Lebed VII (Sopwith Tabloid) WIP

Alec K
These props of your are just excellent. Do you plane/thin the wood planks yourself? Have you ever experimented with what the minimum practical thickness is? Wondering how thin the laminate layer could be.

bughunter Autor
If possible, I use veneer, because it is less work. But for boxwood I was not able to find veneer, so for the boxwood (not used in this project) and for this dark pear I have to slice my own veneer. The typical veneers you can by are 0,5 or 0,6mm, but in shops for architects you can find it down to 0,3mm. The thinnest I used was for the Fokker D.VIII Stripdown (see my projects), because it has my first and only wooden airscrew in 1:72. I sanded it down to 0,3mm.
The possible minimum really depends on kind of wood.

Spanjaard
a beautiful beginning. i will not miss it for the world 🙂

Alec K
Thanks very much for the info. I will have to try this one day, it's just so much more realistic.

David Thor
Beautiful work! The wood working looks awesome.

Burkhard D
Beeindruckend! 🙂

bughunter Autor
Thx mates, added the next batch of pictures. Have I mentioned, that I really love to work with wood? 🙂

David Thor
Schöner Fortschritt! Holz ist eben ein toller Werkstoff!

Alec K
The cockpit is just excellent, and that wood seat is top notch! And that brass detail... I think there is an all-wood model in your future, laser-cut from scratch 👍 😉

Naimbs
Thank you for sharing, very interesting, and a very beautiful subject !!

bughunter Autor
Thank you all! Alec, one day a full scratch model would be nice, but it costs a lot of time and I have so many unbuilt kits, but may be in future a Fokker Spinne. I think there is no kit in 1/48?

Alec K
I am not aware of any. In any case, not sure how practical such undertaking would be (i.e. all wood model). What I really like and appreciate about your creations is that your use of different materials (be it wood, metal, or paper) in the end contribute to an awesome level of realism. That's IMHO is what scale modeling is all about 👍

Greg Baker
Wow... I'm dragging a metal chair across a stone floor to get a front row seat on this build. Beautiful.

bughunter Autor
Greg, I hope your metal chair is comfortable enough - welcome to the show!

Greg Baker
Yesterday I was at an art supply store and happened across a bit of cherry veneer... I'm now cutting 1/72 sized propellers out of it. Teach me, Sensei. 😉

Mike Daniels
Love the wood! Great job Lebed. I have been thinking about getting this kit. Following.

Alexander Grivonev
that engine looks amazing!

Donald Dickson II
Im not much on bi planes and the like, but WOW!

bughunter Autor
Thank you mates! It is really nice to get feedback from mates with a different modeling scope 👍

Mike Daniels
That is super work boghunter. Now that propeller - is it actually made from wood ? rather than plastic painted up ? The grain is so life like.

bughunter Autor
Yes, it is real wood! See the very first picture, it was glued from the six pieces of veneer on the left.

Patrick Hagelstein
bughunter, isn't the hull outside made of PE glued to the plastic hull parts? Would it be possible to sand from the inside of the cowling untul you reach the inside of de PE. That would give you a mm on both sides to get more room for the engine.

Martin Oostrom
Nearly missed this. Any seats left?

Patrick Hagelstein
Only a wooden one....

Martin Oostrom
Wood, metal, rubber, who cares? The Master is teaching.

Patrick Hagelstein
😄

Bart Goesaert
Seem to have missed this one so far, would have been a pity, very nice details and scratchbuilt details...

bughunter Autor
Patrick, there is only a small PE part for cooling slots, but I thought also for a solution in that direction.
Martin, no seats are left over, but it's not a big deal. Thank you for careful listening during the lesson 😄
Bart, no hurry - Scalemates have backups I guess, so nothing is lost 🙂 Thx for watching!

Mike Daniels
Never thought of incorporating real wood into a model. Thats so cool. That must need some specialist tools for shaping the wood. Great job.

Martin Oostrom
Very simple wood model, just to get you started (not that you need to get started 😉 )
toemen.nl/artesania-..3hb1bn0g2kmb6gipl3i5

Mike Daniels
Hi Martin. Thanks for that. That looks like fun. Do these kits come with any tools ? This is all new to me.

