Well, I finally decided to start on the SPAD I snapped up at the LHS a few months ago. The detail on the Roden and Toko kits pale in comparison to this!

I have been using this as my reference for the cockpit detail.

While a good cockpit, the instructions wanted me to paint the whole floor wood color, obviously not appropriate according to the above references. I decided to scratchbuild a mallet from stretched sprue, and add another pipe that runs underneath the kit provided one that attaches to the aluminum proturbance on the front wall. I also scratched some tiny triggers and a thumb rest to attach to the control column, and attached wires to the triggers. I also added control wires and some rigging to the inside walls of the cockpit, which I managed to glue to my tweezers several times...

Finally, I created an approximation of the seatbelts from tinfoil and a shaving of plastic rod, painted white. There are a few other scratched parts around the cockpit, in all it took me about 6 hours of gluing my fingers together, dropping of parts, and cursing and swearing. It turned out pretty good, too bad you can't see any of it when the fuselage was closed up.

I am keeping some notes on the build, I hope that once it is done I can do a full build review of the kit.

Have you had any problems with the kit? What are the white portions on the seat cushion?

Looks good so far. I think I will wait for the 1/48th version tough.

Protect your eyes. You only get one pair.

Hehe, the white blobs on the seat were my first attempt at scratching a seatbelt harness. The bottom belts look a bit too large now that I think about it, but after closing up the fuselage they aren't very noticable. When I started working on the seatbelts I was already about 5 or 6 hours into working on detailing the cockpit. Before that, I was fitting slivers of plastic to the control column to replicate triggers and a thumb rest, which just about made me crosseyed... Don't get me started on the wires connected to the triggers. (And I have to use a flashlight to see them now, serves me right.)

I did have some fit problems putting on the upper fuselage. There are two large ejector pin marks below the wells for the machine guns. The ejector pin marks are right where the underside of the gun wells touch the upper dashboard of the cockpit, which will prevent the top half from mating to the rest of the fuselage correctly. Making things more difficult, the gun wells are molded very thinly, so thinly there are small holes where the plastic wasn't able to flow to. It won't be visible when the guns are in, but the thinness forces you to be really careful when sanding off those ejector pin marks. Even with all this I was forced to resort to a zip tie to hold the thing together while the glue dried.

I did manage to get some more work done last night, and after attaching the lower wing and nose cowling found some more minor fit issues. The top half of the fuselage and the bottom half that is part of the wing jut forward of the rest of the fuselage slightly. I thought it was an error on my part at first, but for both top and bottom to jut forward at exactly the same distance looks to be due to the kit. I test fitted the rudder on, and it fit perfectly so I think the top half is where it is supposed to be. Still, it left a rather large seam that needed filling as seen in the picture. I also had a seam where the wing joined the fuselage, which has since been filled.



One other thing I noticed about this kit, is that the Eduard plastic feels harder than the Roden and Toko stuff. It makes for stiffer parts, but makes scribing more difficult. I also made several stray scribe marks while trying to cut off and reposition the control surfaces, which wasn't the case with the other kits. I will have to be more careful next time.

P.S. I had to chisel off the control hinges to allow me to cut off the control surfaces. I ended up scratching new ones, and everal stray scratches on the surface of the wing resulted as well, which were filled with superglue and sanded.

Well, I have been getting some work done in the time I have had after work the past few days, and now I have two whole days off to paint the camo scheme! I started tonight after work before the sun went down, applying the underside color. I am doing scheme A of Robert Soubiran's plane, and I have left the rudder off so that I can more easily paint the tricolor on it.



As you can see in the photo, I have already applied the center struts. It was after this that I discovered a more serious fit problem than before. I chose to use the streamlined fairing for the lines that go up to the water tanks in the upper wing. It turns out that the mounting holes in the upper wing for the center struts are too far back, resulting in the upper wing being too far forward. I initially thought it was the alignment pins for the water lines that were incorrect, and sanded off the pins on the water lines. Test fitting and checking with a square revealed that it was the center strut holes that were the culprit, and I don't know for sure if it was a mistake by me or a flaw in the design. I took the easy way out and redrilled the holes about 1mm further forward, shown as green dots in the picture. Has anyone else built this kit and had this problem with the center struts?





Now all I must do is wait for the paint to dry for tomorrow. Still need to touch up the old holes in the upper wing before I paint that. I now realize that I should have waited on the tail struts and landing gear, and painted those separate. The way they are now makes applying an even coat more difficult. Oh well.

It may seem with all these problems that the kit isn't that great. To be honest, the fit issues haven't been that troublesome, and the detail more than makes up for it.

