Building some simple rigging for the Eduard Fokker EII Eindecker

Today at Badgerworks, in a follow up to the Eduard 1/48 scale Fokker E.II Eindecker, we take a closer look at some simple methods for applying rigging to an aircraft.
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[@JazzWithJakeInSF]

You may not have an Eindecker Obsession, but there's a good chance you're a carrier. Thanks all the same for sharing your experience and techniques.

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Oh come on, it's been ages since I built the previous four Eindeckers. Just wait until I have the money to get the Wingnut Wings Eindecker... :-)

[@surinfarmwest6645]

Modelling to the MAX! That was amazing, I had to put my specs on to get the phone up to my nose and was willing the elastic to go in the hole. Wife looked for 5 seconds, mumbled something about crazy English and walked off. Double result! 😃

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Cool - glad I'm keeping everyone entertained :-)

[@nigelheffernan3857]

Fantastic job

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks :-)

[@robbo1068]

Thanks for sharing your expertise and knowledge with us who are very mediocre modelers! Your visual presentation and commentary are so informative yet easy to follow. I've been purchasing eyelets and turnbuckles but now that I've seen your video I'll be making my own....great job!

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks. One of the main purposes of this channel is to pass on the stuff I've picked up since getting back into modelling so we can all improve :-)

[@billgoodwin8262]

Fantastic demonstration and information. I will be using this technique during the build of a very old kit of the Golden Hind...Sir Francis Drake's flagship. This is a kit that I have inherited that was in a closet for over 30 years and covered with dust !!! Bill G Linwood KS USA

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks, I'm happy it's going to help you out :-)

[@billgoodwin8262]

Just thought I'd let you know how making the "eyelets and turnbuckles" turned out.. It worked fantastic !!! I showed my efforts to my wife and she said "WOW" Of course she isn't biased at all. So, again I want to thank you for the info and to let you know I enjoy your videos more than anybody's because of the info but more importantly, you get things done.

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Cool, I'm glad it was useful for you, and impressing the wife is always a bonus :-)

[@garyhiggins6718]

Thanks for this, rigging scares the hell out of me, but this at least makes it seem possible! 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@SteamGeezerUK]

I'm glad it was useful for you :-)

[@stephenbridges2791]

Been waiting on this video. This is the best explanation of biplane rigging I have seen on the internet. Extremely well done, sir! Just subscribed, too. Keep up the good work, if you have the time.

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks, I appreciate it, and glad to be of assistance :-)

[@DavidRamirez-ww5kv]

Excellent sir. The best rigging demonstration on youtube I have seen. I have rigged 1/48 scale biplanes using a similar method but I use tubes to run the string back through. I have also rigged my 1/72 airfix Eindecker. I am waiting to see the rigging on a 1/72 biplane!

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks. I have rigged 1/72 biplanes before (I even rigged a 1/350 scale Supermarine Walrus) but I wasn't making videos at the time.

[@TranceTrousers]

Very interesting and informative. I like the way you show cheap, simplified ways to do things that end up looking just as good as some other more expensive and complex methods. By the way, I subscribed earlier this year :-)

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks. I don't have a lot of money myself so i'm always looking for ways to get the job done cheaper and it only seems right to pass on whatever I can to others.

[@llama1910]

Very helpful, thanks for sharing your technique

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it :-)

[@wadejustanamerican1201]

Your video was very helpful, thank you.

[@davewilliams6172]

Nice one Steve, the Eindecker looks great, not surprised it is a favourite of yours. Good work on the rigging, I have used cotton before and getting the right tension was a pain, this elastic looks so much easier. Keep the crew at the BadgerWorks busy!

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks. First time I tried that elastic was a game changer for me. More rigging to come in an upcoming project... ;-)

[@bugler75]

Fantastic video thanks for uploading, now too can plan to do some WW1 aircraft 😊 I really enjoy your style and method of instruction !

