WnW Sopwith Snipe - 17Sqn - Hawkinge - FINISHED!

[LSP_Ron]

Nice work Brian!

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys.

 

A bit more progress tonight. I knocked out the side walls of the fuselage, so once Im done with the pit framework I can install it without waiting. Its by no means perfect, but I do think it turned out cool, and for what will be seen it will be fine:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also got a good start on getting most of the cockpit detail painting done as well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IP is also on its way, but still have to add the instrument decals, and make some final touch-ups:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It fits quite well into the pit framework even with paint:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got the wicker seat back completed as well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last thing I did tonight was string up the hand/control grip. The grip does have OOB lines molded but they are SO fine and thin you just cant see them.

So as the control loop is quite prominently place in the pit, I took some find EZ Line and wove it around the control yolk:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later, I added a bit of ray-dome tan, followed by a Flory Models wash:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also got a start on painting the silver dope on  the upper and lower wings, along with the control surface............Ill let them dry over night, and will likely start on rigging the inner fuselage pit framework, and run the cockpit control lines in an attempt to get the pit framework ready for assembly.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rick K]

great work on the "wood effect".  this is in my stash and is far from my bench at the moment.  Will be watching this build.

[Zero77]

Impressive start. The control stick is very nice with the addition of EZ line wrapped around the yoke.

And your wood grain effect was so beautiful that it almost made my nose bled.

 

This one will be a killer, i have no doubt for that !

[Loic]

Fabulous paintwork Brian !

[Guest Martinnfb]

Exceptional work Brian, clean and sharp ( as always), love the seat.You guys are driving me crazy with all of those WNW beauties.

Cheers

Martin

Edited July 8, 2014 by Martinnfb

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys.

 

I needed to start the internal rigging on this little gem, but didn't have the GP metal anchor points I had recently ordered from Greece. No matter, I still had plenty of Bobs eyelets and cut tubes.

Since the Snipe was rigged internally with the flat profile rigging (which it says in the documentation that it really didnt even need it) I decided to use the Prym flat profile thread.

The Prym thread is much more consistent in width, as well as thickness VS EZ Line. Its very pro stuff IMHO. The Prym stuff is however as stark white as white EZ Line is, and doesnt look very realistic IMHO.
 

I found that taking a fabric dye pen to the pre-cut pieces of rigging works well for me. You can see the "OOB" Prym rigging on top, and a section of dyed rigging on the bottom:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then pre-cut 12 sections of the thread, way longer than I needed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took quite a while but I wanted to get both main fuselage frame halves rigged before any assembly took place:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of it got a bit intricate in placement to maneuver around the various tubing, valves and connectors:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its not done, but I got a good start on rigging the control lines as well:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got carried away and accidentally used the Prym thread for the rudder control lines, when I should have used dyed EZ Line. Bummer, but no big deal, as it took so much effort to rig the rudder lines, that Im NOT redoing them.

Ill be using EZ Line for the rest of the control lines however. As EZ Line does not take to the dye pens like the Prym thread, I will use instead a permanent marker that seems to to the trick on EZ Line.

 

Wouldn't you know it, after I got done rigging these showed up:

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week could be busy, but time will tell how much of it I will get to devote to the little Snipe. I hope as much as possible!

 

Cheers till you're older!

 

 

[Guest Martinnfb]

Wow, that's some crazy detail Brian! I am looking forward to see more. Thanks for sharing this.

Cheers

Martin

[Uncarina]

Outstanding! One of the things I love about these subjects is their multi-media nature, from oil paints to thread to white metal, and you do them all justice.

 

Cheers, Tom

[Loic]

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

 

MAN are these kits amazing..........................This is only my 2nd WnW kit ever, and I can do the exact same thing I did on my WnW DH-2, and that is assemble most all of pit I have been working on without a single drop of glue; the kits just fit that well together.

