forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: smperry on June 30, 2016, 12:34:50 PM
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Recently joined the Forum and this is my first attempt at a build log.
I'm building a WnW Sopwith Pup. The kit was bought as a reference for a Balsa USA 1/3 scale Pup kit I have awaiting retirement and the time to build it. Since I already started the WnW kit and since most everyone knows what's in one of those boxes, I'll forgo the customary box and sprue shot this time.
It has taken about a week to complete Step 1 of the instructions, the cockpit. A/C is out in my shop, so i only do a little bit at a time. Probably a good thing as getting used to the level of kit engineering in a WnW kit requires slow going. Being used to limited run kits, it has been hard for me to realize all the tabs and position holes actually fit and in fact are critical. I would have likely said something rude if someone told me about it, but seeing it and working with the pieces...Wow!
I'm still getting my bench set up and re-supplied, so I had to make do with what is to hand for colors, washes and tools. The shopping list grows with each session. In spite of not having everything I'd like to hand, I'm having great fun and looking forward to moving ahead with the build.
Kind words are always appreciated, but do little to knock the rust off. It's honest criticism I'm hoping for, feel free to tell me what I'm doing wrong and especially how to do it better.
sp
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No criticism necessary Steve, what you have achieved so far looks very impressive.
Des.
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I agree with Des, Steve! Looks fantastic to me. You haven't skipped a beat in the past 10 years.
Cheers,
Bud
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Thanks y'all.
I'm not a big fan of overdone pre-shading, but vast expanses of CDL or PC-10 require something, especially with the rib tape detail on these WnW kits.
I tried something a little different as a 'speriment. I sprayed on a nice even coat of CDL, (I use artists acrylics mixed with Future). Then I went over the rib tapes with watercolor pencil and blended it with a Q-tip. Finally I lightly misted more CDL over all. Managed to get the pencil color backwards as this one has a PC-10 upper surface, so the underside tapes should appear lighter. As it is, it is right for a CDL upper surface. That faux pau aside, how does the technique work?
sp
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I think it looks great, Steve! Sometime the pre-shading is overdone, and
I speak from experience there, but yours is really good. The cockpit area
is beautifully done and this pup is shaping up to be a stunner, my friend.
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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I agree with Des, Steve! Looks fantastic to me. You haven't skipped a beat in the past 10 years.
Cheers,
Bud
I agree with Bud and Des! I particularly like the instrument panel. You have done nice work on the bezels and decals for the faces!
Also the bracing wires for the formers are well done.
RAGIII
PS: Not sure if you are aware but there is one fairly well known issue with this kit. The fit of the Lower Wing to fuselage is affected by the cockpit floor. I know there were some easy fixes posted somewhere perhaps someone else will chime in.
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Thanks Ernie, glad you liked it. I'll have to find that open bottle of brake fluid I've been hanging on to for some reason and clean that stab off so I can start over and do the colors right this time. Besides being painless, I think the idea works and tends to the subtler side of shading which compensates for my legendary ham handedness.
Thanks so much for the heads up RAGIII. Well, forewarned is forearmed, (With a Dremel in my pocket, a sanding stick in each hand and an X-Acto with a fresh blade clamped between my teeth.) I hadn't heard about that issue with this kit, but I have dealt with it on other kits. One of the reasons I took photos of the cockpit before any trial fitting. Same idea as taking photos of an RC plane before it's maiden flight. :-)
Those cables are stretched sprue painted with Testors Metalizer Steel. I stretch the sprue and when it cools, I dip a Q-Tip in the paint and press the stretched sprue down into the upturned cap and carefully draw it under the paint soaked tip. One smooth move and done. The result tends to have a spiral effect which helps with the cable look. Probably more to do with how the particular type of plastic I'm pulling stretches than with how the paint is applied.
sp
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Hi Steve,
I like the subtle approach with your CDL. Sometimes a lighter touch can be just as realistic looking. Can't wait to see the rest of your Pup put together.
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Hi Steve, cockpit looks just great! I do like your wood tones, it's going to look just fine in the completed model as it has a lovely sparkle and beautiful colours... I think your approach to shading is quite subtle but very realistic, please show us more... I didn't have any problems with fuselage fit on mine, but I test fitted carefully and ensured the layers of paint didn't interfere! (Just sand or scrape them off!)
This looks like a great build to follow...
All the Best,
Marc
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Thanks guys.
