Up | Chez Joel Christy | Gallery | Home
Kit: scratch built (1:72)
I was thinking about building a Breguet 14 when I came across the Br.M 5. I was intrigued by the fact that even though the aeroplane had equiped five Ferench squadrons and served throughout World War One, I had never heard about it; another rare bird. As I dug a little deeper I found that there was a dearth of information but enough for me to give it a go. I found a 3 view drawing in World Aircraft, Origins to World War I by Angelucci and Matricardi. Then some photos and a cutaway view were copied off the web. The Br.M 5 had the same little windows as seen on the BR.14 and I started on the fuselage. This I made out of 15 thou plastic sheet. The wings were made up of 40 thou plastic, curved in a Harry Woodman jig and sanded to shape from the top down. The wing tanks are thick sprue sanded to shape and the radiators sandwiched pieces of 40 thou plastic sheet. The propeller, wheels and Hotchkiss gun are Aeroclub items. I used Humbrol number 71 light oak for the CDL and simulated the translucent effect on the underside of the top wing by overpainting decal roundels. It all turned out rather well but I'm not too sure about the cockpit as I couldn't find any detailed shots of it's shape. The "M" stands for Michelin tyres who designed the bomb racks on both the Br.M 5 and the Br.14.
One of the list's members is responsible for this month's model. When I asked for infomation on the Breguet Br.M5 I was building he sent me pictures and some drawings of the Breguet biplane and I'm ever so glad he did! I always wanted to do one up as it looks so ancient and ungainly but at the same time used a lot of metal in it's construction. It is also very fragile having only interplane struts on the leading edge of the wings and an extremely delicate looking tail. Although archaic by the time World War One started it had a tricycle landing gear and was not a tail sitter. As early as September 1914 Louis Breguet himself flew a reconnaissance mission over the front the night before the Battle of the Marne in a biplne similar to my model. This must make it one of the first warplanes of the Great War. I made the fuslage using a bamboo kebab scewer as a spine and mounted circular formers of 40 thou sheet styrene over it's length and the covered it with 10 thou sheet. The wings are 20 thou curved in a Harry Woodman jig and scribed with a number 11 blade. Once painted I covered the front area of th fuselage with Kit Kat foil attached with varnish. When dry I attached some thick foil embossed with rivets over the front. The Une Canton 7 cylinder engine is scratch built out of sprue bits painted silver. To achieve the brass effect I used thinned down Tamiya clear orange. The wire wheels came from an Omega MF. 11 kit. I decided on a sort of PC 12 colour as many photos of the Breguet biplane indicated a dark colour. All and all I think it turned out OK. Thanks Diego!
Kit: Scratch (1:144)
The Caproni Ca.4 triplane bomber is completely scratch built using sheet styrene and a bit of Strutz for strength in the wing cell.
All the other struts ( 58 in all; count'em! ) were made using hot stretched Contrail strut material. Likewise all the rigging is HSP.The centre nacelle is made of FIMO baked in an oven.
It is a fairly big model even in 144 scale. I opted for an olive drab paint scheme as it was light enough for the green Italian roundels to show up.
Kit: scratchbuilt (1:72)
I found the plans for this rare bird in Windsock International Volume18,number 6. They were part of an article by Colin Owers on the Curtiss Speed Scouts. "Scout" is the operative word here; the Speed Scouts were designed to be just that, unarmed scouts and not fighters, similar to the later Curtiss Seagulls or Vought Kingfishers. My model is of the A-149. The fuselage is made of the standard slab and formers technique whilst the large central float has a plunge formed top section. The wings and tailplanes are made of 40 and 15 thou plastic sheet respectively. The OX-5 cylinders and the propeller came from the spare parts of an OLIMP Jenny.
Here is another rare bird. I was inspired to build the beast when I was researching the Supermarine PB 31 anti-Zeppelin aircraft. In an article about unusual weapons mounted on early aircraft there appeared a section on the Coventry Ordinance Works gun, aka COW gun. This was a supposedly recoiless gun and one scheme was to attach it to an aeroplane made by the Royal Aircraft Factory designated the FE 6. It was a pusher using wings from the RE 5. The most unusual feature of this aeroplane was the tailboom; it was hollow and contained the control wires for the tailplanes. However the final aircraft was unstable and the boom had a tendency to twist in flight. Needles to say the project was a dead end but had there been more advanced metals available the pusher may have had a better future. The model is entirely scratch built. The complex nacelle was built up out of plastic sheet wrapped around a central box.
