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Completed Bristol Scout C

Discussion in 'vBench (Works in Progress)' started by Glen, Sep 24, 2013.

  1. Glen Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    This is another of my experimental flats. For those of you not familiar with them, they're not just people. There's airplanes, tanks, ships, artillery trains - all kinds of subjects both historical and fantasy. So, I decided to try a scratch-built flat of a WW I biplane. The first part of the project involved finding some decent plans/drawings and some photos of the actual aircraft. That took about an hour on the web. Once I found dimensional data, I was able to scale the drawings down to 1/48. I then started comparing drawings to each other and the photos to check for (reasonable)accuracy. Pretty much all of the drawings were in the ballpark, while photos, assuming they were captioned correctly, show that most of the differences centered around the Scout variants - A, B, C, and D. I went with the C because it was used by Capt (later Major) Lanoe Hawker who was awarded a VC for knocking down three German aircraft in 1915. Hawker eventually became Britain's first ace. More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanoe_Hawker

    The project seemed simple enough. Once the plans were scaled, I traced the profile outline and various parts onto an assortment of sheet plastic ranging from .010" to .025". The parts were cut out using an X-Acto knife and/or scissors. The fuselage from the cowl face to the rudder post is one piece with a second smaller piece laminated over it. The second piece goes from the angled line at the front to another point just in front of the horizontal stabilizer. Putty was added to the upper rear deck to depict the rounded top, while more putty was added to upper front deck, nose side panels and cowl. All were rounded and sanded smooth. The panel lines were engraved. The Scout was built in layers according to the plans. This was about 90% accurate. There were a few times that I had to backtrack and take something apart in order to fit something in.
    For example...
    One thing I want to try was rigging. I used very thin music wire, but it looked a bit too thick. Even more so when painted. I pulled them off and found some .010" (.3mm) plastic rod and it instead. It look more to scale than the music wire, but it's still technically too thick. I won't quibble...
    Once together, the assemble Scout was primed with Floquil Model Railroad Primer, cut about 20-25% with lacquer thinner and brushed on (sounding like a broken record there...). The airframe is overall Reaper Amber Gold triad (depicting the clear doped linen fabric), while the metal parts are the Honed Steel triad. The struts are the Shield Brown triad. The tires are the Stone Gray triad. As a side note, all of the triads can be intermixed to create additional hues with the triad and lighted or darkened with other colors as needed. Great idea those triads... The hand-painted markings are Fire Red, True Blue, and Misty Gray (which is almost a dark white; I use Pure white for the highlights). The tail number 1611 was painted with a Stormy Gray and Pure Black mix. The flying and rigging wire were painted Adamantium Black (metallic black) and highlighted with a gunmetal pencil.

    That's it! As always, questions, comments, and feedback are welcomed.

    Cheers,

    Glen

    Attached Files:

  2. mil-mart A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Been following this on another forum , excellent work Glen.(y)

    Cheers Ken
  3. chippy Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Glen this is so timely , I have just bought 2. WW1 1/48th scale Airplane kits , just needed a break from figures , I've found optic fibers a good medium for rigging . I'm also looking at getting a couple of WW1 1/35th tank kits . I might just might add one or two figures to the scene but it's early days yet . As I live near Bristol I am searching out anything with the name Bristol in it , so now I will look for a Kit for the Bristol Pup
    Lovely work Glen , thanks for the inspiration
    chippy
  4. sd0324 PlanetFigure Supporter

    This is very cool,I like it a lot.
  5. Dan Morton A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Too KOOL~!

    All the best,
    Dan
  6. John Bowery A Fixture

    Country:
    United-States
    Great project and well done and painted.
    Cheers
    John
  7. Glen Active Member

    Country:
    United-States
    Thanks everyone!

    Chippy, not familiar with Bristol Pup. Bristol Scout and Sopwith Pup, yes. I believe Gavia makes 1/48 kits of both. Didn't think of FO cables. Would they hold proper tension? Can they be tightened up? I initially went with wire because I was thinking of casting the piece. Unfortunately. I would have to rethink the engineering/assembly process. I would also likely lose the crispness of the wires even if they survived the mold making and casting. Maybe simply painting in the wires might be a way to go. Then have the painter add his own wires where they span gaps.

    Now, about spoked MG-TC and motorcycle wheels...

    Cheers,

    Glen
  8. chippy Well-Known Member

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Glen I'm not sure were I come up with the Bristol Pup I meant I will be looking for a kit of the Bristol Scout , let's put it down to a senior moment :confused: :oops: . The optic fibres tigthten up if you play a hair dry over them , definitely no naked flames like candles or cig lighters , take this from one who knows . I'm not to sure how the thin resin would react to the heat as I've only done this on a plastic kit , and weather they would stand out on a flat surface . Just to let you know I bought a cheap OF lamp for £2.99 from Llidils as my source .
    chippy

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