SPA Modeler

Kari, Happy New Year!!! Thank you so much for writing! Well it may have been foolish but last night I removed some flashing from parts and sanded four injector pin holes before going to sleep! Then this morning I loaded some brown paint to see if the cowling and cockpit exterior really ought to be brown. The experts (?) believe it should be PC10 but to be honest I think it looks black in both photos. Anyway I have determined that I will be painting the cowling and cockpit exterior in brown after basic adjusting and filling seams. I will take photos of all of these experiments soon. Maybe tomorrow. I think I am closer to having a properly painted version of this craft which was rebuilt following a crash—



Major William G. Barker, RAF, with an upside-down Sopwith Camel F.1 of No. 28 Squadron, Italy, 1918. (Library and Archives of Canada)

I betcha that’s gotta be one helluva story how he got upside down to his family

Haha Tom—I think he was a hot hand with the stick! He is standing there with a smile on his face—maybe he was that era’s Maverick. I found a photo of his crashed Sopwith Snipe which is interesting because it’s in unrestored condition. Notable are the uneven unit stripes and the fading of the PC10 doped canvas.



The fuselage of Barker’s Snipe E8102

That's what I love about stripes on aircrafts - be it WW1 or WW2 D-Day stripes - they're never straight but hand painted on.

I've seen many WW2 aircraft kits in model show contests over the years. Each and every one of them in perfect lines - never hand painted like the real thing. Sadly the judges don't see it that way. Oh well...

I don’t care about judges in this particular case. I’ll hand paint as realistically sloppy as possible in 1/28 scale.

I think most model builders can’t quite cope with hand painted stripes or anything that requires a mistake or series of mistakes to show. I think every invasion stripe falls into the too neat category. That’s only my opinion but it’s the only one I got. I’m going to try some off the cuff things with my brushes on this one. I think the kit is quite capable of soaking up my mistakes. It’s a builder’s design through and through.

I decided I’m going more brown, darker brown. Even the olive drabby brown is too green. There’s an apocryphal statement made by a Sopwith Camel pilot when asked, “Sir, what was the color of your aircraft?”

“Brown,” he answered curtly.

Let’s see how many shades of brown I can play with here!

Great reference stuff Bruce I hope that you feel better soon and can get in some productive bench time.

Great comment regarding stripes - you know exactly how I think. Looking forward to more on this build.

speedgraflex wrote: ↑Wed Jan 01, 2025 7:27 pm I don’t care about judges in this particular case. I’ll hand paint as realistically sloppy as possible in 1/28 scale.

I think most model builders can’t quite cope with hand painted stripes or anything that requires a mistake or series of mistakes to show. I think every invasion stripe falls into the too neat category. That’s only my opinion but it’s the only one I got. I’m going to try some off the cuff things with my brushes on this one. I think the kit is quite capable of soaking up my mistakes. It’s a builder’s design through and through.

I decided I’m going more brown, darker brown. Even the olive drabby brown is too green. There’s an apocryphal statement made by a Sopwith Camel pilot when asked, “Sir, what was the color of your aircraft?”

“Brown,” he answered curtly.

Let’s see how many shades of brown I can play with here!

LOL @ let’s see how many shades of brown I can play with comment.

Hey Carlos and Tom! Happy New Year!

Gents, I feel a bit better today and I'm itching to get on to this project. I did mask off the cockpit so I can try a brownish/reddish PC10 mix (which might be PC12). There seems to be some confusion about what color this aircraft ended up because after he dead-sticked that landing the aircraft was rebuilt. That took new wings at the very least. They also hot rodded his "gunnery" compartment (help, what's the word). Anyway, the area where the Vickers are was chopped and opened up and the tube that's normally in the middle between the guns (help, help) was not replaced. This wasn't the final configuration of the aircraft so I'm starting to call it the "Post-wreck" version. I also don't think that there was black between the white of the unit markings. I dunno about that yet. But looking at the photo taken after the repairs were done, everything looks like blank slate, monochromatic "doping" of protective colors from various repairs.



Side note! I finally, finally figured out what I meant when I was thinking about aftermarket guns for this kitset. There are PE/resin guns made a long time ago not in Europe but here in the United States by Copper State Models.



And lo, I found one pair for sale on eBay. And a price was negotiated.

So for those keeping track: There are 4 AM pieces that may or may not see use. First is a replacement set of decals also off the bay. Second is Tom's Model Works PE British Cockpit. Third is the Mini-Men Figures (not the right scale but let's give 'em a chance). Fourth is now the CSM's pair of PE/resin Vickers guns.

Deliverables: Jan 6 for figures, Jan 8 for paint, still TBD on the Vickers gunset

Updates: figures arrived today! CSM scheduled for next week

Interesting! Since I’ve been housebound and bed bound for the past five six days I’ve been scrolling online modeling websites and found this superb build by Tim Nelson. He’s done almost exactly what I am doing by painting the entire bird in shades of brown with a red propellor nose. Looks quite striking. Quibble would be the regiment stripes—or a question—would the stripes be painted all the way around the fuselage as a recognition symbol? Makes sense but I was not planning to go for it! Remember I’m a SciFi fantasy modeler first so I don’t necessarily know! Experts?

Argh. The remains of the sprue connection that was broken off long before I arrived (shipping, storage) and opened the box which was sealed. Loose parts!