Sopwith Dove for CO2

[Squirrelnet]

Thanks John, Now doped and looking good

Made a start on the wings this afternoon. They needed very minimal sanding having ribs cut from a template, balsa dowel leading edge and sheet trailing edge. Most of the work was round the tips to thin the 1/32 x 1/16" basswood laminated tips and blend them into the LE

I'm keen to fit the bamboo wing hoops (is that what they are called) if it does indeed fly as they are so much a character of the aircraft.

To fit them I have added some cocktail stick mounts at 12 deg to the wing ready to accept them using some heat shrink tubing to give a flexible mount...if it gets that far

Still got to cover the top but down the tips in separate small section 

[Squirrelnet]

A bit more covering this afternoon.

Lower wings now drying having been water shrunk . Just the top of the top wings to cover now

[Squirrelnet]

Slowly doing the covering. Top wing water shrinking. The centre section will be left open so I can fit it once the fuselage is pinted

[Squirrelnet]

First a screw up or oversight if you're being kind. Having rushed on with the covering it was only when looking at the photo's for which bits to paint that I realised I have missed out the open section in centre section  . Luckily I had only covered the underside so a bit of correction was possible .This proved quite easy adding the curved rear sections front and rear and gluing them to the spars and the covering. Once dry I could cut out, the cut out part

[Squirrelnet]

So I'm now at the point I can paint it before the final assembly and finishing. Before that I did one last trial assembly to check I haven't forgotten anything else. At the moment the CG is slightly ahead of where it should be but I think even the lighest coat of paint will sort that out

[Squirrelnet]

 First up - this is the new recruit to fly this model courtesy of Pete Fardell who kindly released him from his duties and dispatched him down to me. Thanks Pete

He does look a bit daunted by the prospect now he's painted but then most of my pilots from the Dave Banks School of Flying look terrified   

It was out with the cardboard box spray booth today to spray the doped linen surfaces with some Xtracolor enamel. I've tried using Xtracolor thinners this time and it seems to work well but there are couple of spots where didn't like the doped finish and left a large pinhole so I think for the blue I'll use cellulose to thin . I've gone for a very light coat just enough to colour it and still have some translucency, I know the fullsize is very much opaque but I think it looks good on small models . The top blue will be a more solid coat though

[Squirrelnet]

I've also painted the cowling. This was just brush painted as the plan is cover the painted surface with a decal to represent the engine turned finish on clear film so the silver shows through.

I did a small test section which looks OK I think so I now need to repeat that pattern to form a sheet I can cut the decal panels from