1/72 SPAD XIII double build

[Howlindawg]

The interplane struts for the Revell have been drilled and fitted so that I could fill the upper surface of the lower wings prior to painting. I used Citadel liquid Green Stuff to tidy up the gaps.

 

Revell-SPAD-Interplane-Struts by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

And both models are now masked up for painting.

 

SPAD-Masked by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

The first, lightest, camo colour is now on; Mr Hobby "RLM79 Sandy Brown".

I even got to use my new badger paint mixing gizmo which worked very nicely indeed.

 

Now for the cycle of waiting for paint to dry and carefully masking the different coats.

During drying I'll push on with painting the remaining small parts...

 

[The Spadgent]

Great start to the paint work kid.

as for the Drill bits I bought one from alittle hardware store by work. (Not really a help unless you live in digbeth) but I don't have a drill so I found taping it to a cocktail stick and spinning it in your fingers gives just enough umph to work well. (I used it on my Kaydet and yes a long time to do for sure  )

hope that helps and keep up the good work.

 

Johnny.

[Howlindawg]

Half way there...

SPAD-Camo-3 by Martin Fay, on Flickr

[andymoore]

I'm enjoying this thread very much - you're making a couple of beauties there. 

 

The revell Spad still sends shivers down my spine, my last one met with an unfortunate accident as i was photographing the damned thing...

 

[Howlindawg]

Thanks Andy, glad you're enjoying it.

I did see your unfortunate build & RFI thread - at least you managed to grab some shots before the damage was done.

 

I wasn't happy with the paint on the Revell so I cleaned back the wings and started again.

It's a bit behind as a result so I'll hopefully get the 5th colour on the camo tomorrow.

 

The Eduard Camo is now complete - I'll let it dry overnight before some final touchups.

I'm not entirely happy with the browns used here, they're a little close in colour for my tastes.

I'm not going to change at this point but will bear it in mind when I get to the 1/48th Eduard SPAD I have waiting in the stash.

 

Eduard-SPAD-Camo5 by Martin Fay, on Flickr

[Howlindawg]

I had fully expected these two to be finished by now but since that's not likely I'll find solace in being able to wish everyone a Happy New Year in this thread instead!

 

Party time, see you all next year!

[Howlindawg]

I seem to be making  a proper meal of getting the paint onto these but almost there now.

 

The Revell still needs a pair of red bands masked and painted on the rear plus there's a touchup required on the turtledeck but the paint's not dry enough to be masked over yet.

SPAD-camo5 by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

The windshields have been masked (oh my poor eyes!) and the frames painted dark green.

There's two variants supplied with the Eduard so the Revell will get the spare.

SPAD-screens by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

I've come to the conclusion that I need more light at my workbench, especially during these dreary winter days,  so a little searching led me to >THIS< on a sewing site of all places. It may be overkill but should be a huge  improvement over the tiny IKEA desklamp I've been using.

 

 

[Howlindawg]

The PE engine grilles have been rolled to shape and fitted with Gator's Grip.

I prepainted the grilles to ensure that the tiny holes wouldn't be clogged with paint.

The glue allows plenty of time for positioning before turning tacky and then eventually dries clear.

 

SPAD-Etch by Martin Fay, on Flickr

[Brandy]

Nice!  I'll have to look for some of that Gator's grip, sounds much better than CA....

 

Ian

[pheonix]

Missed this one recently - been away and forgot to look it up when I got back. If you consider that you are slow with these you ought to see my work rate!

 

Doing an excellent job on both - I too like that Gators grip - looks to be good material to use. Looking forward to seeing them completed.

[Howlindawg]

The stripes are on the Chavannes kite, some minor blemishes touched up  but I can't move on to lacquer and decals until I have some fine micromesh to feather the edges of the camo colours.

 

SPAD-Revell-stripes by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

Frustratingly, progress is being somewhat delayed due to waiting for deliveries of some basic supplies. I'm currently waiting 2 weeks for three separate deliveries from three separate suppliers and all shipped by Royal Mail.The must be coming via elderly pidgeon!

 

I haven't been totally idle though and my painting station in the shed has had a wee upgrade.

http://www.hobbyzone.pl/en/

 

2017-01-15 10.54.02 by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

2017-01-15 10.55.48 by Martin Fay, on Flickr

[pheonix]

The Spad is coming on fine - your modelling shed is too by the look of it! As one who models on a shoestring I eny some of you luckier people!

 

P

[Howlindawg]

On ‎1‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 5:53 PM, pheonix said:

The Spad is coming on fine - your modelling shed is too by the look of it! As one who models on a shoestring I eny some of you luckier people!

 

P

 

Thanks Pheonix.

 

It's not really a "modelling shed" - just a few feet of worktop on top of the washing machine and boiler in the garden shed.

I'd rather have half the skill that went into producing your Otto build than a few pretty shelves any day of the week.

[Howlindawg]

Yay - the micromesh has arrived at last so I can get back to the paintwork!

Sand, gloss, decals, satin...

 

[Howlindawg]

It's been too cold for painting out in the shed for the last few days but this morning was frost free so it was airbrush time.

First up, the Revell got the Mr Super Clear treatment.

I warmed up the aerosol first and gave it two coats to get everything nice and smooth.

