Jump to content

WnW Sopwith Snipe - 17Sqn - Hawkinge - FINISHED!


Out2gtcha

Recommended Posts

Well gents my last couple of WIPs/builds have really gotten the better of me, and although I will return to them at some point, I need a feel good sanity check build. Something I can actually complete. Something I can work on and feel good about it being 100% OOB.
 
Although Im not normally a WWI guy, there is no better feel good build IMHO than a WnW kit.
 
Ive always wanted to try my hand at a Inter-war machine, and loved to try to incorporate some foiling in as well. I thought there would be no better kit suited, than a WnW late Sopwith Snipe, from 17 Sqn in 1924, with all silver dope painted mid-rear fuse and wings, and an all natural metal front fuse and cowl. Ill be foiling the front ends as needed, and applying paint for the silver dope:
 
 
 
Sopwith%20Snipe%20E6544,%2017%20Sqn,%20H
 
 
 
 
 
 
If youve never built a late WnW kit, these are some of if not the best engineered, layed out, and presented kits you would ever hope to build. Everything is as you would want it, if you yourself were starting a modeling company............................
 
Well thought out directions with tons of color pics of the 1:1, sealed bags for your sprues, supreme accuracy (as far as I can tell and read) and the best fit, detail and engineering you could ever design, and decals from Cartograf that lay down like a supreme dream.  I dont normally gush, but these really are feel good kits even if your like me, and arnt necessarily a super duper WWI buff.
 
The kit is a wonder, and Im going with the assumption that most of you reading this have already seen a WnW kit, and when I start this, there will be plenty more pics, so I didnt feel the need to snap a ton of sealed sprue shots. The boxs, and box art that sir Peter puts out are quite amazing as well though:
 
 
 
DSC03078.jpg
 
 
 
 
 
 
For as much as I love them, with this being an Intra-war plane, I didnt think the GasPatch Models 1/32, or even 1/48th turnbuckles would look right, and their "RAF Late war" turnbuckles have no real secure anchoring for the rigging material, I decided to go once again with a combo of Gas-Patch and Bobs Buckles..............just a different combination this time.
This time Im going with  GPs new 1/32nd "Anchor points / Eyelets" for the eyelets, as to my "eye" they look better for this application than Bobs twisted eyelets:
 
 
 
19_zoom.jpg
 
 
 
 
 
 
Im using the GP eyelets, and then Im also using Bobs Buckles 0.5 cut tubes to seal the anchor point ends off with. I know these are supposed to be the rectangular/flat spade type connections, but I think this looks a heck-of-a-lot better than OOB stock or the older style GP turnbuckles.
 
Ill be using Bobs Buckles cut tubes, but will be replacing his twisted eyelets for the GP ones:
 
 
 
DSC01058.jpg






I will also be using the Gas-Patch 1/48th scale turn-buckes to sub in for the control lines:

 

 

 

8_zoom.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far, even reading over the WnW instruction manual has been a relaxing and enjoyable experience. So other than some Prym "knitting in" thread for the rigging, the GP and BBs stuff, this one will be pretty much OOB. Even the decals OOB for WnW, are amazing.......................Cartograf decals that generally go on like a dream.

I think this will be just the ticket to get me back on track, with the little precious modeling time I have had lately.

 

I took a few days off over the upcoming US 4th of July holiday weekend, so I hope to get cracking on this one ASAP!

 

Cheers,

 

 

 

 

Edited by Out2gtcha
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Peterpools

Hi Brian

Surely took me by surprise but what a great choice and to bring the kit in to the Golden Age, Bravo! Looking forward to following and enjoying your build as you go.

Keep e' coming

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

fabulous Brian..

 

..this is going to be really cool - I am really looking forward to seeing how you go about the front end - foiling the cowl etc looks quite beyond me (actually foiling a flat surface is beyond me...)

 

I can't seem to get into WW1, but I do love the look of those silver inter-war bipes and can imagine this will tempt me into them even more

 

..really looking forward to following along

 

Peter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thankfully the Snipe is single, not double rigged.

The tricky bits are the under fuselage seam, the gunsight through windscreen fiddle and working out the tail/ rudder/ skid fit.

 

I have built 2 and have 2 more in the stash.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Awesome choice of subject and kit Brian, I'll be watching you, wheeeeeeeee! :)

 

 

 

Thanks Martin! Hope the B-day was great.............and hope I dont disappoint!  :lol: This is a fun/sanity build, and Im already having way more fun than my last two combined.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice choice  :popcorn:

 

 

 

Thanks Andy.  :D I think its SUCH a nice kit to build, it really is a builders kit. Modeling fun in the sun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Brian

Surely took me by surprise but what a great choice and to bring the kit in to the Golden Age, Bravo! Looking forward to following and enjoying your build as you go.

Keep e' coming

Peter

 

 

 

Thanks Peter. It was a bit of a shocker to me too, but I just needed a big departure from my previous stuff, that I would love OOB, and none quite fit the bill like a a WnW kit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fabulous Brian..

