1/32 WnW Sopwith Triplane (done)

[Borsos]

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.

[NigelR]

This is looking very nice indeed. Your approach to the turned metal effect is brilliant and works really well IMO, bravo!

[gedmundson]

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!

[NigelR]

Nice job! That circle cutter really is the business (once you master getting the tension of the spring right....).

[gedmundson]

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!


The seam was sanded down with fine sandpaper sticks.

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.

After sanding the area down with a number of fine sanding sticks, the area was repainted and rigging work continued.

[NigelR]

Ghost seams can often come back to haunt you......at least this one won't! Well worth the effort.

[AngryJazz]

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! 

[KiwiZac]

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.

[gedmundson]

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!

[NigelR]

This is coming along very nicely, I like your weathering so far.

[hrcoleman66]

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

[gedmundson]

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!

[Borsos]

Another great model in the making. Really lovely!

[FAf]

Good choice to go back and sort out that seam, even if most viewers probably wouldn't know the difference.
Looks good!
/Fredrik

[Richtrad]

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