Martin Oostrom
Hi Mike,
The shop states glue not included. Nowhere are tools mentioned. It does say 'easy assembly'. I've heard that before.... if you're really interested I could contact the shop for you.

Mike Daniels
Thanks for that Martin. I guess im kinda interested in finding out what tools Bughunter is using to shape the wood for the propeller head. Lovely smooth curves. Thats tricky at such a relatively small scale. Im sure if I tried it with a scalpel i would end up with a load of kindling!!

Donald Dickson II
I am right there with Mike. How Boghunter is doing all this woodwork is intriguing. The work is astounding.

Bart Goesaert
Wouldn't it be possible to vacform the nose, or solder it from copper to get it to a scale thickness. Pity for the engine, but from the boxart, it looks hardly visible, so you could also mount the kit engine, and the aftermarket one on a stand next to the model.

bughunter Autor
Thx mates!
Mike, you don't need special tools! The aircraft in the link Martin has posted you see black edges, so it is laser cut. just glue it together. For my wood work a sharp thin saw is helpful, I use some of RB tools. The veneer is done (if I can't buy some) on a Proxxon KS230 and the rest is mostly sanding! Some sanding sticks in different grit are useful, sanding paper with 240 is great. For the raw work a molding cutter in a hand mill tool (Proxxon or Dremmel) is good to save some time. But be careful, with simply sanding you have more control.
Bart, in opposite to a real Sopwith Tabloid in the Russian variant the engine is very good visible, because they have removed the lower half of the cowling completely.
The project was not planed with such amount of scratch work, but with not original kit parts and so much applause I can't resist 😄

Alec K
The engine looks fantastic, even though it does not fit 🙂. I am sure a solution shall present itself 👍

bughunter Autor
Yes Alec, the engine is in scale, and the outside of the fuselage is in scale. Only the plastic is to thick, compared to the original thin metal cowling.
Mike, beside the wooden airscrews this is not my first model with wood. See in my projects the Phönix D.I, which has a wooden fuselage and struts, and also the D.H.2 is equipped with wooden struts.

Donald Dickson II
Perhaps fashioning the cowling out of beer/soda can aluminum?

Mike Daniels
Thanks bughunter for that advice. I am certainly interested in giving this a go. Ill have a hunt round for a supplier for laminate and will definitely have a look at your other projects. Always keen to try out new techniques so thanks for keeping us all posted on yours.
Cheers.

Alec K
Another option that comes to mind is thinning the fuselage inner wall, using a rotary tool and ball-point bit? I have used this technique with success in similar situations. The wall thickness need not be uniformly thinned, just enough to make the ends of the engine cylinders fit and to make it visually reasonably uniform. Just a thought...

Alec K
The wheels look super 👍

Alexander Grivonev
the wheels look fantastic, man they are tiny!

Mike Daniels
Wow, what a lot of work to do on the wheels!! Those Eduard wheel rims really add something. Not seen this 'split' wheel assembly before. I take it they come split in the kit with the original PE spokes ? Thats a bummer with the engine. I guess 1:48 is sometimes 1:47. Refund ?

bughunter Autor
Thx mates! Yes, it was a bit of work, but I like the result. Mike, the kit parts are shown in picture 43. And regarding the engine: it is completely in scale 1/48 and correct, the very thin metal cowling is modeled here in thick plastic, that's the problem. So I will go with the "original" solution.

Mike Daniels
Looking forward to the 'original solution'. Id go with Donalds beer cans. Maybe too flimsy ?

bughunter Autor
In meantime I have created a wooden undercarriage, see the new pictures.

Alec K
Excellent! How do you bend the wood?

bughunter Autor
With steam - rotate the wood on the outlet of a water boiler, then it' easy to bend. After that it should be fixated until it is dry again.

Alec K
Got it - thanks 👍

Alexander Grivonev
Are you a watchmaker or sth? That is simply incredible...

bughunter Autor
Thank you Alexander, no software tester. So hunting for bugs in software, that's the background for my nickname.

Mike Daniels
Love the skis. What material do you use for your home made 'PE' parts ? They look really good - now you must need special tools for this ?? Cant wait to see what you are gonna do with that 'string'. Do you use like a mini-vice to work up the parts ? Often thought one of those would be very useful.

Greg Baker
I... have... no... words....

