Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin 1/32 Wingnut Wings

[AngryJazz]

Thank you Zac, Sandy, Nigel, Przemol and Tim 

Good info on the engine cowls! I do in fact plan on closing up the engine.

Thank you for the help Przemol and Sandy! Very interesting read on the tail plane and trimming. Clever way of helping the pilot. Also great WNW included it 

For the build im trying to figure out how to do the rigging before I move on to priming etc...
One option is installing eyelets the other is trying my recently acquired Modelkasten stretch rigging and supergluing the lines into place.

Im thinking the Modelkasten approach will look best... I can slide some 0,3mm tubes over the line and mimic the attachment points more realistic.
Only downside is sometimes getting the CA and rigging to hold without losing my mind 

[RAGIII]

Catching up on your build. Excellent details and interior painting. This kit was one of My favorite WNW builds.
RAGIII

[AngryJazz]

Thank you very much RAGIII 

Some progress have been made on the Dolphin. Must admit I had to build up some momentum to press forward.
All the masking felt like a chore, but it had to be done!

I choose to pre shade this model a bit heavier than my last build. Wanted to see what would happen with the end result. Maybe I could add a bit more depth to the color or start a subtle weathering effect.

During this stage I did question if I maybe choose a more difficult build than my last. I wanted something a bit less complicated than the Albatros, but I don't think the Dolphin is 
The cockpit and engine is much more exposed. Really difficult to paint the areas around the already finished parts.
Fit on engine and cockpit is so tight that no tape can be wedged between.

I did get a little overspray, but will be fixed later.

From all the good advice here I did test fit the cowling and other parts. I did in fact have to trim and shave some parts around the engine to make it sit correctly. Also had to do some work to get the cylinders to sit correct in their cutout on the cowling (hope it makes sense).

For now some pictures!

[Dutch522]

Great work, and I absolutely love your airbrush work on the pre-shading... if it were me, I'd be tempted to just leave it! Very interested to see how this is going to turn out.

Dutch

[PrzemoL]

It looks surprising. I am looking forward to seeing the final results.

[NigelR]

A very interesting approach, I will be intrigued to see how this turns out. You can certainly handle an airbrush far better than me!

I did in fact have to trim and shave some parts around the engine to make it sit correctly. Also had to do some work to get the cylinders to sit correct in their cutout on the cowling (hope it makes sense).

Yup, I had to do this. After all the work getting the engine painted and detailed, some of it had to be shaved off. It won't be visible though so it doesn't matter. but I found it annoying after all that work.

My failed build of this one made me change my approach so that I now minimise the "detailing for god" and focus on what can be seen when the kit is finished 

[Umlaufmotor]

@AngryJazz
That looks quite interesting your approach with shading etc.
Can you tell us a bit about your technique and the colors, shades etc. you used?

The model looks, as far as I can tell, very clean, superb and accurately built.

Servus
Bertl

[RAGIII]

A very interesting approach, I will be intrigued to see how this turns out. You can certainly handle an airbrush far better than me!

I did in fact have to trim and shave some parts around the engine to make it sit correctly. Also had to do some work to get the cylinders to sit correct in their cutout on the cowling (hope it makes sense).

Yup, I had to do this. After all the work getting the engine painted and detailed, some of it had to be shaved off. It won't be visible though so it doesn't matter. but I found it annoying after all that work.

My failed build of this one made me change my approach so that I now minimise the "detailing for god" and focus on what can be seen when the kit is finished 

Now that you mention it I also had to some last minute engineering on the fit of the motor. I ended up leaving off the Magneto assembly and the engine fit without issue. No problem for Me as I close up all of my builds.

Your pre shading looks great. I am looking forward to the actual colors.
RAGIII

[AngryJazz]

Thank you all for the kind words and interest in my project 

I'm not going to keep you waiting for pictures with color. The shading is from a few days ago and luckily I got a little bench time since.

