Sopwith Pup "Breadner" 1/16

**Leif Ohlsson** · #1 04-18-2009, 01:51 PM

OK, so I have at least started thinking about my chosen subject, the Sopwith Pup flown by L. S. Breadner, No. 3 Naval Squadron, April 1917.

I will adhere to the rule not to add or detract anything substantial, or use any exotic techniques, keeping to the spirit of letting the buyer get a good idea of what he or she gets.

I will allow myself the occasional pin, or rather a dozen and a half of them, a few toothpicks, floral wire of varying thickness, and just some teeny, weeny bits of plastic tubing for wheel & engine bearings. Plus rigging thread straight from the sewing & handicraft shop. Nothing fancy.

I have taken the liberty of printing the instrument panel twice with the intention of placing a piece of transparency between the layers, plus I have printed an extra set of wheel sides. This should be alright, since they could very well be cut from any old piece of paper with the help of a pair of compasses.

I will further allow myself common gouache water color, some gouache varnish to cover up edge painting and small paint touch-ups, plus common water soluble matt varnish for final finish. I will also use Depron instead of thick card for reinforcements, but that won't change the appearance of the model as it came in the download.

And, to make it really clear what the customer gets, I will build the model in 1/16 scale (206,25 percent of the original 1/33), without any extra reinforcements (I think & hope, but we'll see). In any case, nothing visible will detract from the original kit - it will just be a lot easier to see.

The parts printed beautifully, crisp & clear, and I am quite happy so far. They also fit almost exactly on to the scale drawings I have. The only small deviation seems to be that the fuselage height & cowl diameter is a little bit on the small side, otherwise everything is more perfect than usually.

I managed to get everything into 11 common A4 sheets. In order to do that I hade to angle the bottom fuse part and it j-u-s-t fitted in that way. Very rewarding. I will also build the wing reinforcements as two equal halves instead of full span as in the kit.

An important note on the quality of the kit is that you can open this original vector design in a vector graphic programme (like Illustrator) from the pdf you get. This is really commendable, since it enables you to enlarge & rearrange parts without any loss of quality at all. Take a bow, Chris, and designer Marek, for allowing this! (The only small exception is the instrument panel which has suffered from what I believe must have been an original enlargement from 1/48 to 1/33, and now I doubled the blur...)

This won't be a quickie, but I do aim to finish within the timeframe of the competition, and if I manage to persevere it will be my contribution to Chris' efforts to show customers what they get. And also what they can do with these very nice kits, with comparatively little trouble, if they want to give a fine model away as a present to their children or grandchildren - it is really something to hold a model plane this size in your hands.

Leif

PS. Note the framed painting in the background. That is the real thing - the cover image of the model enlarged to exactly 1/16. Very easy to do, and a good thing to have on the wall in front of you while building. Vector models are really nice that way - you can upscale however much you want, and they are still as crisp & clear. Paper format is A3 length, and the width cut down to what the most ordinary of inkjet printers will accept.

**dansls1** · #2 04-18-2009, 02:10 PM

I look forward to following this build - knowing your techniques and attention to detail / accuracy, it is sure to be a treat!

**cjwalas** · #3 04-18-2009, 02:18 PM

I'm also very much looking forward to your build! I'm always ready to learn more from the masters!
Chris

**eatcrow2** · #4 04-18-2009, 02:47 PM

Really going to be paying attention on this one!!!! Hope to pick up all sorts of "tips & tricks" from this build......

Cheers..

**member_3** · #5 04-18-2009, 02:57 PM

Leif, I (for one) vote that you be allowed any and all transgressions just so we get to see one of your stunning builds.

**Leif Ohlsson** · #6 04-18-2009, 03:11 PM

Ron, don't do that - the "any and all transgressions" means diversions galore, which means my already low perseverance goes completely out the window. I was really trying to discipline myself into a state of mind where finishing one decent model, no frills, was the important thing.

So, could we cut down on the hyperbole a little bit and just be friends enjoying the same good things ... please.

And many thanks for watching!

Leif

**cgutzmer** · #7 04-18-2009, 05:17 PM

OOOOHHHHh this will be very nice! I dont mind scaling changes so long as it does not change the essence of the build :D and upscaling will really show the quality!

Waiting for more!
Chris

**Texman** · #8 04-18-2009, 06:01 PM

Oh, and DOWNscaling doesn't show the opposite end of the quality spectrum? (hee hee!)

Ray

**member_3** · #9 04-18-2009, 06:29 PM

<<heavy sigh>> - OK, but I was looking forward to the animatronic 1:16 scale pilot! :(

**cgutzmer** · #10 04-18-2009, 06:42 PM

Not sure about downscaling to your usual size texman - it at least needs to be visible :P

Ron - you put that pilot in there and make it available as a download I will allow it