Sopwith Snipe Early - Wingnut Wings 1/32

[bobs_buckles]

Tom,
 Beautiful looking Snipe.
Looking forward to seeing her complete 

vB

[lcarroll]

Magnificent progress Tom, and beautiful work. Like Mark, the green thatch like material had me puzzled for a while, a lovely reminder of what's under all this cold bloody wet stuff hereabouts!
Cheers,
Lance

[coyotemagic]

Brilliant work on the cowling and metal panels, Tom.  Very convincing.  What method did you use?
Cheers,
Bud

[TomR1981]

Hi Tom:

I really like the work you are doing here especially the metal affect on the cowlings.  Really turned out nice and will be a show stopper for sure.  Your seat belts really look convincing as does the rest of the build.  I haven't seen grass for so long I almost forgot what it was when I saw your picture.
Good luck in Holland and looking forward to seeing your next update when you get back.

Best

Mark

Magnificent progress Tom, and beautiful work. Like Mark, the green thatch like material had me puzzled for a while, a lovely reminder of what's under all this cold bloody wet stuff hereabouts!
Cheers,
Lance

Mark and Lance, North America certainly seemed to hog all the snow this winter. I think I'll have to head across the pond next year (my other hobby is snowboarding). I made it through the whole winter without ever needing a jacket!

Absolutely stunning,and Quick, work! I am behind you now in the build process and started well before 
RAGIII

Rick, it's not as quick as it looks! I had been working on the cockpit for a while before I posted the first photos. Also I'm not building an Albatros at the same time!

I've been home for a week now and made a bit of progress, here's the latest. Starting to look like a Snipe now. Engine, cowling and top decking are still just dry fitted.
Cowling finally painted, not perfect but I think it looks alright. I'll be taking a break from turned cowlings for a while now I think. I managed to lose one of the elevator control horns and had to raid the late Snipe kit. I've emailed WNW for a replacement but it'll be a while before I build the late Snipe.






Another trip to Holland tomorrow so more in a couple of weeks.

Tom

[Des]

A really lovely looking Snipe Tom, what you did with the cowl looks fantastic and the interior work is superb.

Des.

[uncletony]

That looks great, I love the cowling!

[drdave]

Tom superb work. I want to snaffle your turned cowling technique for my next Snipe! Can you talk us through it?
Cheers
Dave

[rhallinger]

Beautiful and neat work Tom!  I, too, would like to hear about your technique for the turned cowling.  Your spacing is very uniform, which really makes the metal areas stand out.   Very nicely done!  By the way, the rest of the aircraft looks great too.

Cheers,

Bob

[Epeeman]

Wow! great work so far Tom.   Love the cowling.

Regards

Dave

[DC87]

Cowling and metal look sublime, you must have the patience of a saint.

[TomR1981]

Thanks everybody! It's always nice to get some praise from such talented modellers.

My cowling technique was pretty easy, but very laborious. I drew a grid on some Tamiya tape, taped over clear plastic from one of those stationery envelopes to act as backing paper. Using a punch and die set I then punched holes in at all the corners and in the middle of each square in the grid. That gave me the same pattern as the Snipe I'm modelling and looks about in scale to me too. Using tape you can do a few layers at once and speed up the process. It still takes ages though!

That was good for the top decking and the sides of the fuselage and cowling but obviously the rows converge on the front of the cowling, so that I did row by row. I started using Tamiya tape which has a little bit of transparency, then realised frisket film is a much better choice as it's clear so you can see to place it  more easily.

I used a base of Alclad duralumin and sprayed the dots with Alclad white aluminium. Using Alclad means it can be remasked and sprayed again in a few minutes if you've had the patience to punch out enough masks beforehand (I didn't).

Cheers

Tom

[drdave]

Well it looks the biz. I just enlarged your photo. I've done the cowling in chrome before. I wonder if a silver felt tip might do the same effect? I'll try it.

[jknaus]

Looks fantastic. And an interesting way of doing the cowling. Thanks for the tip.
James

[mgunns]

Hello Tom:

Absolute fantastic results on the Cowl.  As has been mentioned, the rest of the model is pretty darned exquisite as well.  I am also doing the Snipe and following this build.  Thanks for passing on your methods and techniques.  Will give it a go.
Best wishes for a safe trip to Holland.

Best

Mark

[Ernie]

Tom I can only echo the comments regarding your Snipe...it is absolutely
wonderful.  Your turned metalwork is excellent and thank you for the
explanation of your technique.  I am looking forward to the next updates.
Have a safe trip, my friend.

Cheers,
Ernie