Fus finish

[catwok]

Hola amigos from sunny Lanzarote, whilst on holiday I am contemplating a couple of vintage models to build over the winter, and my question is the finish of the fuselage. Both subjects have ply structures that have been painted and you can see every joint and ripple of the plywood. If I replicate this finish would people think it's a poorly finished model or do I go for a "good" finish? Regards Paul

[Ian Davis]

Hi paul

To the uninitaited a fus that shows all the joints would be deemed less than perfect. If scale is what you're after then let the splicing show. Anyone with any knowledge would applaud your efforts.

Ian

[VinceC]

I agree, always best to see the joins on the skin. My Weihe looks quite realistic with them and doesn't look like a plastic fuselage

[RobbieB]

Paul,
If you cover in ply you will see all the formers and stringers just as you would with the full size wooden and vintage machines which will become more evident over time.

Wooden and vintage sailplanes had the appearance that was frequently described as the 'starved rat' look (or 'starved horse' depending upon how polite you wanted to be).

Sheeting in balsa, it may not be so obvious but could always be replicated if you wanted to.

[catwok]

Thanks for your thoughts gents but if you look at this image of a possible model, Breguet 900, how would you think it would look like as a model? Thanks Paul

[VinceC]

You won't achieve such a dramatic effect on a model. Most of that type of effect is always in the node area due to the compound curves, but you will see it to some extent if you have the stringers and formers in the same places. Again my Weihe does display these effects and was commented upon at one time by Robbie who liked the effect, although it happened all by itself.

[RobbieB]

.............and while we are on the subject of authentic finishes, a glance along the trailing edge of many vintage craft can be quite enlightening.

[Paul_Williams]

Hi Paul,
interesting to see this debate.
I take my hat off to those who can produce a smooth and immaculately painted fuselage. This is fine for modelling glass ships but not really for (most) wooden sailplanes.

If you look at modern fullscale replicas of gliders such as the DFS Habicht or Hutter H.28 - the finish is in fact much better than the originals !
Photos of Wolf Hirth sat in an original and brand new Habicht clearly shows all the fuselage frames - and I emphasise BRAND NEW.
Depending on the ply and type of glue used, some will age/sag/go starved horse - more and more with increasing age but it was usually visible from new. In the USA this was often hidden by use of large amounts of filler - ' a plaster job' !!!

Specials such as the DFS Reiher had a better quality of skin finish, achieved in many locations by using the ply diagonally, which led to a lot of waste which is why it wasn't used on most sailplanes. Many Swiss sailplanes had an astonishingly good finish.

So I would day - yes, go for it - its a scale model after all - and the forward fuselage frames and longerons were very visible on most wooden sailplanes. However, you do need to know where all the fuselage frames were located of course.

Note that the area above the top longeron forward of the canopy, looked smooth despite being double curvature - that's achieved by scarfing strips of ply, fore and aft, around 2-3 inches wide. In the H28, this was also used on the lower side of the fuselage forward of the wing but I don't know of any other types which did this.
Paul

[B Sharp]

Hi Paul. I have to agree with most of the guys who have replied so far. We have a number of builders who, like Mr Williams, are able to produce models to a flawless museum quality, and they look absolutely superb. However if you have spent any time at a typical gliding club the vast majority of older gliders look decidedly tatty, especially the club gliders (it's called character). I personally feel that if your model has a perfect finish it may run the risk of looking more like a toy than a scale model. I am happy to fly models that have that worn look, at least that's my excuse for my inability to produce a museum class finish.
Brian.

[VinceC]

......and they were all painted with a tar Brush