Sopwith Tabloid (Classic Planes) and Baby (Eduard), another 1:72 double build

[WarrenD]

Well done Ian.

Warren

[lone modeller]

I go away for a few days and you half finish two kits when I am gone!! Not fair!!

Truly excellent work Ian - two aircraft which are on my to do list too. I like your method of achieving a wood finish too - similar to mine but different too. Excellent work all round - especially the cowling on the Baby.

Stephen.

[IanB]

I got some more done on these, but not much to photograph. The end result is that I now have some aluminium paint on them, although I think I may need top redo the top of the Tabloid....



Ian

[RAGIII]

Continuing to look great Ian!
RAGIII

[coyotemagic]

Brilliant work, Ian!
Cheers,
Bud

[lone modeller]

How you can work on 4 models simultaneously totally beats me! These are looking really good - and so small too. Great work.

Stephen.

[JamesAPrattIII]

Cool! I have been looking for a Tabloid 1/72 scale model to build. Can anyone help me find one?

[IanB]

James, I think it's going to be a question of putting a search on ebay and waiting. It's not even listed on Modellbaustudio Rhein-Ruhr, which is Classic Planes' shop.

 I put a gloss coat on the Fokkers today so decided to have another look at this. It's been sitting in front of me while I've been working on the two Fokkers and I kept thinking something wasn't right...a day or so ago I figured it out...



The fuselage halves aren't symmetrical!

 I thought about it and came to the conclusion that there was only one way to put it right....cut it in half! 



a little light sanding on one side, some plastic card "lugs" in the forward fuselage to help alignment, and we now have this....



Much better! I have applied a little filler around the join and will let that dry thoroughly before any further work. I also think I'll reskin the rear decking as it really looks pretty crappy, especially now it's been chopped in half!

Thanks for looking in,

Ian

[RAGIII]

Although I probably would not have noticed without you pointing it out you have done a great job correcting the assymetrical fuselage!
RAGIII

[IanB]

You would have when I put the rudder on, Rick! I'm just glad I spotted it in time.

Ian

[WarrenD]

Well done Ian!

Warren

[lone modeller]

Symmetry is always a problem with anything with wings - try a scratch build or two or a conversion and you will know what I mean. I agree that the upper decking is not up to your usual standard - by the next photo I bet it will be!

Stephen.

[IanB]

Thanks Warren!
 Stephen - here is my effort to correct the decking!

 I stuck a piece of masking tape on and trimmed it to shape, then used it as a stencil to cut out a piece of .005" card fro the decking.



The stringers were marked out on the back of the card using a ballpoint pen



which left me with this, viewed from the correct side...



That was then taped in place down one side and carefully stuck down in stages with PlasticWeld. Care is needed with this stuff as a little too much will quickly melt the thin sheet!

Here's what I ended up with after a bit of cleaning up. I also decided to slightly change the cowling profile as the edges weren't quite straight or sharp enough...



 I'm much happier with that now! Someone on another forum also pointed out that the cockpit opening wasn't quite square so I've adjusted the front edge of that too.

Thanks for looking in!

Ian

[WarrenD]

Thank you Ian, that's brilliant. I have a Flashback Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter that's been languishing for years because I messed up the upper decking. I'll have to give this method a try in order to fix it.

Warren

[steveb]

The decking looks great!
Thanks for sharing that technique.

Steve