sandbagger

Hi all, As the Sopwith '5F.1 'Dolphin' build is getting close to completion, I've started preparing my next build. This model will represent: Nieuport XVII (17) C.1, Serial No: N1977 of N124 ‘Lafayette’ Escadrille during March 1917 and as flown by Sgt. Robert Soubiran. Background: Robert Soubiran was born in France to Theodore and Clementine (Malapris) Soubiran, but grew up in New York City. As a young man, he had a knack for mechanical things and began maintaining and racing automobiles with Ralph de Palma, the winner of the 1915 Indianapolis 500. World War One: On August 7, 1914, three days after Germany declared war against France, Soubiran enlisted in the French Foreign Legion in Paris and was among the first group of 43 American volunteers. He served in the Chemin des Dames sector with other future Lafayette Escadrille pilots James Bach, Bert Hall, Kiffin Rockwell, Paul Rockwell, and William Thaw. When the French became aware of his mechanical abilities, he was tasked to drive a threshing machine to harvest the wheat within the war zone. Soubiran served with the 2nd Foreign Regiment in the Battle of Champagne and the 170th Line Infantry Regiment. He was injured in October 1915 and spent four months recovering in the hospital. While there, he applied and was accepted into France's Service Aeronautique. He underwent aviation and gunnery training at Pau, Buc, and the G.D.E. earning his brevet flying a Caudron aircraft on the 27th of May1916 and graduated on the 20th of October,1916. He joined the N124 Escadrille Americaine (‘Lafayette’) at Cachy in the Somme sector on the 22nd of October 1916. A year later, on the 9th of November 1917, Soubiran received the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for an action on the 17th of October 1917, when he received his first and only confirmed victory over an enemy aircraft. His award citation read: "An American enlisted since the beginning of the war in the Foreign Legion, where he took part in the combats in the Aisne in 1914 and in the Champagne attacks in 1915. Wounded on the 19th of October 1915. Passed into the Aviation, he showed himself an excellent pilot, fulfilling with remarkable ardour the missions confided to him. On the 17th of October 1917, while protecting an attack on Drachen’s (enemy observation balloons), forced an enemy to land out of control." When the United States entered the war, Soubiran was transferred to the American 103rd Aero Squadron and commissioned as a Captain. He flew combat patrols in the French built SPAD XIII. He was then assigned as the 3rd Pursuit Group's Operations Officer. On the 20th of August 1918, he married Ann-Marie Choudey in Langres, France with many of his Legionnaire and Lafayette Escadrille friends in attendance. On the 18th of October 1918, he was assigned back to the 103rd Aero Squadron as its Commanding Officer and served there until the end of the war. Soubiran accumulated over 400 hours of combat flight time in his 23 months with the French Air Service and in 10 months with the U.S. Air Service. Post World War One: On the 19th of April 1919, France made Captain Soubiran a Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur and he was also awarded a second Palm to his Croix de Guerre. This citation reads: "American citizen enlisted in August 1914 in the Foreign Legion. Was distinguished in the infantry (wounded in September 1915), then as a pilot in the 'Escadrille Lafayette’, where he showed the highest qualities of courage and audacity." Foot note: Robert Soubiran owned a Kodak camera and photographed all aspects of life and death as an aviator during World War I. Fellow squadron pilot James Normal Hall said that the ‘Lafayette Escadrille’ pilots have Soubiran to thank for the squadron's only complete photographic record. Death: Robert Soubiran died on the 4th of February 1949 and was buried next to wife, who died in 1982, in Pinelawn Military, East Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. Mike

Hi all, Just the last few details done: Single Lewis machine gun (as for No.79 Squadron). 20lb 'Cooper' bombs and carrier. Tie down rings. Wheels. Top engine panel with windscreen. Just the propeller, figures and the display case to finish, Mike

Good choice as it only has limited external rigging: Twin aileron control cables from the cockpit up to the underside of the upper wing. Rudder and elevator control cables from the rear of the fuselage. Landing gear cross bracing and wing aileron control cables. Mike

Hi Kevin, Early war aircraft had natural rubber (laytex) tyres, which could be light grey, tan or darker grey coloured. It varied between Nations and time frames, so I guess reference material for the particular time frame would show tyre shade and therefore colour, which could be seen on periods photographs as nearly white to dark grey (looks black). I believe black coloured tyres with impregnated carbon were introduced after the WW1, as the carbon helped to earth static from the aircraft as the tyres touched down on landing. Mike

