An Adventure in WW 1 Rigging

[John Symmons]

While I’m know expert at rigging WW 1 bi-planes I have done several and wanted to improve my techniques so decided to do some experimenting. Here’s some of the result and techniques I used, maybe others will fin it useful and maybe inspire them to give it a go. It might be a bit fiddley but it is really fairly easily done if you can organise it properly and even the minimal rigging on something like the Fokker Dr-1 tri-plane can add that interesting touch that makes it stand out.

For me the first step is determining were the rigging goes and some research will be necessary even if the kit manufacturer does give a rigging diagram it’s still worth checking other sources this is were the internet comes in really handy and especially reading and looking at what other modeller have done. Many of the aircraft usually had double flying wires and single ground wires, in 1/72 scale the double wires can easily get lost and really does add unnecessary complication to the job, of course if your doing the larger scales like 1/32 then adding double wires and turn-buckles etc is quite feasible. Me! I’m chicken and will stick to the only true scale of 1/72.

For me the first job after I've decided what rigging I’m going to do and where it goes is to hand drill small hole in the parts that carry the rigging. This is done before I even commence assembly and the holes are all drilled with a 0.3 mm drill in a pin vice. Just be very careful with these small drills as they break very easily, they do not bend, and are quite expensive. It might be better if you wrap some masking tape around the handle of the pin vice to stop it rolling off your modelling table, I’ve broken several drill bits when that’s happened, or fashion something like a pen rest to keep the drill when not in use. With these small holes even if you do drill in the wrong place they’re so small that they could be left and it’s doubtful anybody will notice or they can easily be plugged with stretched sprue. Another dodge is to leave the rotary engine off until the rigging is completed as it’s often better to finish the rigging run at the fuselage an the wire can be secured inside the fuselage hidden from view, or vica-versa start the rigging run from the fuselage again fixing the end hidden from view. I used both methods on the Airfix Dr-1. The cabane struts were rigged from the fuselage while the undercarriage ended in the fuselage. You’ll also see in the photo were I’ve fashioned some needle like bits of stretched sprue. These I found very useful in, A; finding the ends, B; Helping stopping tangles, C; if tangles do happen you have something to positively hold when untangling. The needles are just thick stretched sprue with one end flattened and a 0.5 mm hole drilled through it and the thread lightly glued in place. Obviously the needle has to be cut off before threading through any hole, here I found it useful to dip the end in yellow paint, makes it much better to see.

The first method I used as with the Albatros (O.A.W.) D-III where I used some of an earlier thread I brought that is a bit thicker than the newer one, ( the newer one I thought would be too fine.) and I tried fixing the thread through the wings using super glue. As can be see in the photos it didn’t work out that well with many wires not tensioning up correctly and/or not exiting the holes nicely. Still all-in-all the model looks better for the attempt. (I’ll not go into the build as the model isn’t an Airfix model. Suffice to say Airfix could take a look at this model to see what can be done, and maybe do a retool of their old Albatros D-V.) One interesting thing is that the German’s rigged the undercarriage to the rear where-as the Allies were rigged to the front or in some cases both. The Albatros is quite a basic rigging with only rigging to the inter-plane struts, no cabane or tail-plane rigging. The main awkward bit was at the fuselage where all four wires from the inter-plane strut ended at the one place. That was where I started the rigging runs the wires being fixed after painting but before the engine was installed, and yes I did get tangles so I first used bits of masking tape, which sort-of worked but eventually lead to the sprue needles. I wasn’t to happy with fixing the wires through the wings as I found there was always a small bump left and sanding that away was fraught with danger. I think I actually managed to crush the wings on one side trying to remove some excess glue. Luckily the struts didn’t break just bent. Managed to salvage the model but from now on I’ll be very weary of sanding the wings to remove excess glue. Before I’ve always run the rigging to holes in the struts were-ever possible.

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An Albatros in dire need of a rigger.

The next one I tackled was the Morane Saulnier-N even used the 50 year old decals. Again I’ll not comment on the kit or build except to say I really enjoyed this one, simple but somehow very satisfying. The only addition I made was to the underside rigging post there’s a small cross piece that is rigged to the fuselage. ( There’s some excellent builds of this plane at a much larger scale, on the internet, that really show in detail the rigging.) The rigging is really quite straight forwards in that it just goes round and around the fuselage through the upper and lower rigging posts. Those post had to have quite a large-ish hole drilled in them as the upper one has four wires going through it and the lower also four as that was were I ended. Also there’s a hole drilled in-line with the fuselage in the posts for additional wires coming from the upper cowling and one underneath from the rear fuselage. The front wires were first tied and glued to the centre of the front undercarriage after middling a long piece of thread and them just going round the model to the outside wing holes up to the upper post then to the inner front wing hole and finally ending at the lower fuselage just next to the undercarriage leg and fixed inside the fuselage. ( The engine again having been left off. ) then the other side done in simular fashion the wires were they pass through the wing have never been glued. The rear wires were done in a simular fashion only starting from the upper central post. The other underside rigging wires were first glued into the fuselage and then fed and glued into place the excess trimmed off. The ones on the top were first fixed to the post then pulled taught from inside the cowling, not very successfully as they’re still a bit loose looking. This rigging did offer some different challenges but in actual fact they were quite easily solved and the final result was very pleasing except those upper cowling wires. I used the newer thinner thread on this model and it made a big difference in that the thread bent sharply after passing through the holes giving a much cleaner look.

