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Amodel 1:72 SPAD SA4 - Having Pulpit-ations already! *** COMPLETED ***


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On 4/9/2018 at 10:44 PM, limeypilot said:

The engine is a big improvement. I love those manufacturers who so thoughtfully provide good quality extras for other options!

 

Ian

Too right! To be fair, for a short run kit it's head and shoulders above the Amodel offering! It even has spare guns, which have no place on the MS 'G' or 'H' - the sprue is the same for their Pfalz E1 model (which, historically, was a MS 'G' built under licence in Germany before the outbreak of hostilities). All in all, a very nice kit which keeps on giving :)

On 4/9/2018 at 11:14 PM, Terry1954 said:

The cowl covers look superb. Love this thread!

 

Terry

Thanks Terry, glad you are enjoying the ride!

 

More progress today. First thing, I needed to relocate the observation window on the underside of the pulpit, from where Messrs Amodel believed it should be, to where every reference photo and drawing showed it to be:

 

vK3q45z.jpg

 

There is a PE frame which needs to go round the edge of it on the outside once it's all together.

 

Next, I fitted the PE cheek pieces:

 

0izjOoT.jpg

 

The various failed attempts to get everything to stay stuck caused me to finally give up on the remaining half-bottle of CA, and instead break out the Gorilla gel. That sorted it! :)

 

I then filled the many and varied gaps twixt plastic and brass with some green filler (my traditional Humbrol grey stuff is also getting past its use-by date, it seems, judging by its stubborn reluctance to come out of the tube):

 

GJ7HLe5.jpg

 

Once dried, I was able to file down the excess. I also painted the inside of the engine housing with some Tamiya gun metal colour. Most of it will be obscured by the engine and yet more PE (once fitted) but it wasn't a particularly onerous task:

 

fE6MxJj.jpg

 

I then glued the PE cradle into one side of the pulpit using yet more Gorilla gel - stuck first time, and feels pretty solid!

 

Ib4M0fD.jpg

 

Finally, for today at least, I gave the engine its first lick of paint, and once dry, I dipped it in some sepia wash:

 

AlD0vjE.jpg

 

Hopefully once that's dry, it'll look the part.

 

Thanks for watching! :thumbsup2:

 

 

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Some small but significant steps today. The pulpit is now zipped up:

 

bIcXjv9.jpg

 

P6RK6MO.jpg

 

I must profess to be quietly impressed with Gorilla gel, it seems to really do the job. Obviously a few areas to be filled, but that won't take long.

 

I couldn't resist a quick dry fit of the pulpit and the main fuselage:

 

239OFmY.jpg

 

Starting to look suspiciously like a pulpit SPAD! :)

 

Thanks for watching!

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Indeed! Plainly, the designers of this aircraft were not the ones earmarked to fly it! Apparently the early models, A1 and A2, were 'powered' by rotary engines of only 80hp - with often fatal consequences as these aircraft risked stalling on take-off. It was only with the arrival of the Le Rhone 9j engine, boasting 110hp, that allowed the later A4 to become more stable in flight. By this time, the French had sold them on to the Russians!

 

r21WcFT.jpg

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On 4/11/2018 at 3:24 PM, Courageous said:

Looking good but weird :drunk:.

Thanks, I think 'weird' is being kind to it! :D

On 4/11/2018 at 3:42 PM, Corsairfoxfouruncle said:

Hmmmm Climbing into one of these as a gunner or a firing squad? I think firing squad :mg: is the better option. 

Difficult choice, the former offers marginally more chance of survival, but not much in it! Having said that, the choice between a bullet to (hopefully) the heart, or being force fed into a rapidly moving rotating blade, is probably less difficult to make!

