WnW Sopwith Snipe - 17Sqn - Hawkinge - FINISHED!

[Out2gtcha]

Justin, Loic, Ron, thanks for the kind words of encouragement.

This build has turned into JUST what I needed it to..............FUN! Its been a JOY to put together and work on, and had reminded me how enjoyable "assembling" a  model can be.

Not a huge update, but had to do some experimenting so I could continue onto the next and one of the final phases, rigging. That experimenting was on the rigging material itself.

 

I was always planning on using the same Prym "knitting in" thread to rig the model, as it has VERY high elasticity, does not sag, or break, and above all, a very nice, clean and consistently flat profile. EZ Line does work well, but for the Brit rigging, the Prym stuff is much more consistent in profile width.

 

 

One major problem though...................unlike EZ Line, the Prym rigging only come in stark white. Cool thing is, is that because its a textile designed to be woven into fabric/clothes, I found it does take well to dyes. Ive had great success with dye pens in the past. This bipe however, is inter-war, and the rigging is generally thought to be black.

Easy-peasy if your using EZ Line...........but I really like the Prym stuff. I think its also a tad stronger too. So I went to the local Hobby craft store and bought some liquid dye.

 

Thought I would be cool, and not bother with the directions seeing as this was just a such a small amount of material to dye, and I wanted the greatest concentration I could get, so I just poured some stright into a small disposable container so soak some of the line overnight:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well being cool, doesnt mean things work like they should when you dont follow the directions. This morning I checked it thinking Id have jet black thread to work with and didnt get the results I was expecting:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hrmmmmm, guess I should have followed instructions. So I did, boiled some water, let it set a few min to cool slightly, then added some of the Prym thread and soaked the thread for about 60 minutes.

Now THATS much better:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know it looks like a giant tangled mess atm, but fear not.............I know this stuff well. Another weird/interesting/cool property of the Prym rigging is, it does NOT naturally want to tangle. Its natural state is to be straight, and it actually resists knotting unless you're REALLY pulling on it, as in when your tying an actual knot to tie a piece off.

If your gentle with it, use tweezers to "shake" the knots loose you can get it untangle easily.

 

With about 5 minutes of work, I tamed the mess onto a spool I confiscated from some stereo wire:

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2014 by Out2gtcha

[Out2gtcha]

It was time now to glue the struts onto the lower wing. From past experience I found a good way to make sure you have access to what you need, have the ability to glue the spars down to the lower wing, AND still have everything line up, is to dry fit everything together with rubber-bands that just barely are smaller than the width of the two wings, then glue each individual strut to the lower wing one by one.

 

In this case after that is complete, and your happy with the fit, you just use the small amount of flex in the struts and just bend each one slightly, applying some slow cure thick CA to the bottom connection, then just flexing it back into position, and repeat.

Once done I use Sir Peters trick of utilizing the box, and an alignment tool for the wings, so the struts dry in the position they will eventually need to be in:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I of course left the upper strut/wing connection free of glue, and will take the upper wing off again once all the lower strut connections are dry. I then know my struts will already be lined up, and wont fight me later, or try to warp the two wings out of alignment.

 

Im heading back down to get some black on all of Bobs buckles!

 

Talk to you when ur older!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LSP_K2]

Excellent looking job so far.

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

Looking mighty awesome and I never fail to learn a new trick or two following along.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[Out2gtcha]

Maru, K2, Peter, thanks again for checking in on me, and the nice words. I know that to anyone who has not built on of these WnW kits, these kits, even the updates may sometimes seem boring, but I DO think at least some of that is due to the kits themselves going together SO well, (especially when OOB) that the updates come faster with much less drama..........and overall I think less updates just because the kits go together so smoothly.

 

 

This little Snipe of WnWs has been NO exception. I started this bugger on the 29th of June, and had it not been for a volatile and crazy two week nights/days/nights and back to day schedule in there, I may have been able to wrap this build up in under a month.

As it sits, its only 7 days beyond the 1 month mark, and I have almost got this puppy wrapped up.

 

I actually have the biplane version of the renowned JH Models assembly jig for just such models, but have not even put it together yet. I found that a much simpler and seemingly just as effective method is the WnW/Sir Peter Jackson recommended method, which is to just use the cross section of the bottom of the box to line up the wings. 

 

Simple and effective.

 

So I set to my normal rigging method which is to glue the struts on in their final positions to the lower wing (done in my last update) then attach the rigging thread and each of their bases to the upper wing, and let the excess dangle. (I said dangle. Huhahahahahah). Then attach the top wing perminantly and let it dry in its OOB "wing alignment jig".