Marc, The wood is Testors Model Master Wood with no attempt at graining. I oversprayed with Future tinted with a bit of yellow and brown. An attempt to make the wood look varnished.
I cleaned the stab down to the plastic with brake fluid and then cleaned it with alcohol. I re-primed it , then laid down a good coat of CDL. I didn't have a watercolor pencil light enough, so I mixed white into a few drops of the CDL and re-thinned it to a usable consistency with Future. I used this to hand paint the rib tapes and when that dried, I misted some more CDL until I liked it.
Right, wrong or indifferent, the result is exactly what I envisioned. Not often I get that. So I'm pleased enough with the "sandwich shading" technique to attempt it on the wings when the time comes.
sp
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I think you have nailed the look. If you go through some of James Faheys' posts on the TVAl birds you will see just how close you are.
RAGIII
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Beautiful job on the tail plane Steve.
Des.
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Thanks for the kind words and encouragement guys.
A preliminary fit test of the cockpit and fuse halves promises way more "modeling fun" than I was hoping for. So it's off to go find a thread I saw here about the fit issues on the Pup. I'm going to take this slow try not to destroy anything in the process.
I found a new tool that wasn't here 10 years ago. The flashlight app on my phone. Great for shining a bright light on places that don't fit and its just great for finding small bits dropped on the floor.
sp
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I couldn't get the fuselage sides to close around the cockpit. No surprise there. It didn't take long to figure out that I'd glued the second, smaller pair of side formers on wrong. Got to look closer at those drawings in the instructions.
The little formers came off clean and while they were off I did some further scraping and sanding and got a good fit. I had to trim the little formers a bit since the rigging had been installed. A little more scraping and sanding after the formers were glued back on and I had a good fit. No doubt there will be more adjustments when I fit the .lower wing, but that is modeling fun for another day.
Lessons learned, besides paying more attention to the drawings, is to make every effort to not paint what doesn't need paint. If I want a photo of a completed cockpit, and I surely will, I'll color the bare plastic with watercolor pencil. After any photos, a quick swipe or two with a damp Q-Tip will remove the color and leave the bare plastic places ready for fitting and assembly.
Off to deal with the tailskid and get the fuselage closed up for good.
sp
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I couldn't get the fuselage sides to close around the cockpit. No surprise there. It didn't take long to figure out that I'd glued the second, smaller pair of side formers on wrong. Got to look closer at those drawings in the instructions.
The little formers came off clean and while they were off I did some further scraping and sanding and got a good fit. I had to trim the little formers a bit since the rigging had been installed. A little more scraping and sanding after the formers were glued back on and I had a good fit. No doubt there will be more adjustments when I fit the .lower wing, but that is modeling fun for another day.
Lessons learned, besides paying more attention to the drawings, is to make every effort to not paint what doesn't need paint. If I want a photo of a completed cockpit, and I surely will, I'll color the bare plastic with watercolor pencil. After any photos, a quick swipe or two with a damp Q-Tip will remove the color and leave the bare plastic places ready for fitting and assembly.
Off to deal with the tailskid and get the fuselage closed up for good.
sp
Steven,
You have learned lessons that all of us who build WNW kits have dealt with! In particular remember to look forward in the directions as well as at the step you are on. Sometimes painting tips and drawings show things more clearly in a later step! Ask me how I know this :-[ Also remember that the Pup is an earlier release. WNW like most Model Companies has improved over the years. The tolerances aren't quite as unforgiving in some of the Latest kits although care still needs to be taken.
RAGIII
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Back home for the weekend. Time to make some progress on the Pup.
Got the fuselage halves glued. Not a perfect fit but I can take those issues out on the lower wing roots when i fit the wing.
I decided to putty the seam, so I taped it off. The only putty I have is probably a little more aggressive than Squadron White, so I taped real close to the seam before smearing it with putty. I pulled the tape off before the putty started to harden. At this point I had a doctor's appointment and left the putty to harden a few hours.
Using the time honored increasingly finer grits, I sanded down the seam, masked it for priming and gave it a light coat.
Well fudge and fiddle, looks like I missed the last little bit of seam. I'll let the primer cure over night and repeat the process in the morning. Filling seams is not a part of plastic modeling that I missed...
sp
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Nice neat job filling the seams, Steven. A little bit of a tedious job,
but any progress is good. Looking forward to the next updates, my friend.
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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For one who has not touched plastic for 10 years you are achieving some excellent results. I just wish that I could have been in the same position as quickly as you when I restarted modelling after a long break!
