Author Topic: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'  (Read 19418 times)

Offline Chris Johnson

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W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« on: April 13, 2013, 03:24:03 AM »

With Andrew McKeever's Bristol Fighter under my belt, I'm moving on to another Canadian flyer's aircraft. This time I've chosen William Melville Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince' N5487 which he flew in June and July 1917 as a member of the Black Flight, 10 Naval Squadron, RNAS. Alexander scored ten victories while flying the Triplane, and eight of those were when flying 'Black Prince'. Alexander survived the war with twenty-three victories and died in 1988.

I'll be building Wing Nut Wing's 1/32 Sopwith Triplane kit and utilizing Pheon's decal sheet #32018 for the 'Black Prince' markings. Rowan's decal package comes well packed with five sheets of colour artwork supplementing a full A4 sheet of decals.





Fellow forum member Dave Wilson advised me that the Triplane kit shares a number of parts from WnW's earlier Sopwith Pup kit and as such, the modeller needs to be aware that there will be a bit of a challenge when mating the fuselage to the lower wing. Having been forewarned, my first task was to wet sand the bottom of the cockpit floor in hopes of alleviating the issue somewhat.



With that done, I undercoated the various parts that will be woodgrained with Tamiya Dark Yellow, and then applied the oil paint. I changed my technique somewhat by using a light shade 502 Abteilung oil paint (third from the left) from their Vehicle Weathering Set. The colours here are as well suited to aircraft as vehicles.  I must have put it on a bit too thick as six days later, I'm still waiting for them to fully dry! Next time I go to the art store, I'll be picking up a bottle of Liquin.



I've always been apprehensive about weathering my aircraft as I'm afraid of ruining them but this time around, I'm going to give it a whirl. To get things started, I used the hairspray technique on the cowl and side panels. For those not familiar with the process, I based coated them with Tamiya Aluminum thinned with lacquer thinner. Two mist coats of aerosol hairspray followed and when it was dry, I shot them with Tamiya Flat Black thinned with water. Then it's just a simple matter of soaking the parts with some water for a minute of two and gently scrubbing off areas of the black paint with a stiff bristle brush. The hardest part of the process is to restrain yourself from getting carried away when you start scrubbing.



That's it for today. Thanks for dropping by!

Cheers,

Chris
« Last Edit: April 13, 2013, 08:26:44 AM by Chris Johnson »
You can have it good; You can have it fast; you can have it cheap. Pick any two, but all three are impossible.

Offline mgunns

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #1 on: April 13, 2013, 03:41:01 AM »
Hello Chris:

Sopwith Mania is running wild!  I am working on the HC Camel.  No pics posted.  I am going to do this one next.  It looks like you are making progress, albeit slow waiting for the oils to dry.  I like the effect of the hairspray technique.  What will they think of next?  I will be watching and following your build.  I enjoyed the pup and look forward to your build.

Best

Mark
Mark

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Offline LindsayT

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2013, 03:57:33 AM »
I'm loving the chipping, Chris. That looks like something I'd like to try in the future. Keep it coming!

LT

Offline coyotemagic

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #3 on: April 13, 2013, 04:22:47 AM »
Beautiful work on weathering the cowling and side panels, Chris.  I also snuck a peek at your wings and you did a brilliant job on the shading.  This is going to be one stunning kite.
Cheers,
Bud
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream in the dark recesses of the night awake in the day to find all was vanity. But the dreamers of day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, and make it possible." -T. E. Lawrence

Offline rhallinger

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #4 on: April 13, 2013, 06:19:05 AM »
Great work on the cowling Chris!  You've executed the hairspray technique in a very convincing manner.  Gives me the nerve to maybe try it next time out! ;)  The rest of this will be fun to watch. :D

Regards,

Bob

Offline michael

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #5 on: April 13, 2013, 06:48:12 AM »
Fantastic start on the weathering Chris  :)

Good luck with the rest of your build.

I have just got the triplane so will be following closely.

michael
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Offline Des

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #6 on: April 13, 2013, 06:48:38 AM »
Excellent work on the cowl and access panel chipping Chris, it liiks very authentic. I also took a sneak peak at your wings, very well done.

