Revell 1:72 Spad XIII C-1

[Guest]

Here is my first attempt on a WWI plane. The kit is a rather crude and simple one from Revell, and if I should do a review on it, I could boil it down to: “Rubbish!”. Spare your selves and spend the money on something else, I got mine as a gift form a friend who knows nothing of model-kits, so guess he’s forgiven.

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The Wickers guns were moulded-in and didn’t even look like guns more like two smooth pieces of plastic rod. I bought some white-metal once, that I drilled out, painted and dry brushed.

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There were no cockpit details in the kit, so I scratch made a simplified cockpit from sheet styrene and aluminium-foil.

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Painted the prop. The hub will be covered by a piece of aluminium-foil later on.

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Wheels with simulated canvas covered spokes using a hobby knife and painted.

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Landing gear with rigging made from hair.

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Struts have been cut to pieces, as they were originally way too heavy and had this bulky beam connecting them in pairs, were they were supposed to be attached to the wings. Now they have short lengths of copper wire at each end, that will be fixed in the holes drilled in the wings. The grooves in the wings, for these beams, have been filled.

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Turnbuckle made from hair, for the rigging of the wings.

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Stepping brace made of copper wire

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View of the cockpit with leather surround made from epoxy putty

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Windshield made of aluminium-foil and a single “glass” pane.

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Exhaust tips have been exchanged with scratch made once rolled from aluminium-foil

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Leather cushion on upper wing made of epoxy putty.

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Camo side of upper wing.

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Underside of upper wing

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Full view

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Any comments, suggestions, tips or tricks are welcome!

/Daniel



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[yak face]

Coming on great, daniel , looking forward to seeing the end result, cheers tony

[stona]

Talk about making a silk purse out of a sow's ear. You are really making something very nice out of a most unpromising kit. Love the scratch built wind screen.

Cheers

Steve

[Guest]

You are asking us for tips and tricks????? Daniel, it is you that is showing us some. very well done so far, this is coming on really well and your attention to detail just has to be applauded :clap2:

[Guest]

Great so far, looking forward to seeing the finished aircraft

[Guest]

Very nice scratchbuilding Daniel! You have done a really nice job on this kit. I, however will be steering clear of it :surrender:

Stuart

[Guest]

Thanks for all the encouraging words, everyone! I've just finished "Future'ing" the Spad, getting it ready for decals. For me that is exciting as I will be trying MicroSet and MicroSo for the first time, instead of just slapping the on. Any typical beginner mistakes I should be aware of, with decal solution and setting liquids?

[Guest]

Main one is to remember that Microsol, the only one I use, dissolves the decal and then lets it settle back on its own to the shape of the plastic. After a few seconds of applying microsol, if you keep playing with the decal, it will break up as it softens and there is no going back. The decal will go wrinkly and look terrible, just leave it and let it dry, it will be fine just resist the temptation to fiddle with it.

[Guest]

I just got some microsol too. Eager to try it out.

And the attention to detail you put into that kit is wonderful. I would just glue the bits together and try and get a decent paintjob. hehe

[Guest]

As per Graham, make sure you're decalling onto a shiny smooth surface and go with it, You shouldn't need the both, set may be enough on it's own, I prefer to 'set' the decal in water only on a tricky surface as you get more playing time to position it, then I dab the decal fairly dry and cover in the microsol, as Graham says, initially it'll seem to do nothing, then wrinkle and look awful, if necessary, and only if necessary, (i.e. try one without touching to see how it dries), you can get a soft brsitled brush, (I keep one for decals only), and gently dab it down to the surface to smooth the wrinkles, (this varies from decal to decal BTW, some just won't take it).

The rider on the 1:24 motorbike I recently did would have been utterly impossible without it.

The sets nice on a relatively flat surface, like the wings, you can lay it on in pretty much the right place and watch it suck down to the surface, oddly satisfying.

Nice details on that model BTW.

[Guest]

Thanks for the tips fellows.

I airbrushed the Future on, but I can't really say it yielded a shiny surface, as you say it needs to be. And adding more, the future had a tenancy to from a lot of different seize droplets rather than settling in a typical smooth wet glossy coat. I did wash the model with mild detergent, rinsed it and let it dry for a couple days prior to spraying Future. Should I give it another coat or just buff/polish the semi-flat coat that has now cured?

/Daniel

[Guest]

Decals applied and slightly weathered. It was my first time using Micro-Sol. I don’t know if there is a limited shelf life on Micro-Sol or if I just had too high expectations. It didn’t quite dissolve the decal-film just leaving the pigment, as I exåected. After drying and levelling back to being smooth, it still had the same thickness as before and looked like a sticker slightly higher that the surface. Is that just the way it is or do I need to purchase a fresh bottle of Micro-Sol?

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Added some control-wire with anchors for the rudder (stretched sprue). Will be painted blue and cut to size, so it fits with the holes drilled at the root of the vertical stabilizer:

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Vickers guns added:

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Aluminium-foil window-frame added. I will add the “Glass” later using “Crystal Clear”:

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Support struts added, made from piano-wire:

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Finished the propeller with a hub made from aluminium-foil and the centre-bolt from stretched sprue:

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/Daniel

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[stona]

More nice work there. Microsol won't dissolve away the carrier film. It should soften the decals (sometimes they may wrinkle...don't touch) and help them to conform to surface detail. Some decals react more readily than others. You may need to make several applications on some of the less willing ones before they react as you want. I always give average decals two goes.

Cheers

Steve

[Ian M]

Hej Daniel, "thats a nice propel we must keep that and use it in an other afsnit".

You have certainly got a lot of detail into that tiny little Airplane. Its looking very good.

You battles with the Micro sol are fine. As Stona says, its not ment to dissolve the decal just soften it so that it can come down into the surface detail, Rivets, panle lines and the like.

Ian M

[Guest]

Hej Daniel, "thats a nice propel we must keep that and use it in an other afsnit".Ian M

Yes! I have been snitting all night and now it is all for little.

/Daniel