I know the shading is a bit different than what is usually done, but it's something that have been working well for me on my 1/48 builds. I feel like it gives me a bit more control over the final look / variation in the paint.
It's very similar to black basing method, but I have the option to control the opacity of the shading. For instance there is a few places my airbrush had a small hiccup and I got a bit more paint than I wanted - in this area I choose to spray a little more of the base color to blend it in.
If you were so inclined a 2nd round of mottling / post shading can be added now for some more tonal variation. However i'm not doing it on this build.
The later stages with oils and filters will tone down and change the appearance a little - help blend it together.
So the "spots" you see will change significantly and hopefully look like actual weathering on the fabric. Also the variance kinda changes from what angle you look at it, lighting etc...
Hopefully I will be able to show what I mean later down the road.

I did polish the surface before painting with a high grit sanding sponge. I'm really happy how silky smooth the finish turned out 

One thing I may change on another build is to choose colors for shading slightly closer to easy other. Like dark grey for base and neutral grey for ribs - just to turn the contrast down a little.
Also next time Ill round the tape ends I used for masking the small ribs on the wings. The "square" look is not too great and could be better, but i'm not feeling like redoing the work 

Edit
Colors used:
MRP-254 PC-12 (manual says PC-10 with added brown, but this one looked right to me)
MRP-258 Clear Doped Linen V2
Tamiya XF-53
Tamiya XF-66













//Ben

[AngryJazz]

@AngryJazz
That looks quite interesting your approach with shading etc.
Can you tell us a bit about your technique and the colors, shades etc. you used?

The model looks, as far as I can tell, very clean, superb and accurately built.

Servus
Bertl

Thank you Bertl, means a lot - I really like you build log - learning a lot 

I tried to put a few words into why im doing the shading as I am in the post above. Its mainly about control of the end result.
I'm still a novice in the modeling world, so trying a lot of stuff and hope I will build up some skills and experience along the way.
I could save myself lots of work by "just" using a black base technique, but I don't have than confidence in my airbrush skills.

The white I mottle is just to create variation in the base color.
The Sand is more to create a bit of color variance in the color - also a small experiment to see if I could make a little linen staining / weathering. I worked best on the underside with the lighter color.
I should have used another color on the top for color variation that would show through a bit better. Maybe yellow or orange.

On my Viper build I added a bit of blue and tans in the pre shading process - it worked really well.
Also showcase how things blend together better after weathering / oils.

Example (sorry know its not WW1, but don't know else to show the process)

[Dutch522]

Your airbrushing skills are looking pretty good to me, Ben, and I love the way you're experimenting with the variations in the underpainting. The Sop is coming out great, looking forward to seeing the final finish... and I gotta say, that's one mean-looking chopper!

Dutch

[NigelR]

You're making excellent progress here, the build is coming together really well. You got further than I did!

[AngryJazz]

Thank you Dutch! And I think your term of underpainting explains it very well 

Thanks Nigel! Your tips and pointers have been very helpful. As you - Im also leaning on doing less detail work on my next build if it is in areas that will be covered.

Progress report.

Currently doing decals... Nigel and others warned me.. but I did not expect it to be as bad as it is.
Only decals worse than these in the kit were old yellow Hasegawa decals from a 80's kit I tried to build.

Cracks and tears all over.

Had to panickily run and steal my wife's hairdryer to try to do something...

Pictures tonight, just need to place 4 more decals on the struts.

[NigelR]

Oh no, those decals......... Fingers crossed you can get a reasonable result.

[PrzemoL]

Thank you Dutch! And I think your term of underpainting explains it very well 

Thanks Nigel! Your tips and pointers have been very helpful. As you - Im also leaning on doing less detail work on my next build if it is in areas that will be covered.

Progress report.

Currently doing decals... Nigel and others warned me.. but I did not expect it to be as bad as it is.
Only decals worse than these in the kit were old yellow Hasegawa decals from a 80's kit I tried to build.

Cracks and tears all over.

Had to panickily run and steal my wife's hairdryer to try to do something...

Pictures tonight, just need to place 4 more decals on the struts.

I remember those. But I also remember that using warm water and lots of patience (time) before the glue released the decal to slide over the back paper helped a lot.