Finally swore the upper wing into place this evening. It’s been years since I built a biplane model, I’d forgotten what a total bugger the struts and upper wing can be. The SPAD 13 as 12 struts, only two of which are especially solidly mounted when it comes to getting the upper wing positioned, the rest of which wobble entertainingly.
Even now the upper wing is very slightly skew and I have doubts about it’s long-term stability when the plane is in wargaming use, but we shall see. After getting the upper wing fixed, the landing gear and prop disc were painless.
Major Vodcanovitch of the White Russian army provides scale; he’s a 28mm Brigade Games officer.
That’s the SPAD largely finished, except for a bit of touchup painting and two struts I need to reinforce to help solidify the upper wing.
Now, back to finishing that crowd of White Russian riflemen and officers you see cluttering the background of the SPAD photos!
I use clear plastic discs when modelling Aeronef’s of Victorian Science Fiction flying craft/ships but without sanding or adding any finish to the clear plastic. I find it better to have clear (see through) propeller discs.
I think I will have to try your technique of sanding the clear disc on future models.
Thank you for the tip. The hand painted markings look fantastic – well done.
Tony
http://dampfpanzerwagon.blogspot.com/