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks for watching :-)

[@cygnusx10]

This is why I've avoided making WW1 aircraft... that and my fat fingers. ;) nice vid, lots of patience to do this work, and well explained on what you were doing and how to make stuff. Great.

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it :-)

[@timmasters61]

That's a great video, Informative and very clear. Your technique gives an excellent result. I bought an Airfix 1/72 Tiger Moth a while ago for a project I have in mind but the rigging is something I wasn't looking forward to. Your video will help enormously though. Thanks for sharing :-)

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks for watching :-)

[@stephensavioli5930]

Great ! Much more approachable, thank you

[@SteamGeezerUK]

I'm glad you liked it :-)

[@bigcharliesmodelgarage296]

Nice. Thanks for sharing

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks for watching :-)

[@yorwerthedwards1045]

Awesome job my friend 👍🛫

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks :-)

[@crazysoxcourier]

thanks for this video!! gave me the confidence to rig my 1/72 sopwith camel! the turnbuckles are a little over scale but it looks sweet! going to do the fokker DR1 next!

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks. Yes, they are a little on the big side. I was planning to use them on a 1/32 model but I was curious what they would look like on 1/48. I think if it were a biplane and they were tucked away by the spars and struts they would look better. It was more to give an idea of what can be done :-)

[@crazysoxcourier]

@@SteamGeezerUK it worked perfectly fine! you can't even see them where it's hanging on the ceiling lol! but you can see the rigging when the light catches it. can't wait to get stuck into the next project. I've found a new love for biplanes

[@TheHelado36]

Best tutorial 🦾👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@SteamGeezerUK]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching 🙂

[@allandavis8201]

I bought elastic made for jewellery makers, bangles etc, in various diameters, for £3 from WISH, and that was for 3 reels of 100 meters each, delivery time was about 3 weeks, but for the quality and cost it was worth it. Thanks for making this video, interesting and informative. I was pondering how to make realistic turnbuckles for my Curtis BF 2C-1, so thanks for giving me the perfect solution. 👍😀 P.S Two small observations if I may be so bold, and apologies if I am teaching anyone to suck eggs, 1) on a lot of wire braced aircraft there would be turn-barrels in the middle of the cable run, making it easier and quicker for the riggers (airframe technicians) to adjust the tension to keep the wings and/or tailplane in the optimal position for strength and aerodynamic efficiency. 2) WTF is in the background, sounds like a printer, a bit distracting from your narration. P.S the correct term is “turn-barrel” in the United Kingdom, the United States is turnbuckle, don’t know about the other aircraft manufacturing countries (not fluent in any other language apart from double Dutch, and then only after ten pints of bitter). P.P.S, you have the patience of a saint whilst threading your rigging, not sure I will have that same degree of patience to make it look as good. 👍

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Hi, thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately my 3D printer is running pretty much 24/7 so there's often some noise in the background I'm afraid, although it does seem to have become something of a running gag now with people trying to guess what I'm printing... As for the turnbuckles, I've honestly never heard the phrase "turn-barrel" before. I'll have to ask around some of my old friends who are a little more involved in the flight business to see what their take on it is. As for the positioning, I go by reference photos of the aircraft at the Shuttleworth Collection, mainly the Camel, Dove, SE5 and so on, but they all seem to have different connections in different places. If you look at the pictures I included in the video, one is a Camel which has the cable screwed into a yoke, and the other is a Sopwith Dove, the civilian version of the Pup fighting scout, and that has more traditional turnbuckles. The SE5 has a mix of the two, as does the Sopwith Triplane, so it's all a bit of a mish mash. As for patience, there's a lot of swearing edited out... :-)

[@BudgetModeller]

Brilliant :) Did the holes for the eyelets go all the way through the wing?

[@SteamGeezerUK]

They do on the wings because it's easier to get them lined up that way.

