Part 2: The Build

I have started from the front to back and found right off that parts A45 and A46, the forward cabane struts are reversed. Make a note and on with the show. I installed the landing gear and lower wing assembly together which made installing the smaller lower wing struts quite easy.

I then rigged the lower wing and landing gear section using "Bobs Buckles" For those of you unfamiliar with this company he is the cats meow for rigging. His turn buckles come in all sizes, 1/72 thru 1/32. You will see them in use as the build goes on.

The tail section went together with just a little filing here and there. Again I used Bobs Buckles for the rudder and elevator bell cranks. A close look at period photos shows turn buckles on every thing that had a wire on it. Be careful with the tail skid braces, parts A59 and A60 they are very fragile, it took me some time to repair them, one broke removing it from the sprue and the other while installing it.

I took time after the tail work to do some detailing on the front parts of the plane that couldn't be reached after the assembly was complete. I used artist pastels and burnt umber artist oil mixed with Turpenoid for the stitches and panel lines. Brown and green pastel mix applied with artist rolled cardboard pencils on the leading edges and wing ribs. A little note on WWI paint, most of you know this already, but just for the new guys. Paint of that period was a semi gloss or gloss they didn't have matte hues yet. The colors did fade a lot with weather and use but it was semi-gloss when new, not matte.

The color called for the Bristol, "PC10" is a hard one to call because of the many different mixes used in the field. It could be any where from chocolate brown to light olive drab. The paint I am using is "Mister Kit" BC-03 PC-10. Well now on to the wing and engine assemblies. Well the engine is complete and it is a real beauty. My complements to the folks at Wingnuts. It seems a shame to cover it with a hood. It looks as though you could flip the prop and start it up. I am going to attach the lower hood and leave the top removable due to the placement of the front top wing brace placement. Be aware that hood parts B9 and B10 are reversed. I did some more weathering and applied some of the decals in the places that will be difficult to reach on the completed build. Struts and both sides of the fuselage etc.

Next I am going to build the rear guns, they will be mounted last to make rigging easier. Rigging of the rear flying controls will be next.