Member Brad Cancian has done this kit. (see the showcase featuring his works.)

Well, I managed to get some more work done, I have done all the camouflage colors, all that is left to do is paint on the red white and blue details and then the decals and detailing can begin. I had to do the dark green twice on the starboard wing because I didn't give the paint enough time to dry the first time...



I also bought a fresh bottle of fast setting super thin CA glue, hopefully it will make the rigging a little easier. I might experiment with stretched sprue for some of the shorter stuff, it might end up being easier in some spots where the pass though rigging technique won't cut it.

Oh, and don't anyone let me forget to do the windscreen before attaching that upper wing...

Looks good. Keep 'em comin.

Well, I have gotten the tricolor markings sprayed on the nose and tail over the last three days after getting off work. (One day for each color...) I now have one day off tomorrow to devote to getting some more substantial work done. I still need to touch up the tail in a couple of spots where the clamp I held it in scuffed the paint off, but that is all. I managed to do a passable job of painting the nose tricolor, but the thing was so small and the surface so complicated that even masking was very difficult, and there is a little unevenness in a few places on close inspection. Still, I think this isn't too bad for my first time doing a camo job as complex as this is.



Tomorrow, I will do the necessary touch up in the morning, get the struts, exhausts and miscellaneous other bits prepped for final assembly, and then try out that technique that I read about Brad using on his planes. I think I will mist on a few very thin coats of white to try and lighten things up a bit, as the camo scheme and the red and blue all look a tad too dark to me.

I would be satisfied with that paint job in 1/48th. In 1/72, it is simply amazing.

Hehe, well thank you, but I still have plenty of time to jinx this with new painting techniques. I decided to try and simulate some fading on the fabric with a mixture of tamiya clear coat mixed with some tamiya white. It turned out ok, at first, but then while cleaning the airbrush with isopropyl alcohol I accidentally spilt a drop on the port wing, disolving all that tamiya paint off. Good thing the camo undersurface was enamel based...

I managed to fix it a little, but ended up with the fading effect way too overdone on that one.

After adding the decals, I realized I probably should have waited for the fade job till after that was done. Still, it is starting to look pretty sweet with them on finally.



I also managed to improve the machine guns by hollowing out the barrel with a pin vise.



Though not photographed, I also finished the wheels and airbrushed the exhaust pipes with gunmetal. Tomorrow I think I will mist on a very light coating of rust color to make them seem a little more used, as well as mask and finish the windscreen. Hopefully the struts will be finished in time for me to finish this on my next day off, Friday.

Looking good sir! Model On!

Well, a brief but painful illness made me decide to take a short break from the SPAD. Then I got sidetracked writing an in-box review of an AML kit but now I am working again. I have predrilled the holes for the rigging, and now that the task which is the bane of my existence, mounting the upper wing, is done, I can move on to the relatively mundane task of finishing the rigging and painting the upper wing surface. Then my Sopwith Strutter and Camel will have a shiny new stablemate to keep them company.



The light is at the end of the tunnel.

Edit: Bah, I forgot the aileron controls! Oh well, quick fix tomorrow I guess...

It is done.











Now, my two Sopwiths have a new buddy to play with!



In retrospect, I did make a few mistakes building it. I should have waited until the wings and rigging were finished before adding the main undercarriage, as one of the lower wings drooped more than the other early in assembly and threw me off when I was aligning them. As a result one of the wings dips slightly lower than the other. Still, I think this went ok, all things considered. Over the next few days I will start writing a full build review for this kit.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

A little glossy for my tastes but I have to admit there is some good basic building there. Seams are tight. Rigging is well executed. Definately a keeper. Model On!

Looks good!

I agree with Stephen, a nice semi-gloss finish would go well over the gloss coat. I like the tight demarcation of the comoufalge colours - what technique do you use?

I too have built this kit as Stephen has pointed out, and I did find the same issues you found around the fuselage, namely the mis-alignment around the nose / lower wing joint and a bit of pressure needed to keep the top decking on. I did have a similar issue also with the water lines, but the centre section struts didn't pose too many problems for me - maybe I just had the centre section struts bent slightly more forward.

Well done again!

BC

Point taken about the semi-gloss finish. Only now that the kit is done I don't see how I can correct that without taking it apart again.

So I will just let time dull her finish.

Now I just have to find a good semigloss lacquer. What would you recommend?

As for the camouflage finish, I used blue tac for that. I find that laying it on a bit thick with the edge of the mask rounded allows some overhang which results in a more feathered edge than the hard edges obtained through using masking tape.