1/32 Sopwith Tabloid, RNAS No. 168, Lt. Marix, Oct. 1914

[rhallinger]

Thanks much for the kind and supportive comments everyone.   LM, you are a great modeller, and I draw much inspiration and motivation from your pusher conversions.   You proved with your Penguin trainer that you can build whatever you want.

The Tabloid cockpit is essentially complete, along with the gas tank and engine.  There is little reference material I could find on the Tabloid cockpit other than a period sketch in the Mini-Datafile, so I just sort of cobbled something together that is approximate.  It will do since the cockpit opening is small and not much will be visible.  The instruments are Airscale decals with Aeroclub bezels.  The throttle quadrant is PE from the spares box.  Seat and gas tank are from sheet styrene, with the seat cushion made from Sculpy.  Here she is:









I'm currently planning out further steps, but it looks like next up will be closing up the rear fuselage, adding the cross bracing, and molding the upper and lower cowlings.  More soon.

Regards,

Bob 

[coyotemagic]

Oh, man, Bob!  That's AWESOME!
Cheers,
Bud

[Des]

Excellent work Bob, this is looking amazing, the instrument panel is very well done as is the fuel tank.

Des.

[bobs_buckles]

Looking superb, Bob 
Keep going!!

Cheers,
vB

[Nigel Jackson]

Hi Bob

Great progress, it's  shaping up beautifully.

Incidentally yesterday I  received the Spring 2014 edition of Windsock. Inside the subject of the Great War Paint feature is the 1914 Tabloid

Best wishes
Nigel

[IFF1418]

Hi Bob,

Your interior is incredibly nice. Instrument panel, tank beautiful. Admiring your unlimited skills.

Kind regards
Patrick

[uncletony]

That looks really cool Bob!

[rhallinger]

Thanks for the support everyone!   Nigel, thanks for the heads up on the next Windsock issue.  Mine will be along shortly, I'm sure.  I'll be interested to see the Tabloid feature on painting. 

Cheers,

Bob

[lone modeller]

Your wood finish is so convincing that I could have believed that it was real. Did I miss something but where did the engine come from? The rest of the model is just gob-smacking.

[rhallinger]

Oh yeah, the engine . . . ooops!  Forgot to mention it's provenance.  Simple: it's just a WNW kit of the 80hp Gnome 7 cylinder.  Since it will be extremely well hidden by the cowling, I haven't bothered with further detailing, but I still need to dirty it up a good bit.   Three cylinders tips at the bottom will protrude slightly below the lower cowling, but in that position they are nearly invisible while the aircraft is upright.   

Cheers,

Bob   

[lcarroll]

Wow Bob, what a beauty so far................I may have to venture into this special little niche of modelling, this is an inspiration.
Nice work!
Cheers,
Lance

[TomR1981]

Hi Bob

This seems to be coming together quickly and is looking great. I always thought the Tabloid looked ahead of it's time, and very attractive too. Enjoying following this build.

Cheers

Tom

[IanB]

 Very nice Bob, she's looking great!
 Was the fuel tank really that big? I don't recall seeing anything else that had a tank that filled the entire space between firewall and instrument panel...I ask only because I have a 1:72 vac kit of the Tabloid and want to get it right...

Ian

[rhallinger]

Thanks Ian.  The interior for this machine is somewhat speculative on my part, but is based largely on this contemporary cutaway drawing on the back cover of the datafile:



The aircraft depicted in the drawing is an early 2-seater with side-by-side seats.  I assume that the general arrangement of engine, firewall, gas tank and IP are generally similar in the single seat No. 168.  I also have one photo of the cockpit of the Hendon reproduction aircraft, which doesn't show much detail but does include a stick rather than a steering wheel. There are no original interior photos I could find, so I have relied on this drawing and modern photo for guidance.  The gas tank does take up a good deal of space, but will end up being completely hidden under the upper cowling anyway.

Regards,

Bob

[Des]

Quite an interesting concept having the two side-by-side seats, and it certainly is a huge fuel tank. It's good to have drawings like this to go by, at least it gives you an idea of the general layout, wish I had the same for my Battaille.

Des.