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This is the Wings72 vacuform kit in 1/72nd. It was built 10+ years ago as a gaming piece. All strut work was scratch built. The wheels and prop were scavenged from the "parts box". This model was rigged with wire that was painted aluminum. This was a nicer vac as it had both upper and lower wing panels. It was a bit of a bear to get them all sanded down thin enough to look decent glued together.
Revell kit in 1/72nd. It was built 10+ years ago as a gaming piece. I was going for a "factory finish" look with this one.
Merlin kit in 1/72nd. It was built 10+ years ago as a gaming piece. Another one that's been banged around a lot. I did not have color/camo reference at the time, so I just winged it.
Kit: Scratch (1:48)
This is my interpretation of a Lloyd 40.16. This aircraft was the next experimental in line after the infamous triplane. The 40.16 was designed to maximize pilot visibility. The top wing was mounted directly to the gap filling fuselage to increase the pilot's visibility above. The lower wing was situated back on the fuselage to give the pilot a very wide field of view forward and down. All wing bracing was accomplished by four airfoil shaped wooden slats. Only two rigging wires were used externally, those being on the landing gear. All control wires were to be internal. The production aircraft was to have plywood skinned wings, with the top having cantilever ends for control. The prototype had semi-conventional wings with a ply center section, CDL wings, and typical ailerons. My depiction shows how the A/C would have looked if produced, abandoning the cantilever control for conventional ailerons. The prototype did compete in the fighter trials of Early 1918 where test pilots and experienced pilots from the front were to fly all aircraft and report on each. There are no records of the Lloyd 40.16 receiving any such commentary.
Every June the IPMS-USA West Central Missouri chapter holds a club contest. All members who want to participate are given a kit at the May meeting and have one month to build it in any way they see fit. This year, the club chose the exquisite 1/48th scale Tamiya Pershing. At this point in my modeling life, I don't have much interest in tanks, so I poured through my reference material looking for a small, slab sided WWI A/C with little or no rigging that I could complete in one month. The Lloyd 40.16 was the only subject I could find that met all these requirements.
I used the tracks to make the wings. The port and starboard sides of the tank hull to make the fuselage sides. The wooden slats were made from the Pershing's track fenders as were the tail components. The photoetch interior is the Airwaves Albatros DV with considerable alterations. The radiator is an unmodified engine cover grill from the Pershing. The metal engine access panels were the radiators from the Airwaves PE chopped up and glued to 10 thousandths sheet. The wheels, exhaust, and prop are all Aeroclub. Stretched sprue was used for the cockpit combing. Aeroclub strut material was used for the landing gear. My original intent was to use wood decals on the kit, but the decals I have (Tauro and another) are of very large grain and look more suitable for 1/32 or 1/48th scale. So, I played around a bit on cardboard coming up with a suitable painting technique. I first primed everything with Tamiya fine primer. Next, I airbrushed Tamiya Desert Sand. I then dry brushed an artist oil over the top. I think it was Burnt Umber, which looks okay, but next time I do wood, I think I will mix in another layer of a lighter colored oil. I then went back over it with a clean stiff square brush to even into a full wood type graining. To bring out more variation in color after this, I went back over it with a fan brush moistened with mineral spirits. After letting all this dry, I brushed on a coat of Future. National insignia decals were from spares. Type designator numbers were individuals taken from the Americal-Gryphon Gotha G.IV sheet. The cellon covered fuselage cutouts were simulated with Micro Crystal Clear.
This was my first and only attempt at a Renwal kit. It was built 10+ years ago as a gaming piece. I used all the parts in the kit, including the "aeroskin". I then painted the entire model silver. This model has been repaired more times than I care to count.
This is the Airfix Roland C.II in 1/72nd. It was built 10+ years ago as a gaming piece. I tried using "craft" type acrylic paint on this kit. It went on the model just fine, but took forever to cure.
This is the Merlin Roland D.II in 1/72nd. Again, all strut work was scratch built. This was another kit I painted with the "craft" paint.
This is the Pegasus kit in 1/72nd. I built this 10+ years ago as a gaming piece. Not only was this my first build of a Pegasus kit, it was my first attempt at using lozenge decals. Another example using "craft" paint.
Pegasus kit in 1/72nd. It was built 10+ years ago as a gaming piece. It was built for a specific character in our game. As you can see, it's not quite in standard colors.... Paint was mixed by myself, and Almark lozenge was used.