1/8 SE5a by Mouppe

[Lancair IV]

Outstanding Mouppe.....How big will the finished model be?

Cheers

[xken]

This plane was going to be my next scratch build until I started the Model T. I was gathering research material to start it once I finished the Stearman. However, here is a link to the best resource of reference pictures of an SE-5 being restored that you will find in one place on the planet. Scroll down to view all pictures and right arrow through them all or visit monthly postings. Click on SE 5a if you get main index.

Enjoy! Mémorial Flight Association

Ken

[mouppe]

This is a 1/8 scale model, so the finished model's wingspan will be just over 1m!

Ken,

Thanks for the link. I have seen the photos of that restoration, and I have a link to a reproduction from New Zealand bookmarked as well. Generally, the Hasegawa kits are very faithful representations, and the SE5a is no exception.

SE.5a Reproduction | The Vintage Aviator

Mouppe.

[mouppe]

More progress on the fuselage. Everything came out really true so far. Interestingly, not all the spars are parallel, note the 5th and 6th columns from the left in the first picture. This is deliberate.

One thing to note is that the ends of the wood needs to be as square as possible to provide the largest possible face for glueing, especially when the diameter is only 2 or 3 millimetres. I use a belt sander which normally is too heavy duty for modelling at this scale but it does leave a very flat end and you can achieve very accurate angles which this model requires. For example the rear part of the fuselage tapers at about 7 degrees.

Mouppe.

[mouppe]

Hi,

I made some more progress on the fuselage by adding the stringers. This can be a tricky section as the stringers are only 2mm wide and can bend easily. The bulkhead guides are often out of position, so it is best to widen the gaps where necessary and then use a wood filler later to fill any spaces. In hindsight, I would recommend cutting one's own bulkheads rather than using the kit-supplied ones. Once the glue has dried, gentle fairing along and across the stringers will smooth everything out.

Mouppe.

[modelmaker]

Looking good Richard I'm really enjoying watching this build progress, I'm almost half tempted to sell/swap my Sopwith Camel kit for an SE5A any takers??
Am I right in guessing this kit does not have full only curbside engine detail ?

Sean

[Daniel]

Great build Mouppe, if this turns out anything like your Camel it will be another museum quality piece.

Last Easter I visited The Australian War Memorial, which has on display one of the few surviving SE5a aircraft.

Here is a link to their website page with pictures of the SE5a and some others.
Australian War Memorial - Visitor information

Below are some pictures I took.;';;'; The plane is unfortunately hanging about 4 metres from the ground in the dark!

Daniel

[mouppe]

Hi Sean and Daniel,

Hope you are doing well and not too sad about the Ashes! There were a couple of great games and I listened to almost every ball.

Sean you are right about the engine detail. It is very thin. I added a few bolts here and there, but there is practically no wiring or any parts other than the visible cylinders. Certainly nothing like the Camel's Clerget.

I would not swap the SE5a for the Camel. Whilst the SE5a is rarer and therefore more valuable, it is not as impressive a build as the Camel. If you are planning to build your kit, I would stick with the Camel. Having said that I picked up the SE5a on a rather low buy-it-now on Ebay which made it worthwhile.

Daniel, thanks for the photos- they are really special as I have only seen British SE5a before. There are I believe 6 original SE5as in existence, one of which is the Aussie one. No 2 Squadron was the only Australian unit equipped with SE5as; originally the unit marking was a white boomerang but this was replaced later with a vertical white stripe forward of the roundel. You can see this in your photo number 3. No 4 Squadron which flew Sopwith Camels also sported the boomerang marking.

One notable inaccuracy of the kit is the far too strong dark green coloured fuselage skin. According to one of my source readings, "From 1916 onwards, British military aircraft were painted a Khaki Brown colour...550 parts of Yellow Ochre with one part of Lamp Black. This resulted in a dark brown colour as a dry mixture but when mixed with a glossy liquid medium it took on a slight greenish hue under certain light conditions. Therefore...the SE5a would look greenish-brown in colour with the brown predominant. Afer the aircraft had been in service for a time the effects of weather and sun reduced the colour scheme to a very definite brown tone."

This is exactly what your phots show, but the kit colour is way too green.

Mouppe.

[Nortley]

While travelling Australia in 1994, I visited the War Memorial Museum. The Se5 was on the floor then. These are all I have of it, those were the days of film and so many cents a shot, but my trusty OM-1 never let me down.

[mouppe]

Nice. You can see the fuselage is raised behind the cockpit to provide a headrest- some planes had this modification carried out. And the boomerang is visible here.

[hansb57]

Hi there.

This is my first post at this forum.
Love to see an active SE5A topic.

I built mine about 18 years ago and its now gathering dust and is not getting any better in storage.
Just wondering if somebody is interested in buying it.
No super built. I would say a 6 or 7 on a 1-10 scale.
Covered in paper fabric and painted like the real SE5a in the Suthleworth collection.
I can do 2 things. Keep it and in 10 years its gone or sell it for a fair price and maybe a new owner can make it come to live again.
Remember shipping will be quite high as I live in the Netherlands.

Topic starter: If you feel I'm messing up your topic, drop me a line, I'll remove it.
The same goes for the moderator.

Hans
The Netherlands

[hot ford coupe]

Welcome to the site, Hans. Don't remove the post. Usually we put the buy-sell items in the Market Place section. If you have built other large scale models, we'd love to see them.

[modelmaker]

Hows progress on the build Richard ;';;';?

Sean

[mouppe]

Sean,

It's coming along. I have not really been focused on it for the last couple of weeks as I have been building a workbench, but the cockpit is almost ready to be installed. Painting and detailing it was quite laborious, and to complicate matters the SE5a does not come with dial decals unlike the Camel. What I have done is to take a photograph of the cockpit, resized it and cut out the dials. Then I will face the dials with some clear plastic to simulate the glass. The effect is good, particularly at this large scale.

Since I have a large workspace at my disposal I thought I would take the opportunity to build a big workbench for future projects. You need a big space to handle furniture this big and the tools it requires. The bench is over 6 feet by 2 and a half feet, with a laminated maple top almost 2 inches thick and a 5 inch deep cherry wood apron. It has a twin screw vise at the tail end, and a front vise. I have not built the legs yet, but already it is so massive that it takes two people to lift it!

Sometimes it feels good to leave the small scale stuff behind and build something LARGE!

Mouppe.

[modelmaker]

sounds great lets see some pics when your done I for one love looking at other peoples workshops.

Sean