DFW T.28 Floh - WIP

I gave up Ebay. Shipping costs are ridiculous as sellers are trying to reduce Ebay fees. 50 USD for shipping? I rather print my own kit. 

I am new to this 3D print stuff, so I tried to print a fuselage piece with the largest surface at the bottom 

Looks OK, but I realised that the curves in XY-axis will always be better than in Z-axis, where they will always be "pixelated" 

I am printing two "port" fuselages, one is the mirror 

Printing now the fuselage on upright position, so we can have a better curve 

Much better pieces, a little filing and it should be smooth and curvy. The engine holes turned out much better than expected. 

Comparing both pieces 

Printing all pieces at once, plus one wing flat (back when I was unsure if the printer could print it without messing it up) 

Turns out, printing wings like this is perfect: thin enough, and still has the airfoil curve. Print lines are along the cord, so the wing is strong. The only problem is that the spar indents are not present. 

Comparing wings, not comparable 

the wings are really thin, I hope there will be no problem adding metal pins 

I am using sprue sheet to make the tail for the second prototype 

Not a very busy interior, but I am not planning on doing fine detail in  

Base tamiya yellow to do some experiments with clear orange. Propeller was kindly donated by a Eduard Fokker D VII 

tamiya clear orange brushed with a wide brush. the 3d print lines helped with the wood grains 

Adding decals from a Fokker D VII, they fit. Made a control stick with leftover 3D print plastic.  

the 3D print of the seat looked like vickers seat, so I went along with it, and added brown and clear orange while enhancing those reliefs.  

Seatbelt from the Sopwith triplane. Probably not the best choice for a german airplane, but it does the work. 

Puttying the wings. Plastic putty works great. 

Adding 0.4mm brass tube. The wings are very thin, this was not easy. I would thicken the wings a little more if I was going to redo this.  

Measuring the panel lines for the radiator and tanks 

Not great, since this plastic is way harder and a little more difficult to work with, but I hope with a layer of primer, it goes bette 

Closing the fuselage with sprue glue. I think it's great, as it fills out all gaps, creates a very strong bond, and I think it will leave no seams.  

Final touches on scribing, wings are done.  

relocated vents, by gluing some sprue rectangles with sprue glue, and filing it to get a smaller widt 

doing a better radiator by using leftovers from a 3D print base 

Not perfect, hoping that a primer layer smooths the rought 

Adding first primer layer, to see how rough the surface is 

second primer layer, to really hide the print 

wheels in XF-1 black and olive drab (should be gray-green but now it's done) 

Just using a simple circle template. Some black panel liner to add some dirt and to mark the edge will come soon. 

good that the masking tape had exactly the targeted thickness between ribs, half the work 

XF-1 black 1:1 with X-20A for the ribs pre-shading 

unmasking, need another masking across now 

done, note how I made it thicker on the ailerons. The 3D model had smaller ailerons than the real model, so the spar placement is not great, but it works for now 

using sprue glue to make a better cockpit leather border, whatever the name of that is 

using stretchable mask tape, cutting tiny slices 

I try to give some slack to the tape next to the prop center, but the masks can rise up. I will fix tat later. 

Made triple stripes to look like the real prop. 

Adding 1 mm steel pipe as prop cube, some leftover decals from a Fokker E III as prop logos, and I don't remember what is that photo etch part coming from, but close enough 

glued with sprue glue, all ready for a little aluminium colour 

Vinyl masks from a vinyl cutter, using it as a pre-shading to mimic the shadow over translucent fabric 

Vinyl masks from a vinyl cutter, using it as a pre-shading to mimic the shadow over translucent fabric 

Attaching undercarriage with sprue glue. Too late to make a proper hole and attachment, this is something I should be aware on next 3D projects 

Shading going well 

Coated with XF-2 white and XF-23? light blue, in a 10:1 to 5:1 -ish ratio. I like it really subtle 

Now for the main crosses 

turns out the vinyl I used is too strong and peeled the paint away. Guess I have to do this all over again. I ordered some Oramask 810, as I don't trust this vinyl anymore.