[@Colin399]

Fabulous

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks :-)

[@eddiegremlin]

As Stephen Fry would say, Quite Interesting and Entertaining old chap. Oh and I believe you missed a vital piece of essential equipment at the beginning, a great big magnifying glass. 😊

[@SteamGeezerUK]

I actually have several magnifying devices, but they're all basically impossible to use with the POV camera :-)

[@eddiegremlin]

SteamGeezer and Son Independent Traders Mine is weapons grade magnification, on special occasions it can be linked to the Jodrell Bank Array... 😀

[@ВладленКотков]

Очень хорошее видео лучший ролик всех времён и народов класс!!!

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Большое спасибо :-)

[@donalexander4113]

Question about the double turnbuckle eyelets. The video showed you twisting the wire for one side but I didn’t see how you twisted the wire for the other side. I watched that part five times and just didn’t see it

[@SteamGeezerUK]

My apologies if that wasn't clear enough. Basically it's a case of making the first loop but leaving the "tails" a little longer, then bending one of those tails into the second loop and just repeating the process the same as the first side. Hopefully that helps. At some point I'm going to be making a rigging video to go into more detail on all of this.

[@darronhedges5873]

Swann morten Craft knife No 1 with stainless steel handle is much safer and lets you get quite brutal with it without fear of snapping blade.Simple to load.Only a couple of quid.Only 2 types of blade,No1 straight (like No 11)and No2 curved.Cheers for vid.I didnt get notification either.

[@felipin6665]

Superb master class. Just a question about this elastic thread. Do you know if they lose the elastic properties with time? One of my main concerns of using rubber components is that deteriorate, specially if they are exposed to direct sun light. Please keep uploading videos and teaching us

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Thanks, I appreciate it. As for the elastic, I've had no problems with it so far. I've got a few models that have had it on for a couple of years and they're all still fine.

[@johnnoble01]

You can actually split the knitting thread to make it thinner. I did for a 72nd Swordfish.

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Good idea. I might try that.

[@zolatanaffa87]

Hello very interesting technique: I used to sew cotton thread (usually black) to create rigging, although I have to say that my biggest problem was how to glue it to the model because I had never thought of doing the arriddatoi (turnbackles) and making holes on the model ... at the time I mimicked my father with inferior results and I don't think that there were drill bits under the diameter mm (we're talking about the 70s when I was 10) the only attempt to make small holes was the red-hot pins, but even on a 1/72 scale they were too big! In your model it seems to me that the central eyelets are a bit too big, perhaps for demonstrative use? See you soon in the next video.

[@SteamGeezerUK]

The real trouble with thread is getting the tension right - it tends to sag. The elastic helps because it stays tight on it's own. I do sometimes glue the thread directly to the plastic or drill a tiny hole, but like you said, that can be tricky, although another method is to use the tip of a number 11 scalpel blade.

[@zolatanaffa87]

@@SteamGeezerUK You're absolutely right, but at the time I only had that ... great idea the N ° 11 blade I hadn't thought of, even if at the time I didn't even have that: only balsacutter, the surgical chisels were well guarded in the hospitals ... at least Here in Italy. you had to have relatives in the operating room and hope that some scalpels would be demolished, to get one legally

[@jamesnelthorpe6518]

I find the Poundland superglue better than alot of the expensive ones

[@SteamGeezerUK]

Indeed. I use Loctite gel for some things, but mainly I just use the cheap stuff. You have to be a little careful though - I bought some cheap gel superglue from Wilkinsons in the UK and it's absolute rubbish - it doesn't dry... :-)

[@willmartin9165]

I know it isn't in the video, but if i use static grass do I have to use an applicator or not? I am planning of using it however i am unsure about it.

[@SteamGeezerUK]

It depends what you're going to do. If you just want a few tufts, then you can probably place them by hand. If you want a lot of grass, you'll probably want to use an applicator. I did make some applicators a while ago if you're interested... kzbin.info/www/bejne/jX61c2yiiKuLlas

[@pilsyppah]

“Let me show you some of the different lengths of wire I used.” - Prof. Farnsworth