Wingnut Wings 1/32 Sopwith Snipe (Late Version)

[Mark]

Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe (Late Version)

Wingnut Wings 1:32 Scale

The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe

The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force, designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War. It came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of the conflict, in late 1918. Although not a fast aircraft by the standards of its time, The Snipe made a good match for contemporary German fighters due to its excellent climb and maneuverability. Such was the popularity of the aircraft with the RAF, the aircraft did not leave service until 1926.

In April 1917, Herbert Smith, the chief designer of the Sopwith Company, began to design a fighter intended to be the replacement for Sopwith's most famous aircraft, the successful Sopwith Camel. The resultant design, called Snipe by Sopwith, was in its initial form a single-bay biplane, slightly smaller than the Camel, and intended to be powered by similar engines. The pilot sat higher than in the Camel while the centre-section of the upper wing was uncovered, giving a better view from the cockpit. Armament was to be two Vickers machine guns.

The Snipe's structure was heavier but much stronger than earlier Sopwith fighters. It was much easier to handle than the Camel, with a superior view from the cockpit, especially forwards and upwards. The Snipe also had a superior rate of climb, and much better high-altitude performance compared to its predecessor, allowing it to fight Germany's newer fighters on more equal terms.

The Snipe was built around the Bentley BR2 engine, the last rotary to be used by the RAF. It had a maximum speed of 121 mph at 10,000ft compared with the Camel's 115 mph at the same altitude and an endurance of three hours. Its fixed armament consisted of two 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns on the cowling, and it was also able to carry up to four 25lb bombs for ground attack work, identical to the Camel's armament.

The Snipe began production in 1918, with more than 4,500 being ordered. Production ended in 1919, with just fewer than 500 being built, the rest being cancelled due to the end of the war. There was only one variant, the Snipe I, with production by several companies including Sopwith, Boulton & Paul Ltd, Coventry Ordnance Works, D. Napier & Son, Nieuport and Ruston, Proctor and Company.

Wingnut Who?

Most of you will have heard of this company, started by Sir Peter Jackson. The movie director, famous for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, was already a keen modeller with a keen interest in aircraft of the First World War. During the early years of the the new millennium, Sir Peter was quietly making plans to start what would become one of the most admired model kit manufacturers in modern times. The company's vision is simply to create large scale, accurate models of aircraft of the Great War period.

​The kits are stunning in both their presentation and quality of mouldings with etched parts included and a comparatively large choice of schemes to finish the model in. They attract a seriously strong following and some of the out of production kits now attract high prices in the second-hand market. Such is the high level of detail and superb moulding of the parts, it does not take long to find finished versions on the modelling websites that simply look as if the modeller could walk away with trophies from any competition they chose to enter in. But this has resulted in scarring many modellers, myself included, away from starting one of these superb kits! The chance of failing to meet the incredible standards, which many of these kits have been modelled to, is simply too high for many hobbyists.

So my stash of WnW kits just grew and grew (mostly due to Chris J - yes you know who you are!!) and it was only on the release of the Felixstowe, an absolute monster in 1/32 scale, that I thought I really should get one of their simpler kits on the go before attempting anything larger. Well, those were my thoughts about two years ago! But I have now plucked up enough courage to give one of these beautiful kits a try. Wish me luck!

The Kit

​On opening the box, it is apparent that the box itself is much stronger than other model kit packaging. No expense was spared here with the box art neatly framed by a silver foil which was also used to highlight the Wingnut Wings logo. The contents, seven plastic sprues, all individually packaged and one clear sprue, are snuggly inside along with an excellent colour instruction booklet which contains reference photos as well as good painting instructions, this is also available to view on-line on Wingnut Wings' website here. A small etched metal fret completes the part count. Decals are provided for five different aircraft. A much better review of the kit, by John 'Viking' is here and shows all of the decal options that are included.

Initial Preparation and Assembly

I really did not want to start another project! I simply have too many on the go at the moment, but I do always try and keep an easier kit on the go to try and overcome any 'Modeller's Block' that might suddenly spring up and get in the way of me and my work bench. This kit is by means one of those 'easier' kits, but I had wanted to build one of the WnW's models that I own for so long it came down to a simple 'It's now or never.'

