Aug/Sep 2017

Eduard Roland C.II

Completed: September 2017

My rating: 9/10

Therapy ratting: 9/10

The Roland C.II 'Walfish' (Whale) arrived at the front line in March 1916. It was the first biplane to have the upper wing attached directly to the fuselage which gave it a unique streamlined look.

Rather 'art-deco' I think, and the 'fish' scales just add to the appeal of this rather striking aircraft.

What colour ?

'Unfortunately the conventional wisdom of an all over pale blue Roland C.II just does not stand up to close scrutiny. The Roland C.II appeared at a time when camouflage was only just being introduced on German aircraft, resulting in many varied colour scheme possibilities. - WingnutWings

So for this model historical accuracy is going to be difficult to achieve. On the other hand that allows a degree of artistic license and I will feel free to pick and choose from the different variants.

There are four variants offered in this Eduard version. Beyond that WW offer two more which are very nice.

My favorite so far is Dave Johnsons Wingnut Wings 1/32 version. I love the subtlety in the painting. Its the closest I have seen to the original canvas covering and some spot on weathering effects.

Check it out on the WW site. Superb!!

Been doing a bit more surfing and come across a superb Eduard version by Brads Models. The interior detail is just lovely.

In the Box

As you would expect from a Profipack the kit comes with two photo etched sprues. Nice detail but the usual rather vague diagrams in the instructions as to how to bend them up. (Please add photos Eduard).

A good set of decals and a masking set for the wheels and window frames. My only concern is that the fish scales may add colour which I dont want. Hopefully they are just grey but its hard to tell from the sheet.

The four provided sprues.

The new PE set up

This is my third model using PE parts and I am hoping to improve the results with some new kit.

The difficulties with using PE parts is firstly their size and secondly applying the super glue accurately.

I am trying out 'Rocket' super glue which apparently sets in about two seconds. That's both good and bad making initial placement crucial.

I have found that this glue is very runny and difficult to control. Applying it directly from the bottle just gets glue everywhere and is impossible to control. So the new plan is use hypodermic needles.

In a test run this seemed to work pretty well. You only need to suck up a very small amount. To stop the glue from setting I push the needle into a cork until required. As long as you keep the air out it remains fluid.

This seems to give good control on a par with my Revell poly cement applicator. Cleaning out the needle after use is a problem however. For now I leave a thin piece of wire in the needle which you can remove after use. Mine dried solid but a little tugging got it out and I then drilled it clean using a 0.2mm drill. Good as new.

I really want to improve my rigging and the other innovation for this build is home made connectors. I got this idea from Tom Grigat's video (see Home) and it seems to offer a more flexible and neater method of attaching the cables without sticking them directly to the fuselage surface.

Wooden interior ?

Brads model and others I have seen all seem to suggest that the fuselage consisted of wooden panels. I am not sure if this was actually the case but its hard to tell from archive photos. It might well just be stretched canvas over wooden ring supports.

Either way the wooden rings are in evidence in the model interior and are rather unusual in that they all slope.

The wood suggested here is some sort of 'oak' so fairly dark in colour. To start with I painted on a diluted mid-tone brown (2). I always dilute fairly heavily so that paint washes on and leaves very little in the way of brush strokes. I actually left it deliberately blotchy to allow some of the plastic colour to cut through. This all helps to add some texture to the wood surface.

Afer a coat of gloss varnish to seal things I mixed up a darker brown by adding a little black to the original brown. This was then sparingly painted onto the panels and then dry brush streched by working in a little thinner just to soften the edges (3). To add a bit more definition the 'rings' were also picked out in this colour.

Finally a little red was also worked in here and there using the same technique and also to lighten the wood up (4).

Shaky camera ?

It took me awhile to figure out that the transparent 'wedge' shape is supposed to be a camera. Here are a few web examples and as you can see there is little consensus. Also was this camera fixed in place ? or hand held ?

As it is located on the wall and does not line up with the floor hatch I assume it must have been hand held. Maybe being fixed to a rattling fuselage surface just resulted in blurred images. Whi knows.

I guess the big knob is the focus control on a rack and pinion system ? The lens would just be at the very bottom. There is a bit more info on this on the WW page instructions which are quite helpful.

There is obviously a lot of detail left out in the model which is clearly obvious in the archive photos.

Fitting out

There are quite a few separate components for the cockpit. I am trying to paint as much as possible before gluing in position which is the opposite of my usual approach.

Hopefully this will result in a cleaner overall finish. The down side is that painted parts are more difficult to glue. Varnishing helps but you do run the risk of the glue eating into the paint and everything just sliding of in a gooey mess.

So far, so good on a dry run. I recommend using a bit of blue-tac just to hold everything in place. The dash just will not stand up on its own.

I had to do some serious cutting down on the window panels which, as shipped, just don't fit. Thats kinda strange and not something I have come across with Eduard before. Slicing off the majority of the outer flange solves the problem. You can take off nearly all of it really as the PE window surrounds hide the edges nicely.

I have been a little over zealous with the black ' grime' stains on the wood. It all got a bit too dark and then difficult to remove. It looks fine at scale. Lesson learnt.

Green or Blue ?

I tried blue first off but it just didn't look right. In the end I used a mix of White and 'Sky RAF' (59) around 70:30.

I needed two coats of the diluted mixture to get rid of any obvious brush strokes. Using a a very runny mixture really helps achieve that. And then a layer of gloss varnish to seal.

After drying for 24hrs I started masking up for the weathering effect on the wings. The idea here is to darken down the light green either side of the tape. It requires a graduated fall of which will be interesting to achieve using brushes.

The gloss varnish makes it possible to work the surface using a very thin black/brown wash.

