.

[jimkrauzlis]

This is a wonderful pictorial essay showing us your rigging method, and the results of fantastic!

Thank you so very much for taking the time and effort to show all of us how you accomplished this amazing model...brilliant!

Cheers!
Jim

[DrLaser]

Thanks Jim.

Now that the rigging is done I can close up the fuselage. I first need to glue in the forward bulkhead. I punched a hole in the bulkhead to pass all the rigging wires through then glue them secure - but I desided in the end to tape the rigging to the fuselage. I think the original plan would be quicker and better. Anyway, the hole allows a grip for tweezers.


I glue the bulkhead a bit back from the front to allow room for tabs to secure the front piece.


Now it is a simple matter to glue the engine block in place. It rests on the internal "shelf" with that extension I added (see earlier picture) and the front bulkhead. I just needed to trim the front of the mounting plate a bit to fit.


Now the fuselage is almost finished. Unfortunately it will be a week before I can get back to this build. See you then.

[DrLaser]

Okay, now back at it!

Now to close off the fuselage. The nose piece is a doubly curved part that requires a very careful build. There are multiple wedge cuts and the sections are very small, and each cut edge needs to be colored before assembly. Here is the finished part, including the back side to show the splices on the joints.


As is, the nose didn't fit right. This is probably some building errors. I needed to trim some off the upper sides to get it to fit the engine support correctly. Trimming is always easy. Adding paper is hard. So no worries. I also add many interior tabs to the fuselage to accept the nose (as shown).


Now that the fuselage is finally complete, I want to add the wheels. My technique to making wheels is to build up the wheel from cardboard - the kind that backs pads of paper. Use enough to get the thickness right. I cut out the wheels and glue each wheel side to the cardboard, then cut the cardboard.


Next glue the two sides together.


Then I use an Emery Board to sand the wheel edges to a round shape using a curving stroke up and around the edge. You can see the start of rounding the edge here:


And here is one side done:


After both sides are rounded, I use a colored pencil to color the cardboard - here it is grey (not black).


The wheel cone is very shallow, and I sand the backside edge to prevent an obvious ridge at the edge. Here are some pictures during construction, and showng the before and after.


One both wheels are done, I glue one in place. Then glue the other in place being very careful to position it to keep the wings level - even if the wheel is not exactly centered. Here is where I make up for construction errors and variances. I think it is much more noticable if the wings are not perfectly level than if the wheels are not perfectly centered.

[Alcides]

Fantastic!!! Bravo!!! Really thanks a lot for put together all this information. Your thread precious, your description of techniques and details is amazing. It's very good to be able to see how you think ahead to solve the problems.
Thanks a lot for the effort.
Regards
Alcides

[DrLaser]

Thanks Alcides, glad you enjoy the build thread.

Next I'll build the propeller. The kit supplies a good design (lower), but I'll use a prop of my own design of similar construction (upper). My prop was based on a photo of a WW1 prop.


After looking at photos I took of the Halberstadt at Udvar Hazy Center, I will use the kit's supplied metal hub plate since the real one is dark in color and my hub plates are silver in color. The hub is rolled with a lot of extra length and only glued at the end. I also thin out the end by sanding so there will not be a noticable ridge. The metal plate is glued on, and a paper rear plate (blackened with a Sharpie) is glues on as well. This will lock the windings in place.


For construction of a propeller, I like to use regular paper - since props are pretty thin and two thicknesses of cardstock would be too thick at 1/72 scale. Since I'm lazy and don't want to print another prop, I'll just split the cardstock of the prop I have on hand to thin it out. Need a very sharp blade to do this. I have a scapel.


I cut the props out and glue the two sides together. I trim up the hub end after the two sides are joined. The blades are glued to the hub at an angle, and the blades are twisted like the real thing.


I know this isn't the uber prop with many layers of paper, but it is pretty good, and better than a totally flat prop. I like it fine.


This model is coming along nicely - and I have just a few more things to do. Unfortunately I will be unable to get back to this build for two weeks - as I have multiple TDYs - duty calls.

[DrLaser]

I'm finally back at it. Next up is the start of finishing the engine details.

There are a pair of exhaust pipes on one side that I'll start with. I cut out one side of the part, then glue that to the reverse color side. This makes it easier because I cut one card stock layer at a time. I use a fine file to shape the inner pipe segments.


I need to make two, then glue them to the engine block.


Now that this side of the engine is done, I can glue in the Spandau machine gun I make some time ago. I formed a shelf ready to accept the gun before I attached the top wing knowing it would be difficult to do this later. It is easy to glue the machine gun in place.


Next time I'll finish the engine.

[DrLaser]

The engine exhaust is a one piece part with pipes to each cylinder. I'm going to cut out the paper between the piping, but this is totally optional. I start in the middle and work outward. I cut out one side, glue it to the other color side, then cut that side out. This way I only cut through one thickness of card stock at a time. I hold the part tightly in tweezers and sand the six exhaust pipes even so it will glue cleanly to the engine block.


There is one part (and only one part) that the kit didn't include that I decided to make. This is the radiator pipe that connects the engine to the wing-mounted radiator (I'm not actually sure about where the return flow path is). Here is what I came up with using 3-D drawings as a guide.


The engine parts are now complete.


Next I'll work on the gunner's station.