Wow!! Am I glad I did start this one!! Although the thought of rigging breaks me into a cold sweat, the materials and techniques have all improved dramatically since I first tried using Mum's nylon invisible sewing thread on my Airfix Bristol Fighter! But there's a long way to go before the rigging starts.

​Construction starts with the cockpit and the framing that forms this area is suppled as mostly a single part for each side. I am still tring to work out how the injection moulded parts were actually tooled, the framing is so complex and very detailed. As the first parts were detached from the sprues, I was already starting to get all 'AMS' over this kit.

All 'wooden' parts were first painted with Tamiya XF-55 Deck Tan and then given the oil paint treatment to create a wooden effect. There are some highly skilled modellers out there who are far better at describing the method, but a quick Google should get you some good reference sites, which explain everything you need to know to achieve the best 'wood' finish. I found this video that I have bookmarked; although it is scale furniture, the technique is similar except I use four colours of oil paint, Raw and Burnt Umber, Raw and Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre. By applying these from darkest to lightest, the colours are then blended with a brush, creating the grain and then gently wiped with a dry sponge. After the oil paints had dried the whole framing was sprayed with Xtracolor Semi-Gloss varnish to seal the oil paints and to allow a more suitable surface to take the detail painting that was to follow.

The interior of the fuselage was first given the wood treatment, then the whole interior sprayed with Xtracolor Semi-Gloss varnish. This protects the acrylic and oil paints before the rear section was painted using Xtracolor X021 RFC Doped Natural Fabric. This enamel paint was left to dry before the stringers, the lengthwise strips of wood moulded on the interior fuselage sides, were masked off. A cotton bud, lightly moistened with enamel thinner, was rubbed along the stringers, wiping off the enamel paint revealing the darker 'wood' below. This produced a neat and clean result which, although mostly hidden, does show enough of the interior framing detail through the cockpit opening for me to be happy. The forward area, ahead of the cockpit, was sprayed with Alclad II Duraluminum.

After looking at many photos of the cockpit area of the Snipe, the control column was often seen wound with thin rope in order to create a better grip. After a little head scratching, this was replicated using white ezy-line wound around the spade grip. Each wind was secured with a little extra-thin CA and after about five songs on Planet Rock (about 40 minutes??) it was finished.

The throttle assembly is a piece of injected plastic art! The detail is just beautiful. Careful painting of all of the side wall details used various metallic shades including brass, copper and aluminium. I must say that I have been very impressed with my latest find. The acrylic metallic paints from Mr.Hobby have a much finer metallic grain than Tamiya and these were used for the brass parts. Tamiya X-34 Metallic Brown was used to paint the copper piping.

Tamiya's stalwart X-18 Semi-Gloss Black was also used for the brackets and other parts, such as the prominent fuel tank hand pressure pump on the right hand side of the cockpit.

​The cockpit floor area was moulded integrally with the fuel tan. The former was given the 'wood' treatment and the tank itself sprayed RAF Ocean Grey. The instructions call for this to be painted 'Service Grey' although one of the paint equivalents is given as Tamiya XF-82, RAF Ocean Grey. After all of the components had dried, some subtle washes were applied using AK Interactive Products washes and some streaking applied to the sides of the fuel tank. I know, none of this will be visible but.... :rolleyes:

Enough talking, here's where I've got to so far:

My thoughts so far? What a brilliant kit! Easily one of my top five ever, maybe even top three? WWI aircraft are such compelling and engaging subjects and with this level of quality and detail from a plastic kit, I might never make a grey jet again!

Hope you like her! Comments and suggestions are always very welcome as this is a new kind of modelling for me.

[Troffa]

Will be following this build for sure as I have the "Early" version of this kit, and as I am not a wings and strings kinda guy any pointers will be most welcome!

[infofrog]

going be nice build

Rick

[Bigglesof266]

Thanks Mark. Being a lad fed a steady stream of W.E. Johns Biggles books from the time I was first weened off my mother's milk during a time whilst many veterans of The Great War as they still referred to it were still active if aging members of the community before it had quite lost all regard and respect for the elderly and wisdom they could contribute, fabric and wire kites of the period hold great romantic appeal for me. I didn't know Wingnut Wings was Sir Pete Jackson's baby, kudos to him. Your review and build of this kit will hold me magnetically affixed. I thought Eduard 1/48 Profipacks and Special Editions were pretty much the bees' knees for the genre, but this is a whole new level of "Just WOW!".