Hi all, The rigging is finished. Added: Aileron control cable between the upper wing roots (0.12 mm diameter monofilament, 0.5 mm diameter tube and 'Gaspatch' 1:48th Type C turnbuckle). Aileron control cables from wings to ailerons (0.08 mm diameter monofilament and 0.4 mm diameter tube). Aileron streamlined interconnecting wire between ailerons ('RB Productions' 2BA wire). Rudder and elevator control cables (0.12 mm diameter monofilament and 0.5 mm diameter tube). Tailplane and fin bracing streamlined wires ('RB Productions' 2BA wire and 0.4 mm tube). Fuselage to upper wings drag cables (0.08 mm and 0.12 mm diameter monofilament with 0.5 mm diameter tube and 'Gaspatch' 1:48th Type C turnbuckles). Now it's onto the Lewis gun, 'Cooper' bombs and carrier, wheels, windscreen and Aldis gun sight, Mike

Yes - white prime over grey plastic, lightly polish to wear through to the darker grey, then gloss coat and decals. It depends on the effect you're after, so different primer or base coat colours will give different effects through the clear backed 'Aviattic' decals. The heavier coloured decals need a darker polish pre-shade to show through, whereas the lighter decals don't. Mike

Hi all, Moving along now. Upper wing halves and landing gear assembly are fitted. Rigging used is 0.5 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tube and 'RB Productions' 1/4 BSF streamline photo-etch wires. In reality the flying, landing and incidence wires were 5/16 BSF size and the landing gear bracing 9/32 BSF. However, I use the 1/4 BSF wires as that is what I had that was nearest is size. Next up rigging: Fin/tailplane bracing wire, which are 2BA size streamlined wire ('RB Productions') Aileron control wires, which are cable (monofilament) and 2BA size streamlined wire ('RB Productions') Elevator control cables, which are cable (monofilament) Rudder control cables, which are cable (monofilament) Fuselage/upper wing drag wires, which are cable (monofilament) . Mike

Hi all, Wingnut Wings kits are being shipped to distributers from remaining stocks. So far: Modellbau König (Germany) Sprue Brothers (USA) Andy's Hobby Headquarters (USA) Hannants (UK), Mike

Hi all, Weathering added, using 'Flory Models' Dark Dirt and Grime clay washes. Sealed with 'Alclad' Light Sheen (ALC311). Now it's onto pre-rigging before assembly, Mike

Hi all, Weathering added, using 'Flory Models' Dark Dirt and Grime clay washes. Sealed with 'Alclad' Light Sheen (ALC311). Now it's onto pre-rigging before assembly, Mike

Hi all, Apart from a the interplane struts and Lewis machine gun, all of the decals are on. ‘Aviattic’ Sopwith Dolphin set (ATT32155/154) for the Clear Doped Linen and PC12. ‘Pheon’ Dolphin Volume 1 (32077) and kit supplied markings decals. The 'polished' primer pre-shading can be seen showing though the clear backed decals. Now, before pre-rigging and assembly, it's onto parts painting, remaining decals and weathering, Mike

Hi all, Pre-shading is done prior to applying the decals. Instead of masking and airbrushing the pre-shading, I've used the same technique used for other models of mine. A white primer was airbrushed over the parts, which is required for applying the clear 'Aviattic' CDL and PC12 decals. I then lightly polished across the raised detail using 'Flory Models' green sanding sticks. I also pre-shaded areas such as wing, aileron and elevator trailing edges and added the wing underside internal bracing wires with a pencil. The wears away the white primer to expose the light grey colour of the styrene. The only masking needed was for pre-shading the wing front and rear spars and the fuselage formers frames. I polished between the applied masking strips. Finally, I airbrushed several coats of 'Alclad' Aqua Gloss 600 clear coat over the parts as a base for the decals. The polished-out pre-shading detail will show through the 'Aviattic' clear decals, more so for the CDL than the PC12 decals. Mike

Hi all, The lower wing if now fitted and all parts primed white ready for pre-shading. Then it's applying the 'Aviattic' clear Clear Doped Linen and PC12 decals, Mike

Hi all, I've animated the ailerons and elevator. Aileron leading edges rounded and pinned with 0.5 mm diameter Brass rods. The elevator to tailplane joint was scribed through leaving just the pre-molded hinges intact. All were then bent to their required angles, Mike

Hi all, Final details for the cockpit and engine. Trigger cables added to the two Vickers machine guns Trigger cables added to the control column. Coolant temperature gauge pipe from the engine coolant tank. Vent pipe from the cap on the rear of the engine left valve gear cover. Mike

Hi all, The Dolphin's cockpit is finished and ready to be closed up in the fuselage. The cabane strut bracing wires are ‘RB Productions’ British streamline wire 1/4 BSF (RB-P32012) with ‘Albion Alloys’ Nickel-Silver 0.5 mm (NST05) diameter tube. Pilots seat is the ‘BarracudaCast’ British wicker seat (BR32234) with cushion (kit seat mount modified to suit). Now its onto closing it all up inside the fuselage, Mike

