1/28th Revell SPAD XIII

[mgbooyv8]

Hi Erwin,

 

Thanks!

It is indeed a mix of matt and gloss paint, because most Xtracolor paints are gloss.

A coat of varnish will blend them in.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Out2gtcha]

Wow, that looks awesome! I really like the more unique camo..........looks great!

[Spads57]

Peter,

It's good to see such a talented modeler take on an old classic kit my friend. Well Done and keep up the grand works.

Highest Regards,

Gregory Jouette

[mgbooyv8]

Hi Guys,

 

Sorry for the late reply,

It was busy in and out of the office...

Thanks for the heads-up, it's appreciated!

Anyway, I managed to continue on the SPAD.

 

Gunze gloss varnish, thinned with screenwasher fluid, was sprayed on the model.

Indeed, as expected, all camouflage colours blended in nicely.

 

After hardening for a week or so, some subtle drybrushing and washing of panels,

vents and so on was executed to lift the detail.

 

Here is the colour scheme in all its glory:

 

 

 

 

Note that the engine cowlings and engine are just temporarily fitted.

 

The guns were assembled, painted and drybrushed as well.

Ofcourse, some ejector pin marks had to be removed

 

 

And finally the radiator front was sprayed red and washed black and the wheels were sprayed as well.

 

 

Note that the blue paint, Revell 56, will darken after an application of gloss varnish.

Then it will match the blue in the markings of Eddy Rickenbacker.

The soft demarcation between the red and blue colors will be covered with a white star decal.

 

Now, I continue with the wing struts etc.

Did I mention there are more ejector pin marks to be removed ?

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Erwin]

Nice work !

[mgbooyv8]

Thanks Erwin and Dan!

 

You are a brave, brave man to hope a white decal will cover that colour demarcation.

 

Love the Spad and the camo. How are you going to rig her?

 

Dan

 

Hi Dan, not so brave, merely practical.

I didn't want to fill in an open area with red paint on a white decal.

Besides, recent Revell decals are pretty opaque, so I hope for the best!

 

This model is for a group display, I'm building several old kits OOB with current experience and techniques.

I even restore lost rivets after sanding with Archer rivet decals on old Airfix kits!

 

So for the SPAD it will be rigging as per the instructions!

This means the big thread eyelets on the struts will also remain in-situ.

...And ofcourse no eyelets and buckles from Bob's Buckles will be appied.

 

However, rigging material will be fishing wire or Aeroclub lycra rigging thread.

I haven't made up my mind yet.

 

Wing struts have been given a wood grain and some small strip decals from a WNW FE2 sheet.

 

Pics to follow soon.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

 

 

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

Here are the promised pictures of the struts.

 

The wing struts;

 

And the cabane struts in place;

 

 

Again, the engine and cowlings were only added for the picture.

 

Now it was time to attach the upper wing.

 

First, I cleaned the slots in the wings to ensure a good fit of the wing struts.

While testfitting, I noticed some rubber bands would be required to ensure that the struts remained in their slots.

The cabane struts couldn't take the strain so broke away.

Luckily, at the big attachment points on the fuselage, it was only the glue that gave away.

 

So, without the cabane struts, the top wing was glued in place wit rubber bands holding it in position.

The WNW sourced jig was put to good use to ensure the wings were aligned correctly while drying :

 

That's all for now.

Next instalment will tell you how I put in the cabane struts again and how I had to fiddle with the instrument panel.

 

To be continued.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Guest]

Very well done ! Like it !...........Harv

[Out2gtcha]

Nice!

[mgbooyv8]

Thanks guys!

 

Well, after the glue of the wing struts had set, it was time to install the cabane struts.

This was a bit of a struggle. The aft struts had to go in first.

The wing had to be pushed up to get them to fit.

Note that the fuselage remains very flexible, because the walls are thin.

 

Guess what happened: the instrument panel came loose and ofcourse the upper seam at the headrest tore open!

AAAARGHH!!

 

Because the instrument panel has an U-shape, it hooked after everything in the cockpit.

 

After much wiggling and juggling and swearing, I got it back in position again and was able to glue it back on

with a small brush of MEK.

Sorry guys, no pictures of that one.

 

The seam on the headrest was quickly restored. It still awaits a final touch up wit a brush.

 

Anyway, the rear cabane struts were firmly in place!

 

Now the forward ones had to go in.

This time, the wing was sitting too high there, so it had to be pushed down in order to make the struts fit.

 

I solved this by pulling the wings down with masking tape, as seen here:

 

 

Now I was able to fit the forward struts in precisely.

I only glued the rear ones.

 

Well, the small glue surfaces of the struts would have to put up with a lot of strain.

I decided to install the forward landing wires to give the model some strength here.

Obviously, fishing wire is required for strength so this was used.

 

For strength, I also had to deviate from the plan to build strictly OOB,

because the original rigging holes are located in the struts and not in the upper wing.

Fortunately, the holes for the cabane struts in the upper wing are slightly elongated.

Which makes them perfect for the addition of rigging:

 

 

 

After the glue had set overnight I removed the tape.

The plan had worked, the big forward struts did not tore loose.

 

Lastly, I reattached the small forward struts.

They were held in place with tweezers until the glue (Revell Contacta Professional this time) had set:

 

 

This is the result so far:

 

 

Again, engine and cowlings are only added for the picture.

 

Next step is filling the trenches between the struts with wood glue and touching up with the camouflage colours

 

To be continued!

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Out2gtcha]

Great work Peter!

[LSP_Kevin]

Very nice Peter. Good save too!

 

Kev

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for the heads-up and apologies for the late reply!

 

Work continued on the SPAD.

The channels between the interplane struts have been filled with wood glue.

Several layers were needed. After that the paint was touched up by brush.

They are not completely gone but are much less conspicuous now.

 

Remember this is meant as a OOB build!

 

Next, the decals were put on.

I used the excellent decal set of the latest re-release of the SPAD by RoG,

now a couple of years old.

 

Here is the topside:

 

 

Unfortunately, the black camouflage bleeds a little bit through the white "1".

The decal is slightly too thin.

 

And here is the underside:

 

 

It is going to be a nice colourful bird!

Next job is the rigging.

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

Edited August 3, 2013 by mgbooyv8

[mgbooyv8]

Hi guys,

 

The rigging continued this weekend.

Clothes pegs were used to apply tension on the fishing wire while the superglue sets:

 

 

After a couple of hours, it was done.

That's the advantage of an OOB build, including the rigging method, excluding the knots!

Some metallic paint was run along the fishing wire with a smal brush to get a metal colour.

Here is the SPAD with rigging:

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, yes, the SPAD got a shot of Gunze satin gloss acrylic laquer, mixed from equal parts gloss clear and flat clear,

in order to achieve the sheen seen on a well known picture of Eddie Rickenbacker in front of his mount.

 

The wheels and tail skid are mounted now as can be seen on the pictures.

 

The exhaust pipes have been painted a burnt metallic color and are further coloured using

Tamiya's weathering powders. This product is very easy to use and gives good results.

 

Here are the pipes after sealing in with satin gloss varnish:

 

 

Progress will slow down again because the boss is calling.

 

To be continued...

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[csavaglio]

Really cool! I always forget to check the GB sections and I missed this one. I have one as well, but with all the Copper State goodies......your build is inspiring. It's too bad Revell got blasted when they released the 1/28 Fokker D.VII and they swore off the series. It'd have been cool to see what else would've come out.

 

Keep it up!!

 

Chris