 

So, more progress today - eventually! I realised something was a bit wrong when I revisited the original kit plans, and saw that the axle unit for the undercarriage should have been fitted at the same time as the second cheek piece... :( Then I looked at the part on the sprue - it was almost more sprue gate than part! Nevertheless I persevered, and with great care and not a little good fortune, I managed to extricate it from the sprue, and commenced to cleaning it up - truly an hour of my life I will never get back:

 

gsTXh3i.jpg

 

Not having that! :nono:

 

A quick rummage round my spares box yielded something pretty close - specifically, a couple of rockets from an old Airfix Hurricane kit that I had obviously decided not to fit. I cut the tails off and scraped away the warheads, and made this:

 

buCwTAG.jpg

 

Ever so slightly oversize, but it's way tidier than the amorphous lump of plastic on offer from Amodel!

 

I fitted this to the undercarriage struts:

 

4hdV5wV.jpg

 

Not too bad! I'll leave the actual wheel axle bits to nearer the end, as there is a risk I'll snap them off otherwise.

 

Next, a little more work on the pulpit. I fitted the window and the window frame to the underside, as well as the distinctive 'SPAD' nameplate on the nose:

 

hgRZwUR.jpg

 

I then re-fitted the seat:

 

Z5YCLRu.jpg

 

Finally for today, I applied a thin coat of black oil paint to the engine, before removing most of it again:

 

COMuE4I.jpg

 

Looks a lot more oily and gunky now, as a good rotary engine should! :D

 

I also ordered some new decals for this model, from Blue Rider - I've decided to do this aircraft in 'Russian Civil War' (Workers and Peasants Army Air Force). To that end, when the time comes I will be applying the IRAS decals first, then painting over them (in a way that still renders them at least partly visible) and then applying the red stars over that. That's the plan, anyway :)

 

Thanks for watching!  :thumbsup2:

 

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On 11/04/2018 at 12:08 PM, Courageous said:

Who would want to be that close to that prop.

I imagine the guy in the front wouldn't want to accidentally wave his arms towards the rear! I do wonder whether the front gun actually spewed out empty spent cartridges, and if so whether they got drawn through the prop ................:huh:

 

1 hour ago, clive_t said:

I also ordered some new decals for this model, from Blue Rider - I've decided to do this aircraft in 'Russian Civil War' (Workers and Peasants Army Air Force). To that end, when the time comes I will be applying the IRAS decals first, then painting over them (in a way that still renders them at least partly visible) and then applying the red stars over that. That's the plan, anyway :)

 Coming along very nicely indeed Clive. Nice plan!

 

Terry

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Looking good!

 I think the main concern for the gunners was not the prop, but being crushed by the engine should it nose over on landing!

 

Ian

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On 4/13/2018 at 5:49 PM, Terry1954 said:

I imagine the guy in the front wouldn't want to accidentally wave his arms towards the rear! I do wonder whether the front gun actually spewed out empty spent cartridges, and if so whether they got drawn through the prop ................:huh:

 

 Coming along very nicely indeed Clive. Nice plan!

 

Terry

Thanks Terry. As will become apparent in the coming week or so, there was a nominal protection mechanism to prevent such events taking place. Not so much a nod in the direction of personal safety, more a Gallic shrug of the shoulders! :)

On 4/13/2018 at 11:15 PM, limeypilot said:

Looking good!

 I think the main concern for the gunners was not the prop, but being crushed by the engine should it nose over on landing!

 

Ian

Indeed Ian, to be honest I can't imagine either prospect was viewed with any great enthusiasm!