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The two Dr-1 were the easiest of all to rig as mentioned earlier there’s not much to be done. The none Airfix one I rigged wrongly in that the cabane rigging I rigged to the rear confusing it with the control wires, but the Airfix one I got right. As I mentioned in my Old Dogs posting the Airfix model has the inter-plane and Cabane strut both as single pieces which makes the gluing of them very easy using the upper wing as a jig. The lower and middle wings setting the stagger of the wings. As the front fuselage was blocked off I ended up cutting it open to make the rigging that much easier. When first assembling the undercarriage I managed to glue the legs onto the axial back-to-front. Luckily I saw my error before the glue had set and was able to correct it.

I started with the undercarriage rigging by first gluing the wires into holes drilled into the undercarriage legs by tying a blood knot in the thread so the knot jammed in the hole after first coating the knot with super glue. Then the undercarriage was fixed to the fuselage and when dry the wires were threaded into the fuselage and glued inside. The cabane rigging was started from inside the fuselage by threading the wires through from the outside and then pulling them through the front fuselage opening. Then again tying knots and liberally coating with super glue the wires were then pulled back jamming at the holes and inside out of view, there’s no-way those wires are pulling through the holes. The wires were then led up to hole drilled into the tops of the cabane struts, pulled taught being careful not to warp the struts and glued. The rear control wires were done in a simular fashion only through the cockpit opening, but could only be finished once the upper wing was assembled. These were fixed through holes drilled through the upper wing and the wires passed through and the hole plugged with stretched sprue gluing and trapping the wire in the hole. The excess being trimmed off flush with the wing surface and the paint touched up, the result is almost invisible especially as I didn’t do and sanding afterwards. All-in-all a delightful model and more fun than I originally gave it credit for. Pity its now gone as there’s a myriad of colour schemes that it can be modelled in. The none Airfix Dr-1 was another very old kit from the early 60’s and had so much flash it almost looked like a vacuum formed model, it was done in a simular way as the Airfix one only in a scheme of Jasta-11 Sn-163-17 in 1917 flown by Ltn Hans Karl von Linsingen, found at WW1aviation.com. (If your at all interested in WW 1 aircraft give this site a visit, it’s very illuminating.)

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Securing the control cables through the upper wing. Glued in place with ordiary styrene glue.

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The Non Airfix Dr-1 with inaccurate rigging but it still looks cute.

I decided to do the Bristol FB-2 fighter as a bit of a challenge. The basic model is very straight forwards but still very awkward (not allowed to use even mild profanities on this site but I’m sure you get my meaning.) to fix that top wing onto all those struts. (See my Old Dogs posting) With this model I again tried to do some long run rigging runs by first gluing the wires to the fuselage before the top wing was assembled, this is were those needles came in really handy. The bottom wing was easily rigged under the fuselage, by drilling holes into the short struts and rigging before assembly, not that it’s easily seen but it is there. Possibly the easiest bit of rigging I’ve ever done. The tail-plane was rigged in a simular fashion to the Morane, going round and around, the only glue needed was at the final point on the fin underside.

Once the upper-wing was fully set and the wires untangled I threaded the wires through all the pre-drilled holes in the struts, some had to be cleaned out of clogging paint. First I rigged the fore and aft wires of the middle inter-plane struts. Then the front fuselage wire to the upper front middle inter-plane strut then to the outer lower inter-plane strut, rear upper outer strut then finally to the lower part of the rear inter-plane strut. Then similarly with the rear fuselage wire. I had to finish at the lower part pf the middle inter-plane struts as the cabane struts were not installed at this point. All was going fine then disaster struck, as I managed to crush the wing again. Once he wing and struts were repaired some of the rigging was lose and had to be replaced the old fashioned way, by tying and glued to one strut then fed to the next strut and tied and glued in place. As can be imagined there’s some surplus glue that had to be carefully scraped away without cutting any rigging. A new scalpel blade is essential. The cabane struts and rigging were only installed after all the main rigging was almost finished. These struts were too fine to drill holes through so I had to tie and glue some thread to the tops of each strut, assemble the struts onto the aircraft then feed the free ends through holes in the fuselage and securing from the insides through the cockpit opening and nose as in the Dr-1, then finally finish the main wing rigging. Once the crew and propeller were assembled they hide a multitude of sins. One final bit I tried to high-light the very fine rigging thread with some steel paint, to try and make it more visible in the photos, but the paint just over did it too much. Well that’s how we learn by our mistakes.

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The tail plane rigging.The thread is only glued under the fin all other places left unglued.

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this was were I wa at when I crushed the wing.

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Rigging the undercarriage and cabane struts.

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Ready to rumble.

Well that’s about it, hope you enjoyed the adventure and maybe you’ll also try your hand at some WW 1 aircraft. It’s really not that difficult if you organise and think thing out before hand, and the results are really worth it even if some of the wires are a bit slack. As I said at the start this was to try out, for me, new ways. Those sprue needles really helped as did rigging the struts as apposed to the wings, also either starting or finishing at the fuselage helped as did securing from the insides. I still have the Airfix HP-400 in the stash together with a Roden Gotha, now those should be a challenge, but first I think I’ll try something a bit more mundane like a Stuka or two or three or five.

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All the Old Dogs.

In my post a A Modellers Friend you’ll a see a way I fashioned a stand to use while rigging the Bristol and stop the wires becoming tangled. Wish I’d photographed it but I didn’t, I’ve shown it with an incomplete Walrus on it, but I’m sure you can figure out how it helped with the Bristol, obviously it was used without the Bristol’s undercarriage assembled.

Remember we do this for fun.                                                      John the Pom.