Kit: scratchbuilt (1:172)
I have always been intrigued by the designs of Frederik Koolhoven. Here was a Dutchman like Antony Fokker who worked for the Allies. His Bantam was a lovely little monocoque design utilizing the 200hp ABC Wasp radial engine. I built my own monocoque fuselage. Round formers of 40 thou plastic sheet were attached to a kebab scewer and 10 thou sheet wrapped around and glued. The wings are of 40 thou sheet. The most difficult bit was mounting the 7 cylinders on the plunge formed nose. These were cut from an Aeroclub Bently engine. The plans came from a Jack Bruce article in Windsock volume 12, number 5.
My inspiration for this project came from the excellent article by Harry Woodman in the March 2004 issue of Aeroplane. Their Database feature contianed an exhaustive description and a full set of plans of the Sikorsky "Grand." Although not "exactly" a World War One aircraft it did pave the way for the world's first four engine strategic bomber, namely the Il'ya Muromets. I used the ICM Il'ya Muromets wings, struts and propellers; the rest of the model is scratch built. The wood veneer is the type found lining expensive cigars saved for me by a stogie smoking friend. The Argus engines are cut-down Roden parts left over from various kits. I plunge formed the cabin roof and wheels. All the rigging is hot stretched sprue.
Kit: scratch built (1:144)
This pink Handley Page 0/400 came about after I had mentioned that I was scratch building one. Neil Crawford said I should do it up as the "Flying Hareem" or "Pink Lady." This was an HP 0/400 that was done up for a maharajah in India after World War One. That intriqued me and after seeing a picture of the aircraft sent to me by Neil I decided to do it. Unfortunately that was the only photo I came across. I even phoned Stuart Leslie but that was the only photo he had as well. But he did tell me that it was entirely pink except for the engine nacelles which were blue. And that the interior was covered in pink silk! Boy, those maharajahs really knew how to live it up! My model is a bog standard 0/400 but with windows cut into the fuselage sides. The engine nacelles were made of a combination of sheet plastc and Fimo. The rest of the model is my standard construction with rigging made of hot stretched sprue. The pink Humbrol number 200. When I was nearly finished I discovered a glaring mistake. Can anyone see it?
My latest Braille scale model is the Curtiss HS2L. It is entirely scratch built except for the propeller which came from a white metal Modelissmo kit. This is the second HS2L I have scratch built, the first being 1:72 scale(see Scale Models Int'l Oct/Nov/2000). I have used scaled down plans from Windsock vol. 15 number 4. However these plans are all over the place and one has to double check all the demensions. I used Humbrol 126 for the grey and made my own chrome yellow using Humbrol 69 gloss yellow mixed with a bit of 19 red. The rigging is hot stretched sprue.
This is my first 1/72 model in sometime and my very first Swiss aircraft. I decided to go for 1/72 because I feel the Morane Saulnier AI was one of the great unsung aircraft produced during World War One. 1/144 scale would not have done it justice. Although the anti- monoplane prejudice prevailed against the AI it was proven after the War to have been an outstanding aeroplane. Just one example of it's quality was that in 1922, a Frenchman by the name of Fronval looped one no less than 1,111 times! It had a speed of 134 mph and was considered to be very maneuverable. Another reason I went for the AI was it's shape; it's fuselage is almost a cone. I started with a length of coat hanger wire and glued cirlular disks of 40 thou plastic sheet at the correct locations. This structure was then covered with long wedge shaped pieces of 15 thou plastic (see photo). Once dry I sanded it all around and used a minimum of filler to finish it off. The rest of the model was made of sheet plastci with Aerclub white metal parts. I made my own "Strutz" using 10 thou brass wire pounded flat over an anvil. The cowling was fashioned out of an Airfix Beaufighter spare part. The plans and colour scheme are from Windsock vol. 8, number 3. The completed model just goes to show how "plastic" plastic really is!
The model is scratch built out of sheet styrene, mostly 5, 10,and 20 thou. The rigging is of hot stretched sprue made as thin as I could manage. The plans are contempoary GA's found in Wibdsock vol.10 no. 5.
