Roden SE5a inspection windows

[Bluesfan]

The Roden SE5a isn't a bad kit overall. It's two kits, in fact, in Hispano and Viper powered versions. You might say that the worst thing about it is that its appearance may have been a reason for the non-existence of a WNW Viper SE5a - remember, at the time WNW were saying that they wouldn't produce kits of types when decent ones already existed, but a few did come out coincidentally, and unfortunately for Roden (SE5a Hispano, Sopwith Triplane, and DH2).

Anyway, there is one glaring aspect of the Roden kits which must dismay or at the very least puzzle modellers who might otherwise be perfectly happy with the Roden kit, and that is the way the inspection windows are dealt with. It really does seem so strange that Roden opted to represent them with unconvincing decals, especially when it can't have been too difficult to mould a recess to act the part, as WNW did.

Forgive the hamfistedness of what follows. It'd be cheeky to call this a tutorial!  I simply wanted to illustrate my own personal approach, and I'm sure others have solved this problem with more style, and maybe a better idea.

Basically, I've hollowed out the recesses, as you can see in the first pic:

[Bluesfan]

My default method of rigging involves drilling right the way through the wing and using monofilament. I know, it's not as pretty as full use of turnbuckles etc., but it is reasonably strong and, well, I'm used to it. But when it comes to inspections windows, as you might expect, one does end up drilling into the inspection recess, and the natural thing to do is to treat it as the actual control cable and anchor at the point where it would enter:

[Bluesfan]

Before you say it, yes I know that many would cut out the bay through to the other side of the wing. It's just not to my taste. I feel I'd be unlikely to finish it well enough on the other side to leave no trace of what had been done. So, the hacked-out recess doesn't bear close inspection, but it's never going to get that, is it, once the window's in place, and being so small?

Here's the next step, showing both the main wing, and the horizontal stabiliser, which requires two control wires. One exits through the hole in the bottom, and the other out of an opening in the top, in a fashion which looked a little crude in real life

I've sliced thin sections of spare rod to represent the pulleys and will draw the control cable round them and thread them through their respective exit holes. Hmm, if I was less lazy perhaps I would do something a little better than paint the bracket on top...

[Bluesfan]

Here's the result, for what it's worth. The windows themselves need to be thin but not flimsy, so I compared various bits of packaging material until I found something suitable. It still looks a little thick in these photos, and I admit the tailplane example looks really gluey   But these are close ups, and they'll do for me.

So, what about the whole plane? I'm not generally one for doing build logs, much though I appreciate the ones I see by the true masters on the forum; but more to the point this evening I suffered one of those incidents occasionally reported by modellers of all skills. It was virtually finished, when with the slightest of clumsy slips it was sent tumbling down a set of stone stairs.

I will look at it tomorrow in the light of day and after a good sleep. It's the Hispano version, by the way. Maybe I can make it good; and if I do, I'll post a last picture here. In fact, I sort of think that it's to the credit of the design of the original plane that it's not in a worse state. All that rigging made it a very tough machine. However, it's the wrecked rigging which I have to face up to now...

[Bluesfan]

Thought I'd just add a pic to finish the tale...
With more time, I guess I'd have taken out more of the monofilament rigging and neatened things further. But most of it had snapped and I was reluctant to lose the little bit of strength it still offered. All of the struts had to be reglued. And a few pieces which had flown off were put back in place. As you can see the top wing is further forward than it ought to be. One lesson learned is that with a single strand left in a pair, there's no easy way to match two different materials, ie. monofilament and ceramic wire. The wire certainly saved my bacon after my stair dropping episode.

But... I've got to a finishing point. To coin a phrase, it "looks like an S.E.5a". I'm pleased with a lot of the work I did on it, and I'm looking forward to a third attempt one day, on the WNW Viper kit when that appears
By the way, the dog is from a Riich livestock set, and the pilot is another lovely Copper State figure.

Cheers!
Mark

[Alexis]

Nice job on the windows Mark .



Terri

[Bluesfan]

Thanks! Though I won't mind if I never have to do that again!

Mark

[Flute]

Last month I did the same task on both a Roden and Blue Max SE5a, and personally find it much easier to chain drill right through the wing, then file the hole edges smooth. I then restored the relevant surface with a triangle of 10 thou plastic card glued in with Tamiya extra thin cement. Very little cleanup needed to be good enough for 1/48th, at least by my rather lax standards, and you have quite a deep recess in which to place your pulley/mount/wire gubbins.  Tediousto do  though, and in this scale you don't see much for the effort, but still essential to do really. Anyway, I like your efforts better than mine.

I've also made the Encore production of the 1/32nd Roden kit, where they supply resin drop ins with the pulleys already cast in situ and you just need to make the holes to fit them in, and wish there was enough of a market for someone to make something similar available as aftermarket. I'd even buy it in 1/72nd.

Paul.

[Bluesfan]

That's interesting Paul, it's news to me that Encore had done that.
Not too surprised, because I made the Encore 'Blue Max' Pfalz D.III and was impressed with the intelligent set of extra details offered.

Thanks for your comments on my efforts, though I'm all too aware nothing's perfect   Looking at it afterwards, I wish I could have been able to set the transparencies more flush with the wing, and that I'd painted the surrounds more neatly...  However, considering the consequences of the dropping-down-the-stairs episode, any faults of the inspection windows are small fry!

By the way, I did try something like this in 1:72, on a Roden kit: of course you can't execute much detail, but I did reckon that I should have gone for filling the recess with clear resin, or that stuff someone sells for 1:144 airliner windows.

Cheers
Mark

[ALBATROS1234]

the encore kit dealt with this by supplying resin parts with photoetch frame and clear plastic window. it looks very good but much more work than wnw which all you do is paint. i am surprised noone ever released these parts separately?

[Bluesfan]

I agree, except that with an already niche market - WWI plane modellers - you're thinking about the even smaller number of people who do more than build OOTB. But you never know. I'm amazed sometimes at the items people occasionally put out for modellers, and it can only be for the love of it, not profit that's for sure.

Mark