Hi all, A few updates. I managed to lose the Lewis gun ammunition drum container from after it pinged out of my tweezers!! Therefore, I created a new one from 0.5 mm thick plastic card and Lewis drums (from my spares box). The kit supplied seat base has had its seat cushion removed as I'm replacing the seat with a 'Gaspatch' 3D printed seat. Cockpit side frames are braced with ‘RB Productions’ British streamline wire 2BA (RB-P32014) with ‘Albion Alloys’ Nickel-Silver 0.4 mm (NST04) diameter tube. Materials for rigging control cables are ‘Albion Alloy’s’ Nickel-Silver tube (NST04) and ‘Steelon’ or ‘Stroft’ 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament. Wood effects painted using 'Windsor & Newton’ Griffin (Alkyd) Burnt Sienna and Raw Sienna oil paints. The details are painted with either 'Tamiya' acrylics or 'Mr.Color' paints. Now it's onto weathering before assembly is started, Mike

Hi all, On October the 4th, 1917, Feldpilot (Zugsfuhrer) Adolph Wiltsch and his Observer Roman Schmidt were flying Lloyd C.V Serial No: 46.01 from Flik 13 on the Russian Front. They were attacked by three Russian ‘Sopwith’ type aircraft. They managed to evade these attackers and Schmidt managed to shoot down one in flames. This was Schmidt’s third aerial victory. The fully detailed build log can be found here: As usual a fully detailed Adobe PDF format and bookmarked build log of this model can be downloaded from Gallery 4 on my website (link in signature). Mike

Hi all, Completed model shots are now up in the 'Aircraft Finished Work' page.Thanks for all of you comments and encouragement, Mike

Hi all, The Hispano-Suiza V8 200hp engine for the Dolphin is done. For once I've not fully detailed the engine. On this model, all of the engine cowl/access panel will be fitted. As such, there is very little of the engine that will be visible. However, the lower, outer ignition leads will just be visible. I found it strange that the kit instructions on page 4 for painting the engine shows parts as Copper or Brass. This doesn't seem to reflect the metals used on this engine, as can be seen on the following photographs of an engine, built under license by ‘Wolseley’. Also, the bracing wire rigging for the cockpit side frames, shown on page 6 of the kit instructions, suggests the wires were round wire wound cable. However, photographs clearly show that these wires were in fact streamlined wires. As can be seen by the non-turnbuckle tension adjusters and the exposed thread portion of the end of the wires. Mike