Kit: SCRATCH BUILT (1:144)
As far as I can determine I think the Handley Page V/1500 was the largest British aeroplane used by the Royal Air Force. The B 29 Washington was an American product. When building my model I used the 3 view drawings by D. Clayton found in Chaz Bowyer's book HANDLEY PAGE BOMBERS. I used sheet styrene plastic throughout and the only commercial items are the four wheels from Aeroclub. The four Rolls Royce Eagle engines are scratch built. I used corrugated plastic sheet glued together to make the cylinder banks and glued them to 80 thou thick engine blocks. The fuselage is typical slab and formers construction whilst the wings were made of 40 thou sheet and sanded from the top down to achieve the airfoil shape. The rib stations were made with a quick swipe of a scalpel blade. All the rigging is of hot stretched sprue. The overall colour is Humbrol number 98, chocolate. I'll say one thing; this model is a lot easier to display than the 1/72 one I made a few years ago. That one had a wingspan of nearly two feet!(see back cover of Windsock vol.13 number 5.)
A few months ago I asked for some suggestions of models to make and the Beardmore WB IV was one of those put forward. I remembered that Windsock International had featured the aircraft in an article including plans in volume 14, number 3. This was all I needed. The article described the WB IV as "ugly" but I find it rather elegant. With its built in float sponsons and moulded front cockpit it appears quite streamlined. The aircrft was designed to take off from a ship and if not landing on water it could jettison the landing gear and land in the water. It didn't work but it was an interesting effort at producing an efficient seaborne fighter. The pilot had a great view from the front mounted cockpit which was made possible by locating the 200 hp Hispanpo-Suiza engine behind the pilot like the Bell P-39 a generation later. Construction of the model was pretty straight forward;the slab sided fuselage has a plunge moulded front cockpit area and sponsons. The louvers behind the engine were bits of 15 thou sheet plastic and the exhausts bits of plastic tube. The wings were made of 40 thou sheet plastic formed ala Harry Woodman. For the PC 10 I chose Humbrol number 98 and number 71 for the CDL. All and all it turned out nicely. Any more sugestions out there? I'm all ears!
Just to stay with the topical colour that is going around i thought I'd submit this version of the Martinsyde Buzzard. It was used in the 1922 King's Cup air-race and nicknamed the "Mustardsyde." I used Datafile number 76 and the subject can be seen illustrated on the rear cover. The model was a pretty straight forward build using 15 thou sheet plastic for the fuselage and 40 thou wings curved in a Harry Woodman jig.
I scratch built this model using a 3 view general arrangement drawing I found in an old book called Warbirds: Military Aircraft of the First World War in Colour. I simply scaled down the drawings with a photo copier and started to work. It is all made out of styrene sheet of varying thicknesses. What was nice about the Ca.3 is the fact that there is so much detail to be seen in the central nacelle even in 1:144 scale. The most daunting part to contruct was the rear gunners pulpit. I never did figure out how to fashion the netting that goes around it. I have found that building aircraft in this scale is quite satisfying especially when the subject has a wingspan of 50 to 100 feet.
This months offering is the DH 9. I was inspired by the excellent photos on the wwi modelers photo site and the latest WW I aircraft acquired by the Imperial War Museum in Duxford. It is mostly scratch built except for the fuselage that was part of a Blue Rider decal set which included a DH 9 fuselage and was to be used in conjunction with an Airfix DH 4. kit. It is obviously a Pegasus product and needed a bit of hacking about but it turned out OK. The scheme is that found on the cover of Profile number 62, number 211 Squadron RAF. The PC 10 is Humbrol number 29 and the CDL is number 71 light oak. The wings and tail are sheet styrene ala Harry Woodman.
