Halberstadt Cl.IV

[jimkrauzlis]

Spectacular work, John!

She is really looking great!

Cheers!
Jim

[DrLaser]

Thanks again Jim!

Well, when I took a good look at the plane, I was dissatisfied with the radiator tube (way too massive), and realized I put the exhaust on backwards (DOH!). Soooo, I removed those parts and reattached the exhaust correctly (via the first picture in this thread), and I made a new thin radiator pipe from a piece of regular paper. Looks way more better to me.


Okay so now I'm ready to build up the gunner's station. Here are that parts already for final assembly. The main ring is actually made of three thicknesses of card stock, rather than the kit's two. You are looking at the underside of the ring, showing the alignment marks for all the ring supports (shown with the ring).


There is a bracket that goes between the gunner and the pilot (the part on the right inthe photo above). It is meant to have a cross bracing structure connecting it to the ring. Now, you can use it as pictured (real easy), cut out the paper between the bracing (real hard), or make the bracing from paper strips (not too bad actually). So I cut a thin strip of paper, Sharpied it black, then use the original part as a guide to bend it into the correct trapizoidal shape.


I'll double over the bottom and glue it up then cut off the excess. Then cut a length to glue in the diagonal - using the original part as an alignment guide.


That was easy. To get the cross brace at the right place, align the part so the remaining diagonal is along one of the lines in the cutting mat. This will allow me to place the half length brace so it bisects the long diagonal brace already there.


Once that is glued in, the remaining section is placed to line up.


This entire piece is now done - in two pieces rather than one piece per the original. I like the open latice and it was not too bad to make - at 1/72 scale. Should be easy at the "normal" scale of 1/48.


The lower section is glued in the fuselage right over the gunner's strap, then the open brace structure is glued on top of that piece. This is now ready for the gunner's ring.


I think it is easier to glue the two rear supports to the ring first, with the wider ends out and slanting back. Splay them out a bit. Use the fuselage location marks as a guide.


So now the ring can be glue to the fuselage. It lines up perfectly (a well designed kit!). It is centered over the gunner's position.


Now it is straightforward to attach the side braces where the alignment marks tell you to. I tapered the end of the support than meets the fuselage so it looks more flush.


Whew ! Just have the Parabellum gun to go.

[jagolden01]

This is just spectacular!
I noticed the exhaust but didn't want to say anything.

[tufsendude]

Where can I find my own Cl.IV?

[DrLaser]

I think this is available at Ecardmodels.com.

The Parabellum gun is a straightforward build. I decided to cut off the barrel because I found one in my 'spare parts" box that I liked better, being a paper tube with a nice pattern on it. The kit's gun is perfectly fine as is. But I usually like to make gun barrels from pencil lead or rolled paper. I glud each cut out gun side to another thickness of card stock. I'll cut them out and glue everything together. I also cut off gun attachment support. I'll build that as the gun and glue it back on later. I find it just too hard to build a gun like this as one piece.


I build up the ammo drum just like wheels - with layers of cardboard. Here I'll use one cardboard and one card stock piece for the build up. The edge part is thinned by splitting the cardstock before assembly.


Here is the gun all assembled. It's about 3/4-inch long.


When I attached the gun to the gunner's ring, the gun stuck into the ring farther than I liked or thought appropriate (but who am I to know). I removed the gun support and moved it further back on the gun, then attached the gun to the ring.



Next installment will be some wrap-up photos and a final assessment of this kit.

[jimkrauzlis]

Magnificent!!

Truly an inspirational and educational build.

Looking forward to the final touches and wrap up, although with mixed emotions as I hate to see this thread end!

Cheers!
Jim

[Texman]

Inspirational work John! Another well done model.

[DrLaser]

Just one more thing . . . .

I discovered this threat about a simplified vintage propellor by Leif Ohlsson Laminated prop in paper. Leif's propellor was designed at 1/16 scale and his download has it in 1/16 and 1/33 scales. Using his download PaperModelers.com - Downloads - Simplified laminated prop I adapted my propellor color scheme to make one of these propellors in 1/72 scale. The printout is with regular paper and you can see the final result next to my crude design.


Leif's design is sheer genius and in the back of my mind I thought something like this was possible. Leif was creative enough and talented enough to pull it off. Thank you Leif.

So I replaced the prop.


You know what this means? I'll have to make about a dozen or so of these to retrofit current models!

Next time will be the final review.

[Leif Ohlsson]

John,

This thread both requires and merits reading twice or more, just like Don & Jim & others have pointed out repeatedly. It makes me very happy to know that the propeller worked out for you so well in this tiny scale.

I must reread this thread now, partcularly the sections about rigging.

Leif

[DrLaser]

Wrap-Up

The Halberstadt by Kampfflieger is an excellent model and I highly recommended it for your WW1 collection. Roman Vasilyev designed it well with outstanding artwork - the Lozenge pattern is fantastic to behold. All the parts fit perfectly. It is very complete with a detailed interior and engine. It is a simple design and easy to build with no problems. Even a beginner to biplanes will have no problems.

The only part I would like to have seen included is the radiator pipe between the engine and the wing mounted radiator - but that is very minor indeed.

The only changes from the kit is the OSP (Ohlsson Simplified Propeller) and the rolled rear gun barrel. These are by no mean necessary.

This was fun to build and my advice - just do it!

Review Pictures
I know I like seeing pictures of the completed model, so here are some:



Field Pictures
Here is the Halberstadt ready for a mission:



Bonus Features
I thank you all for your words of encouragement and praise with some Bonus Features.

I built the Halberstadt here with the tools shown. Doesn't take much for this hobby, that's one of the many reasons why I like papermodeling so much.


Here is the set-up for the final pictures. Lighting without sharp shadows is the key! I took the build pictures at the builds station (in the family room) using the extra lighting shown below. The camera used was a Cannon Powershot SX130IS. The least expensive point and shoot camera that has manual focus (down to a few cm). Could not have got the close ups without it.


Hope you enjoyed the build. Thank you Roman for the kit - I have to build more of your designs.