 

Some more progress today. I sloshed some oil paint (burnt umber) around the inside of the engine cowling, and then wiped most of it away with a cotton bud - thus to make it look like several gallons of oil had been liberally scattered around. You can also see I replaced the previously removed filler caps with some metallic ones. Per some plans found online, I also included a head rest for the pilot, made from a small blob of Milliput:

 

qhqD1YG.jpg

 

Towards the rear of the fuselage there were two strange lumps of plastic which defied any explanation. Initially I considered that they might indicate where control wires were emerging from the fuselage; however, after close examination of several reference photos, they appear to be loops of leather, fixed there to allow the fuselage to be raised by hand, presumably so that the aircraft can be turned round or moved. I decided I wanted something a little better than a blob of plastic, so I removed them both, and in their place I glued some short strips of dental floss:

 

fHAdCuJ.jpg

 

I then secured the engine in place, with the front panel from the PE set:

 

PjHCVUx.jpg

 

Finally for today, I managed to fit the rear wings and the tail fin, and fill the gaps:

 

vQItY7p.jpg

 

Still needs sanding of course, but that's for another time!

 

Thanks for watching :)

 

 

 

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Truly an impressive job on a fair beast of a kit! (Have been following along with grim fascination, since I have the 'ski' version in the stash, but have thus-far been able to brave only opening the box....)

Keep up the protean effort!

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On 4/14/2018 at 2:13 PM, thorfinn said:

Truly an impressive job on a fair beast of a kit! (Have been following along with grim fascination, since I have the 'ski' version in the stash, but have thus-far been able to brave only opening the box....)

Keep up the protean effort!

Thanks thorfinn, I was tempted to get the ski version myself, however that particular model was out of stock at the time I was looking, whereas the wheeled version was available.

On 4/14/2018 at 6:23 PM, Courageous said:

Coming together nicely, crack on sir.

Thanks! And happy to oblige...

 

Firstly, though, I am happy to report the safe arrival of my decal order from Messrs Blue Rider:

 

qycbrqy.jpg

 

Not exactly sure which stars I am going to use, but I don't have to worry about that just yet. You may also have spotted an extra set, for a potential future project (a BE2e night fighter).

 

OK, more progress. The filler was sanded away at the tail:

 

fseEA0v.jpg

 

Yet another blob of plastic masquerading as a part of the kit reared its misshapen head - the bar that goes between the two 'legs' on the pulpit was completely unusable, so I resorted to the time-honoured method of 'sprue stretching'. Easier said than done, it took me several attempts, with sprues from a variety of different kits/manufacturers before I managed to get something usable. This, courtesy of a sprue from a MisterCraft D3A 'Val' kit I built a little while back:

 

MqImf6z.jpg

 

I also made a start on painting the propeller - first a quick slosh with some Tamiya Desert Yellow:

 

4L8QE4U.jpg

 

Followed by some oil paint, Chrome Yellow flavour, which was then knocked back a little with a dry cotton bud:

 

d8R4CqT.jpg

 

I need to let that dry for a few days before progressing further.

 

I then turned my attention back to the PE bits. I have been pondering how to do the pilot's windscreen, given that the PE instructions call for it to be bent to the right shape, then to have a clear piece of acetate glued on. I didn't fancy that much, so instead I used Mod Podge to make my own glass for the windscreen frame:

 

p1ZbPKV.jpg

 

After an hour, it had dried clear:

 

BoJOGDY.jpg

 

I still need to bend it to the right shape, but with a bit of luck it should work. Fingers crossed and all that!

 

Thanks for looking in! :)

 

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  • 3 months later...

looking good.  i still want to try another biplane after the first one went to little brother fodder.

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Thanks, it's not the most forgiving of kits, but if quirky subjects are your thing, they don't come much quirkier than this :)

 

This thread has taken something of a back seat with me at the moment because of a whole host of other projects getting my attention. I shall return to it in due course!

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Hi folks, well it's been a while has it not since I've managed any kind of progress on this little project - real life has well and truly gotten in the way of it and other things. But, here's where I am with it now.

