Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin 1/32 Wingnut Wings

[AngryJazz]

Hi all!

Having taken a small break and building a Bandai kit, I'm ready to start my 2nd WW1 build!

The Sopwith Dolphin!

I've really been itching to get started after seeing so many beautiful builds on this forum 

Don't think many like this Sopwith version - "the ugly duckling" as my friend calls it  But for some reason these wierd looking shapes are just what I like! That along with a huge engine and lots of machine guns! The Dolphin is simply amazing 

I tried 3D printing a seat and some spark plugs. IF they turn out okay I'll use them as replacements for the kit parts.



Prints



Markings for this bird.

[RAGIII]

Those seats look terrific. The Dolphin was one of my favorite WNW builds. I am looking forward to seeing yours.
RAGIII

[NigelR]

Be careful with the decals - mine were really awful, broke up and would not conform to the surfaces. They were clearly part of the bad run of decals in WNW kits. They caused my build to stall and it's on the shelf of doom and unlikely ever to make it back.

I suggest you test some from the scheme you are not doing to see if you have troublesome decals or not. I found that using really hot water helped, along with using hair dryer. 

[AngryJazz]

Thank you RAGII 

Be careful with the decals - mine were really awful, broke up and would not conform to the surfaces. They were clearly part of the bad run of decals in WNW kits. They caused my build to stall and it's on the shelf of doom and unlikely ever to make it back.

I suggest you test some from the scheme you are not doing to see if you have troublesome decals or not. I found that using really hot water helped, along with using hair dryer. 

Thank you for the heads up Nigel! I will try to take care. I've heard some WNW decals can be very troublesome. Hope mine will be fine, but luckily I have another Dolphin kit in the stash for spares 


As for the build - for now I have just been staring at the kit trying to plan my approach. Bit of lesson I learned from the Albatros... Need to read ahead and plan for each step of the build more carefully.

I decided to add / hide small eyelets for the internal rigging. Some color and pictures will follow soon!

[AngryJazz]

Finally got a bit of work to show on the Dolphin! 

It's been really slow work... My sons have not been easy to get to sleep these last few weeks, so not much modeling time. However i'm really happy I at least make a little progress most nights!

Anyways.

Tried to make a darker wood color for this one with raw umber oils over a tan base.
Added a bit of variation in the wood grain and made sure each plank would have grains in a natural direction it would have been cut.

Not sure if its a bit too dark, but it's somewhat close to the suggestion in the instruction 

Brush painted the rest of the details and added rigging, eyelets and fasteners.

The lighter tones are ochre over a white base.

Both wood tones got a mist of Tamiya clear orange for a bit of a warmer hue.

Light weathering with some oils.

Still lots to do before I can think of closing the fuselage. Think engine or cockpit sides are up next.

Oh and I decided not to use my 3D printed seat... It was not the same variation of the seat... Maybe next time.

[NigelR]

Good progress, the interior work looks great. The wood is a little dark but it looks great and sometimes we need to go a little stronger with contrasts to "fool" the eye into seeing the parts as wood, especially once the fuselage is buttoned up.

[KiwiZac]

I'm liking everything I'm seeing but I have to call out the seat: that looks terrific!

[gedmundson]

Gorgeous work on your interior components - looks fantastic.
Cheers,
Gary

[AngryJazz]

Thank you all for the comments and encouragement 

Im currently working on the engine, but its very slow progress due to limited bench time. Hopefully I will have the wiring done this weekend.

[Rookie]

Great work on the interior. I think the 3d printed wicker seats are awesome!

Cheers,
Willem

[AngryJazz]

Sorry for the long delay!

Im finally back to a somewhat normal schedule and can get some more reliable bench time 
Life with two small kids (1,5 and 3 years old) can be quite an experience sometimes! So the more complicated builds like this Dolphin was put on pause and I worked on other things that were easier to put down if I had to.

However I've decided I want to get this project going again.
I will properly have to sacrifice some details and just live with small errors here and there.... But hey it's that or having this model gathering dust on the shelf. Maybe I'll get back to super detailing when the kids are a bit older and bench time is less interrupted 

The Dolphin is almost ready to be installed in the fuselage and hidden forever! Just missing a few rigging lines between the two frames and above the seat.

Engine was wired up with 0,1mm copper wire. Not a great job, but it's almost invisible anyways once installed.

[NigelR]

Beautiful work. Most of it does indeed disappear when the fuselage is closed up, I spent a long time on mine and then ran into loads of issues with the decals which meant it isn't going to see the light of day in any shape or form....

[Umlaufmotor]

looks really great.
Too bad I missed out on this kit.

Have lots of fun with your two young kids.
I can understand that, I was in the same situation 30 years ago 

Servus
Bertl

[Dutch522]

Beautiful work! They should've included two cockpits/motors in their kits so you can have one to look at unobstructed

And like Bertl I can identify with your situation RE: children... the up side for me was that as the boys got older they both got into modeling, and we had a lot of fun building together. They drifted off at the seemingly obligatory age of 14 or 15 (they're 33 and 37 now) but to my surprise and great joy, they've recently both gotten back into it.

All best,

Dutch

[PrzemoL]

Lovely. I remember from my build that WNW Dolphin innards were among the most complicated. And it is really pity that they are all almost hidden after the fuselage closing.

Good luck with the rest of the build.