Nice!! The show must go on!
Nice!! The show must go on!
September 20th, Day 18
So time to do the opposite side of the wings. This time I gave the surface a 50/50 topcoat to tan mix as I wanted to bring the lighter, raised areas to attention.
Once that had cured I then went and masked off all the wing ribs and the raised areas along the wing edges.
Then it was time to darken and shadow the areas around the ribs and the raised areas and using a 50/50 mix of the topcoat and black but also with thinner to prevent such a heavy colouring.
Very happy with the result, and also that I didn't have to mix up another batch of paint as it is nearly impossible to get a perfect copy of a previous mix and you can actually see slight differences once the paint dries and cures.
The tail plane had already and thin line of black airbrushed along the joint line which is why it shows up darker.
Tomorrow I will put the top coat on over the preshading!
That is some excellent work
September 21st, Day 19
Early start today, 06:15 as I wanted as much natural light as possible for the next part as I really need to see how all the colours would blend together. The first job was to remove all of the masking tape, very carefully as I did not want to ruin any of the surfaces. This was also after giving my work bench a REALLY good wipe down!
From here I removed all the flaps from the sprue and started drilling. There are two reasons for this, firstly flaps are only joined to the wing surface at several locations so you can just add bond in those places which leaves a very weak join or glue along the entire surface and you lose that realism.
Neither of these are acceptably for me so using 0.5mm brass rod I will join the flaps to the wing surface at the proper locations. This adds more realism and also allows me to position the flaps in any position I want for a diorama or display.
A little light sanding with a file to remove burrs and warping.
Then using contact cement I inserted the brass rod in to the control flaps and let bond. Once the bond was secure I then made sure everything aligned perfectly with only a few adjustments to the angle of the brass rod required for a perfect fit.
Then I painted the rod mat black to hide it.
I will leave these unattached to the main wing for now. But as you can see the brass is pliable enough to move the flaps.
The wing surface is now completely ready for its top coat, this is where it gets a little scary as any mistake could ruin the whole effect I've tried to create!
Again good job James.Expecting a stunning wing out there.
Thanks
Nick
VERY HAPPY!
So with the flaps attached without bond I started layering up the top coat, in the end it took about 15 coats with the final one being about 80% thinner! But those sharp lines are gone and the pre-shading and highlighting is exactly what I was looking for!!!
Then I dry brushed over the washed out areas with a 50/50 mix of tan and top coat to bring them back to the surface followed by a final coat of the thinned green to blend and remove any brush strokes.
These are now ready to have a matt varnish applied and then the masking removed. Again I will hold off on the weathering until I have done some more research. Thankfully James Fahey sent me some images of his resorted Sopwith Snipe!
GHAAAARRRRR,
Half way through drilling one of the wings for the Holt Land Flares I suddenly realised that I was drilling from the wrong side!
A quick fill with Tamiya Putty and taping off the offending area ready for a base, dry brush and top coat sorted it out. But it was a gut wrenching moment after everything was going so well!
Once that was fixed it was back to drilling out the remaining hole and then the mounting holes for the bomb carrier, thankfully no mistakes there!
Putting that aside I then returned to the fuselage and gave the bottom a really good base coat not really caring about a smooth surface as this area is going to be heavily weathered.
Then again all taped up for the cross beams and ribs and then layers upon layers of CDL.
However I did do something slightly different, because the Sopwith Snipe is a tail dragger the red oxide primer will bleed through and down towards the tail. To replicate this I sprayed the fuselage ribs at a 45 degree angle so the spray build up was heaviest closest to the rib then faded out down the linen and I will do the same for the weathering.
Once everything was blended in and dry it was time to see if the effect matched the wings especially closest to the fuselage.
After bonding the lower wing in place and leaving it to dry it was time to apply the heavier oxide and oil staining.
I still need to do the castor oil stains which are very heavy! The engine would piss it everywhere!
Last edited by FarEast; 09-20-2014 at 22:35.
I think I will call it a day!
A lot of work in just one day James! Got to go to bed now, but im eager to see what i will find tomorrow.
That is phenomenal work James.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
You are continuing to amaze!
If you do happen to have to mix a new batch of paint for part of the wing surface just view it as added realism. It wasn't uncommon for patches on the wings to be all sorts of different shades... or sometimes to have one wing different from the other.
Oh, and I'm looking forward to seeing that Albatros in process. Can't wait to see the application of the lozenge fabric!
Last edited by steel_ratt; 09-24-2014 at 18:43.
Originally Posted by FarEast
I reckon you deserve a rest after all that work James.
