Up | Chez Joel Christy | Gallery | Home
Kit: scratch built (1:144)
I actually built this AEG G IV a month before the recent "Club build" but I couldn't resist posting it. Like most of my recent builds it is in 1:144 scale. I used scaled down plans from the AEG G IV Datafile. For the hexagonal lozenge I converted some Meikraft 1:72 scale marine lozenge from their HB W.29. I touched up some of it with Humbrol number 144 medium blue and 67 tank grey. Once the decal was applied I coated the wings and tail with Tamiya Smoke to tone it down even more. I felt the pattern was pretty close to the type used on G IV's. The rest of the model was painted with number 15 midnight blue. The engines were fashioned out of Fimo and baked in an oven. The rigging is hot stretched sprue. Working in this scale makes me think that 1:72 scale projects are huge; small is beautiful!
Kit: Chorozsy (1:72)
This all resin kit is not for the faint hearted! It is a pretty heavy model and the fuselage to wing cell attachment is a bit daunting. I'd also say they could have come up with a better arrangement for the propeller outriggers, Other than that it is quite an impressive model
Kit: Scratch built (1:144)
The model is scratch built from Styrene sheet; mostly .5, 10,20 and 40 thou. The plans are scaled down GA's from Datafile number 73. Being a rather boxy construction, the FF 33S was fairly easy to model. The wings made of 40 thou plastic were sanded from the top down to get a airfoil and the rib stations made with a quick swipe of a sharp scalpel blade. The trainer "S" type is based on the profile on the rear cover of the Datafile.
Kit: scratch built (1:72)
This model is a complement to my L-10 Zeppelin that you may have seen in the December 2006 Internet Modeler. As the Zeppelin was onlt about 1:288 scale little could be seen of the details, ergo I decided to do a big gondola in 1/72, I enlarged the same old plans from the November 1975 Scale Models article to start my project. Then I found a detailed contemporary photo on a gondola in Pictorial History of the German Army Air Service by Alex Imrie which when combined with two interior views of a World War One control gondola (painted by Felix Schwormsadt during a mission over England in 1915) found in the book Hindenberg by Rick Archbold I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to do. The complex hull shape was made using a styrene ice cream tub to get the front section whilst the cureved rear section was created by cuvring some 20 thou sheet and gluing them to a central spine. The roof was made by plunge forming 20 thou sheet over a hardwood plug. The internal structure simulating the duralumin girders was made simply with thin strips cut from corrugated box material and sprayed silver. The insruments are small round strips of gold foil coated with white glue. The figures are old white metal German air crew figures I had lying around. I used Tamiya Bare Metal spray for the main colour. The details inside are speculative but are meant to represent a typical control gondola. There is a Maybach engine in the rear section but it is all but invisible. I mounted the comlpeted gondola on a 1/72 scale section of the airship hull. Remember,in that scale the hull would be a foot in diametre and nearly 9 feet long! Four bamboo scewers form the legs of the display.
I decided to try something different and put two Albatros aircraft on to contrast them. The two I have chosen are the Albatros C XII and the J.2; the former has been called the most attractive two seater of the War, whilst the latter has been called the ugliest. Unusual soubriquets as they both evolved out of a long peidgree of two seaters. I myself find the J.2 the more interesting of the two and as for attractiveness to me no World War One aircraft is ughly! For each model I used different plans and techniques. I scaled down the old Joystick plans for the C XII and made the fuselage out of FIMO. For the J.2 the plans came from Aircraft Archive vol.2 and the fuselage was constructed using the normal slab sides and formers technique. The armour plating on the J.2 was made of 5 thou styrene sheet and attached using super glue to prevent the plastic from melting. The rest of the construction, ie. the wings and tail surfaces were made of plastic sheet scribed with a scalpel blade to get the rib stations. I wanted to make late war types so I needed to cover the flying surfaces with lozenge. I decided to use 1/72 decal and rib tapes. By the time everything was all on I found the overall effect quite satisfying. Mind you, if anyone comes out with 1/144 scale lozenge I will be the first to buy it!
The Friedrichshafen G IIIa will have to be one of the last German bombers I make; there aren't any left to do! The Fdh G IIIa has always been one of my favorite aircraft. As a kid a hundred years ago, I built a balsa and tissue one in "Guillow scale" that was over a metre in span. This little speciman is all of 16 cm. I feel the Fdh G III is a much more elegant machine than any of the Gothas or other German giants. And that nose wheel gives it just that little something..... My model is based on the Datafile number 65 drawings that I scaled down to 1/144 on a photocopier. The fuselage is normal slab and former construction with the nose turret being made of 5 thou sheet curved around the top and bottom of the fuselage nose. The wing blanks were made of 40 thou plastic sheet and sanded from the top down to achieve and airfoil shape. The engine nacelles are of FIMO and the struts made of beaten brass wire flattened to shape. I used some old 1/72 Allmark night lozenge for the Friedrichshafen as I reckoned it would be close to the 1/144 size used on larger aircraft. It seems to look OK. The most difficult part was splitting the 1/72 rib tapes to be 1/144 size; they were very delicate. Other than that I think it turned out fairly well and it looks good with my other German giants.