Stephen.
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Careful what you wish for Stephen. My long dormant skills remained fully asleep after my last post. I attempted to paint the underside of the wings and managed to make a complete hash of the job.
I was going for the same look as i got on the underside of the stabilizer. The lightened CDL i was using on the tapes looked good at first, but when i added the darker CDL, it was clear that the lighter stuff wasn't opaque enough and the primer showed through. The light shade looked right, but i think i over thinned it and the coverage wasnt there and that really showed up next to the regular shade of CDL.
I'll have to hit the ole brake fluid reset button and start over. I've always maintained that i would consider myself a good modeler if i could get my time spent fixing mistakes to time spent building ratio down to 1::1
I need to find a decent primer paint that comes in white. Can anyone recommend one and a source?
Thanks
sp
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I am sure you will overcome your small setback Steven! I am looking forward to seeing more.
RAGIII
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We all come across these speed humps when traveling down our modeling road, I'm looking forward to seeing more progress photos.
Des.
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RAGIII and Des
Thanks for the encouragement. Im down in St.Pete for the work week, but I'll post some more photos when I get back home this weekend. Hopefully some of it done right to go along with some showing the bad job. Only way to learn to do it right is to make yourself go back and do it over if it isn't right. It's ever so much faster to do it slow and right once.
sp
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Hi Steve...not to worry about hiccups, it seems to be the nature of the beast.
My choice of primer is Tamiya Fine White Primer in the rattle-can. I've been
using it for quite a while with no problems at all. Onward and upward, my friend!
By the way, I've found IPA straight works really well removing Tamiya acrylic paint.
Just wet a paper towel with it and wipe off the paint with a couple of swipes.
Cheers,
Ernie :)
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Thanks Ernie. I'll have to order some of the white primer. I take it IPA is isopropol alcohol. I use Future based acrylics, so i'll have to check and see which works best, alcohol, windex/ammonia or brake fluid. Very handy to be able to take it all back down to the plastic without damaging the surface. Better to do that than attempt to paint ober a mistake. It will always look like a painted over mistake e en if you are the only one who can see it.
sp
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After working 15 straight 12 hr night shifts I returned home and took a look at my bench. A couple of framed pictures had fallen off the wall right on top of the Pup's fuselage deconstructing much of the interior. I suppose I shouldn't complain, I get to have the fun of building the cockpit all over again. Yet, here I am whining.
Fortunately no plastic actually broke, it simply came unglued on impact, so it won't be all that hard to fix. I think an investment in a few plastic storage boxes to place upside down over works in progress on the bench may be in order. Excellent protection from falling objects from dust motes to framed pictures.
sp
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After working 15 straight 12 hr night shifts I returned home and took a look at my bench. A couple of framed pictures had fallen off the wall right on top of the Pup's fuselage deconstructing much of the interior. I suppose I shouldn't complain, I get to have the fun of building the cockpit all over again. Yet, here I am whining.
Fortunately no plastic actually broke, it simply came unglued on impact, so it won't be all that hard to fix. I think an investment in a few plastic storage boxes to place upside down over works in progress on the bench may be in order. Excellent protection from falling objects from dust motes to framed pictures.
sp
And to think I whine about 4 x12 hour shifts weekly! You also seem to have my luck going with Stuff falling or knocking things about. Glad to hear no major damage but a shame that you have to re build the whole interior. As Ira would say...Have Fun ::)
RAGIII
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One must always bear "Dicta Ira" in mind. Ill get right on it just after i finish rehanging some pictures.....securely this time.
When you make so many setbacks for yourself as i do, you have to look at it as squeezing all the modeling fun possible out of each modeling dollar spent.
sp
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I am glad that you can be so philosophical about the latest disaster. I won;ld have been screaming blue murder and much worse besides! At least it is only a repair job and not a reconstruction of broken parts, but I do think that investment in protective covers is in order.
Stephen.
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I'm still pouting about it. I managed to remount the pictures more securely, but haven't attempted to fix the model yet. It was a bad week. A tree jumped out and grabbed one of my RC models on base leg. 8 inches of wingtip was all that made it to the ground. Not much different from dropping a plastic model as you are attaching the last run of rigging. Still and all, a bad day witb the models is better than a good shift at work....or so i keep trying to tell myself :-)
sp
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Darn, looking at the date on the last post, it has been 2 years since I broke the Pup. I guess that is enough pouting, the wife must be starting to rub off on me after 33 years.
