Bristol Fighter - the same but different. Or, one man’s attempt at rigging.

[Dominic Thomas]

Rod,

I think you may be right. And it looks like the original markings will be an option. Lets hope they include the underwing bumper bars.

Randall,

Thanks for the encouragement. Lets hope it still looks good when I’ve finished.

[Dominic Thomas]

Slow progress. The next step was to start the process of adding the control wires for the ailerons.

Having filled any rigging holes in the upper surface of the top wing, it was painted, varnished, and recalled. Of course these actions effectively blank the predrilled holes for the control wires. So, I had to carefully prod and poke to find these holes through the roundels. The photo below shows that I managed it without damaging the roundels. The tiny holes can just be be seen close to the inner edges of the blue circle. I have to say that these holes are not in exactly the same places on each wing - one of the perils of doing this whole job freehand I think.

The same process will have to be followed on the undersurface of the lowers wings, and the rigging can be added.

I also have to add the ‘pivoting poles’ on each aileron, which will also be a difficult task to avoid damaging the roundels.

[Ratch]

Looking good

[Dominic Thomas]

Thanks Ratch.

[AirportsEd]

This thread has been very informative and I'm enjoying it, many thanks.

I had never heard of the etched rigging before.

I wonder if I will be brave enough to try such a task myself!

Ed

[Dominic Thomas]

Ed,

Thats very kind, thank you.

I hope the end (when it finally comes) justifies your persistence.

Dominic

[Dominic Thomas]

I had hoped to submit a final set of pictures today, but in adding the aileron control ‘wires’, I sprang one of the ‘wires’ from between one of the outer pair of struts.

Now, this is one of the faults of my rigging method. While one end on the ‘wire’ remained attached to the upper wing, the free end needed to be reattached to the lower wing. I therefore spotted a wee bit of superglue gel near the bottom of the strut, and then stretched the thread [‘wire’] so that I could hold the end via tweezers in contact with the gel. This did not work. The reason being that as no accelerator was used, the thread had to be held absolutely still to allow the glue to cure. Due to my advanced years, this was not possible.

Conclusion - while I am happy with my method for initial rigging, if remedial work is required with threads of limited lengths, then accelerators must be used for the superglue to give an instant bond, I think.

For information, the paints were Vallejo acrylic US Verde Olivia [70.887] for the upper surfaces, and Humbrol Arcrylic Oak Satin [71] for the lower. The engine area was Humbrol 165. All was varnished with Xrtacrylix Flat Varnish, which for me always seems to give a satin finish.

Hope to submit pix tomorrow.

[Dominic Thomas]

I’m calling this finished for the purposes of this post. It’s not really as the bumper bars and the rear gun at least need to be added. The rigging is done as far as I intend to do it. I have added as much as I can from the reference photos with the exception of the rudder controls. Leaving them off is my protest at the thickness of the rudder in the kit - if I build another, I must thin this down, significantly.

Anyway, pix….

[null_null981707818191]

Your conclusion regarding using CA accelerator is much the same as the one to which I came! I've enjoyed reading your progress on what was at times a tricky little build. So well done to both of us for getting it done.