 

..this is going to be really cool - I am really looking forward to seeing how you go about the front end - foiling the cowl etc looks quite beyond me (actually foiling a flat surface is beyond me...)

 

I can't seem to get into WW1, but I do love the look of those silver inter-war bipes and can imagine this will tempt me into them even more

 

..really looking forward to following along

 

Peter

 

 

 

Thanks Peter, me too. I love the look of the inter-war bipes as well, and this one is one I rarely if at all have seen built up. Will be just enough foiling to make things interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian,

 

Looking forward to watching your build progress, as your skills and this subject make this irresistible!

 

Cheers, Tom

 

 

 

Thank you Tom. The kits are so great, I wont be needing too much to turn this into a winner in my book.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankfully the Snipe is single, not double rigged.

The tricky bits are the under fuselage seam, the gunsight through windscreen fiddle and working out the tail/ rudder/ skid fit.

 

I have built 2 and have 2 more in the stash.

 

 

 

Thanks for the heads up Dave. I really like the kit too, and will keep an eye on the underside seam.

 

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On to progress then!

 

Sorry its been so slow on that front, but modeling time is at rarity these days, (hence starting this build) and Id rather my time be spent building than devoted to R & D.

 

Part of the reason progress is so slow, is the first stages on this build entailed prepping and painting a bunch of wooden surfaces. This is one reason I do like the oil over acrylic wood grain method, is yes the decals look great, and I like them for certain applications, but in certain circumstances they just aren't practical, if not impossible to use. This is one of those times......................

 

The wood grain is on things like the fuselage/cockpit ribs, as well as the instrument panel, and wooden ribs between primed fabric.  All of these areas would make using wood grain decals almost impossible. Using the oil/acrylic method here to simulate wood will also get me a chance to better match the wood grain on things like the IP and fuse ribs, to larger flat surfaces like the inside of the fuselage walls.

 

The instructions call out for the red oxide primer coming into production in 1924, so my air-frame is the only one that seemed to qualify for this, so that is what I went with.

You can see here how my masking went over a coat of red oxide primer, and the areas Im painting wood:

 

 

 

32054%20Sopwith%20Snipe%20Late%20Page%20

 

 

 

DSC03080.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

The disadvantage of the oil over acrylic method is the wait time for the oil to dry. I have solved this to my own personal satisfaction when I started to thin the oils with Japan Drier.

Mostly, you are supposed to mix the JD with oil thinner, but I skipped right to the punch, and found the thinning w/JD only takes the wait time for the oils from what seems like a week or two (and sometimes IS!) to just a day or two.

After the masking was applied over the red oxide,

 

I laid down a coat of XF59, and started going over it with the oil, mainly using burnt Umber, and in two sections you can see for tonal difference, burnt Umber lightened with some white. Using a cocktail stick I also incorporated a few knots and variations in the wood for some visual interest even though I know its likely not accurate (you'll have to excuse the cat hair) :

 

 

 

DSC03081.jpg

 

 

 

DSC03082.jpg

 

 

 

DSC03084.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cockpit framing, IP, seat, floor boards, were all done with straight raw Umber:

 

 

 

DSC03085.jpg

 

 

 

DSC03086.jpg

 

 

 

 

DSC03088.jpg

 

 

 

DSC03090.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

MORE...................

Edited by Out2gtcha
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I put the XF59 on late in the afternoon on Wed, and let that dry 24 hrs. I then put on all of the oils in the afternoon on Thursday, and today I went down and all of the oils were dry, and I was able to spray a very light coat of MM flat lacquer clear over the wooden parts to tone the sheen down. The tonal differences are still evident even after the flat clear, just like  I wanted:

 

 

 

DSC03091.jpg

 

 

 

DSC03092.jpg

 

 

 

DSC03094.jpg

 

 

 

DSC03097.jpg

 

 

 

DSC03096.jpg

 

 

 

DSC03095.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

I left work early on Thurs, and had the 4th of July off, as well as today, Sunday and Monday too. I plan on getting as much work done on this thing as I can in that time, so I will hopefully be progressing more on cockpit getting the detail painting started on all of this, and will be able to unmask the inside of the fuse. I MAY even get around to foiling the inside of the fuselage in the appropriate areas.

 

Cheers till next time gents!

Edited by Out2gtcha
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks K1. I dare say, as you well likely know, its better in person than in pics, as so many times the macro exposes what looks like pure awesomeness to the naked eye, to be substantially less perfect..............but still acceptable.

 

Im sure most of this effort will be hidden anyway, but its fun to do.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maru, Whitey, thanks very much for the kind words.

 

I completed a lot of the small detail painting on the side frames, IP fuel cell, seat and stick/rudder pedals. I am now about to got back down stairs and start back in...................as I plan on knocking out a lot of modeling today and tomorrow.

 

At this point, there are a couple of cockpit parts that need foiling, so I will have to work on those as well, like the front side walls of the fuselage, and the ammo magazines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...