SE5a Roden 1:72 in honour of Dave Wilson

[Brandy]

I am a long time member of wwIaircraftmodels forum, and they are holding a group build in honour of Dave Wilson, who ran the site, and who passed away recently after a short illness. Although I have more than enough on the bench at the moment, and a loss of mojo, there is no way I could not take part in this group build in his honour, so I will share it here.

So, to start, a couple of pics of what we have in the box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some very nicely moulded parts there and a nice sheet of decals. This should be fun! I may even manage it OOB!

 

Ian

[hendie]

I've only attempted 1 Roden kit (and failed) and was impressed by the quality of their molding.

 

I'll have a Dark Island please, and a bag of dried cuttlefish, thanks

[bigbadbadge]

This is quite a nice little kit and hope you enjoy and it helps restore the mojo levels.

Chris

 

[Paul Thompson]

I'm sure you know the drill by now with Roden decals - test an unwanted bit for shatteryness, and see if it will lie down neatly without sulphuric acid, and if both those tests pass then coat with Microscale liquid decal film just to be sure. Or be prepared to cobble your own markings together, or buy an aftermarket set (I think Printscale do one at the moment). Ot get lucky, because about 1 in 10 Roden decal sheets can work just fine, and the colours and images themselves are usually good, and in register more often than not. It is a very nice kit though, although so far I've only built one. My main hassle was replacing the pulley inspection triangles by cutting through the plastic, skinning the back, adding a punched plastic disk as a pulley, and glazing with white glue, which wasn't hard to do, but did take a long time (there being 6 of the things). On my recent Pegasus SE5 I just used triangles of black decal with the edges painted over with PC10 and glossed in the middle, which was good enough for me in 1/72nd. I know the triangles are marked on the plastic but I think they're slightly too large. They're easy enough to miss on the real thing in monochrome photos.

 

I'll be very interested in what you do with this subject anyway.

 

Paul.

[Martian]

It may well be Ian that this build kick starts your mojo. A few years ago a very close friend and I were both working on Fly Models'  kits of the Hafner Rotachute, albeit in different scales. My friend died suddenly and my mojo went out of the window. A few months went by and I was wondering what I could finish in time to take to Telford. The thought then struck me that my friend would probably have told me to get off my backside and finish my model. I did both, took the model to Telford, and ended up with a silver medal. Mojo was restored and more importantly, what better way to remember my friend?

 

Helpful of Mars 👽

[Terry1954]

The door was open, so I've popped in to see this, which should be interesting, and a very fitting tribute.

 

But what is this.........

 

On 5/1/2024 at 6:22 PM, Brandy said:

I may even manage it OOB!

 

 

........Yeah right

 

T.

[Brandy]

Umm, I've already made a new seat back.

 

Ian

[Terry1954]

1 minute ago, Brandy said:

Umm, I've already made a new seat back.

[Hamden]

 

Nice way to honor someone will follow along if that's ok

 

       Roger

[Brandy]

11 minutes ago, Hamden said:

 

Nice way to honor someone will follow along if that's ok

 

       Roger

Of course it's OK!

Welcome aboard Roger!

 

Ian

[Brandy]

Sorry I've been quiet here, I haven't been idle though.

Although I had hoped to build this OOB, @Terry1954 was right to doubt me! Having said that, modifications will be minimal.

I will use MiniWorld guns, and have made a new seat back, as the kit item was not accurate. I've also thinned the area inside the semi-circular cutout under the nose and, using a sharp blade, moved the front edge of the plastic behind the cutout back a little to give the correct "lip" all the way around.

So here's what I've got done so far.

 

A little interior paintwork to start with

 

 

and I found a spare instrument panel that I'd designed for the DH9. It just so happened that it fitted nicely after filing off the windscreen mount!

 

 

Some of the detail was removed and the gap at the left was widened....

 

 

Not perfect, but it will do the job!

 

 

The seat back was not correct, as mentioned, so I made a new one from stock Evergreen.

 

 

The seat bottom is the kit part and will be fitted separately.

It should look something like this

 

 

I also ran out of PC10, so more has been ordered from Misterkit. I have some misgivings here though. I love their paints, but too many of them have gone off before I even opened them. If the same happens again, I will find another supplier....

 

Thanks for looking in,

 

Ian

 

[TheBaron]

On 16/05/2024 at 19:43, Brandy said:

Having said that, modifications will be minimal.

