The Vintage Model Co. SE5a

[Chris Barlow]

I picked up this SE5a from The Vintage Model Company from Steve Webb Models on their longest Day sales before Christmas on Steves recommendation himself and what a lovely build it has been.

The kit itself is laser cut with a very clear and detailed instruction book for assembly. The only parts that needed any fettling were the cabane and interplane struts. The kit even came with cut parts to make the 2 sets of jigs for setting the cabane struts and setting the wing incidence to fit the wing struts which was very accurate.

Everything you need is included in the kit, even the glue although I didn't use it. There are 2 sheets of tissue, one small sheet of white and a bigger sheet of brown, and decals to finish the model in the colour scheme of the SE5a owned by the Shuttleworth collection at Old Warden.

Total build time has been approximately 22 hours over 4 days. Can't wait for summer now to wind it up at let it fly! Might even build one of the other kits in the series.

[Jonathan W]

That looks nice. How did you get that slightly mottled finish? It makes for an attractive "antique" appearance.

[Chris Barlow]

Thanks Jonathan.

That's the finish of the supplied tissue. It was shrink with plain water, sealed with thinned cellulose dope then after the decals were applied it was brushed with a coat of Vallejo airbrush clear gloss acrylic to give it a bit of shine.

[Jonathan W]

Thanks for the info Chris. An interesting appearance achieved very simply. Probably a bit lighter weight than the old KK flying scale jobs. Are you going to put it in the air, or just admire it?

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

That's a little beauty Chris, my second model was a DB scout series SE 5a, that one's a bit dainty for my building though.

John

[Monz]

Very nice Chris! Good to see some more free flight on here.

Those VMC kits are really good, well designed, good wood and tissue and they fly well.

[Chris Barlow]

Jonathan, it will be living in my display cabinet to be admired until the drier, calmer weather arrives when it'll be flown at the field. I also intend to get my kids building a couple of rubber powered models and hopefully they can fly them at the Nats if we get a hanger again.

John, I know exactly what you mean! With my stumpy fingers I had to resort to pins and tweezers a few times to get parts positioned correctly.

Thanks Monz, It's not a patch on your creations or the ff models I watch on YouTube but I do like the challenge of trying to build so accurately on such a small scale. I'm really impressed with the kit and might treat myself to another quite soon!