Roden 1/48th Sopwith Strutter Comic
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History
Kit #407 is the third in a series of 1/48 Sopwith 1 ½ Strutters
released by Roden, the other versions being the single seat bomber (kit
# 404), a two seat fighter (kit #402), and the 1.B1 French Bomber (kit
#411). Decals for two schemes are provided, those being aircraft No. A6906,
No. 78 (HD) Sqn RFC based at Suttons Farm and flown by Lt. J.S. Castle,
and B'762, No. 78 (HD) Sqn RFC based at Martlesham Heath, used as a general
purpose fighter with no particular pilot assigned, during the summer-autumn
of 1917. Due to its unique appearance I chose to model B'762. A brief
history of this airplane was provided in the First Look article published
in the October
2003 edition of Internet Modeler.
Initial Assembly
As with all kits the first step was the removal and clean up of the
parts, followed by a wash in detergent to remove any mold release agent.
I use Wisk and a soft toothbrush to insure that all of the oil is removed
from tight corners and crevices, and blow dry with the wife's hairdryer
set on cool, followed by a wash in Polly S Plastic Prep to knock down
any static charge on the plastic. At this point I chose not to use the
PE provided for the upper and lower aileron control horns and cables,
choosing to construct my own control horns. Thus I removed the control
horn locating stumps on the upper and lower wings, and the tail assemblies.
 Construction
began with the cockpit interior. The interior of the fuselage, as well
as the cockpit floor and the seat were airbrushed using Citadel "Bleached
Bone." I find this color a very good approximation of British "clear
doped linen," and it also serves as the base coat for my simulated
wood technique described later. The internal wooden structures were then
hand-painted using Model Master 4607 "Burnt Sienna." The fuselage
halves were then set aside to dry.
Next the cockpit floorboard was prepared using a simulated woodgrain
effect that I have found useful in a wide range of applications. The part
is initially airbrushed with Citadel "Bleached Bone," and left
to dry overnight. Once thoroughly dry, a thin coat of Windsor & Newton
Yellow Ochre #744 tube watercolor is applied using the fingers and smoothed
until dry. I then immediately apply a liberal coat of Grumbacher "Sienna
Deep" artist's oil which is smoothed through the fingers simulating
wood grain. The smoother the grain the smoother the finish applied with
the fingers. For hardwoods with a dark grain, a pinprick of Grumbacher
Ivory Black is applied in two or three locations and then rubbed-in, making
a very rich looking grain effect. The part is then set aside to dry for
three or four days, and a repeat coat applied if necessary. If you're
not happy with the effect, a little lighter fluid applied to a soft rag
is used to wipe down the part and start over again. Once everything is
the way you like it you can seal it with your favorite semi-gloss topcoat,
or Future.
The Roden kit provides a rather basic seat which in no way resembles
the bamboo wicker seats used in the actual Strutter aircraft. As I wanted
to make this an OOB build, I was forced to simulate the wicker seat by
first airbrushing the seat with Citadel "Bleached Bone," and
then hand brushing the wicker caning in the seatback using Gunze Sagnyo
Wood Brown which was thickened by letting it set for an hour or two before
use. The padded leather seat trim was simulated by hand brushing Model
Master Acryl Burnt Sienna. Once dry a couple light coats of Gunze Clear
Yellow were sprayed to give everything a nice honey color.
 Next
came the instrument panel. Roden provides a rather convincing instrument
panel on the PE fret, which was first primed using Mr. Surfacer 1000,
and then the dials and instrument faces were hand painted using a variety
of enamels. When dry, the panel was hand brushed using Model Master acryl
Burnt Sienna. Once dry the panel was sealed with a light airbrushed mist
of Future thinned 50/50 with alcohol, and set aside to dry for a day.
Then using a Q-Tip slightly dampened with Mr. Color Thinner, the raised
detail was gently washed until the brass underneath was exposed. I then
went back and applied Citadel Tin Blitz to all of the interior parts meant
to simulate metal, to include the control stick as the original metal
parts were "Japanned." Harnesses were made using simple buff
colored masking tape, with the keepers and buckles cut from an old detail
set out of the spare parts box. The entire rig was secured in place by
using super-thin CA.