Mr Super Clear by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

While that was drying I ducked back inside to prep all the remaining parts.

All that's left is the woodwork, undercarriage, exhausts and cowl.

I still hadn't decided whether to use the Revell prop or a spare from the Eduard so I prep'd them both.

So there's flash, seam lines and ejector marks to be taken care of but nothing too taxing.

Rough by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

Usually I get to the point of photographing a finished model and notice some ugly seam or mark that I missed in the prep so I was determined to spend however long it took to get this stage right. So it was a careful scrape with the scalpel to remove the worst of the flash and raised marks, four grades of abrasive to smooth everything out and then a few careful dabs of Liquid Greenstuff into the pin marks.

Filed and Filled by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

Once the filler dried it was briefly back to the sanding before everything was mounted on sticks read for paint.

Ready for Primer by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

In between coats I painted up the molded in machineguns, the leather trim on the cockpit & upper wing and a few other minor details.

Somewhere around this point I somehow managed to knock loose the instrument cluster that I'd built in earlier.

It was rattling around loose inside but was too big to remove from the joined up fuselage. Eventually I had to resort to keyhole surgery through the engine bay using a cocktail stick to apply CA and praying that I could get it into the correct position before the glue dried.

Luckily I got it pretty much back into the right position. It's a little low but it's level and positioned correctly fore/aft. It's hardly visible anyway.

 

I also managed to break off and loose the tail skid so that'll have to be sorted too.

Armed and Dangerous by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

For the woodwork I used a coat of Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow followed by a layer of Humbrol Dark Earth weathering Powder applied with a soft brush then scrubbed out with a stiff brush. This dries quickly and was followed by a few light coats of Tamiya X-26 Clear Orange. I'll try Oils on the Eduard to see which technique I prefer.

 

So that's where I leave it today.

The fuselage is ready for decals and all the remaining parts are painted and ready for fitting.

Next up it's decals and PLW.

Homeward bound by Martin Fay, on Flickr

[The Spadgent]

Excelent work, lucky save on that IP too. Is it me or is there something of the Freddy Kruegers about those tail stripes? Yikes!!! 

 

johnny

[pheonix]

This is shaping up really well. Glad you got the IP sorted out - very frustraing when that sort of thing happens - which is usually too often.

 

P

[Howlindawg]

I kicked off this morning in search of a fine tipped pen to draw the spiders web onto the rear deck of the Chavannes kite.

I eventually found a 005 tip waterproof fineliner that looked suitable and set about drawing on the web.

40 mins of squinting, carefully applying a removing masking tape for a straight edge and holding my breath while drawing I had a decent result.

Flushed with success I treated myself to a cuppa and a biccy while the ink dried.

 

I then set about prepping for decals only to have the wonderful web wipe right off.

 

I didn't have the heart to try again so I cleaned it all up and went straight to decals.

And this is where we stand at the moment.

I'll give the decals overnight to settle before trimming the decals on the rudder and clear coating.

 

Revell-SPAD-Chavannes by Martin Fay, on Flickr

[pheonix]

I really feel for you - what a disaster! The model itself looks great at the moment - do give the web another go though - as you will read in my SSW thread to be posted later disasters happen in modelling!

 

P

[Viking]

Only just caught up with this,a nd had an enjoyable 15 minutes reading it right through. I admire your patience and tenacity putting in all that work, especially on the old Revell kit. Wonderful results though, they are looking fabulous.

I really feel for you re drawing the spiders web on. All that work, getting a pleasing reult, and then it disappears! What a shame, but it still looks very good where it is at now. Looking forward to seeing these 2 finished,

 

Cheers

 

John

[clive_t]

Great work! Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is that gizmo you're resting the model on in that last pic? Looks like something I might want to obtain from somewhere, if only I knew what to search for!

[StephenCJ]

Wonderful modelling I would also like to know where you got that gizmo from.

 

Stephen

[Howlindawg]

Thanks for the encouraging words guys, much appreciated.

 

The wooden gizmo comes from the ever helpful Paul at ModellingTools / Little-Cars

http://www.modellingtools.co.uk/airplane-jigs-92-c.asp

 

So this morning the Humbrol Decalfix had done its work and the decals had conformed nicely to the contours of the plastic.

I trimmed away the excess and then touched up the edges with the closest colour matches I had available.

Mr Hobby 86 Red Madder

Mr Hobby 316 White (US Navy)

Humbrol 109 enamel WW1 Blue Matt

 

I'm looking forward to seeing this with all that gloss dulled down!

 

Image showing gratuitous shot of The Gizmo in action

Revell-SPAD-rudder by Martin Fay, on Flickr

[Howlindawg]

I made some decent progress today whilst recovering from last nights over indulgences.

 

The decals are sealed in with a coat of Tamiya X-35 Satin clear.

While the first coat was drying I rigged the remaining struts, ready for fitting and then shot on a second coat of satin clear.

 

Then I assembled the prop and cowl and fitted the front end along with the struts.

 

Revell SPAD Satin by Martin Fay, on Flickr

 

I'm definitely happier now that it's less glossy.

 

 

 

 

[Winenut]

I am really enjoying this.

 

You are taking that little Revell kit to another level.

 

Cant wait to see the further progress on both

 

Keep up the great work

 

Cheers

 

Bruce