forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com
WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Under Construction => Topic started by: gedmundson on April 24, 2025, 07:35:20 AM
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After completing the WnW RNAS Sopwith Pup recently I searched for another project similar in nature and debated whether to put together the WnW Sopwith Triplane. Starting into a "valuable" model is somewhat daunting, but I always think a kit is just a box of plastic parts waiting to be turned into a nice replica of something. I'd acquired the it a few years ago when a fellow modeller was selling his stash.
I was not best pleased with the choices of markings in the kit, but as luck would have it a good friend down in Calgary offered to send me the Pheon decal sheet (designed for the Roden kit) which had over 25 different choices, so I was set. I wanted to build an example of the aircraft that featured a bare-metal cowling, and the "Sopwith" factory stencil on the CDL tail, and serial no. N5430 filled that bill. It was the only one of this type to be delivered to the RFC.
After finally getting some pictures loaded up into the image hosting service I can share some progress so far. Cheers!
(https://i.imgur.com/WPajnZy.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ULn2Ypo.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/B5GkYcy.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/xE4eyBY.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/KW4wGqB.jpg)
The propeller was masked and airbrushed with two brown colours.
(https://i.imgur.com/viicVBN.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/nQSc8nW.jpg)
I added HGW seatbelts to the pilot's seat.
(https://i.imgur.com/qe0Qs8P.jpg)
RB Productions turnbuckles were added to the interior rigging & control lines.
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I love watching your work. It's a pure pleasure.
Lukasz
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Nice work so far. Those seatbelts look especially real!
Kreston
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Great start! I will enjoy following along :)
And yes sometimes it can almost feel scary to cut the parts of the sprues... knowing what it would sell for. Like you I feel - a model is to be built and enjoyed ;)
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That's some pretty incredible wood grain. Ditto on the seat belts. Great subject too.
Warren Q
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Wow so much beautiful work so far it's difficult to know where to start, but I really like the overall patina of finish that you've achieved Gary - items look realistic rather than painted 8)
Paul
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Absolutely beautiful Gary, a lovely start. That control board in particular looks fantastic!
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Hi Gary,
As the others have said, it's looking very nice.
Especially the small details, such as the part filled Pulsometer, propeller wood grain and lap belts.
Mike
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Beautiful work as usual Gary!
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Great start! I think you're doing the right thing when you're starting into your valuable models. If you have it and want to build it, then just do it!
/Fredrik
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Great choice of the subject and not less great start - your usual immaculate interior is especially appealing.
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Thanks to everyone who took the time to look in and comment - much appreciated!
I tried something different to emulate the worked-metal look on the cowling this time. After airbrushing the parts with Alclad II Dark Aluminum, I used plastic screen to make a template to place some silver dots on the surface, with the idea of keeping the dots small and (somewhat) in alignment. Using copper clips to hold the screen in place, I took silver printers ink and touched each spot through the holes using a fine tipped brush.
The cowling sections were done separately to ease the process, and were sealed with Future afterward. The fit was tested to make sure there would be a clean joint when they were all glued in place. Cheers!
(https://i.imgur.com/n43KCi7.jpg)
After aligning the screen on the dark aluminum, silver printers ink was painted through the holes.
(https://i.imgur.com/qhqieLO.jpg)
The front cowling was trickier to do with the curved section to manage. Clips were moved over a bit to hit all of the holes.
(https://i.imgur.com/ujj3ujY.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/xSuAgqg.jpg)
Although not perfect, the pattern ended up better than my previous attempts.
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Very clever way of aligning the dots :)
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Now there's a neat idea. Well done, your builds just keep getting better with each new kit.
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Thanks Ben & Europapete - I tried several methods before deciding on that one!
The cockpit detail was sealed up into the fuselage halves. To try and give the frame of the forward fuselage some "shadow" I airbrushed a pattern using flesh & black colours, after which the base of PC10 was sprayed over it. My initial attempt had the lines a bit too thick, so it was all cleaned off with Windex cleaner and re-done with finer strips of masking tape. Cheers!
(https://i.imgur.com/9s23ylQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/87niwaG.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/qGL21SR.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/RW8FMJA.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/xlVZ9wq.jpg)
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Fantastic Triplane in the making. I also love the idea how to align the dots on the metal parts. I will keep that in mind.
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This is looking very nice indeed. Your approach to the turned metal effect is brilliant and works really well IMO, bravo!
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Thanks Andreas & Nigel. Trying to find a suitable screen for that task was the hardest part of that exercise.
If possible, I've found it preferrable to paint on my roundels using masks. I have used Montex masks for a couple of Spitfire models in the past which worked well, but purchased a fairly expensive cutting tool to help make my own. The DSPIAE cutting tool is a bit more refined than the Flex-I-File compass cutter I was using previously, and has a large bearing to guide a spring-mounted blade. To cut concentric circles, the tool has to be placed over the mask in exactly the same position in between blade adjustments, for which they sell a "Locator". I made my own positioning guide using a small square clamped to the bench and it works fairly well.
Masks were cut for the wing & fuselage roundels, and painted using mixes of off-white, Red with a touch of Red Brown, and XF-8 out of the bottle. Cheers!
(https://i.imgur.com/zmzgl1H.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/gbkBF5B.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/98mqnJl.jpg)
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Nice job! That circle cutter really is the business (once you master getting the tension of the spring right....).
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Nice job! That circle cutter really is the business (once you master getting the tension of the spring right....).
I agree about that spring tension, Nigel. I was almost ready to take the thing back until I figured out how that worked...with no instructions it took me a bit of playing around with it to figure things out.
