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Kit: DML (1:48)
Frank Luke's SPAD 13 made from DML kit, mostly out of box. Added wires & fuel lines, hammer to pound on jammed guns & film instruments to interior. Opened forward cowl panel, attached engine bearers to inside of fuselage (these are included in kit, but not shown on instruction sheet) and a block of styrene for engine oil pan. Painted by hand using a mix of Polly-S and Model Master paint. Decals were from Ministry of Small Aircraft Production and didn't stick well, but a few coats of clear sealed them down. To finish it up I added a prop hand carved by Martin Digmayer & a photoetched gun sight with the double ring as seen in the famous photo of Luke standing beside this aircraft.
This kit is built out of box. Decals are from Americal Gryphon's SPA.3 sheet, and represent the plane flown by Ted Parsons of former Lafayette Escadrille fame. I did the French 5 color camouflage with Polly scale acrylics & used silly putty to mask it off - worked great. I'd like to thank the WW1 list guys that provided the decals.
Kit: Blue Max (1:48)
Guynemer's SPAD 7 from the Blue Max kit. The interior was made from the Lone Star Models photoetched kit, this included the engine bearers, dash, seat, ammo drum rewind, all gauges & switches & internal bracing, and almost everything else needed to superdetail the kit. It included the small metal plates on the upper wing that held the struts into place, the aileron cranks, machine gun shield, radiator screen & a lot more. The engine came from the Lindberg SE5a, and was detailed with plug wires, water hoses & filler pipes. The panels were cut open, and replaced with small panels made from toothpaste tube embossed with louvers from the back side. The decals are from the kit. The red is kind of light when compared to Americal/Gryphon, but looks faded as if the plane had been sitting in the sun. Not too bad. Currently for the SPAD 7, this is the only game in town. I was able to acquire another one recently which I plan on doing in Lufbery's markings. Unfortunately this is one of 1500 made, and the Lonestar set is also out of production, so it is an expensive proposition to build one of these. Hopefully Eduard will get around to doing one of these.
Kit: Sierra (1:48)
Sierra vac 1/48th SPAD A.2 in Imperial Russian Air Service markings. This was made before the Windsock Mini datafile was issued, so kit instructions were only references. It was built pretty much out f the box (bag) with stainless steel wire for rigging & an Atlee resin Lewis gun. Screen in nacelle is plastic mesh from Detail Master.Wire was used for gun frame, and stretched sprue for the propeller guard. The wings are single thickness, with lower ribs made from stretched black sprue. It was painted overall in Poly S clear doped linen, with metal panels in light yellow. Rust was used to wash over panel lines & ribs. Castor oil stains were made by mixing Testors clear gloss & a couple of drops of rubber, and were applied as seen in photos. Decals are from Blue Rider's Russian sheet. The red looks very faded, and the roundels on the tail are too small. The skull was hand painted on the rudder. It is the 19th Corps detachment flown by Huber & Bashinsky in 1916. If I were to do it again, I would buy the Americal/Gryphon Russian Cocades. (or maybe the Spin resin kit!)
Kit: Eduard (1:48)
Here is the Eduard SPAD XIII kit that I built for Internet Modeler. It is painted as the SCAC built aircraft flown by Nungesser in 1918. It was built out of box with ceramic Wonder Wire used for rigging. The tricolor pendant on the turtledeck is incorrect for this aircraft, I have examined several photos and a live action video of this aircraft, and it is a white scaline triangle designed to throw off the aim of an enemy pilot behind him. I built a base with static grass and a figure of Nungesser from parts of the Eduard French Aeronautique Militarie 1916 figures.
Kit: Academy (1:32)
Here is the 1/32 scale Academy SPAD XIII in the markings of Lt. Sumner Sewell of the 95th Aero Squadron in November, 1918. It was painted in the Kellner camouflage with custom mixed paints for the 5 color camouflage, mixed with aluminum as described by Alan Toelle. This is a display model, so the interior was not detailed, but I made custom decals based on information from Alan, including the actual 95th Kicking Mule insignia off of Sewell's SPAD. A fitting tribute to the American Ace that became the future Governor of Maine.