Des.
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Offline GAJouette

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #7 on: April 13, 2013, 07:12:38 AM »
  Chris,
Outstanding first progress my old friend. Your cowl and access panels are some first rate weathering.I'm looking forward to following along and taking notes for my pair of Tripes.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
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Offline pepperman42

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2013, 07:25:59 AM »
Nice work Chris -At one point wasnt there a Black Flight group build in the works? Anyway - watching this one closely!!

Steve

Offline Chris Johnson

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2013, 08:30:16 AM »
Sorry guys. I fixed the Photobucket links so they don't take you off the forum. This is the first time I've encountered that issue and it makes me wonder if PB has changed the linking setup. When I copied the usual link, it included code that's never been there before.

Cheers,

Chris
You can have it good; You can have it fast; you can have it cheap. Pick any two, but all three are impossible.

Offline Chris Johnson

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2013, 09:04:39 AM »
Nice work Chris -At one point wasnt there a Black Flight group build in the works? Anyway - watching this one closely!!

That was Gary, Lance and I, after we finished our McKeever Brisfits. As Lance and Gary have been held up due to their employment commitments, I decided to get started before I slipped back into another AFV build.

Cheers,

Chris
You can have it good; You can have it fast; you can have it cheap. Pick any two, but all three are impossible.

Offline kinnies

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2013, 10:36:53 AM »
Hi Chris,
I'm looking forward to following this build. I've got Black Maria on the bench and hope to be able to post some pics soon.
Love the weathering on the cowling. It really looks the real deal.
Cheers,
John

Offline Chris Johnson

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2013, 08:49:06 AM »
Next in line was the wings. It seems there's no hard evidence that Black Prince was painted in either PC10 or PC12. I decided to go with a brown PC12 shade and started out with Tamiya Red Brown, lightened somewhat with their Dark Yellow, and thinned with lacquer thinner. I understand that PC12 is 'allegedly' more chocolate brown than red brown, but I'm anticipating the weathering process will darken it quite a bit. The undersides of the wings were shot with Tamiya Deck Tan. Once again, there appears to be no hard and fast rule whether the PC12 wrapped around the edges of the wings, so I dispensed with that feature.

Once the base coat was applied, instead of shooting a gloss undercoat for the decals, I brushed on Future as an experiment. When that dried, I added the WnW roundel decals. I used a hair dryer for the first time to seat the decals and it makes an incredible difference. Give it a whirl. You'll like it.

Finally, I sealed the decals with a coat of Dullcote and this is what I ended up with. What the . . . ??  :o :o  :o



Evidently, my mistake was in not covering the entire wing with Future. To fix the problem, I employed some weathering procedures in an effort to balance everything out.

Next step was to tackle the rib shading and I'm going to keep trying the pastel shading technique until I finally get it right!



I used MIG pastels and after applying them, this is how the undersides of the wings and tailplane looked. Not bad.



As you can see below, I got a bit carried away on the bottom wing, and my choice of pastel colour might have been a bit to dark.  :-[



To tone down the reddish brown paint and overstated rib shading, I employed a filter (glaze) which is nothing more than lightly brushed on coats of heavily thinned (90-95%) oil paint. I applied the filter six or seven times until I was happy with the fading effect I had achieved.



Now it all looks a bit more like a well weathered, dusty chocolate brown.

Thanks for looking.

Cheers,

Chris
You can have it good; You can have it fast; you can have it cheap. Pick any two, but all three are impossible.

Offline Vickers

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2013, 09:51:28 AM »
You're certainly off to a good start on this Tripehound, Chris.  The pastel technique for highlighting the ribs looks like a fine alternative to painting the effect- I may have to give that a try someday.  Nice subject choice, too. When the time comes for me to attempt the Triplane, I (and many others here) will certainly benefit from your experience so please keep these updates coming!
Bruno: "How many rules are there?"

Willi: "I don't know... none of zem have ever been written down."

Offline Des

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Re: W. M. Alexander's Sopwith Triplane 'Black Prince'
« Reply #14 on: April 14, 2013, 09:56:04 AM »
Your pastel technique appears to be working well Chris, the underside of the wings look brilliant. I can see where the over use of the pastels can cause problems but your remedy rectified the issue. I have had no luck using pastels so I will stick with my pencil technique. The Tripe is looking great and I look forward to further updates.

Des.
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