The Schneider Trophy project

[SprueMan]

Right then.

Time to join the fun.

 

By chance when buying models from Ukraine, I stumbled on the AMP Model's models of the Schneider Trophy racers.

As soon as I saw them, I realised I had to have them. I remembered seeing a documentary about the trophy on Discovery channel when I was a kid, and though the details had long been forgotten, the ver idea re-captivated me, and I had to have them.

So I bought them all. Along with what Testors made.

 

 

With that, an empty display cabinet and a lot of enthusiasm, started the project you are now reading.

 

If you are looking for a super award wining modelling endeavour, this is not it.

If you are looking for the most historically accurate build, this is not it.

If you are looking for smart solutions to silly problems, then this is definitely not it.

 

But if you are looking for someone to show you how dumb luck, perseverance and ignorance can make someone put model looking objects on shelves (eventually) then this is it.

Join me, as I take off, round the pylons and hope to settle down in a sea of spray and not burn, crash and drown.

 

[SprueMan]

First things first.

Here is where the models will go:

As you can see, there is planned room for:

• Macchi MC.72
• Sopwith Schneider
• Supermarine S.6
• Curtiss R3C2
• Supermarine S.5

...as well two empty spots. There are plans for those too, but lets see how well we proceed.

 

You will also observe, that I have cheated and made a false start.
The Paggio P.7 is already complete.

 

A rubbish model it was.
Its not really 1/48 scale, but 1/50. There are also some minor differences between the real versions and the model, such as the windscreen and the exhausts, but I chose to build it as it.
I cannot fix the wrong scale.

..in straightening frame (would you not guess it, it was crooked as well...

 

complete:

 

[SprueMan]

I am now heavily involved in building the Curtiss R2D2 I mean R3C-2 as well as the Supermarine S.5

 

First things first. The Hawk / Testors model has raised panel lines and borders for painting or decaling the markings.

These have to go, as well as the wrong profile of the lower wing. The real one was flat.

 

Secondly, the grooves must be replaced. I printed the scaled planes on a sheet, marked where the joints for the surface radiators joined, and scribbled the missing radiators.

 

Much better:

Now, if I was a smart man, I would have simply glued the wing to something like a vice, and used a heavy grit sandpaper make the grooves. If would have been faster and neater. But I am not that smart man.

 

At this point, I have glued the upper wing to the fuselage (which got a full cockpit interior that I forgot to take photos of) and I am adding the missing filet that Hawk neglected to make.

[SprueMan]

I have no problems with the heavy work involved in the Hawk/Testors model.

After all, it was conceived in the 1960s and it was marketed towards youngsters. Made to be glued together in a day, and brush painted to completion. It also seems to have been made according to plans published in Kinert's book about Race planes, rather than from the actual plane in the Smithsonian museum.

So it is of course limited. And yet the parts fit, and to be truthful, and a small effort would bring it to a decent level.

 

It is a different matter with the AMP Supermarine.
It was made not 10 years ago, with the access to detailed plans, CAD design, CNC machining for moulds, and yet, its a.. of a model.

 

I have had to make a frame for the plane and that was not so plain.

This is so the fuselage can be mounted on the floats correctly...

..and so that the struts for the floats can be scratch built, as the provided struts are too short and too thin to hold the plane

..the plastic struts are now  cut apart, a grove cut into them lengthwise, and fitted around the wire

 

You will notice the incredibly ugly paintwork.

You see, if I had been a clever man, I would have anticipated the difficulty in fitting the floats and would have waited to painting the model till AFTER I had fittted the floats.

But, I am not that clever man.

 

repainting:

 

...and status for today:

 

Thar' She blows!

[AdrianMF]

Looks like lots of fun (for us 🍿)

 

The Piaggio looks really nice too. AMP again?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[SprueMan]

10 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Looks like lots of fun (for us 🍿)

 

The Piaggio looks really nice too. AMP again?

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thank you very much  At least I can provide some entertainment.

Its actually a decent learning experience in plastic surgery.

 

Yes, the Piaggio is a AMP kit. I cannot really recommend it. Its 1/50 scale and not 1/48, and it has a few minor factual inaccuracies.

That said, it can be built and the scale is not that noticeable as it is a unique plane. It will not stand out like a single Spitfire that is 1/10th smaller than the other Spitfires alongside it.

[AdrianMF]

Don't get me wrong - for me, messing around with plastic is where the fun is. All my builds seem to end up like that, no matter how many times I say "OOB"!

 

You will get away with the Piaggio mismatch in scale - IIRC it's much longer than the others and a much smaller span? 

[rob Lyttle]

Oh Man.... I like the sound of this! 

 

I've got an old Testor Curtiss float plane racer in desperate need of a rebuild. I don't even remember removing those raised painting details but I guess I must have. 

Also got the S5 by AMP waiting in the box and your progress so far is admirable but a bit scary 😲

Great job so far, beautiful planes 

[SprueMan]

Thanks for he kind words!

A small update from the Supermarine factory:

Decals are on the Supermarine S.5, and I have began final touch ups of the paint with a bit of wet sanding before I clear it.

The decals are another disappointment of the kit. The white is not thick enough to completely cover over the dark blue, so the white has a slight blue have. Also, the rudder decal is too big for the rudder, so when I painted it, the "N 220" marking never aligned because it was made for the decal, not the rudder.

The decals also do not respond to Vallejo's decal solution but do respond to Humbrol's Decal fix. The trouble is the Humbrol decal fix leaves nasty sticky oily residue behind that needs lot of water to be washed off.

 

The next step is the clear coat, and then the rigging. Oh dear.