“You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court."

 

 

[Martian]

19 hours ago, TheBaron said:

“You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court."

 

 

Anything he doesn't say will be given in evidence anyway.

 

Martian the Just 👽

[Terry1954]

On 5/16/2024 at 7:43 PM, Brandy said:

Although I had hoped to build this OOB, @Terry1954 was right to doubt me!

 

It's not so much that I doubted your intent, more that I am a realist who has on numerous similar occasions observed otherwise. 

 

.........and as Tony so eloquently put it ..............

 

21 hours ago, TheBaron said:

“You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court."

 

In other words ......... you're nicked sunshine!

 

Exhibit 1 m'lud ...........

 

On 5/16/2024 at 7:43 PM, Brandy said:

The seat back was not correct, as mentioned, so I made a new one from stock Evergreen.

 

 

Exhibit 2 m'lud being an illustration of the accused having previous form............

 

On 5/16/2024 at 7:43 PM, Brandy said:

and I found a spare instrument panel that I'd designed for the DH9. It just so happened that it fitted nicely after filing off the windscreen mount!

 

 

I suggest you may need to take counsel from @Fritag before you say anything else Ian ............... that is assuming you can find him at the moment!

 

Some great scratch work despite our collective jests!

 

I so love these OOB builds.

 

Terry

[Brandy]

@Terry1954 at least the superglue worked!

 

Ian

[AdrianMF]

Looks like a super build already and looking forward to more! OOB is overrated (speaking as someone who has never tried it...).
 

But what's going on with the upper wing? In your picture it looks to have a big diagonal furrow on the stbd wing next to the centre section.

 

Regards, 
Adrian

[Brandy]

5 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

But what's going on with the upper wing?

Just a dark patch in the plastic, nothing more.

 

Ian

[Brandy]

Just a small update from the weekend as the fuselage assembly requires patience!

 

It has to be put together in stages, especially as my kit fuselage halves are slightly warped at the front.

First step - glue the halves together.

 

 

Once dry, step 2 is to attach the fuselage to the wings. I also added the lower nose section at this time. Pic eaten by hungry camera.

Stage 3, attach the cockpit coaming.

 

 

Step 4 will be to add the radiator and upper cowling, maybe even in 2 steps, we'll see! However, it's worth being patient since I don't want a badly fitting or warped nose!

 

Hopefully my paints are on their way....

 

Thanks for looking in,

 

Ian

[The Spadgent]

Looking good. I like the new seat and instrument panel, lining up to be a fitting tribute.  I have maybe two Roden kits. 🤔 I haven’t built one myself either. Very much enjoying the OOB build. I’ll tag along and maybe start something myself. Hmmm OOB. OOOOOOOOB. 😅

 

 

Johnny. 

[Brandy]

Wow, you guys are tough.

I only said I MAY manage to build it OOB!

 

Ian

[Brandy]

Apologies for the long delay in updating this, but to be honest there's been a bit of a mojo shortage.

 

A little more has been done though. I had to refit the lower wings as they weren't level for some reason. That was taken care of, and a lot of general tidying up has been done. The only major work really has been the removal, pinning, and refitting of the control surfaces and I think everything is now ready for me to mask off the underside rib tapes. That may also explain the lack of mojo!

 

Anyway, here's a white SE5a (a dead one for @CedB!)

 

 

Hopefully the next update will not be a month from now, and will show far more progress!

 

Thanks for looking in,

 

Ian

[TheBaron]

20 hours ago, Brandy said:

Hopefully the next update will not be a month from now, and will show far more progress!

If it please the gods Ian we would like that very much. Great work so far!

[Bob C.]

Ian, 

I may have missed this, but out of curiosity, what were the parameters for the Dave Wilson GB?  Was it anything goes, or did Mr. W have a fondness for the S.E.5a?  

Very nice beginning, BTW.  

[Brandy]

19 hours ago, Bob C. said:

Ian, 

I may have missed this, but out of curiosity, what were the parameters for the Dave Wilson GB?  Was it anything goes, or did Mr. W have a fondness for the S.E.5a?  

Very nice beginning, BTW.  

He had a fondness for the SE5a, but the group build is anything goes.

 

Ian

[The Spadgent]

Lovely progress Ian. You’re working wonders. 😀

 

 Johnny