Kit: Pegasus (1:72)
"It's a Dolphin Jim, but not as we know it." A posting on the WWI Modelers website inspired me to build the Pegasus Dolphin 5 F.1 when it was mentioned that the French were going to use the Dolphin if the War had continued. It intrigued me to think that the Dolphin may have looked quite different from the normally drab RAF aircrsft. I only found one photo of an F5.1 used in France but even that just showed the nose and the wings undersurfaces. The roundels indicated that it was a French machine with a light colour on the undersurfaces. So with such a dearth of information I decided to use a scheme used on SPAD 13's in 1918 found in Windsock International volume 11, number6. Five colours were used with a light yellow for the undersurfaces. As it was a spurious colour scheme I decided to go all the way and applied the symbol of the famous Cigones to the fuselage. The kit is quite decent for an early Pegasus product and I was able to use most of the bits except for the Vickers guns which I replaced with Aeroclub items. All the paint is Humbrol; numbers 74, 120, 117, 98 and 94. All rigging is hot stretched sprue attached with white PVA glue.
Here is another Koolhoven design. The FK 10 was an elegant failure. The unusual quaruplane design had a fuselage of standard design with four staggarded wings mounted behind the pilot which gave him an excellent view. I built the fuselage around a central spine of 40 thou plastic sheet and split formers mounted to it. This construction was then covered in scored 10 thou sheet. I utiized a cowling/engine from a Sopwith Camel kit. The rest of the model is scratchbuilt.
My model of the month this time is the Martinsyde G 100 Elepant. This was my second 1/72 Elephant; the first one has ended up with RAF 72 Squadron in Yorkshire. The model depicted, 7472, was captured and flown by the Turks, hence the Turkish markings and the reason it is in Central Powers. A picture of it can be seen on page 12 of Datafile number 70. I started construction with the wings and as there is next to no under camber it was rather straight forward to sand two blanks of 40 thou plastic sheet to an airfoil section. However the rib layout on the G 100 made for a lot of scribing. Every other position had a rib tape so I scored it twice to get the right effect. I used Humbrol number 71 light oak for the CDL and brushed it on thick and thin to get the varigated effect of doped linen. The nose was plunge formed over a wooden plug. The rest of the construction was the normal Harry Woodman method. I joined the lower wing panels together with brass wire which allowed me to build the wing cell as a unit and attach it to the completed fuselage. The most difficult part was getting the airscoops in the front fuslage cowling made. The Elephant actually had the radiator housed inside behind the engine and therefore needed the extra cooling vents. The wooden panels were made from cigar liner mahagony. As it is quite fine grained I think it worked out OK scale-wise. I found the G 100 an interesting and large subject for a fighter aircraft.
Kit: Blue Rider (1:72)
My model this month is the Vickers FB 2 Gunbus. I finally made a kit! Not that there is much in a kit of the FB 2. I used the wings, nacelle and metal bits but the rest is scratch built. After seeing the thread about clear doped linen on the WWI Modeling Page I tried to achieve a CDL effect on the wings and tailplane. I did this by simulating ribs and spars on the flying surfaces undersides using a soft lead pencil. I also applied roundels to the underside of the top wing before painting the surfaces with Humbrol number 71 light oak. The roundels received about four coats before I was satisfied that it appeared as though it was showing through a layer of doped fabric. Tamiya silver leaf was used on the nacelle metal bits. All rigging was done with hot stretched sprue. I have included a picture of the Gunbus with another Vickers product, the 1931 COW gun fighter, to show how 15 years after the introduction of the FB 2 the pusher layout was still a strong influence in the Vickers Company. Paint the Vickers 161 in PC 10 and you'd swear it came from 1918!
A few weeks ago a listee, whose identity will remain unknown, sent me some nice plans for the Le Pere Lusac. This aeroplane was the only indigenous fighter aircraft produced in America to make it to the front in World War One. Although it came too late to see any action it later became an important experimental aircraft. One version equiped with a supercharger actually reached the altitude of 34,000 feet; amazing for 1921! The Lusac was a fairly easy model to scratch build. The interplane struts are in one piece, similar to the old Airfix Pup and Avro 504 kits, whilst the wings have no under-camber and no dihedral. I made the fuslage in the normal way with slab sides and formers. The complex decking, eapecially around the rear cockpit, was made by carving a wooden plug the full length and plunge forming the deck with 15 thou plastic sheet heated over a candle. I hand painted the varigated camouflage pattern. No two examples of the LUSAC appear to be the same so I just let the paint flow. The guns, wheels and prop are Aeroclub items. The exhaust pipes came from the spares box. Just for fun, I constucted a supercharger out of a vacform wheel and stuck it on the nose of the model. It may not be 100% accurate but it gives an idea of what the experimental types looked like.
