Hi all,
The upper wing fitted,

Mike

Mike I see you have the engine running! I know it must be because the prop isn't visible!

Well, why isn't the prop wash blowing the post-it notes away then? I think bagger is playing with us!

Hi all,
The twin flying and landing wires are now fitted, as are the incidence wires between the interplane struts..
I still have the two drag wires and two side bracing wires (each side of the aircraft) to fit.
Now the 32 separate infill strips between the flying and land wires to do,

Mike

Stunning, Mike!

Hi all,
The tail unit is done.
That includes the rudder and elevator control cables, the twin bracing wires for the fin and the fin and tail plane support struts.
These twin wires, like the flying and landing wires, will need infills and wrapping.

Mike

Hi all,
I've fitted the linen wrapped infills between the pairs of flying, landing and fin bracing wires.
I tried my previous methods of using baking parchment paper and 0.2 mm thick plastic card strips.
However, the length of these pairs of wires are long and they flexed too much.
Therefore, I cut strips of 'Aviattic' CDL decal to 1.75 width of each pair of wires.
The water I used to release the decals was cold, as this tends to release the decal in a more rigid state than warm water would.
That made it easier to position the decal strips onto the wires.
The decals were laid centrally onto the top sides of the wires and left to allow the residual decal adhesive to grip to the wires.
I then applied 'DACO Products' strong setting solution across the top of the decal strip.
As the decal started to soften, I teased the edges under the wires to fully wrap them with the decal.

Not easy but I think it should look OK once I've painted the decals.
This is necessary as the decal is thin and the blue rigging wires shown through.

Then it's onto finishing the rigging (drag and side wires),

Mike

Oh, man. The patience you must have! Beautiful work, Mike!

Hi all,
At last the rigging is complete.
I've added the side bracing wires from the fuselage to the underside of the upper wing.
Also the upper and lower drag wires from the engine bearer frame to the underside of the upper wing and leading edge of the lower wings.
The flying, landing and fin bracing wire infills have also been painted with the same colour as the undersides of the wings and fuselage.
I chose CDL as it's difficult to know if these infills were CDL or blue (as for the rigging wires.
My assumption is that blue would has stood out too much against the camouflage surfaces, so I opted for CDL.

So now it's onto the four wireless wires from the cabane struts to the underside of the upper wing.
Also the fuel tank vent pipe,

Mike

Just superb looking wire wrap Mike, such a tremendous amount of wieing on that model and very close quarters to work in.

Hi all,
I've added the vent pipe from the fuel tank, using 0.4 mm diameter black tube from 'MFH'.
Also the four wireless wires, made from annealed and twisted 0.2 mm diameter copper wire.

Now onto the front end parts,

Mike

Hi all,
I've now added the pilot's Vickers machine gu ('GasPatch replacement), gun sight, ring site, mirror and coolant header tank.
Also the wind driven pump/generator, with pipe from 0.4 mm diameter black tube from 'MFH'.

Just the ailerons and control cables wind screens and observers weapons to add, then it's onto the figures,

Mike

Mouth agape....

I love everything you have done with this model, Mike. Simply outstanding!

Hi all,
The aileron control cables have been added.
The mono-filament used is 0.08 mm diameter and is left clear.
Although the structural rigging was painted blue, the control cables were left unpainted.
I assume this was due to the cables being regularly adjusted and maintained.

Now onto the observers weapons,

Mike

Hi all,
The observers twin Lewis machine guns assembly is now done.
I replaced the kit supplied weapons with 'GasPatch' weapons.
This required modifying the kit supplied gun mounting and adding both the cross bracing between the gun handles and the spreader bar between the breach blocks.
The gun mount spindle is 0.4 mm diameter tube located through holes drilled in the gun mounting lugs.
The cross bracing is 'EZ' line (heavy) routed through 0.3 mm diameter holes drilled diagonally the the ends of the handles.
The twin bungee lift cords around the gun support tube are also 'EZ' line routed through 0.4 mm diameter holes drilled through both sides of the tube pivots at the base ring.

Just the two windscreens to go and the model itself is complete.
Then it's onto the figures,

Mike

Hi all,
The four figures are now done.
These figures are from 'Copper State Models', although two were German ground crew figures.
I modified one of those heavily as he will be stood in the observers cockpit.
The heads were replaced on both by changing French heads around and using one head from 'Hornet Models'.
The figures were painted using a combination of 'Tamiya' and 'AK Interactive' acrylics.

The model is complete now, apart from the display case and a replacement propeller front hub (wrong type fitted).

Once again, many thanks for your support and encouragement throughout this build.
I will post completed photographs in a week or so,

Mike

Absolutely outstanding work Sandbagger

Hi all,
Here's the shots of the completed model.
Thanks for your comments and support - appreciated,

Mike

Just an amazing action scene you composed there Mike! Best I've seen yet!!

Really great work, Mike!