Frigging in the Rigging

One of the items I picked up at Triples this year was this Roden SE5a kit. I bought it as an experiment in rigging. I have built several World War One aircraft over the years, but have never rigged any of them, as they have been in 1/72nd scale I've never bothered. But last year I bought a Pfalz DIII and a Roland CII, both in 1/48th scale and they will need rigging properly. So I bought this SE5a to try it out on. I used the stretched sprue technique and despite being an imperfect kit, I am pleased with how it turned out.





It is the SE5a flown by Captain S.P. Simpson of No.32 Squadron RFC, in France, May 1918. I now feel more confident about tackling the larger kits, so keep an eye out for when they are completed and thanks for looking!

Comments

  1. Nice sprue work, ABS! This is a great modeling job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jay, I really enjoy making models, so it's nice to get positive feedback when I do!

      Delete
  2. Wow, looks mighty fine. I don't think I'd ever have the courage to try stretched sprue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Edward, it's actually easier than you think. I was worried about doing it as well, I may put a tutorial up soon, when I start rigging the bigger aircraft. It's just a case of heating the sprue then pulling it apart evenly and at a constant rate.

      Delete
  3. Looks great. I attempted the stretched sprue method once but for some reason it messed up..
    Worst Thing I find with the bi/tri planes is getting the top wing on..like balancing jelly on a balloon :-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Paul, I didn't do the small rigging around the cockpit, so that made things a bit easier. It was really a case of practise, practise and practise. With a lot of swearing...

      Yeah, I find the top wing a real pain and it's hard to get it all lined up properly.

      Delete
  4. Alex, fantastic. Please do put up a tutorial about how you managed this. It looks excellent. There are many, many (great) tutorials on the net about rigging Great War aircraft, but very, very few from wargamers. Our aircraft get used, handled and man-handled so we need something robust, and your SE5 looks perfect for that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sydney, I'm not sure how rugged these rigging techniques would be in game play, but they should be OK as long as they are not thrown about.

      Delete

Post a Comment