WW1 canvas stiching.

[Al Knights]

Chaps, how do I simulate the large fuselage panel stitching you word associate with say, the side of an se5a.

I have a refurb to do on a Bristol m1c (seagull arft 1/5 scale) but there are a couple of areas that show these big stichers, but I just don't know how to reproduce them....Any help?

[Martian]

Hi Al i,m surprised no one has commented I did a quick search and the only source that came up was on RC Universe of course there may be others out there but at least this is a start.

[Robin Colbourne]

Maybe you need to be searching for 'simulating fuselage lacing'.  Stitching is on ribs to stop the fabric being sucked off them due to aerodynamic lift, whereas the fuselage is likely to have lacing like a very long shoelace with eyelets, so the covering can be removed, either as a whole or in places, for maintenance.
 

Somewhere I read an article about recreating the lacing. I'm sure it involved putting two rows of pins in, threading an appropriate size piece of thread around them, then doping it onto the covering.

This article has some useful information and diagrams, although the lacing cord on the SE5a pictured looks a bit hairy to me.  Fuselage Lacing Article

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Edited By Robin Colbourne on 21/10/2020 11:03:03

[J D 8]

Eric Coats used the pin and dope method on his FF scale winning models. It looks fine on smaller models and may work well on the Bristol perhaps with larger diameter pins.

Pics of WW1 aircraft in the field often show doggy fuselage panel lacing with winkles and gaps.

[Pete Collins]

Hi Al,

I had this problem on a Fokker Eindekker I built some years ago. It was covered in Solartex and my solution was as follows. I cut a strip of Solartex about two inches wide and then folded the two sides in to the middle with the glue side of the covering on the inside. This gave two 1/2" flaps of material meeting in the middle. I then persuaded my wife to machine stitch down the middle of each flap. When opened up this gave a 1" strip of covering with two 1/4" flaps standing proud. I then ironed this onto the model where I wanted the stitching and, using a largish needle and black button thread, I stitched the two flaps together using a zig-zag stitch. It looked pretty good, but unfortunately I don't have the model any more so I can't give you any photographs! I may have to resurrect the technique eventually as I have a Flair Brisfit in the to-do list waiting to be built.