A Pair of Pups - Finished

[MikeC]

First, a quote from Flying Fever by AVM S F Vincent (Jarrolds, 1972), which is an excellent read, although alas long out of print.  "[The date is early 1917.  Major Robert] Smith-Barry, my previous CO in No 60 Squadron, had left almost in disgrace, because he had complained so much and so frequently about the abysmal state of training of the pilots sent out [to France] to fight.  Eventually the War Office took note and said, in effect, 'If you think you can do any better, come home and do so.'  He was given the training squadrons at Gosport which were formed experimentally into the School of Special Flying ...".  History records that Smith-Barry eventually developed a system of flying training which is still in use world-wide today.

 

The SSF had a number of aeroplanes on its strength, including some Sopwith Pups.  One of these was B2192, and markings for this machine are in the "Gnome" boxing of the WNW Pup.  As I missed out on the original issues of the Pup, I was pleased to be able to add this to my collection.  The scheme chose itself, not least because in the mid-1980s I worked in an office block built on part of the old Gosport airfield; the hangars were very visible from one side of the building.

 

I don't often do WIPs because I forget to take photos as I go along, but I hope to do better with this.  So here we go, with a boxtop shot.

 

 

And the rather striking scheme I'll be doing: CDL underneath, white on top, all covered with black stripes.

 

 

Whilst WNW provide decals for the fuselage stripes, I'll be attempting to paint them, along with the wing roundels.  I'd do the fuselage roundels as well, but my circle cutter does not allow a small enough radius of cut.  Wish me luck!!

 

That's the first Pup: the second, to go with it, is in the arms of "Henry"; the plan is to put him on the base with the completed model.

 

 

I think the dog is just about small enough to qualify as a pup.

 

I've already opened the box and completely ruined the value of the kit by removing the wings and fuselage halves from the sprue, so here we go, watch this space.

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by MikeC

[Wackyracer]

Look forward to this one Mike, yes you've completely ruined the kit with the first snips 

 

Good luck with the scheme, its just the sort of one that draws me in too, then theres the dawning OMG what have I done 

 

Aaron

[MikeC]

5 minutes ago, Wackyracer said:

then theres the dawning OMG what have I done 

Indeed so!

[MikeC]

So I made a proper start today.  As I'd already removed the wings from the sprue, I decided that instead of starting in the cockpit as is usual, I would build the wings.  This involves simply adding the four ailerons, one per wing.  Just to add a bit of strength, I thought I'd pin them, as the kit joint is a simple butt joint of the hinges, two per aileron.  So I found a suitable drill bit - 0.4mm - and got out my stock of Albion alloys rod.

 

 

The starboard upper aileron is fixed, the others await fixing.  The holes aren't as deeply drilled as the length of the rod suggests, I did them longer than needed for ease of handling, they'll be clipped before fitting.  Notice how the port lower only has one bit of rod?  I broke a drill bit in the hole, so will have to accept a single fixing rod in this one.

 

Next up, the engine, the 100 Hp Gnome.

 

 

Incidentally, as you can see, I've developed a habit of labelling sprues: it does make life easier by reducing the amount of hunting for the right sprue; if they are identified on the sprue (common these days) it's often not very big, and always in the last corner you look at.

[Out2gtcha]

Great start on a great kit!

 

I've got a couple of pups in the stash as well.

Is the wing supposed to have warped up dihederal in it like that?

[MikeC]

26 minutes ago, Out2gtcha said:

Great start on a great kit!

 

I've got a couple of pups in the stash as well.

Is the wing supposed to have warped up dihederal in it like that?

Thanks Brian, and yes, the Pup did have dihedral.

 

[Out2gtcha]

Ok good its been a long time since I've looked at my kit, and was hoping it wasn't a sitch like with the new Mengnut DR.1

[MikeC]

On 3/14/2021 at 2:25 PM, MikeC said:

Next up, the engine, the 100 Hp Gnome.

 

And here it is, ready for some paint.