Continuing with my build, I knew there was a very slight "ghost seam" down the spine of the fuselage. But dealing with it was not that necessary, I had decided. It was only visible under certain lighting...but there it was staring at me. That seam grated on me for a while to the point where - always late in the game - I decided to actually do something about it. At the risk of causing more damage than I was fixing...the sandpaper and putty came out, and I tackled it as carefully as possible not to mar any of the surrounding finish & decals. Glad I did, and am continuing with the rigging. Lesson learned. Cheers!
(https://i.imgur.com/11hTeli.jpg)
The seam was sanded down with fine sandpaper sticks.
(https://i.imgur.com/tnWphnD.jpg)
Taping off the area close to the seam, I laid down a couple of beads of Mr, Surfacer 1000 and let it dry for 24 hrs.
(https://i.imgur.com/2TNZoUC.jpg)
After sanding the area down with a number of fine sanding sticks, the area was repainted and rigging work continued.
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Ghost seams can often come back to haunt you......at least this one won't! Well worth the effort.
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Stunning work! I'm impressed how quickly you are moving through the build - all while making it looks amazing!
Also great work on the seam, getting the colors blended in afterwards - flawless! :)
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Lovely work again Gary!
Starting into a "valuable" model is somewhat daunting, but I always think a kit is just a box of plastic parts waiting to be turned into a nice replica of something.
I know it's not my kit (and money) but I'm another who's glad to see you building it.
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Thank you Nigel, Ben & Zac.
I've spent a bit of time weathering the lower surfaces of the aircraft, and decided to add lighter paint to the rib tapes of the wings based on studying the period photos. I also had to cut the WnW decal sections to make the correct serial number stencils found under the wings & tail sections...very microscopic work.
Cheers!
(https://i.imgur.com/dXaWIDg.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/ygC96lb.jpg)
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This is coming along very nicely, I like your weathering so far.
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I don't think you had any worries about doing this "Valuable" kit justice.
I've always had a soft spot for the Triplane. But I'm a little conflicted. Most full size examples were finished in a more brownish PC12, which I can't bring my self to finish a model in. I built the old Eduard kit many years ago but have never ventured into building a larger scale version.
I did have this WNW kit in my stash for a short time and have another Eduard example still in my stash.
I have the 140 odd ribs needed to build a 1/6 scale RC version sitting in my workshop, waiting to be grafted to an old now defunct Balsa USA Pup fuselage as well.
Looking forward to seeing your finished model.
Cheers,
Hugh
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Most full size examples were finished in a more brownish PC12, which I can't bring my self to finish a model in.
Cheers,
Hugh
Well thanks Hugh, you have brought up a very interesting point and are the first to mention it. I spent a long time debating how to paint this aircraft and certainly feel the same as you...I really find that brownish PC12 a very unattractive finish to any of the late war British aircraft. I built Barker's early Snipe a while back and painted it in the brown PC12 and it now sits in a box out of sight since I'm just not at all pleased with the colour. At the risk of it being inaccurate I chose a more "green" mix to my finish on this one and am happy with it. Good luck with your 1/6 RC version - sounds very cool indeed. Cheers!
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Another great model in the making. Really lovely!
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Good choice to go back and sort out that seam, even if most viewers probably wouldn't know the difference.
Looks good!
/Fredrik
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Gary: Continued inspirational work, and very brave to redo the seam. I see you had hand mixed your PC10. How do you match the custom mix for the redo? I've tried keeping tabs on ratios like 5 drops yellow and 1 drop red, but can never exactly repeat the hue. Yours looks spot on as usual. Any ideas are much appreciated.
Warren Q
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Thanks to everyone for your comments & questions!
I see you had hand mixed your PC10. How do you match the custom mix for the redo?
Warren Q
Thanks for asking! The paint mix for my Triplane is a long story. When I built my Pup a couple of months ago, I searched the Internet for a PC10 Tamiya mix, and found a formula that mixed Flat Brown XF-10 and Khaki Drab XF-51 (the ration I can't remember). I sprayed it onto the spare wing (unused part) and found it way too brown for my liking. I took some of that into another jar and kept adding more XF-51 until the colour looked to my liking. I ended up with two jars of Tamiya acrylic mix - one labelled PC10 Brown and PC10 Green. For the Triplane, I added a dollop of the brown to the green mix...and made sure I had enough to complete the project. If I'd had to match the colour from scratch, I'd be doomed.
Cheers,
Gary
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Making quick work on the tripe Gary , she is look marvellous so far . Neat trick on the cowl , very effective results .
Alexis
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Making quick work on the tripe Gary , she is look marvellous so far . Neat trick on the cowl , very effective results .
Alexis
Thanks Alexis, this one took just over a month to put together. Just took me a while to organize some photos to show. It is all done now and I hope to get some final pics in the "completed" section soon. Rigging was tricky and the tail section very delicate. I had to pin the ailerons and rudder on with fine wire to help strengthen the joints.
Cheers,
Gary
(https://i.imgur.com/dMwT629.jpg)
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Stunning work as always Gary - it really turned out beautifully!
Im really impressed the project "only" took a month. I have worked on my Ninak for the same time and it's still not quite ready for primer ;)
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Lovely work Gary, the end result looks fantastic. And you were quick as well! Looking forward to the completed pics.
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Gorgeous job Gary. Makes me want to grab my Eduards down but I know better than to succumb to that temptation.
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Beautiful.
We need more angles to drool over though.
Cheers,
Hugh