She looks like a scraggly brunette that just hopped out of the shower at this stage, but the top wing and all top wing rigging now attached:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the top wing was on and dry, I also weathered the model prior to going any further, since getting any weathering on around rigging is problematic at best and futile at worst. I did not go crazy with the weathering like I did on my DH-2. I know these inter-war years bipes were kept fairly clean, but it was WWI, and it was a combat aircraft that generally took off from grass/dirt unprepared run-ways, and these early radial powered WWI planes no matter which, all seemed to create heavy, heavy caster-oil staining.

So with all this in mind, I kept the heavy weathering only to the bottom of the aircraft, with a bit of mud splashed up by the wheels, and some heavy duty Caster-oil staining on the underside fuse............the rest of the weathering was just a bit of mud where the pilot steps, a light wash over the NMF parts, and some mud also splashed up on the rear of the fuse, and a bit on the underside of the elevators:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I set in doing the rigging with my own little rigging jig made out of my normal JH Models assembly stand, and a weighted "3rd hand" helper with alligator clips attached. This creates a stable, easy platform to rig off of, and no worries about the model dropping or moving as I attach it to the stand with rubber bands:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rigging now progressing, after I wrestled with the infamous Aldis gun-sight / windscreen issue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Got the upper and lower ailerons on, and glued on the control cables using the new (or new to me) Uschi rigging thread. This stuff was reported by someone on one of the forums to be "round profile" but I don't believe its actually round. Im using the Uschi "standard" size and it is HELLA thin. So thin its actually hard to see if its round or flat, but Im thinking by the way it acts and looks if you 'twist it up" that it is in fact flat.

 

Uschi also makes "Fine" and "Super Fine" sized rigging thread. The standard is SO thin, I cant imagine the Super Fine size would be good for anything but 1/72 stuff.  You can barely see the standard size stuff against a dark background, I cant even imagine how hard it would be to rig using the Super Fine size.

 

In this case, for 1/32nd the Standard size is perfect and gives a good contrast to the Prym support rigging, making  the Prym stuff look downright beefy!

I also utilized 1/48th  scale Gaspatch turnbuckles on all of the control surface buckles that called for them, as the 1/32nd ones looked WAY over-scale for control cables:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

[Out2gtcha]

 
 
 
 
 
 
I will get some pics of the tail that demonstrates the obvious size/profile difference between the Prym rigging thread, and the Uschi standard thread, but this shot from the tail shows it a little bit:
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Now it was time to get the gear installed, as the forward gear legs have mounting holes for one of the wing leading edge sets of support cables, as well as a slew of support cables themselves:
 
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 







Things are progressing nicely now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Im real close now. Really the only thing I have left is the support rigging on the bottom of the elevators, since I got the rudder and vertical tail on and rigged last night.

 

The next time you see the little Snipe, she'll be in the RFI section!

 

Cheers to all!

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

Amazing work, simply amazing.

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks Peter!

 

Not much left now but a couple of rigging lines and she'll be done................................then what?!?!??  

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

Now that's a loaded question for sure. What's your fancy in the kit world?

Peter

Edited August 6, 2014 by Peterpools

[Out2gtcha]

OV-10!!!!!!!!



But its not coming out until September................BUT I know myself and Ill drop most anything (except a 1/32nd Tigercat) for a 1/32nd Bronco..............so Im not sure, but I might return to one of my SOD builds, so that if it does come out in early or mid September I wont feel bad if I drop a build I had previously put on the SOD.

[LSP_Kevin]

Looks great Brian!

 

Kev

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

Lets say you have somewhere around 6 weeks before the OV-10 Bronco is in your hands. Why not just go for a another WNW kits to keep you busy? Of course, you could stray from the path and go for a 48th scale Tigercat.

Peter

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks Kev.

 

 

This one indeed went quick and was just what I needed. Wonderful bit of kit as the Brits might say..............just lovely.

 

 

 

Of course, you could stray from the path and go for a 48th scale Tigercat.

 

 

Or a 1/32nd F7F.......................shortened by 1.5-2 feet................with high pressure spinners, and 4 blade props from FM&P....................and scratched Horner tips....................with a scratched & enlarged Sky Raider vertical tail.................filled and smoothed over most panel lines....................with a metallic gunmetal gray and electric tangerine lacquer paint job...........................mounted gear up...............round a Reno pylon...........

 

I haven't thought about it much

[LSP_Ron]

[Gisbod]

Brian,

 

Don't know how I missed this. But what a great job you've done

 

I recently finished a post war Snipe too -

 

http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=51556&page=2&do=findComment&comment=589475

 

Wingnuts are ridiculously good kits - I would soooo love them to branch out into WW2 - they're the best kits on the market for me.

 

I'm not usually a fan of foiled kits - but you've waved a magic wand over yours - looks spot on..

 

Good job!

 

Guy