I don't own a Wingnuts kit as yet, but I am sure as time comes to pass, I will of a couple of favourite chosen subjects. The Snipe in the particular is most fascinating subject in the particular because it is so neglected in the mainstream kit market and yet was such a significant aircraft of the Great War's closing phase of technical progression from very flawed but legendary Camel .

Edited September 26, 2015 by Bigglesof266

[Mark]

Thank you Gentlemen! I know exactly what you mean Biggles! I too read most of the W.E. Johns books when I was younger, but the real significance of being a pilot during WWI did not sink in until much later in life. I think the books made life seem very romantic for the young aviators of the Great War, yet the reality must have been far more horrific with survival rates very low indeed.

I'm off to the model shop this morning to see if I can find some suitable material for bracing wire. I'm lucky in that the local shop is a joint Scale and RC shop and is full of bits and pieces that can be used on a project like this. In the meantime I took a few close-ups of the finished parts. Damn macro lens makes it all look a lot more untidy than when viewed from 2 feet away! But you can see the 'wood' effect on these shots:

[crobinsonh]

Lovely work on the Snipe. There is something really appealing about the slightly Bulldog (as in the dog) look of this aircraft. Looking forward to your next update.

[pinky coffeeboat]

Off to a great start Mark. The wood effect has been captured excellently. I no longer model any military but I do have a strong liking for the Great War aircraft, I just love their simplicity and how everything is open to be viewed like the rigging and engines.

And I just love that box art . Wingnut Wings really do present their products to the highest standards. I'll be following this one.

Jeff

[Mark]

Back from the model shop with more supplies and a few ideas! Thanks for the comments guys, I'm really 'into' this one and have wondered why it took me so long to get the courage up to start one of the WnW kits. I'm already thinking that Felixstowe must get started this year!

[Mark]

Another few hours at the bench, in between making sure sick son is ok, clearing out the garage and cooking a roast dinner... Yes ladies, I AM that good!!

Seriously, here's a bit more progress, mostly detail work, on the interior. There is very little that can be improved upon, but the Vickers machine guns lacked any barrel, just the usual stub of plastic. This is easy to get away with in 1/48 and smaller, but in 1/32 it is noticeable, so this was cut off and replaced with brass tube.

The interior framing had bracing wires and this was replicated with some fine, black plastic wire which I took out of my Motorsport detailing box. Goodness knows where it came from originally, but it seems a good scale representation and was was to work with.

The instrument panel was a total joy to reproduce in miniature. There are photos showing the panel as bare wood, others show black paint and as I am going to reproduce a late model Snipe, I went with the black paint. Anyway, the contrast looks good in my opinion, so black painted panel it is!

The guns were sprayed Alclad II Gunmetal, which I find a little too dark, so these will be dry-brushed with a lighter gunmetal shade later. But the whole assembly is coming together quite nicely and a lot faster than I imagined.

The seat is probably the best injection-moulded plastic part that I have ever seen! This was painted in various shades of acrylic, then dry-brushed with progressively lighter shades to give depth to the wicker. The leather was first painted red-brown using Mr. Hobby acrylic, then various shades of oil paint were gradually blended giving a nice sheen. I'm pretty happy with this so far, but believe me, it is at least 75% kit. It really is a superb model and Sire Peter, if you are by chance reading this, thank you so much for this superb range!

[Bigglesof266]

That box top art is drop dead gorgeous. I priced those Jackson kits locally yesterday including the early and late Snipe. Expensive, but nevertheless affordable, and in comparison with the price of everything else today, justifiable -although the postage is a 'passion killer'. Edit note: Can that clause. I just learned ordering direct includes free shipping world wide.

I'm far from a prolific or fast builder these days, so I think one of these on request for a Christmas or birthday every year might provide a very special treat. So many subjects to choose from. But which one?!!!

As much as anyone I love the detail, dust magnets that our objets d'art are closed cabinet storage for display is mandatory so I generally avoid the scale. Fortunately these are Great War subjects and thus even in 1/32 relatively small in comparison with a contemporary FMJ or even late WWII fighter in that scale.

That cockpit is just amazing Mark.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Bigglesof266

[Mark]

Thanks Biggles! There are so many to choose from isn't there?! I decided to start on the Snipe due to its comparative simplicity, the Felixstowe still sends me into cold sweats! Maybe the Gotha beforehand?

