Bristol Scout 1/32 first scratch build attempt

[RichieW]

Time has been a bit short recently but at least the painting is mostly done. I won't get any bench time for a few days but gives me time to contemplate the Lewis mount.



Paint by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Paint by Richard Williams, on Flickr

The cane reinforcement actually has tiny rivets along it, I'm not sure you can see them. As hard as I look I certainly can't!

I managed to knock the petrol cap off. it will be far easier to make a new one than search it so that's a nice easy job that won't take long.

Many thanks for reading

Richie

[bigbadbadge]

Those wings look wonderful Richie,  you've done a cracking job there, I zoomed in so could see the rivets, great work. 

Chris

[RichieW]

11 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Those wings look wonderful Richie,  you've done a cracking job there, I zoomed in so could see the rivets, great work. 

Chris

Thanks Chris, that's very generous of you as always. I hope I can mount the wings properly, after 5 attempts to make it would be a shame to cock that stage up!

 

Richie

[RichieW]

Well it was like a late October day here with low temperatures, high winds and  rain. Lots and lots of rain. The good news is that I had time for our great hobby again.

The Union Jacks were proving to be a pain, probably due to user error my cutter struggled to produce useable masks so I had to resort to decals from ebay. The blue was the wrong colour match for my roundels so I just masked and airbrushed them;

Modified Union Jack blue. by Richard Williams, on Flickr

Once on the model they were masked again and a white border sprayed round them, bit of waste of time as it doesn't show up at all.

Bristol Scout scratch build by Richard Williams, on Flickr

The little leather reinforcement patches for the rigging were made from masking film, as were the underwing pulley inspection hatches. Unfortunately I painted the roundels slightly out of place with the result that these are slightly too far towards the wing tips. I quite like them though and can live with the small error. The little catches are just thin strips of lead foil I wound round a 0.5mm brass rod.

Bristol Scout scratch build by Richard Williams, on Flickr

Bristol Scout scratch build by Richard Williams, on Flickr

I had another little play with oil washes round the stitching and spattered a little onto the fuselage for good measure. If I don't like it tomorrow it will be easily removed. Oh the joy of oil paints!

Bristol Scout scratch build by Richard Williams, on Flickr

Not a lot to show for the many hours I spent but I enjoyed it and didn't get cold and wet. I'm hoping to finish this project by the end of the month so hopefully a new project can start by August.

Many thanks for reading, as ever all tips, advice or criticisms are gratefully received.

Richie

[bigbadbadge]

Great work Richie, the sprayed on Union Jack looks good from here fella. The oil paint is great I love it and what I do like is when you remove you get a slight residue left which looks great as a stain on the surface for old oil leaks or ground in dirt etc. Those wings  look marvellous fella  I know what you say about the roundels being too far forward  but I won't tell anyone!!! You could have got away with it if you hadn't of said anything!!!

Cracking work and are there any clues as to ehatvthe next project might be ???

Chris

[hendie]

What a gem this build is turning out to be.  Some of that craftsmanship is exemplary - those small hatches being things of beauty

[RichieW]

19 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

Cracking work and are there any clues as to ehatvthe next project might be ???

Chris

Thanks Chris, I really appreciate the kind comments. I'm not quite sure what comes next. I had in mind a 1/24  partially stripped down Sopwith Pup or Triplane but a 1/32 Bleriot XI is on the cards too. I had an idea to do a translucent aircraft that is actually translucent so the Bleriot might just have its nose in front.

 

17 minutes ago, hendie said:

What a gem this build is turning out to be.  Some of that craftsmanship is exemplary - those small hatches being things of beauty

Hendie thanks so much, coming from the creator of all those magical details on your Whirlwind I take that as a very big complement. 

 

Richie

[bigbadbadge]

5 minutes ago, RichieW said:

I had in mind a 1/24  partially stripped down Sopwith Pup or Triplane but a 1/32 Bleriot XI is on the cards too. I had an idea to do a translucent aircraft that is actually translucent so the Bleriot might just have its nose in front

Oh wow any of those will be great Richie,  wow. Like the Ambassador dishing out the Ferrero Roche, Richie you are spoiling us !!!

Looking forward to them.

Chris

[RichieW]

17 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Oh wow any of those will be great Richie

After spending many hours just fiddling around test fitting the top wing, I think for the sake of my sanity the next project might have to be an Airfix 1/72 Spitfire!

 

As said the fit of the op wing is proving awkward to say the least, probably all the more so because I haven't tried it with the cabane struts. The truth is that fitting them scares the living daylights out of me. The locating holes need to be absolutely precisely placed, I will figure it out I'm sure but any advice would be very welcome.

