Scratchbuilt Sopwith Dolphin in 1/72nd scale

[Quentin]

I have read that the lozenge supplied in the kit is both brittle and inaccurate in colour. It is, I believe possible to purchase aftermarket decals for the lozenge but these cost more than the kit. The kit struts are also very fragile and all need replacing. From the foregoing you will understand my comments about mustering the white coat party.

Martin

I'm rapidly going off the idea. Thanks, the moment has passed now.

[Quentin]

I wanted to get my thread up to date but didn't want to miss out on the nice evening, so I'm doing this on my patio with a glass of Merlot. No point suffering for your art. That's what they say isn't it?

While doing the many layers of paint and varnish on my struts, I decided to get to work on the exhausts. In fact, I think I'm going to fit them before doing the upper wing again; they should be easier to align that way. So I studied my sources. They seemed quite fat, the Dolphin exhausts - I reckoned 1.2mm rod should do it. Then it was just a matter of adding the little kink towards the back and adding the manifold from, say, 0.8mm rod. Pretty simple. The only difficulty I foresaw was drilling out the ends. So I did this first and I was right - it was very difficult to get a nice symmetrical result. But after several failed attempts, I ended up with this effect:

Then after a bit of shaping:

Bent to shape and cut to length:

Then the manifold. This will be cut to length after painting. According to my sources, the exhaust pipes were angled outwards slightly, so I'll need to draw up a cutting guide in TurboCAD to get the right organ-pipe effect.

While I'm at it, I've even found time to make the pitot tube:

And meanwhile, as half-promised, here's the struts after some paint and a couple of coats of Satin Cote:

Having made some proper progress with the exhausts, I'm not so tired of this project any more. Is there a pun there? Hmm... probably not a worthwhile one.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Quentin

[jimbuna]

Great work.

[Martian]

Nice work Quentin. Just playing a hunch here, but would your difficulty in getting the exhausts symetrical be in exact proportion to the amount of Merlot consumed? I'm sat here just finishing off my fith pint of Old Hooky Gold and realising that trying to work on my projects would be a seriously bad idea at the moment.

Martin

[Quentin]

Nice work Quentin. Just playing a hunch here, but would your difficulty in getting the exhausts symetrical be in exact proportion to the amount of Merlot consumed? I'm sat here just finishing off my fith pint of Old Hooky Gold and realising that trying to work on my projects would be a seriously bad idea at the moment.

Martin

No, I have to admit that not one of the stupid mistakes I've made can be blamed on alcohol. On the other hand, I have perhaps sometimes been in a slightly self-defeating rush to have that well-earned glass of Merlot, or Cab Sauv as it might be.

Now, let's see about those bottles of Old Slug porter I've got in the fridge...

Edited July 22, 2012 by Quentin

[Quentin]

I've made a bit more progress lately. The new set of struts is finished and I've dry-fitted them all individually to make sure they're the right length. Now I need to repair the damage to the wing surfaces caused by scraping off the blobs of CA glue. A coat of Matt Cote should do the job. But I need a few hours free for this, because I've got to mask off the fuselage first. I'm not going to risk getting runs at this stage by spraying anything except simple flat surfaces. Then I'll be nearly at the stage of putting the upper wings on again.

But before that I'm going to fit the exhausts, and before that I need to paint the things. But this is where my ignorance reveals itself. The instructions for my unbuilt Blue Max Dolphin suggest a dull red/brown for the exhaust and I assume this represents heat scorching. But if I go for a heat-scorched effect would a uniform reddish brown be convincing, or should I be trying to represent a more gradated appearance? That's where I'm stuck for the moment.

Any comments welcome.

[Martian]

But before that I'm going to fit the exhausts, and before that I need to paint the things. But this is where my ignorance reveals itself. The instructions for my unbuilt Blue Max Dolphin suggest a dull red/brown for the exhaust and I assume this represents heat scorching. But if I go for a heat-scorched effect would a uniform reddish brown be convincing, or should I be trying to represent a more gradated appearance? That's where I'm stuck for the moment.

Any comments welcome.

It would depend on the age of the exhausts. I would go outside and look at the colour of a few car exhausts for guidance. After all they undergo the same weathering process.

Martin

[Quentin]

Progress has been very slow recently. I've had a lot of relatives staying over the last few weeks, off and on, so social demands have taken precedence. But today I had the day off work and I've managed to put in a few hours' work, so to speak. The main task I had set myself was to respray the wings with Matt Cote, to repair the damage caused by scraping off blobs of hardened CA. I don't like leaving masking tape on for too long - I find that it can leave marks - so the masking and spraying had to be done all in one day. And that meant I couldn't even make a start on it until now.

