Bughunter

The struts from the kit are in scale, but I do not like them. Due to the thickness of only 0.7mm they are very flexible. I would hate a bend strut on a finished model due to rigging force or other reasons. A second problem are the small connections to the wings - the holes are bigger there.

Teaser pic 1 The result of this update are the finished struts.

Pic 2 I squeezed little pieces of brass tubes (0.8 and 1.0mm) with a thicker wall.

Pic 3 Here acts an unused wing from the kit (big cutout) as a template. The holes in the upper wing are bigger compared to the lower wing - that's why I use different brass tube sizes.

Pic 4 For the new struts I tried different brass tubes: squeezed 1.7mm tube gives the needed size. A 0.5mm brass wire inside + 2 x 0.1mm wall thickness gives the scale thickness of 0.7mm of the new struts. A shaft of a 1.5mm drill helps with cutting.

Pic 5 At first I wanted to make wooden struts as the Camel used those (two layers of veneers with a brass wire inside). Painted with a clear coat this looks fantastic. But in this case the struts are painted anyway in light green, so I go the metal way. Each strut is soldered from 4 parts.

Pic 6 I made sure the struts fit into their positions.

Pic 7 Tinned for a common look.

Pic 8 After Mr. Metal Primer (a clear coat) I painted the struts light green.

Pic 9 All the struts had little cockades applied. After some research I found a generic sheet of the scale 1:144 which had the correct size. These are decals without carrier film and a little bit thicker compared to usual decals. And the manual warns about curling! But it worked!

Pic 10 The round front is easier than the sharp trailing edge, but I was able to apply all 12.

On the outside of the outer struts I also added the logos. The mounting sockets were painted black with a brush. So for the final look of all eight struts see the first teaser photo.