Getting a gorilla

I have been having serious problems using the Rocket super glue/hypodermic set up. Well frankly the hypodermic just got stuck solid in the end. Also the glue is incredibly fast flowing and difficult to control.

In the end I got hold of some 'Gorilla' super glue from my local super market and that seems to have solved all the problems.

I am finally making some progress now with putting PE parts together. They are so fiddly and tiny to bend into shape and fit.

I am well pleased with these results.

Thank you Gorilla.

In for a penny

This is my first attempt at the canvas weathering.

The technique that seems to work best is to wash the entire wing surface with the dilute black/brown/thinner mixture. Once this has dried of you can take out what you don't want by just using neat thinner. Not too much or the varnish will come off and its game over.

Carefully you can remove the wash to reveal a 'v' shape highlight between the ribs and bring back the original colour.

I think the masking tape was probably a bit too wide and the wash probably too dark, but in principle it works well and is fairly controllable.

I will try and improve it a bit but the varnish will ultimately break down with too much working. Its a fine balance.

Dry run 1

Just a dry put together to see how things are adding up.

I managed to take of most of the dark wash where required. It is more difficult to get off once it is fully dry. You can get more subtle effects when the wash is still a little workable, after say one hour.

I am generally pretty pleased with the result. Shame I forgot about the white squares for the iron cross decal. I thought the decal had a white background but no!! - you have to paint them on. Thats a bit tight Eduard.

Fitted

With nearly all the interior kitted out its getting a bit cramped. I am going to be quite reluctant to say farewell to this interior but it really is time to say goodbye.

The camera had to be moved further back and down than given in the instructions. I don't think that matters much as after all it was a hand held camera so could go anywhere in the cabin for storage.

Herringbones

I was a bit wary about applying the large decals that form up the herringbone pattern. Pretty straightforward in the end.

The set of five decals joined up fairly well. Fitting around the window frames was the starting point and then they nicely floped into position. The geometric pattern did not line up exactly but I got an acceptable result. A few gaps but they really dont stand out.

Then on with the crosses and the 'happy face' and it starts to look like the real thing.

A little trimming of the decals was required after setting. All of the windows had to be cut out and a small section along the gunners position with a sharp scalpel.

Toms rigging

And so onto trying the new rigging system.

The hoops were created using a bit of solder as a former. Holes were then drilled using a 0.4mm drill slanting them roughly in line with the corresponding cables. The hoops were then stuck into position using Gorilla.

The cables themselves were then attached to the hoops by winding them around themselves. These were pretty slack at first but much of this can be taken out by bending the fastening loops back a bit.

Overall, as new technique, it seems to work pretty well. That you can 'tighten' everything up using the loops was an unexpected bonus.

Another nice little PE detail in the wing compass. I have never seen one mounted like this before. Bit of a pain for the pilot - especially in cloud!!

Me no like....

Well using the hoops made from 0.2mm wire works pretty well. Once glued in place they are surprisingly strong and will take a bit of pulling before dislodging.Using this same wire for the rigging however just does not really work.

At this scale it is just too thick and really impossible to straighten in situ as you can see. Its also really fiddly getting the second end tied in by trying to loop the wire around itself.

So I have gone back to my usual nylon thread which looks instantly better and more in proportion. This tightens up well but I would of liked to have aligned the hoops with the cable orientation rather than using this as a tightening mechanism. Oh well, next time. Lesson learnt.

Re-rigged

I think this looks soo much better.

The 0.2mm wire is just too large at 1/48 scale for the rigging. It works just fine for the anchors and I will certainly use it again for piping in more modern planes.

I'll also be looking to add some 0.1 and 0.3mm sizes to the armory.

Rigged

And thats pretty much it for the rigging.

As soon as it is painted black the difference between the nylon and wire systems is very apparent.

There is certainly room for improvement with the rigging system. Using the anchors to tension the wires does mean pulling them out of alignment. Its a small point but next time I will try to line things up a bit better. They could also do with being a bit shorter as well. The anchor hole size could also be reduced to make them less conspicuous.

Overall thogh I think it works really well. Its a big step up from my previous efforts on the Albatros and the Bristol Fighter.

Next up in the bi-plane series will be the Roden DH9 so check that out for an update.

Gunned up

Final stages now of the construction with the addition of a few more PE parts.

The Spandau LMG 08 and the Parabelum LMG guns are mainly constructed from PE parts. Several of these need to be glued to each other.

Eduard have made rather hard work of this by requiring major surgery on the provided gun parts despite this kit being a Profipack. Surely easier just to provide them already in separate parts ? OK its doable but desirable ? The nozel on the Parabelum is particularly small and difficult to cut cleanly.

Had a bit of cock up with the Spandau getting the main body around the wrong way to begin with. After breaking it apart and reassembly its a fair representation, as is the Parabelum.

I painted them up but couldnt get quite the smoothness of finish I would have liked. PE parts dont seem to take enamel paint very well resulting in a fairly coarse result. Pre rubbing with thinner usually helps.

A little dry silver painting and a coat of varnish for the final result.

I think these will look just fine in situ.

Best laid plans

Now this is a bit of an issue when using Cyanocryalate superglue.Basically you cannot superglue on to a decal. Even after it has been varnished.

On first attempt the glue burnt right through the varnish/decal combination and lifted the whole thing off from the wing. The part then had to pulled free and then re-glued directly on to the plastic surface. Bit of a pain but a another lesson learnt.

In the future PE parts will go directly onto the plastic surface. This may mean having to cut up decals but that maybe the only choice. Here I can retouch - but with a more detailed decal that would be more difficult or impossible.