After a lengthy evening at the bench, it looks as if no further work has been done! But there has been some staining of the fuel tank, the guns have been dry-brushed with Testers Model Master gunmetal and then the rigging of control wires started! I initially tried using some very fine stainless steel wire, but the effect was not brilliant, so I reverted to Ezy-Line and used the white colour and I must say I'm a convert! It's so, well, Ezy to use! A touch of CA keeps it in place and the flexibility and stretch makes it look realistic.

I'm totally amazed by this kit. What has been achieved in plastic by Wingnut Wings is nothing short of incredible. I know that they only currently deal in WWI subjects, but how great would a Bristol Bulldog, Hawker Hart or a Gloster Gladiator or be at this level of quality?

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

What a great start! I am a 1/48 man really (best compromise between ageing fingers/eyes and storage space, for my circumstances), but like most of us I am incredibly tempted by a WNW kit. I dithered too long thinking about it, though, and the 2 most likely aircraft for me (RNAS Pup or Tripehound) are now hard to find. I'll just have to wait for a Ship's Camel... or a 1&½ Strutter, an aircraft whose elegant simplicity has always greatly appealed to me, and which was a very important type that is often overshadowed by "sexier" Camels, Pups etc.

Meanhile - since I already have more than enough to keep me occupied - I will content myself with watching others do these wonderful kits justice. Like your splendid Snipe.

[Chris Jephcott]

Good lord Mark, that really is a thing of beauty isn't it?

Looking cracking. Great to catch up a couple of nights ago and good to hear that you're keeping well at the moment!

[Mark]

Thanks chaps!

Good to catch up too Chris! Great news also!!

Today, the stash consists of too many kits - and too much time in hotels.

There is a cure, you know. Take a kit with you! I built a Tamiya Wildcat once whilst 'on the road'! I had to take 'canned air' with me though and the hotel staff were a bit suspicious about the smell, but I did finish it!

Although, thinking about it, security will have an issue now with anything sharp and pointy...

[Chris Jephcott]

Mark,

I can genuinely say I've never tried to get model glue past airport security...

It would take a brave soul to actually try that!

Chris

[Mark]

Never thought of that!!

[infofrog]

Mark looking so great .. I got one of these two years ago for Christmas . I started it , but my skill level was not to par . So I put it up .. I may get it back out .. re try ..

Rick

[Sergey]

Very neat work. Bravo!

[FZ6]

Your snipe looks fantastic so far. This kit has been on my wish list for some time but somehow I've not got round to getting one yet.

[Mark]

I guess it is due to the success of this site that trying to find my own 'Work in Progress' threads means sifting through pages and pages of other builds! But I've found what I was looking for and the Snipe is now back on the bench due to my New Year's resolution of only working on what was already started. So far I've stuck to it and so far this has been the most productive year ever!

Right, my little Snipe, where was I...?

[redcap]

Fabulous build and paint finish thus far. Any updates Mark (pics?)

Gary

[Gremlin56]

Beautiful work Mark, absolutely smashing

[Robin-42]

"There is a cure, you know. Take a kit with you! I built a Tamiya Wildcat once whilst 'on the road'! I had to take 'canned air' with me though and the hotel staff were a bit suspicious about the smell, but I did finish it!

Although, thinking about it, security will have an issue now with anything sharp and pointy..."

I used to take "everything" on the road as well, but long circular discussions with security staff wore me down. "Whats that?" "Model paint" "You can't take it." Why not?" "Its more than 100ml" "No it's not." But it adds up to more than 100ml. "Supervisor please."

I am aircrew, I have a pass, I am subject to random search at the screening bypass. Captain in front watching his bag getting hand searched after the xray. "What are you looking for?" "Anything that would allow you to take over the aircraft." "That would be the aircraft I already have control of?" Blank look from security. Colonel Flagg from M*A*S*H would be impressed. Sigh.......

As to the Snipe, watch for the gap between the lower wing and the fuselage. After umpteen test fittings and trimming, I still cant close mine up.

[F1Boomer]

Beautiful work so far. I have the Albatross D.Va (OAW) and waiting for my skill to catch up to my ambition before I tackle it. Your build is amazing.

[MikeC]

Looking good Mark. I'm following with interest as I have this one in my pile, very near the top ...

Edited February 15, 2016 by MikeC