Bernhard Schrock
Der Hammer! Bin doddal begeistert🙂

David Thor
Amazing work.

Bart Goesaert
splendid work....

bughunter Autor
Thx mates, really nice that you like my fiddly work 🙂
Mike, you will need brass foil (0,05 or 0,08mm), small drills and small needle files. And patience 😉

Mike Daniels
Thanks bughunter. I wondered if it was possible to make your own PE parts. So useful. Just need to track down some brass foil. Looking forward to the next installment.

Spanjaard
actually, you can make your own PE, although it requires the use of some chemicals etc. basically the same technique and similar materials than to make your own circuit boards.

Marcel Klemmer
...and you have to be a little crazy to do something like that..
A fantastic work, absolutely great.

Burkhard D
Truly amazing work. Becoming a scaled replica more than model 👍👍👍

Bart Goesaert
or you can print them on a sheet (scale 1/1), glue it to a sheet of copper, aluminium, ... and try to make the form with cutting, drilling, ... (BTR-80A APC | Project by Silenoz (1:72))

Alec K
Wow, nice project Bart 👍. I think it needs to be completed 🙂

It is my understanding that when it comes to custom PE parts, the work is really in the design. The actual production is a fairly toxic process (lots of chemicals). I heard there are companies that will produce a custom PE parts based on supplied drawings.

bughunter Autor
Thank you for your support, mates! Regarding PEs, yes it would be possible to design it on PC a find a company for etching, but it cost also time, hard to get it right in the first shot ... Bart, to print it out is a good idea, but the parts are very, very tiny, so I look at pictures and do it by guess and by gosh.

Mike Daniels
Yes, I would go for something simple that you can do at home for minimal cost. A good mini coping saw, a few needle files, a big magnifying glass, a hand vice, mini-clamps maybe - pegs might work. £25.00 the lot ?

Erik Leijdens
Amazing work bughunter 👍

bughunter Autor
Thank you Mike and Erik. The build continues now, new pics of alu plating uploaded.

Alexander Grivonev
There are many many very good modelers showing off their work here but only a handful is truly exceptional, you are one of them.

bughunter Autor
Wow Alex, really great words! Thank you very much! I need a red-face smiley now 😳

Spanjaard
i fully agree with Alexander

ice
I follow this build somewhere else and already ran out of superlatives but I really want that little red "+1" on top of the page whenever you do an update here. 👍

Mike Daniels
Agree with Alexander and Spanjaard. And yes ice, the addition of a 'like' button would be great. Also a 'Save to my favorites' button. There is so much great work on this site but finding it again is not that easy.

And by the way - where have you been all this time? Really looking forward to the end result. Your skill and technique are inspiring.

Alec K
I was wondering how this was coming along! Great progress 👍, the cowling in aluminum is super. How thick is the aluminum? Any specific reason you chose it over brass or other material?

Alexander Grivonev
I am serious, starting with the multi layered wooden propeller and using real wood on interiour, the turned metal parts and "self made PE", real rivets. That is all truly inspiring stuff man 👍

Wim van der Luijt
Great project.....looks so real I imagine test flights will take place shortly

bughunter Autor
@all: Thank you mates for your feedback, highly appreciated!

@Mike, to allow better finding I maintain my project list. So it is sometime helpful to click on a users profile.
Regarding the last time: I was a bit out of ideas here how to solve issues, so I have started another small project (finished already), with a full scratched brass trailer: Taurus KEPD 350 Long-Range Air-to-Surface Missile (1 pcs) | Project by bughunter (1:48)
Yes, from time to time I build also modern stuff. I also had private things, a short holiday, ...

@Alec, I used alu because it has some specific look. For weight the original uses alu, and many pictures of the Tabloid in Hendon show a cool looking alu biplane 🙂 Even a tinned brass looks different. Additionally I had enough alu for experiments form one grill plate. The thickness is around 0,06mm, hard to measure. It is more rigid than kitchen foil.

@Wim 😄 👍

Alexander Grivonev
Do you use some kind of a mini lathe to turn the parts or are you doing it with a Proxxon/Dremel drill somehow?

bughunter Autor
I own a real lathe, a Paulimot PM190-V. That is the smallest of that company and was offering more compared to others in that price range, e.g. Proxxon. May be it is a bit oversized now, but at that time I wanted to use it for RC flying.