After all this "steaky Fokkers stuff I present my rendition of the Fokker D VIII. I used the plans found in the Harleyford Fighter Aircraft of the 1914-1918 War book. The fuselage is slab on formers construction and the cowling is made of FIMO. For the wing I decided to use Harry Woodman's method of sandwiching a balsa core between a folded sheet of 10 thou styrene sheet and held together with double sided tape. I did this in order to achieve the complex Fokker thick wing profile. I think it worked out OK even in 1/144. The subtle rib stations were made by embossing the plastic on the inside before sealling it all up. I felt my normal method of scribing ribs would stand out too much. The colour scheme is that of Theo Osterkamp's E.V from late 1918. The wing as you can see is solid green with no streaks! I used Humbrol number light olive.
I have posted a few shots of this diorama at the request of Neil Crawford who has seen it elsewhere. Also on 8 November, 2005, Fred Hultberg posted some great pictures of a German factory diorama seen on the Large Scale Airplanes site. My take on the factory has two Eduard sripdowns, two Fokker E III's, one Revell and one scratch built. The figures are all remodelled Airfix items. The scene is entirely imaginary but is supposed to represent a typical German factory scene. I like dioramas myself but they aren't everyones' cup of tea; strange.....
Kit: Scratch (1:144)
The Gotha G IV is entirely scratch built from styrene plastic sheet, sizes 10, 15 and 40 thou. Even in 1:144 it was fairly easy to build. I airbrushed Humbrol number 67 tank grey over number 144 medium blue. Note that as it is an LVG Gotha it has a different rudder. For plans, I scaled down the 1:72 scale ones found in the Datafile special, Gotha! The rigging is hot streched sprue.
Kit: Rareplanes (1:72)
I did this conversion a few years ago and a tiny picture of it appeared in Windsock International. What got my interest was a short illustrated article by John Guttman entitled Gotha's Eccentric G.VI found in WS vol.9 number 5. The article was quite good in respect to giving accurate dimensions and the photos gave one a fairly good idea of the aircraft's layout. The author also gave the impression that there was really no good reason at all for ther aeroplane's design! I used the old Rareplanes vacform as a basis for the model. The engines and wheels were Aeroclub items whilst the rest of the conversion was scratch built. Actually the original kit was my first vacform ever. In 1988 I made it into a G IV. A few years later I turned it into a G V and gave it the full night lozenge treatment and now it is a G VI! The serial number is based on what was described in the article and I made a spurious identity stripe using information gleaned from a profile found in the Datafile Special Gotha. It may have been an"eccentric" design but I bet Dick Rutan would have been all for it!
I scratchbuilt the Gotha G.1 battlebomber when the Datafile number 83 came out in 2000. Designed by Friedel-Ursinus, the G.1 was not really related to the bombers we usually associate with the word "Gotha." It was intended to be a battleplane that could defend itself but events proved otherwise. It became a bomber and did help pave the way for the development of the German Bogohl(bomber squadron). The model is made up of sheet styrene. The wings were shaped using the Harry Woodman method of immersing the wing blanks into hot water. The fuselage is made up of slabs and formers. The wing celluel is sandwiched between the fuselage and the cockpit decking. The engine nacelles are plunge formed over a hardwood plug. The only commercial items from Aeroclub are the wheels, propellers, engines and guns. The latter are made using Vickers MG breeches with Spandau barrels. To quote the Datafile author,P.M. Groz, "Perhaps the nicest thing one can say about the Friedel-Ursinus Kamfflugzeug is that for modellers it makes a unique project that shpild bring many hours of challenges and enjoyment." To that I can only say, "hear, hear."
Kit: Contrail (1:72)
With all the recent fuss over the soon to be released Roden Staaken R VI I thought it might be interesting to have a look at the old Contrail vacform I built about eight years ago. I found it at an IPMS(UK) Nationals sans plans. Ray Rimell kindly sent me his copy and the Windsock article on building the Contrail kit. The lozenge pattern is hand painted using a stencil based on the Americal-Gryphon Giant Bomber decal. It certainly is a big subject for World War One being only a metre shorter in wingspan than the Boeing B 29! The figures are various Airfix ones adapted to appear as German personel.
I decided to do a Staaken R IV after seeing a profile of one in the book Warbirds: Military Aircraft of the First World War, a reprint of an Italian publication. It also had an interesting history of the type. As a basis I used the SRAM 1:144 scale plans from their kit of which I had also done an article for Internet Modeler(see February 2004). The profile in the book just happened to be 1:144 so I was away. Starting with the fuselage I plunge formed the nose whilst the rest of it was done in a conventional slab over formers technique. The wings were traced over 40 thou sheet styrene and an airfoil was achieved by sanding from the top down. I used a combination of Microscale and Pegasus 1:72 scale 4 colour lozenge. The engine nacelles were made of baked FIMO. Since there is little documentation on the R IV I have had to speculate on some of the details. Years ago the Smithsonian Institute did a great 1:16 model of an R IV and I received some inspiration from there. This particular aeroplane, R 12/15, operated through most of the war and was used on both the Eastern and Western fronts that included taking part in one of the raids over London during which it survived a collision whith a balloon cable. It had six engines; two in each nacelle and two in the nose. I have shown one photo with a 50p coin to show that it really is in 1:144 scale! The "pair of stockings" photo shows the R IV next to the SRAM R VI.
I built this model a little while ago but never got around to putting it up on the Gallery. I based my Taube on the Colin Owers plans found in Windsock vol.8, number 3. They are quite good I think as I used them for an Albatros Taube in 1/72 scale. The model is entirely scratch built of plastic card. The wings are folded over a wire spare with part of the underside only one thickness of 5 thou plastic. The plastic was given a curve by rolling it over a round shape to give it a permanent curl. All the rigging is hot stetched sprue. I think it shows what can be done with complex rigging on even a small scale like 1/144.