Sopwith 5F.1 Dolphin, CSM 1:48, Upd 15.5.2020 Finished, done, over!

[RAGIII]

More details and beautiful painting! Simply gorgeous!
RAGIII

[Bughunter]

Thank you Jeroen, Terri and Rick!

Now you got me wanting to start a Dolphin , just don't know which one to build . CSM or WNW kit is being tossed back and forth at the moment .

I can't help here, I think both kits are great!


Monoplane


The lower wings are mounted and very stable, after that I put the landing gear in place.



The great real metal with very thin outlets exhausts are on the engine now. Those exhausts are part of the Premium edition.



The final picture shows the actual state (I was surprised by the colors of this picture, real sun but model in shadow is the best light source):



But don't worry, there is still enough on the ToDo list so it will keep me busy for a while.

Cheers,
Frank

[RAGIII]

That is absolutely Stunning! The painting is Superb!
RAGIII

[Bughunter]

Thank you Rick! Let's see how it looks like beside yours in the Dolphin thread.


Struts

A long time ago I painted the kit struts, but I don't like the look.
Now, with the Pheon decal set on hand there are new options. It contains also a sticker template for a mounting rig and on that are also "True" length drawings for inner and outer struts. The Pheon manual recommends to create the struts using boxwood.
You don't have to tell me things like that twice!

Long time ago I bought some pieces of boxwood on ebay. One piece was not very nice, saw blade marks, holes, to thin do saw veneer form it for my airscrews, but for struts it is usable. Cut small stripes and sanded struts according to the drawing.



Here again the raw struts, not yet painted. Thinner then the kit struts but more robust. The brass pins are 0.4mm.



Boxwood is very bright, here beside the real struts for the Dolphin in Hendon.



The Pheon manual mention the Blue Max kit and a older resin one. For this new kit I had to shorten the struts a bit during dry fitting. The struts are plugged into the lower wing and are painted now.



The PE parts are provided by the CSM kit and are glued to the wing.



As next step I will mount the upper wing and fit the struts between the wings.

Cheers,
Frank

[Bughunter]

Biplane

The usual problems, one step forward, two steps back ...
I left the sprues between both upper wings until I really need to cut them. Once cut I managed to break the thin frame between them immediately. The struts had to be shortened by another 1.5mm, which also meant a new paint job.

Anyway, the upper wing is now mounted!
Some impressions:









The staggered wings create a strange look. But I like the bright boxwood struts.



The project is now on hold until a parcel arrives from Greece.

Have a nice weekend,
Frank

[smperry]

You really nailed the struts Frank. They are the perfect shade and work hand in hand with the contrasting blue paint and great PC10 finish to make the model really pop visually.

Please tell about those strut fittings. Are they a kit part? AM PE? Scratch made? They really look the part.
sp

[RAGIII]

You are outdoing even your usual Superb work Frank! I agree with all SP said! I may need some pointers on carving struts soon, if I don't chicken out 
RAGIII

[Bughunter]

Thank you!

Please tell about those strut fittings. Are they a kit part?

Yes! This is the complete PE of this kit, with a lot of nice parts. I believe this is nickel silver (my kit was the Premium set).
See the parts on the lower row.

I may need some pointers on carving struts soon, if I don't chicken out 

What pointers you need?
You have at least the kit struts, if no better information like drawings. Plastic struts are often thicker to be more rigid.
Measure the thickness and width, cut a stripe of wood accordingly, or (what I have done often with my struts in pear) glue some stripe of veneer to get the needed thickness. A small circular saw is helpful, but it also possible without. I use a Proxxon KS230.


And then take some sanding tool and form the struts. Round at the front, sharp at the back side. Much easier compared to shaping a airscrew.

Cheers,
Frank

[smperry]

Thanks Frank, I would cheerfully buy a PE fret with nothing but these kind of fittings, practical and realistic looking. Also, thanks for the name of the saw. I have been looking for a tiny table saw for a while now now I have that product flagged and in line for a bite of my disposable income.
sp

[Borsos]

Frank, I am not talking about the building skills you show here, they are second to none, but also your painting gets more and more vivid and fascinating. I really like how you finished the wings.
Do you use a brassrod as a core for your struts or do you drill and pin the ends?
Andreas

[lone modeller]

I agree with Andreas - your building skills truly are second to none. Your painting skills are also of the very highest order - indeed everything you do just shouts quality craftsmanship.  It is therefore re-assuring to us lesser mortals to read that sometimes things do not always work as you would wish the to - but if you had not told us I doubt whether we would ever have known!


Stephen.

[Brad Cancian]

Hi Frank - she's looking fantastic. I love those struts.

The only little suggestion I would make would be to consider post-shading the decals, just to help visually tie the whole thing together. The shaded ribs in particular would look great if they extended to the roundels, especially given the shading on the blue on the tail is quite apparent.

Otherwise I think you're doing a great job on this one!

Cheers,

BC

[Bughunter]

Thank you all for your kind comments, highly appreciated!

Do you use a brassrod as a core for your struts or do you drill and pin the ends?

Andreas, this struts are a one-piece-affair, so not glued from veneer. So I drilled and pinned the brass rods (and had to remove the pins on one side for shortening again).

The only little suggestion I would make would be to consider post-shading the decals, just to help visually tie the whole thing together.

Brad, there is some light shading with "smoke" on the decals, but I must admit this time not very strong. I hatedo not love to mask on decals, and managed this time to have a red dot of a cockade, which is a own decal, hanging on the masking tape
The pictures were a bit bright, I believe the final picture in light tent will show it better.
My be I will add more shading, thanks for the hint.


In my personal opinion it is not my best model because there are many small issues, hard to be fixed lately. It is a complex build where you have to paint many parts at first. If then something happens during mounting then there is no chance for repair. Or you can try it, but it will be still visible. You can dry fit ten times, but it will not fit during the final process, mostly due to my personal add-ons

Thanks again!

Cheers,
Frank

[Bughunter]

I would cheerfully buy a PE fret with nothing but these kind of fittings, practical and realistic looking.

If a accessory is not available, the modeler can do it himself  As you see there, somehow the Dolphin PE was my inspiration.
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=9378.msg177275#msg177275

Later in the build report you will also pictures of mounting and rigging.

Or, if money is no object, buy some Dolphin kits and use only those etched parts.

but also your painting gets more and more vivid and fascinating. I really like how you finished the wings.

Andreas, I want to mention one thing. I painted the wing using MRP. I like the colors and they spray perfectly, but I see a disadvantage:
These paints are much more sensitive to knocks and scratches. Gunze colors are more resistant, not to mention enamels. Maybe more clear coat will help.

Cheers,
Frank

[RichieW]

I hope the parcel from Greece arrives soon, this is a seriously beautiful model. The MRP paints look fantastic. I love them but a drawback I have found is that I can't do small touch ups with a brush.