Model Forum / General / Models / January 2009

Are you aware that there is an Airfix 1:72 kit that isn't a bad kit?

However, for fabric simulation-  The main thing is the rib stitching on
the wings, and along fuselage longerons.  I use thin tape.  Model Expo
almost always has on sale some great, very thin tape, in as narrow as
1/32 inch.  Don't worry about what color, it will be painted over.

I wouldn't worry about simulating the weave until you get bigger,
possibly 1:32.

Fabrics are always doped with aluminum powdered dope, which tends to
fill in the weave.  Then the colored layers further fill the weave.  Of
course, there is clear dope even before the aluminum dope.

You can get very fine silk covering material at hobby shops.  That could
be applied over the wood or plastic structure to simulate the weave at
larger scale.

In painting, always make the fabric covered surfaces just a shade duller
than metal ones.

I have been contemplating building another of the 1/72 kits as a radar
test vehicle- one was used early in the British airborne radar
development.  What an anacronism- a radar equipped Heyford!