Hi Kevin, I've not found anything to say he eventually made it to China, Mike

Hi all, As my build of the Austro-Hungarian Lloyd C.V is drawing to a close, I thought I'd post my next build. First of all, I apologize for the length of this introduction, but I think it makes for interesting reading. It's the introduction to my build log of this model. This model represents Sopwith 5F.1 ‘Dolphin’, Serial No: C4131 of No.79 Squadron RAF during June 1918, as flown by Capt. Frederic Ives Lord. Background: Frederic Ives Lord was born on the 18th of April 18, 1897 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, USA. His parents were Alma Mueller and Alman Ivory Lord. He had two siblings, Lucia Lord and Zayda Lord. By 1910 he was living with his maternal grandparents Lena Fred Mueller. By 1917 he and his mother and siblings were living in Houston, Texas USA. By 1920 his mother was a widow. World War One: One version is that he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917, but was discharged from the 3rd Texas Infantry when it was discovered that he was only 17 years old. However, in 1917, he would have been 20. Whatever the reason, he went to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he joined the Royal Flying Corps. He had to renounce his American citizenship on May 25, 1917 as follows: “I was born in the town of Manitowoc in the state of Wisconsin, one of the United States of America. I have come to the city of Toronto from Houston, Texas, for the express purpose of enlisting and entering the Royal Flying Corps of the Canadian Army for service overseas. And I do hereby solemnly declare my purpose and intention to become a British subject and I do hereby renounce my citizenship as a Citizen of the United States of America.” After completing his training in England, he joined No.79 Squadron in France. The squadron had been formed at Gosport in August 1917 and was posted to France in February 1918, equipped with the Sopwith 5F.1 ‘Dolphin’. Between May and September 1918, he was credited with a total of twelve victories and was one of four squadron pilots to achieve ace status, the others being Francis W. Gillet, Ronald Bannerman, John McNeaney and Edgar Taylor. Four of those victories were whilst fly C 4131, the subject of this model. On one notable occasion, the 27th of June 1918, as a Lt (T./Capt), he shot down an Albatros D.V as his third kill. On his return to the airfield, he saw an allied formation engaged with German scouts. He joined in and shot down a Fokker Dr.I and a second Albatros D.V. For this action he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). He eventually became a flight commander, but was wounded in October 1918, ending his operational flying. Post World War One: Russian civil war: After being released in March 1919 from hospital (from wounds received in October 1918), volunteered for service in Russia. He was given the job of Commanding Officer of the RAF base at Pinega, in addition to flying the RE.8 aircraft operated from there. He served with RAF forces during the Allied Intervention in Russia in 1919, earning a bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross, when on the 27th of June,1919, he was piloting an RE.8 and located the position of the enemy on the Pinega River and “attacked the moving columns from a height of 200 feet with such effect that their transport was stampeded and their expected attack broke down, without any casualties being sustained by our forces." His RE.8 was found to have severe damage caused by enemy fire during this flight. Mexican revolution: Leaving the RAF in November 1919, he flew as a barnstormer and an aide to the Mexican air force during the Mexican Revolution. By 1927, he was living in New York City and was using the Chrysler Building as his address. Traveling with him was Constance, who was listed as his wife. However, by July 1937, he was married to a woman named Mildred. Spanish civil war: He flew Bréguet 19 two seater aircraft through 1936 for the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, along with Bert Acosta and Eddie August Schneider in the Yankee Squadron. Comments made during this period: “I've had a wing fold up at a thousand feet while sitting on a dud parachute. I've been backed up against a wall looking down the rifle barrels of a firing squad. I've felt the automatic of my own commanding officer poked in my ribs. While being smuggled from Spain into France to visit my wife, I've had a speed boat pilot killed by Fascist bullets in the Bay of Biscay. I've fought half a dozen German pursuit planes in the air with an orchestra leader as a gunner. And of all places to be during a bombing raid I was there - locked up in jail - and with my wife. And these events have not been an accumulation of my war service in France, or Russia, or Mexico, but happened during the past few months while serving as a pilot with the Government forces in Spain. A Spanish pilot, Jose Galarza, bailed out from a crippled ship, during a fight, and landed safely in Franco's line. But the next day a Junker bomber droned over our field and dropped a box. It contained the chopped up cadaver of Jose. Lafayette! Pulaski! Rochambeau! Who were they? Glorious foreign volunteers who aided us in time of need. We name bridges, boats, and towns after them now. Our kids read about them in our histories and over in Spain foreign volunteers are fighting that a friendly democratic nation may survive. In most instances those volunteers came from the army of unemployed in their countries where they were without hope. In all cases they are highly skilled technical men. Their hope is a new lease on life, but the usual reward has been a nameless grave”. World War 2: During World War II, he tried to join the RAF again and it is said he got so far as to be assigned to his old No.79 Squadron before the authorities caught up with him. Instead, he joined the Air Transport Auxiliary that transported aircraft to England. On January 3, 1941, he wrote to his sister Lucia, discussing his upcoming eye surgery: “In less than a week now, I get the eye sliced up. And I know it'll be a success. Pray for me at 4pm on the tenth, will you. So here's hoping that when they take the bandages off on about the 20th, my eye will function. I just ain't got the dough for the hospital on the tenth. If can't get it, - well, then no operation as can't ask the doctor to actually fork out money for me in addition. So, sister, please see what you can do in addition to the usual ten-spot, will you please? And let me have it by Wednesday." He goes on to explain that he will soon be able to pay her back and will no longer be a financial burden to her “because a group of Chinese saw me today and want to take lessons from me and will even pay for a ship as soon as the eye is okay. Private flying, govt. jobs, city and state jobs all waiting”. Death: On the 21st of July 1967 at age 70, Frederic Ives Lord (DFC and Order of Saint Stanislas) was murdered by a vagrant in Apple Valley, California. He was buried in the cemetery at Victor Valley Memorial Park, Victorville, California. Mike

Hi all, Figures done. Both are the 'Yellow House' German aviators (YH32005) set. Brush painted with 'Tamiya' acrylics, Mike

Hi Kevin, Thanks but 'Master' 🥴 Back in the day I modelled other stuff. F1 cars, WW2 aircraft, Napoleonic figures etc. However, from an early age my interest was always aircraft and specifically WW1. Mike

Hi all, I've represented the cover plates that were fitted over the flying wire turnbuckles at the lower wing roots. These were made from 0.2 mm thick plastic card. The raised centres were pressed out using the small 'ball' end of a paper embossing tool. Holes were punched through the plates to represent the securing bolts. Painted with 'Alclad' Duraluminium (ALC102) and weathered with 'Flory Models' Dark Dirt clay wash. That's it for the model itself. Just the figures to finish, Mike