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Kit: Roden (1:48)
Here is my attempt at the splendiferous Roden Brisfit. I love the Bristol Fighter, to me it is THE WWI aircraft. The fact that this great kit has another kit within it in the form of the engine, which is lovely, is just a bonus, really. This is McKeever's aircraft, and I hope I have got the colours right on the details. If anyone knows otherwise please correct me I would be happy to put it right. I have overdone the shading on the underside and maybe the linen is too yellow. I really ought to colour the rigging I suppose. It might even have been a good idea to have done it before installing it. The rigging is clear nylon? thread through holes drilled in the wings etc with a .3mm drill bit and secured with cyano. Paints are Humbrol and Games workshop. The decals are kit decals and were difficult but useable. Not yet quite mad enough to attempt turnbuckles but I hope to be that far gone soon with the help of this site. I wouldn't know how accurate the colours are, but it looks okay to my heathen eye. I really enjoyed this kit it's a big model. The WNW KIT MUST BE COLOSSAL. I really look forward to building the Eduard kit to see the difference. It doesn't have the beautiful Rolls Royce engine for a start.
Kit: PLANET MODELS (1:48)
Excellent, easily buildable resin kit from Planet Models. Heart stoppingly expensive like most resin kits, but got this one dirt cheap. Beautiful pin-sharp resin pieces, but still not quite the same class as Karaya. I don't know how accurate this kit is, but it looks like the few pictures I have seen of this WWI U.S. trainer. The paint is mixed Tamiya silver and a light grey. I hope it's not too wide of the mark colour-wise. IIRC was this not based on the Bristol Scout or is my memory hallucinating? Kind of sort of maybe looks a bit like one.
Kit: EDUARD (1:48)
This is the Eduard non profi Nie.16 from the Escadrille N.3 double kit. Got to be one of the best boxes of kit that Eduard has ever put out. I found it to be a really relaxed build that went together effortlessly. Until the windscreen got sucked up the Dyson. Had to make another from a scrap of plastic packaging. It is the aircraft of Sous lt. Bocquet, July 1916. The model was airbrushed with Games Workshop acrylics over halfords grey car primer and Alclad for the cowl and rigged with stretched sprue. The decal sheet in this kit is quite amazing. Six aircraft options. Again, not sure I've got the colours absolutely right or even a bit right, I trawled the gallery to get an idea of Nieuport colours and then did my best guess....
Kit: Aeroclub (1:48)
Here's the Aeroclub vac & white metal kit of the Sopwith Pup. This kit was finished three years ago and I've just been waiting to fix a few popped wires. The kit is was an absolute pleasure to build, though being a vac anyone can get sick of sanding stuff when you've done it for long enough, only to find there's a liiitle bit further to go. The wings have upper and lower halves so getting the trailing edges anything like thin was always going to be a chore, but I think they look o.k. in a could do better next time sort of way. Rigged with clear thread painted dark, the struts are the plastic strut material supplied in the kit. This was only my third vac kit and it was an encouraging choice because it is a very 'user friendly' kit, as far as a vac kit can be. The paints are humbrol enamels, the decals are the super armoured decals that were with the kit. It will be intersting to compare it with the old Eduard kit.
Kit: Gavia (1:48)
Really sweet Gavia kit. This was not the simple build I hoped it would be, due to the top wing getting sheared off in a tragic 'user incompetence while rigging' accident. I think it came out o.k. all things considered. The paint is humbrol over some marker pen lines to give an impression of the structure. The weathering on the wings and fus. is ground up chalk pastel dust rubbed on with cotton buds (q-tips) and stiff brush. Rigged with stretched sprue. Great kit like the Eduard Nieuport goes together nice and easy, unless you rip the top wing off with klumsy mitz. Like I did. . .
The Roden Sopwith Strutter. A lovely kit, though the clear plastic for the airframe will no doubt have surprised a few. The idea is a good one, maybe offputting for anyone who is not expecting it. This model is about 5 years old, though I still really like it. This model has just had a lot of damaged rigging repaired/replaced. The rigging is stretched sprue, a method I rarely use these days, I just prefer drilling tiny 'oles and threading them with clear thread, it's easier and quicker, I think, than measuring with calipers and trying to heat shrink sprue only to find that the damn stuff melts through. It was airbrushed with humbrols and the kit decals were used with vey minimal fuss for earlier Roden decals.