 

I pencilled in the struts and the cross-bracing wires along the fuselage and the tail, which when sprayed over with the finish colour will hopefully show the required impression:

 

GYoBHIg.jpg

 

Next, I turned my attention to the main wings - I wanted a better representation of the wing ribs, and in order to get the spacing right I placed the wing on a scaled down drawing of the aircraft I found on the internet:

 

LemS3MX.jpg

 

ApH7XfV.jpg

 

The ribbing on the top wing was formed from thin wire, and once glued in place with CA was coated with Mod Podge to seal the wire in:

 

jZTwXZr.jpg

 

I used the same trick on both the lower wings, and also took the opportunity to apply some bracing (using 2 straightened-out staples) to the wing root, which was otherwise very weak:

 

W2fSzNL.jpg

 

The holes were drilled on the other wing root to locate the bracing pins and the wings were glued in place:

 

x8zy8xc.jpg

 

tJVqyNo.jpg

 

wWokae1.jpg

 

So, that's how it's looking right now.

 

Thanks for watching, and apologies for the delay in updating :thumbsup2:

 

PS I've updated the previous pages of this thread as I've moved the pics on to Imgur. Fingers crossed it looks ok!

 

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17 hours ago, Courageous said:

Glad to see you back on this girl.

 

Stuart

Thanks Stuart, the old mojo has taken a battering over the past few months, and to be fair this is not really the ideal project to kick-start it! But I am slowly but surely rekindling my interest in it.

5 hours ago, SoftScience said:

I'm glad I found this. I almost threw in the towel on a much simpler 72nd scale biplane.

 

Seeing you wrestling this has inspired me to quit being such a wimp :)

Pleased to have provided you with the inspiration, Mr SoftScience :)

1 hour ago, Terry1954 said:

Really great to see this one back in action Clive. Progress looks encouraging.

 

Terry

Cheers Terry, still a ways to go yet but all of a sudden the PE is looking slightly less daunting.

 

Not much in the way of progress, apart from the setting of the jig for the correct distances between the wings, now possible because I was able to fit the lower wings previously:

 

Fbgg2dx.jpg

 

Believe me it's better than it looks, the angle of the upper wing is by virtue of the roughly applied elastic bands put there for security!

 

One genuine piece of progress - the hapless front gunner will at least have some decent firepower at his disposal if and when the aircraft gets airborne - my representation of a Lewis gun:

 

pCxmYp7.jpg

 

The gun options from the PE set are a little confusing, as the both have corrugated barrels that make them look like Vickers guns - to the best of my (limited) knowledge, the armaments were either Lewis, Hotchkiss, Colt and Madsen. Ironically, salvation was at hand courtesy of one of the guns from the original kit! :o I cut the barrel off that, and kept the stock - I added some plastic rodding for the barrel, and made use of the otherwise very nicely detailed drum magazine from the PE set.

 

So that's where it is right now, however I am progressing elsewhere today so hopefully more to report in due course.

 

Thanks again for your interest, and comments - much appreciated! :thumbsup2:

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4 hours ago, Andwil said:

In a moment of madness I bought one of these so I will be watching with interest.

 

AW

Ha, the madness is spreading round the world! Good luck with yours, sir, I hope my trials and mistakes are useful to you, if not downright hilarious :D

 

As promised, more progress today: I started adding some of the microscopic bits of PE to the front nacelle. The largest of these, the 'protective' grille behind the gunner's seat, was every bit as fiddly to get right as the smallest, but I think we got there in the end:

 

mE6Q3zN.jpg

 

Just for good measure, I added some replacement struts to the tail, as the original kit once more reverted to type and presented me with a 'guess what this is meant to be' standard of moulding:

 

u6grEox.jpg

 

This is just 30-thou styrene rod cut to the required length and glued in place.

 

Thanks for watching! :thumbsup2:

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Front nacelle all but complete:

 

FaKLekX.jpg

 

Had to take apart the Lewis gun and shorten it slightly, and relocate the drum about half a mm back so that it fitted properly! That was a pain I could have done without, to be honest :(

 

Still, it's done now - just the rigging brackets to fit on the struts, and I think the PE will be pretty much done! What could possibly go wrong? :D

 

Thanks for looking in :thumbsup2:

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