Ive not done myself any favors getting this started now so Ive decided to build whats barely a hangar queen as its barely started. It seems a pretty straight foward build with fairly simple rigging and as Ill be finishing this in the markings of Italian ace Fulco Ruffo di Calabria, which are also pretty simple. The kit gives a choice to build his aircraft at 2 points in its use differing by armament. Ive chosen to use just the vickers to aid in simplicity. Heres how it sits.


To start this build back up Ill spray the interior with some sort of CDL mix which can then be used for both the linen and the basecoat for wood finish.

Good choice. I'll be watching with interest as I recently picked up one of these. Beautiful kit and I think I may be a convert to 1/48 after I build it.

Stephen, I appreciate you stopping in. Hopefully watching my progress will land that kit on your bench in no time! I agree its a neat kit, even in the weekend boxing not much detail is lost. However I do really appreciate the PE details, especially in the cockpit.

I mixed a CDL using tamiya deck tan, white and yellow, 3:5:1 thinned with regular tamiya thinner and sprayed over all wood and linen bits. Next picked out the frame work with a brown color, although im not sure that was the best choice, we shall see.

For wood grain I decided to do some exploration and try with oils. First I painted some larger areas of color fluxuation with yellow ochre then some random streaks of burnt sienna. At this point honestly I was a bit underwhelmed.
Next I blended this with a small flat brush damp with turpenoid and my fears vanished as a pretty decent looking wood grain emerged!

This will sit to dry for a couple days while I ponder the next move, whether or not to add some tamiya clear yellow/smoke over this or just some gloss. Im of course assuming this wood work would be varnished in some way. In the mean time Ill be working on the interior metal bits

Mike, Your wood-effect looks really good! as i like Your build of the mustang, i will follow this interesting build!

What about the drying time of Your oil colours? When I build a wooden hangar, I had to wait one whole month for drying! As my patience is my most biggest foe in modeling, this was really hard. Do You have a recipie for a faster drying time?

Oliver

Great start on the interior. I didn't realise the cockpit sides were wood. I assumed they were canvas. I'm planning on finishing mine in the silver doped RFC finish. I need to look for some reference pics to find out where the spare Lewis mags were stashed.
I've had to wait around a month for oils to dry on 1/72 props and 1/35 rifles! It can take a long time.
I've recently started using Vallejo's acrylic wood grain which dries very quickly. It's only downside I've found so far is the limited range of just 2 colours, pine and mahogany.

Thanks for the compliments Oliver, I'll be glad to have you following along! As far as my oils go I think a few days will be good although I may place these pieces near some heat to help out, just in case

Stephen, I missed your post earlier. I dont have any nieuport refs so I'm going with whatever I can find online and it seems right, the front portion definitely looks rigid in photos although I suppose aluminum is possible. But wood just looks so nice!

I have no refs regarding the Lewis mag placement or the gun itself. For that reason I avoided modeling the Lewis this time. Lewis guns are alway sticking up and usually in elaborate mounts with bowden cables, sights and such. Being a student of small arms this makes them a focal point, so I do everything within reason to get such details right. I passed for now but I can't avoid the Lewis forever

I will have to do a good internet trawl for pics. Mags I'm good for. At the same time I also picked up the weekend edition DH2 and it comes with more spare Lewis mags than it could possibly have carried!