Donald Dickson II
As mentioned, exceptional work!

Mike Daniels
Hi bughunter. Thanks for the tip on project lists. That works ok but it would be great to have a means of saving others projects into a sort of scrapbook. Not sure if you can create such a thing but I think it would be a useful addition to SM?

Sorry, didnt mean to pry. Your right, its good to go of and do something else for a while. You come back refreshed and see things differently.

Erik Leijdens
Amazing work Bughunter!!

Alec K
Thanks for the info bughunter, much appreciated 👍

bughunter Autor
Next set of pictures - the aluminium metal work is done.

Roland Sachsenhofer
Admirable! This metalwork looks so convincing- I am deeply impressed by your skills!

Peter Jenssen
Looks amazing!

Alec K
Indeed 👍

Es-haq Khosravi
Wow! Masterpiece!

Mike Daniels
This is such a curious plane. Now how did the Russians get hold of the plans ?

Donald Dickson II
Remind me never to put one of my builds next to yours! LOL Amazed at every update.

bughunter Autor
Thx mates!
@Roland, it was not really skill. After trouble with the engine fitting only thin plates could solve it in scale, so I tried it out.
@Es-haq Khosravi It is a nice project, but I think my Masterpiece is still the D.H.2 Stripdown (see my projects).
@Mike It is only clear, that the Russians ordered one Tabloid. It is not clear, if it was delivered or not, I guess it was. Then they copied it in a small series, because it is known, that Mr. Lebedev ordered later 16 tachometers at Sopwith 🙂 And some pictures of different machines are known too.

Mike Daniels
Thanks Bughunter. Ahh - so a collaboration then ? I have been trying to dig up up some info on-line but failing.

And by the way - that beaten metalwork looks great. Dont think you could achieve that through painting alone. You must have a very tiny hammer.

bughunter Autor
No Mike, not with a hammer! Please see picture 91, that is a rubber polishing tool. It is not running round, so at small rpm it creates such nice marks 🙂 Just found it out by accident.

Mike Daniels
Well thats really cool. Very effective. You really should write a book of your amazing techniques!

bughunter Autor
Added the next pictures - not sure about redoing the last step of painting. The stringers are covered with to much color ....

Spanjaard
the more i look at all those details. more i like it. i have a question... where do you get the micro rivets of picture 77?

bughunter Autor
No problem, they are brass ones, turned on a lathe! So they are really not cheap. Here you can select of six types
fohrmann.com/de/mini..dellbau-40-stk..html
And be warned: the 0,2mm ones are really small!

Spanjaard
thanks a lot bughunger

bughunter Autor
Oh, I forgot to upload of the pictures of what I have done before my X-mas holiday, done now.

Alexander Grivonev
A fine piece of art in the making...

berni
Amazing work 👍

Marcel Klemmer
Amazing piece of art!!!

Roland Sachsenhofer
Very productive pre-holidaydays! Wonderful!

ice
We build models of planes - you build planes.

bughunter Autor
Thanks my friends! ice, this should be my mantra 🙂
For all of you the next set of pictures with the work of the last days. No chance to finish it this year.

Markus Antonius
with your skill, you could as well build those planes from scratch completely - wooden skeleton coated with fabric.

bughunter Autor
Thank you Markus, but this will need much more time, and I have so many nice kits in stash. But yes, my stripdown and AJP models are near to your idea.

bughunter Autor
The battle against the rigging wires is over - pictures added.

Spanjaard
amazing riging

Alec K
Indeed, absolutely flawless 👍

Roland Sachsenhofer
That is such a masterpiece! Let me confess: I am deeply impressed and delighted by your skills!

Jason Gardiner
Wow! some amazing skill on show right there!

Bart Goesaert
Splendid work, can you elaborate a bit more how you made the louvres?

bughunter Autor
Thanks you very much mates! Bart, I added more text to pics 84 and 85, hope it explains it better.

Zsolt Czegle
WOW! Awesome! 👍

Gordon Sørensen
Fantastic job! The interior and all the other little details look great!

bughunter Autor
Thank you so much! I added a new gallery of the finished model and looking forward to your feedback😉

Bart Goesaert
thanks for the explanation