I have come across the Boeing MB 3A pursuit plane several times whilst perusing volume one of Scale Aircraft Drawings. The MB 3A attracted me but I kept putting it off. Then recently it caught my eye again and I decided to go for it. According to the blurb in the book, the MB 3A was designed by Thomas Morse in 1918 but only took to the skies by early 1919, too late for the conflict of World War One. Although over 200 were produced by the fledgling Boeing Aircraft Company the MB 3A must be one of the most undocumented aircraft in the United States Air Service of the 1920's. I found next to no information on the type in my research and even the U.S. Air Force Museum website yielded no photos. So I was dependent upon the drawings in the Scale Aircraft Drawings volume. But even they are suspect as Joseph Nieto admitted he had few references to go by when doing the drawings. The Thomas Morse Company had the license for the SPAD VII design so it is no surprise that the MB 3A resembles the French fighter. Because the aicraft used the 340 hp Hispano Suiza engine, it has a rather more bulbous nose than the SPAD. The wing cord too is over a foot wider and gives the aeroplane a tubby appearance. I made the model in my usual manner using many of Harry Woodman's methods. The complex nose was plunge formed over a wooden mould. The stream lined shapes around the cylinder banks were fabricated out of sprue sanded to shape. The basic olive drab is Humbrol number 117 and the struts are Contrail material from Aeroclub. If anyone has more information on this rare bird I'd appreciate hearing about it. I can always do another one.....
I built this model after seeing some nice examples of the aircraft in the WWI Gallery. Having read most of what Harry Woodman has to say on the subject I decided to do the Type B Muromets as his plans are the best available. I reduced his 1:72 plans from the Datafile Special, Classics of WWI Aviation, Ilya Muromets Type Veh. Everything is scratch built; wheels, engines, radiators, guns, fuel tanks and propellers. The fuel tanks were covered with brass coloured foil attached with tacky varnish. I plunge formed the blunt nose from clear plastic and applied painted decal for the framing. The wings are of one piece construction and an airfoil acheived by sanding from the top down. All rigging is hot streched sprue.
Kit: scratchbuilt (1:144)
My inspiration to scratchbuild the NC-4 came about while reading about the aircraft in the Time-Life Aviation Series. When I looked for more information on the NET I found Mike Robinson's beautiful 1:48 scale model. From there I went to the Windsock plans of the NC-1 found in volume 12,number3. The demensions were the same but the engine arrangement was totally different. This is where Mike's photos came in handy. The NC-4 really was a "flying boat." All it consisted of was a hull with two wings! My hull was constructed using a central spine and formers with 10 thou plastic sheet wrapped around it. A bit of filler smoothed out any edges. The wings are curved sheet plastic ala Harry Woodman with etched rib stations. I built the wing cell as a unit and attached it to the hull before making up the tail and supporting booms. The latter were made from flattened soft flower arrangement wire. The tractor engine nacelles were made of FIMO whilst the push-pull engine nacelle was made of sheet plastic. As the model is quite big even in 1/144, I was able to use Contrail strut material. All the rigging is hot stretched sprue. The NC-4 was a really huge aeroplane with the same span as the Handley Page V/1500. Although large it was a relatively simple project; as mentioned before it is a boat with two wings. By the way, I made the model in ten days, between 21 July and 1 August, 2006.
The Nieuport 12 has always been one of my favorites after first seeing it about 50 years ago in one of my Dad's True magazines; remember those?! I built a balsa one back then. This time it is scratch built with plastic sheet and a few Aeroclub items. I didn't have plans until I saw the three view illustration on the cover of Windsock vol. 9 number 6 by Viktor Kuilkov. I scaled them out to 1/72 with a photocopier and proceeded to build the Nieuport 12. I'm embarassed to say that I surprised myself when I found that the model was ready to paint within two days of when I started! I wasn't working flat out either. Be that as it may it turned out nicely. I used Tamiya spray paint; Bare Metal Silver for the fabric and Bright Silver for the metal parts. The roundels came from a Blue Rider sheet.