I cleared the bench, slapped down a fresh sheet of white paper and laid out the parts. There is the closed up fuselage, the seat, the ammo chutes, the oil tank and the curved brace that goes between the top longerons and in front of the instrument panel.
The ammo chutes fitted in well and aligned properly as did the oil tank. A few judicious drops of CA and they were set, The fuselage sides had broken away from the little curved formers on the outside of the frame. A gentle pinch and a couple of drops of CA put that right.
Some more tweezer work and a few more drops of CA had the seat in place and the curves cross piece fixed back where it belongs.
The two year hiatus has not all been filled with the joys of flying and crashing RC models. I have read up some on building WnW kits and I now have a much better idea of how much I have to either re-learn or learn anew. So with chastened ego firmly in hand, I will try to get this Pup finished in a reasonable time frame.
sp
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sp,
Amazing, two years and she's back on the burner! The repaired module looks really good, I'm looking forward to what you do with it. This Kit is a really nice one, so good I found a second as I'd like to do another Build of it. I look forward to following your progress as you pull this one off the "desk of doom" after such a long break.
Cheers,
Lance
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Lance:
"Desk of Doom" I love it ! Although "Drawers of Doom" is technically more correct. These little plastic storage drawers are definitely great. The Merlin AEG G.IV in the night Lozenge is closer to 15 years old than 10. They will keep a project safe and dust free while you take a break and work on something else for a while.
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement it definitely helps.
sp
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SP, your desk of doom will be our stage of joy when you get these kits moving again..... ;D ;D Glad you are back on track.
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I pulled out the Pup and started giving it the once over in order to decide what to do next. The fit of the fuselage to the lower wing was atrocious. I started this kit with no idea just how close the tolerances on WnW kits can be and all that came out in the lower wing to fuselage joint. the bit of cockpit tub hanging down below the airfoil shaped cut out was a scosch wide and a bit more than that too deep.
A bit of judicious scraping cured the width issue. The cockpit floor needed to be much thinner and the part of the lower wing piece directly under the cockpit had to be thinned considerably as well. I had at it with sanding sticks, X-acto blades and files. In nearly half a dozen sessions throughout the day, (I have learned to walk away from the bench, an effective technique with many applications), I thinned the cockpit floor to paper thin and scraped the center part of the lower wing piece until it was more flexible than I was really comfortable. Finally I got the fit between lower wing and fuselage that I was looking for. I will be approaching my next WnW interior assembly with a weather eye for layers of paint on mating surfaces now that I know how hard they bite.
With all the handling of the lower wing, I noticed some drops of something had splattered on the CDL paint I had applied 2 yrs ago. It was then I found the CDL paint I had mixed had dried up. I just don't see a way to match colors again, (I use Artist's Acrylics mixed with Future for paint.), so both wings get a bath in brake fluid and I will just start over. Might have been more realistic if the two lower wing panels has slightly different tones of CDL since damaged panels were often replaced with undamaged or repaired salvaged panels. Something I would quickly tire of explaining.
I had dealt with rib tapes by painting them a lightened shade of my CDL. I am under the impression that the edges of most WWI rib tapes were frayed. I heard it explained that doping the frayed edges down sealed the tape to the wing fabric. I bought it and so I didn't really want razor sharp lines defining the edges of the tapes. I used a small brush and carefully free handed the very nicely molded tapes. I kept a damp rag to hand and simply wiped off any mistakes. Took a while, but I was real pleased with the result. Just for giggles, I masked a couple of tapes and painted them. First time using that Tamaya yellow masking tape, nice stuff. The rib tapes came out with lovely sharp, crisp edges and just did not look right to me. So after the brake fluid cleaning I will be doing all the lower surface rib tapes by hand. No way I would ever attempt hand painting rib tapes but for the really nicely molded tapes on the WnW Pup's wings. They made it real easy to keep the paint where I wanted it.
sp
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I assembled the engine strictly OOB. I prepainted the parts on the sprue and it turned out to work well with minimal trimming and touch up needed. I used the colors called out in the instructions. I did not add spark plug wires as they are completely hidden with the cowl in place. I did however try to simulate the coiled spring section of the plug wires using 5-0 stainless steel surgical wire wrapped around a pin. That test worked well and if I ever do a 1:32 model with only a partial cowl I will add the wires, coil spring and all.
sp