1/32 WnW Sopwith Snipe WIP

[doogsatx/]

Around the beginning of March, I decided "what the heck", and pulled out Wingnut's recent Sopwith Snipe. It'd been two-ish years since I'd tackled a biplane, so the time was ripe, and the Snipe is a sweet-looking kit. For markings, I opted for this, um, "appropriated" Soviet Snipe.



Before doing anything else, I added some holes for the cockpit bracing wires. An old 0.35mm airbrush needle worked great for this - better than drill bits.



Next up - wood grain. Since this is something of a catch-up, I'll skip the individual steps, but you can find them HERE on my blog.



Bracing wires added...





Cockpit mostly done:



The Bentley BR.2 rotary. Nicer than the Le Rhone out of the Pup I built two years ago. Painted up with mostly Alclads, some MiG Oil/Grease Stains as a wash, and some MM Enamel (Chrome Silver and Brass) for detail.



More to come...

[doogsatx/]

The exterior was mostly painted before assembly. Biplanes are different that way. The clear doped linen is Tamiya Deck Tan, the gray is XF-82 Ocean Gray, and the green is a mix of RLM Gray, Field Gray and I think maybe Sky? Have to go back and look.





Gloss coat (Krylon UV Acrylic Gloss) was added and the decals applied. This was my first time forgoing Micro-sol or Solvaset for a hair dryer, and I'm impressed.





Lower wing glued to fuse:



Underside staining:

[doogsatx/]

Upper wing test-fit:



Getting the tail rigging off the ground. Kinda kicking myself over using the wrong size (too thick) monofilament mounted inside the fuselage...



Tail rigging completed last night using Uni-Mono monofilament, gaspatch turnbuckles, some short lengths of Albion Alloy 0.5mm tubing, and EZ Line. All elements painted "service gray" (re: Ocean Gray) per the instructions and painting guides.





And...that's got things caught up to where they currently stand.

[wbill76]

Wow, you've been holding out on us Doogs! Got to love the detail on that cockpit as well as all that bracing/rigging on the tail. Very nice!

[bigjohn]

A build like this one could get me hooked on WWI aircraft.

[Leon]

Awesome work on the pit and rigging Doogs.

[bbd468]

WOW Doogs, thats some fantastic modeling right there....absolutely superb!

Gary

[venom1]

Bloody hell Doogs, stop being so bloody good will ya? Yer makin' us all look bad!!

Beautiful work as always mate. Just sublime....

Cheers,

Sam

[fightnjoe]

some incredible work as usual. love the turnbuckles.




joe

[bullardino]

OMG, the wiring looks real... That's an incredible build doog

[doogsatx/]

Got all the struts pre-rigged. Landing gear truss rigged. Next on the list is to mask and paint the windscreen and the inspection windows for the lower wing, then weather the Aldis sight and get it prepped for install.

[bullardino]

Great

[fightnjoe]

wow. awesome stuff.



joe

[wbill76]

Whoa Nelly! Sorry couldn't resist...she's definitely coming along beautifully Doogs!

[venom1]

Lookin' sweet bro!

Cheers,

Sam

[Thomas_M/]

Great to see this unbelievable build here on MSC, Matt!

Although I never will do one of those biplanes it is a feats for the eyes to see your talent working on these!

[Rick]

Freakin' incredible. Rigging is fantastic. The interior is piece of art. Awesome!!!!

Rick

[doogsatx/]

Thanks all!

Been making slow-but-steady progress the past couple of nights. The upper wing went on for good last night. The control horns for the ailerons have been installed and rigged up. And slightly more than half of the strut-to-strut rigging has been glued down.

Next up will be finishing off the strut-to-strut on the port side, then working on the lateral rigging (16 lines...but it's EZ line so it'll go fast). Then I have to figure out how to install the friggin' sight...has to slot through the windscreen and then onto it's mount on the upper wing. Not looking forward to that.

[wing_nut]

SCHA

[wing_nut]

WING

[doogsatx/]

The starboard rigging is done...will take real shots with a real camera tonight once I knock out the port rigging as well.

EZ-Line really speeds up the process, that's for sure...

[bullardino]

Rigging is what has kept me from biplanes. I even have EZ line and Bob's buckles for my Eduard Spad XIII, but still rigging scares me to death...

What a great job Doog, I'm droooling.

[doogsatx/]

May 15, 2013 10:05:44 GMT -5 bullardino said:

Rigging is what has kept me from biplanes. I even have EZ line and Bob's buckles for my Eduard Spad XIII, but still rigging scares me to death...

What a great job Doog, I'm droooling.

Rigging scared me, too, until I tackled my Pup (which was 100% monofilament line, micro-tubing and ultrawire). I found it tedious - like assembling Friul links - but not especially difficult. The bolo method I used was basically foolproof.

The EZ Line is easier in one regard - you just glue one end, cut it a bit short, then stretch it where it needs to go and glue it in place. You don't get the chance to meticulously lock everything in place before committing to glue, and you lose the structural rigidity the monofilament method imparts, but it's about 3X faster. Seriously, though, Wingnut kits make rigging a breeze. Got a pair of 1/48 Eduard SPAD XIIIs I'm planning to tackle probably this fall, and I'll be curious to see how the rigging translates down to 1/48.

[bullardino]

I will surely follow your builds, I'm curious to see how Eduard Spad go together

[doogsatx/]

Me too! As much or more rigging than the Snipe, on a platform 2/3 the size...my eyes are already hurting!

[bullardino]

Get some Bob's buckles for that scale and you'll find the real meaning of small

[doogsatx/]

I've got a set of Gaspatch turnbuckles for it. Honestly not sure I'll be able to use them...their eyebolts are probably too small for EZ-Line to fit through.

[Leon]

That is looking fantastic Doogs.Super work on the rigging.

[Deleted]

FERKIN A!!!!!!

[wbill76]

One wing down, one to go! Looking mighty fine there Doogs! Can only imagine what doing rigging in 1/48 or 1/72 would be like...