FINISHED! - SPAD XIII 1/32 Mission-Ready....

Thank you, Toshi!

Home-made decals on; still have a few touch-ups and color adjustments to do, but it's progressing fairly well.

Fun but seemingly little-known fact, for us modelers: many SPADS...Smith IV included...had different colored roundels on upper and lower wings. (This is a subtlety that seems to have successfully eluded most decal manufacturers....) Upper wing roundels were factory-applied in appropriately-tinted cellulose dope, prior to the camouflage colors being added. Underwing roundels and rudder stripes, on the other hand, were painted on...often using the stock 'French Blue' (a blue-grey shade) insignia color, irrespective of the service the aircraft was actually destined for.

Still have to add one distinctive detail that Smith IV exhibits: I'll have to map and apply the several dozen enemy bullet-hole patches applied to various locations on the original---most painted black and marked by proud ground-crews with a tiny German cross.

I had hoped to have this puppy wrapped up in time for Armistice Day...but annoying things like work schedules keep getting in the way! Plus...the same old story...I keep wanting to add details.

This is one of those fortunate projects where---thanks to pretty comprehensive photo coverage of the subject (and in color, no less...)---I keep spotting 'new' details even in photos I've looked at dozens of times before. (Like the distinctive bronze-ish color on just the barrel portions of the Marlin guns, with the rest of the fittings in metalized black shades. That one was an easy one to correct, with just a few carefully-targeted swipes of the paintbrush.) Sometimes it's the proverbial 'lightbulb' going on...when you look at the same detail you've either mistaken or puzzled-over before, and it finally clicks: "Ahhh...that's what that is!"

In the meantime...here are a few 'teaser' final detail shots, before the upper wing (at last!) goes on.

Next post---if all goes as expected---should be the completed bird in all her glory. Stay tuned!

She's done!

WOW!!!!  all that can be said.

Worthy of being put alongside the original.

Nicely done, I like it.

Thanks Goldhammer, John & Lawdog! I appreciate the kind words.

Awesome! I love it. That rigging is amazing.

That is probably one of the best WWI models I've ever seen.... so detailed. And when you start improving even the aftermarket parts.... madness! 

Thanks, Chris and Ole!

Ole

And when you start improving even the aftermarket parts.... madness!

What can I say? It's a sickness....

Simply gorgeous! One of the finest biplane builds I've seen!

1943Mike

Simply gorgeous! One of the finest biplane builds I've seen!

Thanks, Mike. It was great fun to do.

Great job!! I love the added "bling". That kind of detailing brings the model to life.

WOW, WOW and WOW Greg! Absolutely beautiful work and a great WIP too. I’ve started a stash of Wingnut Wings kits but the rigging has me nervous. I can rig a ship but I’m scared of rigging a plane.... anyway, you’ve given me hope to start on one of these bad boys. And again, beautiful work bro.

Steve

Many thanks, Johnny & Steve!

docidle

I can rig a ship but I’m scared of rigging a plane.... anyway, you’ve given me hope to start on one of these bad boys. And again, beautiful work bro.

Like every other part of modeling, rigging seems to get less difficult in direct proportion to the amount of thought and planning that goes into it, beforehand. With pre-drilling of holes...and an excellent set of needle-nose, cross-lock tweezers...the 'wire eyelet and EZ Line' version that I use lets me pre-make most of the lines, then just 'plug them in' once constuction is done.

Having tried nearly every possible alternative over the years, that makes it a lot less stressful, and more like simply 'tidying up' at the end of a project than being a separate, dreaded step on its own!

Thanks again for the positive words.

That is just awesome work there!

Mike

Buckeye

That is just awesome work there!

Mike

Thanks, Mike!