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Kit: C.A.Atkins (1:72)
Not quite WW1 but close enough to be of interest. This unusual white metal kit was quite a challenge to build. No decals were supplied with the kit and so homemade decals were designed and printed on to microscale trimfilm. The spoked wheels were scratchbuilt from various grades of wire.
Kit: n/a (1:48)
Many years ago I got fed up with spending my work lunchtimes mooching about and decided I could find something useful to do in my lunch hour. The next day I took a pile of plasticard, plastic rods and other standard modeling equipment in to the office and began work on this BE2c. I had little in the way of references other than Ian Stairs plans to work from and the little I could scratch from the internet so I'm sure anybody in the know could pick it full of holes. It took about about a year to build, and still sits on the window sill in my office. Of course it's now got some company (a Bleriot, Spad, Albatros & Avro to name but a few) but it is still the model that gets commented on most frequently.
Kit: ? (1:72)
This model of BE2e no.7086, 52 Sqn RFC, Spring 1917, was my first attempt at a Resin kit some years ago.I do not know who the original manufacturer of the kit is as I bought a pair of BE2e kits packed in an unmarked and instructionless box for a bargain price. The upper wing and tail were scratchbuilt from plasticard as the original parts were badly warped and I was not aware that this could be fixed with hot water at the time. The decals came from my spares box. In hindsight I think there should be a white diamond or zigzag on the fuselage stringers. The second kit of the pair is yet to be built. I always planned to convert it to a BE2c or d.
Kit: Eduard (1:72)
This is an old model of the venerable Eduard 1/72 Sopwith Baby, serial no.8165. This was one of my earliest attempts at creating a wood grain which failed dismally. The lewis gun was a spare from one of the old Toko kits and the propeller was hand carved from wood. The kits headrest was removed as a photo of 8165 suggested that no headrest was present on the original machine. Maybe one day I'll repaint the floats with a better simulated woodgrain effect.
Kit: Roden (1:72)
This was my first attempt at the Roden Camel. Built out of the box, with the exception of replacments for the undersized interplane struts, in the Colours of presentation aircraft no.7149 of Turnhouse Naval School.
Kit: Kayara (1:72)
Kayara 1/72 scale Fairey Campania, N2363, once again built out of the box.
This is the standard non-profipack version of Eduard 'little' DH2. It was built alsmost completely out of the box with the exception of the scratch built wicker chair. This DH2 represents no.7851 of no.32 Squadron.
Kit: CMR (1:72)
This is the very nice upgraded Dolphin kit from CMR, built as C4131, 79 sqn. The kit was built out of the box using the kit decals.
Kit: Chorozy Modelbud (1:72)
Chorozy Modelbud 1/72 scale F5L. Ok not strictly WW1 but close enough to be of interest. A full build article of this model can be found in Vol12 / Iss 5 (May06) of SAMI and also Vol 35 no.415 (Oct05) of SMI.
Kit: Phoenix (1:72)
This is the Phoenix vacform, which is a nice little kit and fun to build. I made a few alterations to the fuselage, added underwing rib detail, added an Aeroclub Lewis gun and replaced the engine with an item from my spares box. The decals are from the kit, except for the 'N1' fuselage markings which were homemade as the kit examples are provided on a white background and are oversized. The beaching dolly is scratchbuilt from plasticard and spares bits and pieces.
This is the Roden 1/72 SE5a kit built in the post war colours of no.320 (ex RAF F7783)which was part of an imperial gift to the South African Air force. I originally began building this model in standard PC10 wartime colours but had all sorts of nasty problems with the kit decals. After a long period of the unfinished model being abandoned and avoided the PC10 was eventually stripped way and refinished in silver dope. Decals came from my spares box.
Kit: Aeroclub (1:72)
Aeroclub 1/72 scale Short 184, no. 842 which I'm sure needs no introduction. Built by Short bros. First aircraft to torpedo an enemy vessel..blah...blah...blah. 'Built out of the box', with the usual scratchbuilt enhancements
Kit: Airfix (1:72)
This little Spad was built for one of our informal club competitions, the goal was to build and attempt to improve a kit that was over 40 years old without resorting to aftermarket upgrades (with the exception of decals). As a result the original basic kit (originally tooled in 1967) was given a bit of a makeover. The obvious place to start was the wings, which were sanded down and skinned with scored 5 thou plasticard. The tail was scratchbuilt. The 'cylinder humps' on the fuselage were modified to improve the shape and shutters were added to the radiator while a new cockpit was scratchbuilt. I used a prop, MG and wheels from my spares box. The decals were from a Kajaro sheet that came with a Spad VII book and the Pegasus french roundel sheet. All in all I was fairly satified with the end result, especially as it was one of the first times I'd used an airbrush. The model came third in the club comp behind an Aurora DH10 and an Airfix Mirage.