Two wings good, four wings better. That may be true but by the time I finished this model it was more like "four wings bad!" The Billings-Pemberton P.B.31c was built to counter the Zeppelin menace. The quadruplane layout meant more lift to enable the aeroplane to reach the high altitude at which the Zeppelins flew. The 31c was to be equiped with the 1 1/2 pounder recoiless Davis gun and a searchlight in the nose. By 1916 the Billing-Pemberton Company had changed its name to Supermarine Aviation. Now designated the Nighthawk, two 31c's were ordered by the Royal Navy. In the event only one was built and found to be wholly unsuited for its intended role, primarily because of the poor performance of the Anzani radial engines. Modelling the Nighthawk proved to be quite a challenge, not least because of the dearth of information on the beast. I found some small drawings on the internet and only two usable photos. But I perservered and came up with what you see. The four wings are made of 40 thou platic sheet with only the top wing having a camber. The fuselage is just slabs and formers with a clear area made of clear sheet plastic plunge moulded over a carved wooden plug. Rigging was a real pig; it was like building 3 biplanes at once! The fact that the rigging on the Nighthawk went through the wings didn't help matters. I chose to paint it with Humbrol number 41 light grey as the only two photos indicated a painted finish. Although difficult the model turned out OK and I'm glad I did it. It may not be perfectly accurate but with the limited information availabe it's the best I could come up with. The model is completely scratch built except for a few Aeroclub items. Definitely one of my more unusual subjects and how else can one get a Supermarine aircraft in a World War One collection!
The submarine scouts were put into service early in World War One and served throughout the war. They had a rubberized fabric envelope which contained hydrogen filled gasbags. Used mainly for anti submarine patrols the so called "blimps" were also used on some clandestine spying missions. Early craft utilized a standard BE2c fuselage whilst later ones had custom designed control gondolas. My envelope was built around a toy sausage balloon covered with newsprint paper soaked in thinned down PVA glue. The eppenage is of 15 thou sheet styrene. The BE2c Ian Stair plans came from an old Scale Models International article on the type. All the rigging is hot stretched sprue. The 65 ETA patches were cut out of stock white paper and glued into position with white glue. My model represnts the only BE2c equipped submarine scout to survive the war. For more information on blimps see Windsock volume 9, number 3 and Aeroplane Monthly May 1982. As a lighter than air subject the submarine scouts aren't too large even in 1/72 scale.
It's a Jenny Jim, but not as we know it. Yes here it is finally. Discussions about Jennies inspired me back in August to scratch build the Twin Jenny but a holiday and then a garage conversion intervened to delay the project. I had the model 75% finished when some one said they had drawings but by that time I had used a profile from the Ardpol kit of the aeroplane and the demensions I had gotten off the Web to make my own plans. I also found that some spares from one of the Olimp Jennies came in very handy too. The radiators and undercarriage came from there whilst the wheels are Aeroclub items. I gave the model a scheme that would have been seen on JN 4 D's of the period but was probably not used in reality. The OX 5 engines are scratch built from 80 thou plastic sheet and bits of sprue. I have only seen a couple examples of the completed Ardpol product but to me they appeared a bit heavy and chunky compared to the real aeroplane. The shot of the Twin Jenny with a JN 4D is of the early Pegasus kit made several years ago.
I have entered this aircraft as a World War One subject because of it's ancestry. The Westland Wapiti was an improved DeHavilland DH 9a. Westland, who had built many DH 9a's under license had a great number of wings and other components in stock when in 1927 the RAF submitted Specification 26/27 for a DH 9a replacement. What better way to use up all the bits than build another DH 9a and call it the Wapiti(Canadian Elk)? Also many RAF stations throughout the Empire held a large quatity of Nine-Ack parts. The order went to Westland and a new type of DH 9a came into existence. With this pedigree I reckon the Wapiti is closer to World War One than the betweenies or World War Two types. As you can see in the photos the resemblance to the DeHavilland DH 9a is clear. The model is scratch built using Harry Woodman's methods with Aeroclub engine, propeller, guns, bombs and wheels. I used Tamiya Silver leaf toned down with a mixture of Future/Klear and Tamiya White Base for the fabric areas. The corrugated fuselage panels were made by scraping 5 thou sheet plastic with a razor saw. The scheme is that of RAF 30 Squadron in Irag during the late 1920's. Although a World War One type, the Wapiti was still in service as late as 1942; surely one of the longest serving aircraft anywhere.