 

Also, I have spent time in front of the computer to draw the missing decals for the Curtiss R3C-2 and the Sopwith Tabloid.

I drew the big "3" that is to go under the wings, but in honesty, of all the photos I have of the Tabloid, it does NOT have the 3 on the wings, only the rudder. I wonder if it was not applied after the actual event.

 

There might be a hiatus for a while as I wait for the rigging supplies and the decals.

 

 

[SprueMan]

On 28/02/2023 at 00:38, rob Lyttle said:

Oh Man.... I like the sound of this! 

 

I've got an old Testor Curtiss float plane racer in desperate need of a rebuild. I don't even remember removing those raised painting details but I guess I must have. 

Also got the S5 by AMP waiting in the box and your progress so far is admirable but a bit scary 😲

Great job so far, beautiful planes 

Thanks.
Its not too big a problem. It does however need considerable work.

Have a read about the process from a much more skilled builder than me:

What I have found, is that the parts fit is not too bad in theory. The problem is that the designer of the CAD never worked with injection molding or, just never visited the Mikromir factory. Many of his solutions are not applicable to reality.

The surface detail is too fine to what Mikromir can do with their soft plastic, and the parts fit also impossible to reach with the molding quality. If you spend time dry fitting, dry fitting and dry fitting you might make it work. Ijust flooded the parts with Mr. Surfacer and redrew the lines.

 

Also; important is that the floats are not, as Mikromir made them, supposed to be symmetric. You will need to make a frame/jig to hold the model somehow and make your own struts.

Its not enough to put weight into the floats, you also must put some in the nose of the plane itself, if you do not want it to sit on the tail.

And as mentioned; get a second set of decals if you can.

[TallBlondJohn]

Great project, one that I've contemplated in 1:72 but don't fancy that much resin. These racers deserve decent kits!

[2996 Victor]

1 hour ago, TallBlondJohn said:

Great project, one that I've contemplated in 1:72 but don't fancy that much resin. These racers deserve decent kits!

Agreed! It's a crying shame that so few have been kitted and those are really duff. Come on Arma Hobby!!!

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Quiet Mike]

What an excellent era of aviation to cover, this will be a great collection of builds!
I feel your pain with the AMP S5. Seeing your post has brought it all back to me! I do like your solutions to the challenges this kit throws up though. That jig is very smart, and I wish I had used rods to support the floats!

 

[SprueMan]

1 hour ago, Quiet Mike said:

What an excellent era of aviation to cover, this will be a great collection of builds!
I feel your pain with the AMP S5. Seeing your post has brought it all back to me! I do like your solutions to the challenges this kit throws up though. That jig is very smart, and I wish I had used rods to support the floats!

 

Thank you. And Thank you very very much for posting your WIP!

Without your work to guide me, I do not think I would have finished this model. I bookmarked the thread and used it along the way.

[invidia]

Fantastic looking builds,  great work considering the base kits, the PC7 is a horrid kit, gave up on mine!!

  I seem to be doing something similar, but in 1/72, mostly building SBS models italian/french racing planes, wish they would do a S5, S6.

[Zephyr]

I have nothing much to add but I'm enjoying this thread.

The S5 is looking great.

It is indeed a pity that there's not a nice 1/48 S6 kit, especially as there are 2 surviving aircraft as references.

[Malc2]

Looking good

Edited April 10, 2023 by Malc2

[Bughunter]

Regarding the Sopwith Schneider you may look here. The base was a Special Hobby kit, but with a lot of modifications.

And yes, I found a picture with the big 3 under the wing.

.

Edit: I found it again on www.kingstonaviation.org:

Edited March 9, 2023 by Bughunter
Photo added

[davmarx]

This is a really interesting great project! 

[SprueMan]

On 09/03/2023 at 19:45, Bughunter said:

Regarding the Sopwith Schneider you may look here. The base was a Special Hobby kit, but with a lot of modifications.

And yes, I found a picture with the big 3 under the wing.

Edit: I found it again on www.kingstonaviation.org:

 

Thank you for that, that is going to be most helpful!

[Vesa Jussila]

Nice project. Really interesting subjects.

[SprueMan]

Right then.

 

Sometimes, you have to throw in the towel and say that this was a nut that was too hard to crack.

The Supermarine S.5 seems to have been cursed.

From the basic kit horrors, I had to deal with surprises like a badly made clearcote:

I had to scrape the clear coat off, and then reapply a Tamiya satin coat (TS-79). In some areas it was relatively painless, in others it did not work out that well; with all the loss of surface detail and extra layers of paint on paint that just makes the whole lot ugly.

After that, rigging was easy in comparison to the rest of the model.

 

As a new thing, I experimented using old guitar strings. I must say that it works quite well and I will be using the same method in the future.

I had two sorts, one was a brass type, covered with chrome and a steel one. Both have their advantages/disadvantages (brass is more pliable and soft to work with, but steel springs back to straight though it is harder to cut and is less forgiving)

You can see one of the brass ones is the crossbeam (?) that I had to replace as it is crooked

 

After that, I dropped the model. (Yea, the curse strikes again..)

But only a strut broke and the strong rigging held the rest in place, so...

 

without further ado...

 

 

ITS DONE!

 

 

Its not the best model that I have made, I must admit and there are several things I am unhappy with, but at this point I am happy it is over.

 

At least it looks good on the shelf, behind the glass

 

[dnl42]

Nice work on these!

 

And your work on the Hawk R3C-2 looks well beyond your stated expectations!  

[Thom216]

That looks great!

[2996 Victor]

Well, for all that it put up a fight right to the end, its an absolute beauty! That is a lovely-looking S.5 and it rather makes me want to build one as well!

 

All the best,

Mark