 

 

I also prepped the fuselage sides, cleaning them up and adding the side panels at the front.  There's a protruding pipe on the port panel which needs removing on this particular aircraft.  This left a hole ...

 

... which I plugged with a suitable piece of scrap plastic - the tapering part of a bit of stretched sprue ...

 

 

... then cut off flush.  It will need a small dab of filler, I think.

 

 

Then I started on the cockpit.  A reasonably easy build so far, although is saying that tempting fate?

 

Just about ready for some paint here.  I've mounted the parts on wooden coffee stirrers using white glue.  Because the glue adheres more strongly to the wood, because of the grain, than it does to the smooth plastic, the parts will just snap off after painting, leaving all the glue on the stick.

 

 

Thanks for staying with me so far.

 

 

[MikeC]

I've been doing some painting over the last couple of sessions.  Also I've deployed the oils on the wooden bits.  Apologies for the rather rushed photos.

 

 

 

There will now be a break of a few days while the oils dry thoroughly and I get on with an F-104 that's also on the bench (not much of a contrast, eh?)

[MikeC]

While the oils are drying and some paint on the F-104 is drying, I made a start on "Henry".  As you may have spotted in one of the photos above he's by Elan 13, and I can certainly recommend their figures.  This one comes in three parts, the main figure and the two heads.  I was the work of a few minutes to clean up and glue the parts, then drill the foot and insert a bent paperclip as a stand/holder.

 

 

After which, he received a coat of gloss black as an undercoat.

 

 

As a title for the completed model, I'm thinking of "My Other Pup is an Aeroplane" (evoking the car stickers one used to see on beat-up old rust-buckets that said "My other car is a Porsche/Ferrari/Roll-Royce/etc"), but I may have a better idea before I finish: suggestions (sensible please ) welcome.

Edited March 20, 2021 by MikeC

[Panzerwomble]

[MikeC]

Well I'm back after a longer-than-intended break to let the oils dry; I picked up a Revell 109 in the meantime and I have the cockpit painted and fuselage assembled.  No excuse other than I - oh look, a butterfly - get distracted sometimes.

 

Anyway, with a coat of Tamiya X22 on the wood, I decided to get the wings painted.  The scheme is white on top and CDL underneath, all with black chordwise stripes.  First off I sprayed the CDL using my trusted Mr Hobby "Radome" (H318).  You might think uppersurfaces next, but no.  I've decided to use home-made masks for the wing roundels.

 

Remember sitting in geometry classes in school, learning how to construct all sorts of shapes and find the centre of a circle using nothing but ruler and compasses?  And I'll bet you thought you'd never use it outside said geometry classes?  Well, I for one was wrong: I photocopied the decal sheet and used the copy and the aforesaid method to find the centre of the roundel, measure the circles, and cut them into Artool Ultramask with my Olfa Compass Cutter.

 

I masked up for the white, and that included adding the roundel masks on the underside of the lower wing. I also noticed from the photos included in the kit that the white returns onto the underside, as does the PC10/12 on standard RFC schemes; so incorprated that too, then sprayed a mix of matt and gloss white above the wings, on the lower roundel area, and on the fin and rudder.

 

 

When that was dry, I applied the rest of the roundel masks except the centre.  I measured the rudder width at 0.63 inches, so rather conveniently that's 0.21 inches per stripe.  A simple strip of Tamiya tape sufficed, then it was out with the red paint.

 

 

 

Next up blue; hopefully soon, thanks for your patience.

 

[MikeC]

Incidentally, you may notice there's no paint-created effect of lighter ribs under the wings: that comes after the black stripes.

Edited April 18, 2021 by MikeC

[MikeMaben]

Nice work Mike 

[MikeC]

Some small progress: the cockpit is coming along, the seat is installed, and the instruments are installed in the panel, specifically I've used the kit decals.

 

 

Now spot the ringer: one small decal "got away", so I dug into my stock and used a random dial from an MDC sheet of German WWII dials.  I expect you can spot which one, but needs must, better than a blank dial.