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 - 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.

Sopwith Dolphin - artwork for markings

Didn't make much progress with the Dolphin over Christmas. All I can show for my efforts over the whole period is this screen capture of the artwork for the markings. And I've still got to find someone that can turn them into transfers.

Sopwith Dolphin - even more faffing about with markings

Today, after all the prolonged agonising over markings, I was actually going to sit down and make some effort to realise them in some form or another. I've been rereading David Copperfield, you may recall, and at this stage I felt some sympathy for Mr Dick and his neverending struggles to get his testimonial onto paper.

Anyway, as soon as I started trying to cut out painting masks, I realised it was a pretty hopeless exercise. There's no way I'm going to get the precise results I want this way. So now I'm revisiting the idea of getting custom decals made. Waterslide decals are very expensive, but dry transfers seem much more affordable and so they look like a feasible option. Of course, you have to get the positioning right first time; but if you tape the sheet in place before wielding the ball-point pen or your preferred burnishing tool, it's not too difficult. So I've started investigating potential suppliers.

More soon, I hope.

Sopwith Dolphin - yet more vacillation over markings

Still haven't got very far with the markings. All I seem to have been doing over the last few weeks is experimenting half-heartedly with one technique or other, finding flaws with it and getting discouraged.

But it's becoming clear that what I'm going to have to do in the end is cut masks and spray the markings directly onto the surface. There are problems with this technique, of course, the main ones being:

1. It's difficult to cut clean circles in masking tape: the circle cutting tool tends to cause tearing and it's difficult to cut a circle that meets up with itself properly.
2. Because of the poor planning evident at this stage, I'm going to be spraying white on a darker colour. This necessitates quite a thick coat. This means ridges.
3. It's a bit scary

I'm going to get round these problems as follows:

1. Cut lots of masks until I get enough useable ones.
2. Rub down paintwork after spraying. To avoid damaging the Gloss Cote, I'll have to use quite a fine abrasive: maybe good old 1200 wet and dry followed by toothpaste.
3. Grit my teeth

 The only remaining problem is that it will take ages to apply the masks, and I don't want to leave the masking tape on for too long, so I've got to wait for a free weekend. Until then, I'll have to do other stuff. As it happens, I've started re-reading David Copperfield (it's Christmas, you see: Dickens is mandatory), and at the moment it's not clear which will turn out longer: the road to acceptable markings, or the road to Dover. Time will tell.

More in due course.

Sopwith Dolphin - markings

Haven't made any more progress on the problems I've had recently with the simple task of spraying an even coat of varnish onto a model. I think I might try the idea of overspraying with Satin Cote: and I've realised that I can try this on the tailplane because it doesn't need any decals. Then, if this works, I can do the decals on the upper wings knowing that the Satin Cote will solve the problem.