 

Got most all of the main sidewall stuff done, as well as finishing off the control lines for the rudder. Then just for Ss and Gs, I decided to dry fit the whole thing together to see what I had. Low and behold, just like the DH-2, most all of the cockpit fit together without a single drop of glue...........just slightly tighter with the paint on, as Sir Peters tolerances are VERY tight:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got the seat cushion finished off as well, complete with a patch for some visual interest. It too is just dry fit, but holds well enough to have the entire assembly together without any glue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I did notice that was left off and needed in the rigging realm, were the aileron control lines coming off of the stick. These were added with EZ Line (no small feat as it was a total PITA!) as well as adding the elevator control lines to each of the elevator cams on the stick:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also got all of the decals on the IP.....................I borked up the finish on the IP in one small spot applying some micro sol for the super tiny gold decals, but I might touch that up later. The decals still turned out quite well I think:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After finishing the rudder control line rigging, I put a wash of some Flory models "grim" on, as well as a wash on the fuel/oil cell:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, I wanted to get a coat of "silver dope" on the wings and ailerons (I will paint the dope on the fuse/rudder/stab once the fuselage has been assembled) so it could be drying, so as to not take a chance on any issues with the silver paint.

In this case, I wanted the silver dope to have a slightly different hue, and color from what is normally used to represent aluminum.

Silver dope always had a weird dull gray quality to me, and never seemed that reflective.

 

I know these post war ships were held in better upkeep than the WWI area planes, but they also were still military planes, so I wanted something that would not come out too "perfect" and would give some tonal variations, as well as a slight look of wear.

 

What I came up with is this........................a few coats of Alclad "Dull Aluminum" to give it that semi-rough texture, and a matt finish, followed by a coat of Tamiya "Gloss Aluminum". This started off VERY flat, but with the addition of the gloss aluminum, turned it into a nice semi-gloss with that "semi-used-and-abused" look that was not too reflective, but not dead flat either.

 

 

Its not that perfect, but I think looks a good match to me for Silver Dope, and will have a good contrast to the foil once that goes on. The wings were a bit hard to photograph, as you really cant tell what they actually look like from these pics. Its a nice contrast, and to me it definitely looks more like silver dope being represented as apposed to aluminum :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tiz all for now gents.................till next time!

 

 

[Uncarina]

The silver dope looks good, and will provide a nice contrast with the markings. Nice touch with that patch on the seat!

 

Cheers, Tom

Edited July 13, 2014 by Uncarina

[FunkyZeit]

Insanity as always Brian amazing work! I've finally got some time to build. Check out my barak build .

 

Justin

[John B]

You need to publish a book, you have some great talent.

 

JB

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks for the very nice comments guys!

 

More progress.............

 

 

As the bottom of the entire pit framework would be exposed toward the front end once assembled with the wings, and this area was also aluminum, I had to foil that exposed part on the bottom of the pit frames, that basically makes up the bottom of the fuselage, as well as the landing gear mounts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that was foiled, I moved on to get the entire cockpit assembled with all of its components. This was not quite as easy as I had hoped, but that was just due to the fiddly nature of getting all that fragile stuff in place at the same time, including all of the loose control lines, without pinching any lines, nor forcing any parts into positions they should not be in.

 

In the end I did triumph, and am happy with the results as Sir Peter makes it look easy. When completed, these WWI cockpits always turn out very fascinating looking to me:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even with the couple of areas I messed up and very subtly tried to fix (to no avail), I think the IP turned out pretty cool looking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the cockpit was completed and glued together, I decided to dry fit the fuselage halves to see how things fit with paint. Paint usually is the enemy of these WnW kits with re: to fit, but in this case things still seemed to fit nicely even paint on both the fuse and pit, along with no tape, and just me holding things together with my fingers.

 

This even remained the case with the foiled sections on the fuselage. You can see here how when the fuselage is glued together, the pit bottom forms the bottom of the airplane/landing gear mounts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didnt take any pics of it, but I also dry fit the wings in the same situation. There is not quite as much of this area exposed as I thought, but still enough that Im glad I foiled it.

 

You can see here on this late Snipe reproduction, how much of this area will generally be visible once done:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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