 

Having said that the alignment looks promising but a lot of fettling is my immediate future. 

 

Wings test fit without cabanes by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Wings test fit without cabanes by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Wings test fit without cabanes by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Many thanks for reading, all advice greatly welcomed!

 

Richie

[bigbadbadge]

A Spitfire to restore sanity would be a good idea.  Love a good Spitfire model.

It might be worth making a cardboard jig to enable the top wingvto be placed into the correct position compared to the lower wing etc and then you will be more certain.  I imagine that you have already got one and I am provably teaching to such eggs!!!

 

Chris

[RichieW]

Thanks Chris, funnily enough I've just been making a jig! I've only ever successfully completed one multi winged model and that was a superbly tooled Wingnut Triplane so it just pretty much fell together. This is a different story altogether! 😂

[hendie]

2 hours ago, RichieW said:

any advice would be very welcome

 

Clear plastic packaging.  Lay it on the underside of the upper wing and mark the strut hole positions, which can then be drilled out.  The strut positions are already fixed on the fuselage so you don't need to worry about them.

You can then use the template to line up the struts (I used brass pins at the ends of each strut - the clear plastic lets you see exactly where everything is in relation to the fuselage so you can ensure you get things straight/equal/symmetrical etc.  I marked mine with a piece of tape so I knew which end was forward.  This pic should explain it better than I can

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RichieW]

Hendie, that is brilliant, THANK YOU!!!!!

[Marklo]

Fantastic work so far, enjoying the build.

 

What about this for a translucent build  I think it’s a BE2c

[RichieW]

Thanks Marklo, I've loved the BE2c since watching the BBC series Wings yonks ago. I have some stunning reference photos from the Smithsonian of the engine. I'll need to improve my skills a great deal before tackling a 2 bay biplane. This little Scout is proving to be a real handful! 

[Marklo]

For wing alignment I favour Lego.

 

My scratcbuilt JI getting its upper wing attached.

 

Btw, have you tried printing your own decals. I’ve had good results both with inkjet and laser and overall the cost of the decal paper is way less than the cost of decal sets.

This is a set I printed for my Oertz just a few days ago using inkjet decal paper.

[RichieW]

The Ooertz is magnificent Marklo, sadly I only have a monochrome laser printer and no young children to rob of their lego.

Edited July 8, 2021 by RichieW

[RichieW]

Hi everybody, many thanks again Hendie and Chris for the tips re wing fitting, they have proved to be very helpful!

There's been another bout of fettling and wrestling with the wings this morning. I used my old broken  Ammo jig to help and it really did but even so it was definitely not easy at first but I think I'm getting the knack of it after several test fittings. There are problems of alignment that will need a lot of tweaking but that's ok because I will get a lot of practice at getting the wings on and off.

 Until it all looks better aligned and I can easily get the wings on I won't glue anything else onto the model in case of breakages. I expect this to take at least a week or so, once done I shall be back on familiar ground and should be able to get this finished at long last!
 

Test fitting by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Test fitting by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

Test fitting by Richard Williams, on Flickr

 

 

Thanks for dropping by

 

Richie

 

[Bandsaw Steve]

That looks fantastic.

 

The best advice I can give you about fitting the wings is ‘build monoplanes!’

 

Any questions? 

[Marklo]

You can print decals albeit in monochrome with the laser useful if you’re into German aircraft  a suitable inkjet can be had at your local Tesco for €50 or less, and I have to confess even though juniors Lego ( she is now 23) is in the attic I bought myself a basic block set and a base expressly for modelling as she’d never have forgiven me for nicking her Lego  

[RichieW]

40 minutes ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

That looks fantastic.

 

The best advice I can give you about fitting the wings is ‘build monoplanes!’

 

Any questions? 

I was thinking a rocket might be the answer!

[bigbadbadge]

Wicked progress Richie, a real milestone that really helps mojo levels.

If you need to you can use the rigging, if not elastic,  to make the adjustments,  did that with my TigerMoth,  using monofilament thread and the beauty of that is it makes ie very strong for handling too. 

This is looking most excellent. 

Great work 

Chris

[RichieW]

11 minutes ago, bigbadbadge said:

If you need to you can use the rigging, if not elastic,  to make the adjustments

Now that's a fine idea!

[Marklo]

2 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

If you need to you can use the rigging, if not elastic,  to make the adjustments

I do this all the time on the more elaborate builds ( eg the Oertz) it’s actually structural.

[Old Man]

Great stuff, Sir!

 

Glad I looked in on this.

 

Wonderful work.