Sopwith Dolphin - decals finished

I've got the decals finished at last. The next job is to do a final coat of varnish. I was going to do a satin finish, but after looking at what other people have done, I've started to think that a near-matt finish might be more convincing. Anyway, I'm going to think about it for a day or two.

Sopwith Dolphin C4056

Just added the serial number. So that's that decided. It was flown by Lt C E Worthington, according to Osprey 48. Just the roundels on the lower wings to do now.

Sopwith Dolphin - brainwave put into action

So here's the brainwave: do a marking scheme that doesn't include the lazy S and includes only simple stencils that I can easily cut out. So my Dolphin now represents C4056, from about April 1918. I got the scheme from Dolphin and Snipe Aces of World War 1 (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No. 48). Apparently, the horizontal S was not specified for 87 Sqn until that date. A different squadron marking had been specified in December 1917, but there's no sign of it on the Osprey profiles. So it was just a question of choosing the individual identification marking. I had a choice of C, S (with a shamrock), L, G and Q. Can you guess why I chose the "L"?

Sopwith Dolphin - not giving up

I've had a brainwave about the Dolphin. As you will have seen from a recent post, I've started work on the decals, using a mixture of techniques, and it's looking reasonably promising, up to a point. But the trouble comes with the lazy S insignia. All the other markings are fine: I can print them out on the laser printer or cut them out of white decal film, or (for the "lift here" stencils) use decals from the spares box. But the lazy S has me stumped. I just can't make a decent job of it, but it was the insignia of 87 Squadron and I want to do a machine from 87 squadron. So what's the answer? Here's where the brainwave comes in. It's sort of like giving up, but not really. It's actually more like the realisation, after several months of hitting oneself on the head with a cricket bat, that there is no need to hit oneself on the head with a cricket bat.

More tomorrow.

Sopwith Dolphin - armament procured

Armament programme under way

My Mini World guns have arrived from Hannants and they look superb. The detail is amazing, and the Lewis guns even have etched brass parts for the sights etc. (this is 1/72nd scale, remember). Mini World is a Ukrainian company, I see, from their instruction leaflet. I don't know what drives the Ukraine to produce so many high-quality WWI scale models, but I hope it continues.

I won't be able to use a lot of these bits, unfortunately. It's a pity, but according to my photographic sources (Windsock 54, конечно, and Osprey Aircraft of the Aces 48)  the sights weren't fitted on the wing-mounted guns, and that's pretty much that. Fair enough, though. You can understand the thinking of 87 Sqn on this point. So the only etched bits I'll be using are the ones representing the little leather handles on the magazines; but this is a nice detail itself. On your typical injection-moulded Lewis at this scale, this feature is represented by what you could only call a blob.

As for the Vickers, they come with a belt of ammo each. Fantastic! I'm definitely going to use those, and have them feeding into the guns from the ammo boxes. And I won't even need to paint them. A bit of fudging will be needed, because the ammo feeds won't quite be wide enough for them (what with the overscale thickness of the plastic card). But I think it should just about work.

Just got to finish those decals first...

Sopwith Dolphin - decals started

Well, I've made a start.

Sopwith Dolphin - some definite progress on markings

Here are the decals for the roundels, which I've printed out myself, and I think they look pretty good.