Well done Paul @yellow10, having not had a lot of interaction with Bernie, I do realize what an impact he had on members in this community. This is a great statement to others about his being a substantial part in this fellowship.

Made me spit my tea out laughing, Craig - 4 planes on there - all in pieces. I reckon if you asked me where any particular part was I'd have about an even chance!

Having been a friend of Bernie since I became aware of iModeler, I'm sure he'd be proud of this and he'd appreciate your tribute.

Well done, Paul! I look forward to more of this.

Being the guy who let Bernie know iModeler existed, and having enjoyed his friendship over the net (I'm sure if we had met in "real" reality the "virtual" reality would have been confirmed), I find myself thinking of him every time I scroll past his name in my e-mail address book. I really think he'd get a kick out of you doing this, Paul. Great idea.

Tom and Louis, I am finding myself much more relaxed doing this small SE5 than I thought. I’m just having fun and learning a little as I go. Without being too corny I’m feeling lighter knowing that I’m building for something somewhat different to the eternally illusive perfect build.

Here’s a brief update. A little wood base prior to oils. Some doped linen. A few details in the seat and IP - including Eduard etch. Some preshading on the wings. And a little progress with the WV engine.

Here are a few pictures I found online a few years ago.

This propeller seems to be laminated from various layers of wood, similar to how the Germans did it with the "Axial" props you often saw on Albatros, Dr-1's and D-7's. But the wood species seems to be the same and are not too much of a different color like the different layers of wood found on the Axial props.

The cockpit / interior:

If you look close, the inside of the fabric is a different color than what you would expect. This is probably a modern iron on type material. The original would have used a doped linen. The interior color of doped linen would look to be lighter than the outside color. This color would depend on what color dope they applied first, before the final PC -10 color was used. Often they used a clear dope, so the inside would look more like a "dark" natural linen.

The dope was used to seal the weave of the fabric, (making it more weather proof) and it also helped to shrink the covering tightly around the wooden structure that lied beneath. It was not uncommon for several coats of dope to be applied. But believe it or not, this "multiple coats thing" was occasionally limited for weight concerns... and costs versus production time came into play as well.

If you look close, you can see a spare Lewis MG drum stored on top of the IP. Can you imagine having to change out a drum during a dog fight ?

Here's the same plane before they painted it in PC 10. Here again you see the light gray color on the fabric covered areas. Some of the lower areas appear to be painted in aluminum dope, also something a new replica would have to help extend the service life of the fabric materials.

Here's a close up of the under carriage: You can see more aluminum paint here...

I was keeping these to use as a reference when it came time to detail the 1/6 scale RC flying model I eventually plan on building.

When I paint a wooden prop, I first start off by spraying a shade of a solid tan color to use as the base. Then I go back with oils or even darker colors of brown and "dry brush" the darker browns on. The tan base doesn't have to dry, if it blends in, this helps to get the natural wood look you're going after.

Here's a final picture. I may have more if you need them...

I hope these help... and Bernie would be proud as a peacock !

Louis, these are just perfect. They have confirmed my choice of wood colour which is a relief and let me know the correct colour of the Lewis Drum. And I am researching how to paint a laminated look for the prop. Some good YouTube tutorials out there. Thanks so much - this will be really useful!