Once the cockpit sub-assemblies were dry it was time to assemble the
fuselage. At this point some minor troubles developed. Due to a small
amount of flash along the lower edge of the fuselage it's hard to determine
where the fuselage ends and the flash begins. Several dry fittings and
measurements against the Datafile confirmed how much material to remove
to achieve the correct width. As a result, about a 1/8" gap was created
along the bottom seam. In order to ensure that the fuselage halves lined
up, and to provide some stability across a gap this wide, I borrowed an
old trick used by vac builders, by gluing interleaved bits of .03 thou
card along the gap. Once this was accomplished it was discovered that
the cockpit floor was too wide, and the instrument panel needed to be
trimmed along both sides to fit in the fuselage. A word of caution to
those wishing to build this kit, be sure to dry fit these parts may times
before applying your glue, and be prepared to file down the cockpit floorboard
and trim the brass instrument panel in order to unite the fuselage halves.
 Once
the fuselage was together and dry I then attached the lower wing. Fitting
the lower wing confirmed my earlier suspicions that there are several
problems with the overall fit of the fuselage halves and wing sections.
Installation of the lower wing required the removal of a fair amount of
material to obtain a good fit between the center section of the lower
wing and the fuselage, but once the necessary surgery had been conducted
the parts went together very nicely. Photographs of B'762 show that the
aircraft had rather long carburetor intakes. I simulated these by drilling
out the intakes on the kit, and replacing them with brass tube.
Roden has included the cockpit covers for two different single-seat
Comic versions. A test fit of the cockpit cover revealed that the fuselage
"bows in" from the rearmost cockpit area all the way forward
to the cowling. Three cross-members of scrap sprue were carefully measured,
cut, and installed so as to push the fuselage sidewalls out ensuring a
smooth fit between the cockpit cover and the fuselage. I then attached
the horizontal stabilizer.
Once the fuse/wing/stab assembly was dry I applied repeated layers of
Squadron White putty to fill the lower fuselage seam/gap, sanding with
finer and finer grades until all traces of the gap were covered. I scraped
the upper seam smooth with a single edge razor so as not to destroy the
very delicate turtledeck stringers and the characteristic Sopwith swoop
located where the fuselage joins the tail assembly. At this point I pre-drilled
all of the rigging holes using a #80 drill, and a drilling template made
out of acetate to ensure that the dual rigging holes would be of equal
distance throughout. Once that was done a length of sprue was CA'd to
the firewall as a dowel rod, and the kit was primed with Mr. Surfacer
1000 in order to prepare it for painting, and to highlight those areas
which required more touchup and sanding.
 Next
I turned my attention to the engine and cowling assemblies. Roden provides
a rather detailed Clerget engine, and considering most of it will be covered
by the cowling, not too much work is required here. The mold seams were
removed by scraping with a No. 11 Exacto blade, and a lot of patience.
The engine crankcase and cylinders were then primed with Mr. Surfacer
1000, allowed to dry, and then airbrushed Alclad "Dark Aluminum."
The parts were dry within 15 minutes after the Alclad application, and
a wash of Grumbacher artists oils thinned with Ronsonol lighter fluid
was used to accentuate the cooling fins and detail. This mixture is a
foolproof way to apply washes as it's very thin, dries quickly, and allows
you to build up your wash in a very controlled manner. The plastic pushrods
on the crankcase part 4E were removed and the photo-etch rods supplied
were used. Once installed these were hand painted using Citadel "Mithril
Silver." The two-part cowling was glued together, filled, sanded,
primed and painted using Alclad "Dark Aluminum." At this point
I learned a lesson I'll keep in mind for future use. I chose to attach
the cowling late in the assembly, the result being when I tried to attach
it, I discovered that the diameter of the cowling is smaller than the
fuselage, resulting in a noticeable gap. In the future I will attach the
cowling as soon as the fuselage halves are assembled, and sand to shape
so as to obtain a better fit!
Painting
The kit was now ready to paint. After covering the cockpit opening with
Parafilm M, the entire kit  was
primed using Mr. Surfacer 1000. Following that I masked off the forward
cowling and painted all of the lower wing and under-fuselage surfaces
with Citadel "Bleached Bone." Then, using the Datafile I hand
cut masks for the lower surfaces, allowing for the wrap around of the
PC10 from the upper surfaces.