The Albatros was a gift from a very close friend, so to give the plane justice I have purchased the HGW ultra detail set, GasPatch turnbuckles, airspeed indicator and twin Spandau LMG as well as a few other things for some of the other kits.
I will probably go back to the snipe on the weekend as tonight and tomorrow I have meetings, but I also promised myself a WOGF game or two over the weekend..... One of the OTT prequel game as well as something that uses the Goth Bombers!
I also have to build up and paint some British Nieuports as well and I've had an excellent idea for those little 1/144 scale beauties!
September 27th, Day 20
So now all the fuselage was complete it was time to touch up the wooden external parts. Again a quick airbrushing of Vallejo natural wood colour and then burnt umber oil paints and left to dry out.
While that was drying it was time to do some more detailing work on the engine in preparation for all the leads and wires. First off was to actually paint in the spark plugs - gloss white with some polished brass.
Next up is the control horns for the wings and tail plane.
As well as drilling out the holes for them to go through.
Now with the wood parts dried, I can bond the tail plane in to place.
Now for some fun!
Time to feed all the control lines through the fuselage - this takes a very steady hand and a lot of patience and blowing
I feed the line through the exit point of the fuselage until I have a sufficient amount inside, then a quick blast of breath through the cockpit and the line will appear out of one of the open points of the fuselage.
I tie a small knot, a dab of contact cement then carefully pull on the line from the opposite end.
Tail plane lines done!
Next I did the lines in the rudder.
Now I wanted this to be as authentic as possible so using some 1/48 scale turnbuckles I attached them to landing skid control horns. Then looped the line through and tied off. Locking with a very small dab of contact cement.
Now for the rest of the rear control lines!
All attached to horns and turnbuckles.
There are several areas where the contact cement has stripped the paint and these will be touched up and corrected once I get the RAF Flat rigging for the rudder.
September 28th, Day 21
I've been putting this job off for too long now and I need to get the engine finished and monted as without it I can't proceed with the cowling, gun sights and other parts.
You may have noticed that I've weathered the engine more and added rusted parts as well as more deeper oil and grim stains. Now it was time to attach all the starting wires to the engine, each cylinder has two spark plugs so I had a lot to do.
Once set finished!
Once both sides were done it was time to glue them in to place, cut them down to size and then round off the edges.
More touch up work and a little more gold on top of the plugs.
And the Bentley engine is finished!
The last job of the day was to mount the engine in the bay, however it was looking way to clean to be an active service Snipe, so time for plenty of oil stains and grime.
This was achieved with several layers of watered down ink wash then once it had dried I ran thinner over the top for it to strip the top layers and run.
Then the very simple job of bonding the engine in to place, oh and the engine will rotate.
So with that final job finished it was time to call it a day, had a few accidents with the control lines, the turnbuckles were a serious pain in the arse to attach but overall happy and with a few areas to touch up there was nothing serious to worry about.
Great James! Its getting better and better.
Glad you werent in that incident James.
Thanks
Nick
I am fast running out of superlatives to express my admiration for this project James. Magnificent just does not cut the mustard any more.
Rob.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."
I gave up long ago!I am fast running out of superlatives to express my admiration for this project James. Magnificent just does not cut the mustard any more.
Rob.
Gobsmacked!!!! Can't wait to see the finished article!
Amazing job on the engine James. I won't even comment about the lines... The only way to express what I feel is this:
"Then the very simple job of bonding the engine in to place, oh and the engine will rotate."
Missed this thread James, I am impressed to say the leastyour skill and steady hands (LoL)
Hi James
Just wonderful build tale - makes me afraid to start attacking my Wingnut Wings pile!
BTW what are those painting supports you show in the photos in post #69?
Wayne... what do you have in your Wingnut Wings stash?????? I have a couple of rare kits that I'm looking to do a straight swap on.
The painting support is a Tamiya spray stand for car bodies.... its the perfect width for 1/32 scale WWI aircraft!
Hi James - nothing too esoteric in my stash: Rumpler CIV (late), Pfalz D.IIIa, Fokker D.VII (OAW), Bristol F.2b Fighter.
Hi James I've come very late to this, but I use exactly the same technique when painting my 15mm vehicles, i hadn't realised a wash came at the endish of painting, I had always built it up from the base. And found when emphasising raised areas to give them a more 3d effect, this technique worked amazingly.
http://twistedterrain.blogspot.co.uk...in-murzuq.html
P.S. Your Snipe is a thing of beauty, oh yeh and where's the gruffalo.
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