This is my model of the Roden Camel trench fighter kit. The figures (Dick and Dom) came from a box of polythene WW1 pilots and aircrew, I'm not sure of the manufacturer. The muddy grass effect was made with milliput and acrylic paints.
This is the Roden Albatros D.III finished in the colours of Lt.Werner Voss, Jasta 2 - 1917. Built straight out of the box with the exception of the decals which had to be sourced due to the major problems with the original kit decals
Kit: Revell (1:72)
This was a reasonably quick build of the new Revell tooling. The decals are homemade; I used Michael Franklins Fokker Fonts for the serial numbers which were printed on to microscale clear decal paper. Otherwise the model is strictly out of the box. For shear enjoyment and ease of build I think I'd prefer the Revell Dr.1 to Eduards if only they would mould it in a sensible colour.
Kit: Skybirds '86 (1:72)
Another build for Mike Eacock of one of his last and most ambititious kits. The model has been built virtually out of the box, although a few changes were required as this particular subject is one of the Friedrichshafen built G.IIs, while the kit is based on the Daimler version. The nose art was hand painted on to the supplied outlined decal. The weight table was home made as this was not included on the decal sheet
This is the Roden tooling with the addition of Techmod Decals built for a 'First Blitz' display at the Nationals in the markings of 405/16 with the personal sash of Oblt Von Thotha, deputy commander of Kagohl 3. I did not find this a particularly easy kit to build, especially in the early stages of the build, mainly because of the poor fit of parts and the amount of surgery required for the G.IV version. That said the kit does build up in to a very nice looking Gotha. I made very few additions to the original kit, the most notable being the propeller guards made from an old seive. Looking at the photographs I've just realised that I've forgotten to add stone guards to the undercarriage.
CMR 1/72 scale Hansa Brandenburg W.12/V with the long fuselage no.2108 from an unidentified unit, North Sea, 1918. Built out of the box with just the addition of an Aeroclub Parabellum MG.
Kit: Choroszy Modelbud (1:72)
This is a nice little kit of the late WW1 Austro Hungarian 2 seater, built out of the box. The C.1 continued to fly for many years after the war in the Swedish Airforce where it was known as a 'Dront'. As I understand it this was a not a very complementary nickname.
Kit: Scratchbuilt (1:72)
This is one of my favorite of the German R-types. As far as I'm aware RS.III was the only R-type flying boat to go in to active service during WW1. My orginal plan was to build the RS.III and the other three Dornier R-types as 1/144 models, but the RS.III ended up evolving in to a 1/72 scale giant. The model is predominantly built from plasticard, although the engines are the four spare Maybachs from the first Roden Staaken kit. Mike Eacock was kind enough to supply me with some spare etched brass and white metal parts from his skybird kits which saved me having to scratchbuild parts like steer wheel control columns and gun rings. The model took six months to build.
Kit: Skybirds 86 (1:72)
This is the first of a series of Skybirds'86 models that I am building for Mike Eacock, who tooled these beautiful kits from the mid eighties up until about 1998 before throwing in the towel. This kit, consisting of resin and white metal parts also includes more than enough brass strutz to complete the model and rubber tyres. The quality of the mouldings is as good as anything I have seen from Eastern Europe and the model is fairly easy to build. The model was built out-of the box with just a few of the Elsernes Kreuz's being replaced because of slightly over-sized originals. The splinter camouflage scheme is based on approximate colours detailed in a british report on a captured Rumpler from the same batch as this aircraft which seemed to tie up with the what I could visually see from the two photographs printed in the Windsock datafile. However there are many different interpretations of this particular aircrafts colour scheme and I would advise anybody building a Rumpler C.IV to do as mush research as possible and then make an executive descision as there is no definitive correct answer. It was also difficult to determine from the photographs whether the cowling stripes are paint or weathering. I decided to interpret the stripes as part of the paint scheme.
This is the Roden kit built out of the box using the kit lozenge and markings. This is certainly the biggest model in terms of size I've ever attempted and I was very pleased with the finished result.
I'm sure this machine needs no introduction as being Lt.Friedrich Kempfs machine, 213/17 of Jasta Boelcke. This was the Eduard profipack built from the box with kit decals.