I tried to simulate PC10 with a homebrew of POLLY Scale Model Railroad
Colors "Pullman Green" and "Wood Brown." The initial
coat was very convincing, but later coats unfortunately dried closer to
an Olive Drab than PC10.
Once the basecoat of PC10 was dry I began the tedious process of hand
cutting and applying masks to the ribs and stanchions, first on the upper
surfaces, and next on the lower surfaces to achieve a pre-shaded effect.
I used Tamiya XF-66 Light Gray acrylic on the upper surfaces, and Model
Master Burnt Sienna acrylic on the lower surfaces. Once dry I re-masked
the upper surfaces and sprayed a very thin, light overcoat of POLLY Scale
FS05029 "Doped Linen," and then  using
hand cut masks on the lower surfaces over sprayed the upper surfaces with
my homebrewed PC10, allowing the pre-shading to show through on both the
upper and lower surfaces. The rudder assembly was than masked off and
painted red/white/blue.
The entire kit was sealed with a coat of Future, and when dry, I masked
off the nose and painted the cowling with Alclad "Dark Aluminum."
While all of this was drying I used my simulated woodgrain technique on
the interplane struts and the prop, and attended to other minor sub-assemblies
such as the tailskid and the Lewis guns, which were painted with Model
Master "Interior Black" and then buffed with graphite powder.
Assembly
The elevator control horns on the fuselage sides were attached, but
not rigged until after the rudder assembly was in place, late in the assembly
process.
 At
this point the instructions recommend attaching the gun mounts and windscreen
to the upper cowling. Once again I ran across significant fit problems,
owing mainly to the fact that not only are the gun mounts over scale,
but so too are the cabine struts, making the assembly of the gun mounts
impossible. To remedy the situation I decided to go ahead and attach the
upper wing, and once in place, see how to best fit the guns and windscreen.
For those who wish to build a detailed kit, I strongly recommend replacing
these parts with scratchbuilt ones. The upper wing was attached using
a rudimentary jig consisting of Lego blocks to ensure alignment, and cardboard
templates to ensure correct angle. I created an additional jig to align
the "W" cabines by measuring the attachment points on the underside
of the upper wing, transferring these to a Styrofoam block. The cabines
were then taped to the block at the proper angle and separation, and then
superglued to the fuselage. At this point I ran all of the rigging using
invisible thread, and then installed the interplane struts. Once all was
in place I tightened the rigging with hemostats, fixed in place with a
drop of CA, trimmed, and touched up the exit points with a dab of paint.
 The
undercarriage was constructed using the same Styrofoam jig technique as
used with the cabine struts, but dry fitting of the assembly revealed
that the axle fairing had to be trimmed to accommodate mating up with
the pre-drilled attachment points. Once everything fitted into place it
was CA'd and rigged. Lastly the rudder was attached, and all of the rigging
attached to the tailplane assembly.
Decals
It was now time to apply the decals, and it's most appropriate that
they be treated separately. The initial set of decals provided with the
kit were simply unacceptable, as they instantly shattered when dipped
in soapy water. Roden supplied a second set, which I over sprayed with
two coats of Future. This seemed to work for all but the large roundels
on the upper and lower wing surfaces, which were replaced by an alternative
set supplied by my good friend Sanjeev Hirve. All of Roden's decals experienced
some form of cracking to one extent or another, despite gentle handling,
but through the use of Micro Set, they settled down nicely and the cracks
are not noticeable. The decals laid down with no silvering, and once dry,
I carefully cleaned them with plain water and a cotton swab, and then
sealed them in Future.
Final Assembly
At this point all that remained was to attach the windscreen, which
I did using Elmer's white glue, and the gun mount, which required some
trimming in order to fit properly. The entire kit was then sprayed with
Model Master Lacquer Dead Flat, and the propeller attached.
 Conclusion
All said and done, the Roden 1 ½ Strutter Comic Night Fighter
builds into a very impressive kit. Yet, it is not one I would recommend
for the novice modeler, or as a first foray in WWI modeling. At best it
should be approached as a limited run kit, but in the hands of an experienced
modeler it makes for a very nice addition to any collection.
Many thanks to Roden and Squadron
for the review kit.
References
Albatros Productions LTD, Windsock Datafile #34, Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter
Albatros Productions LTD, Windsock Datafile #80, Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter,
Volume 2
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