Anyway, I finally got that done and the surfaces are now looking a lot better - all the scuffs and scratches gone. It's pretty magic stuff that Matt Cote, as I've mentioned before:

The other job I got done was to paint the exhausts. I decided to go easy on the heat scorching. My reasoning is that the build I am doing represents C4056 shortly after delivery to 87 Squadron in April 1918, before the squadron adopted its new insignia of the sideways "S". All I did was spray the exhausts with a mixture of Humbrol Satin Black and German Red Brown; then do a dusting of a more brownish mixture of the same colours:

I think that's good enough.

You'll notice that in the masking process I managed to break off part of the tailplane. Not to worry. Tomorrow I can start gluing it all together again.

Thanks for looking. More progress tomorrow I hope.

Edited August 3, 2012 by Quentin

[Martian]

Still looking good!

Martin

[airhead]

Speed is a relative thing. I still haven't finished a model this century

Watching builds like this seems to be my main interest since the invention of the internet.

Excellent work, please keep 'em coming!

[Quentin]

Still looking good!

Martin

Speed is a relative thing. I still haven't finished a model this century

Watching builds like this seems to be my main interest since the invention of the internet.

Excellent work, please keep 'em coming!

Thanks guys. Same here, actually. The last model I made was a Sopwith Snipe in about 1999. I was expecting to make a bit more progress this weekend but it was wishful thinking. I've been snatching odd hours here and there but I always start making mistakes when hurrying to make progress in limited time, so realistically it looks as though I'm going to be more or less at a standstill for a few weeks now, until I can have a weekend free to have a good run at it. Thanks for staying with it so far. Maybe I should post pictures of a potter's wheel in the meantime.

[perdu]

I always liked the flames in a fireplace myself

And your Dolphin

I love the way that you are sorting out these "little" glitches as we come along with you

nice work

b

can I interject slightly

if you were to dry brush a little "flesh" colour over the exhaust brown it would look even more like heat stressed cast metal than it is yet, but so far I am staying "gob-smacked" at the detail you are giving this.

Edited August 4, 2012 by perdu

[Martian]

Just take your time Quentin. There's no point in buggering up the thing now, just because you were rushing.

Martin

[Quentin]

I always liked the flames in a fireplace myself

And your Dolphin

I love the way that you are sorting out these "little" glitches as we come along with you

nice work

b

can I interject slightly

if you were to dry brush a little "flesh" colour over the exhaust brown it would look even more like heat stressed cast metal than it is yet, but so far I am staying "gob-smacked" at the detail you are giving this.

Actually, I'm having to start again with the exhausts because I broke off the manifold pipes trying to cut them to length. So I will try your suggestion when I get to the painting stage again.

[Quentin]

Just take your time Quentin. There's no point in buggering up the thing now, just because you were rushing.

Martin

I completely agree. More posts in a few weeks with any luck!

[theclay]

that. is. outstanding

[Quentin]

I've made a tiny bit more progress. After breaking the exhausts in the last post, I've spent the last week or so, in the odd hours available, repairing them. This time, I cut the manifold pipes roughly to length as I added them and then (very carefully) sanded them to the right profile. When it came to painting, I followed the advice of Bill (aka Perdu - hope I've got your name right) and did some dry-brushing to give a moderately heat-scorched effect. And here they are, port then starboard:

Not much to show for nearly two weeks' effort, but I'm feeling quite encouraged now.

Next time: I don't care what Howard Hughes did, I'm putting those upper wings on again.

[Martian]

Looks good to me!

Martin

[keefr22]

Maybe not much to show, but what there is, is consistently excellent!

Keef

[airhead]

Looks good to me to.

[Quentin]

Thanks chaps. Next question: should I add a bit of exhaust staining on the fuselage sides? Waddya reckon?

[Vulcanicity]

Superb patience, dedication and skill as ever! In answer to the above, I'd say probably not. The manifolds hold the pipes some way out from the fuselage sides, and this together with the angled ends to the pipes themselves makes me think that there wouldn't be much staining. Plus, you said you wanted a freshly-delivered machine...

[Quentin]

All very good points. Well that saves me a job, with all the attendant mucking-up potential. Thanks.

[Martian]

Thanks chaps. Next question: should I add a bit of exhaust staining on the fuselage sides? Waddya reckon?

No, don't mess up that lovely pristine finish now.

Martin

[keefr22]

Thanks chaps. Next question: should I add a bit of exhaust staining on the fuselage sides? Waddya reckon?

If

it were me, then I'd have to! But not a huge amount...

Keef

Edit: I just read Phil's post & your reply - they are indeed valid points, so I may have changed my mind!

Edited August 15, 2012 by keefr22