Other Allied aircraft
by Paul Thompson

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Ansaldo A .I Balilla

Kit: Karaya (1:48)

Mostly OOB except I replaced all but the undercarriage struts with Contrail stock. I also crushed one of the resin exhaust pipes, so had to make a new one. I was relieved to read that the very pretty fretted wooden fixture above and right behind the pilot's seat was covered with leather padding when the aircraft was in use, so used the kit part with a lot of filing to get it to fit. Can't see it anyway. Everything else fitted perfectly, so I caused my own grief by trying to show the odd faired flying and landing wires. in the end I installed EZline the normal way then added pre-painted plastic strip in between. The strut plates/rigging fittings are made up from hacked about Eduard PE and decal strip. The kit decals were resistant to setting solutions so took a bit of bedding down, and the cockade's white was translucent, so I overpainted them. The aircraft is supposed to be 16553,the one restored for Museo del Risorgimento in Bergamo, although the port fuselage shield was probably not applied. Oh well. As it is, it represents Tenente Antonio Locateli's machine, flown with 87a Squadriglia at St. Pelagio in 1918. The restored machine has a lot less camouflage on the wings than I've gone for. I've tried to match the colour photo of the surviving tailplane on the back of the Windsock Datafile.


Curtis Jenny

Kit: Lindberg (1:48)

Here's one I made for a group build on the Unofficial Airfix Forum in March 2008, but forgot to submit here. It's out of the box, including the colour scheme, plus PE turnbuckles and some scratchbuilt pulleys. I've since seen that the scheme is quite inaccurate. Oh well. The kit was deducibly nice. That means that I'd heard much good about it, and from what I got could tell that it would have been fine. Unfortunately mine suffered warping in every plane (ho ho) imaginable, plus shrinkage of some parts like one of the fuselage halves that made matching up a challenge. A lot of the rigging is kinked, I know. Comes from using copper wire and soft brass PE between flexible wings. I can be taught, so next time it'll be nylon thread.


Morane N

Kit: Eduard (1:48)

Eduard Morane N in 1/48th. One of the earlier releases (1994) by Eduard, so the small bits are all in PE brass. I hate PE. Still, they build up well. I replaced the instrument with Sprue bodies and wire bezels, but used the film dials supplied. I added a few of the more obvious bits from photos, such as the support bar for the steel deflector plates, and pipework on the engine. Paint is mixed from Humbrol dark stone, CDL and white. Rigging is rolled copper wire, with HSP control lines. Biggest innacuracy I'm aware of is the gun mounting - this should rest in slots in the upper decking. I figured this out too late, naturally.


Savoia Pomilio SP3

Kit: Modelart by Marco (1:48)

This is an Italian plane, built in the thousands and largely unsung. For details and a review you can do worse than visit http://www.internetmodeler.com/2005/october/contents.php This was not an easy build, but I think the result was worth it.


SAML S.2

Kit: Ardpol (1:72)

I had trouble with this. Ardpol are a great manufacturer and make very good kits, but in this case (compared to info from Datafile 113), the interior is entirely fictitious, and the (one) colour scheme differs from the 3 Datafile photos in major respects. The external features mix up early and late versions a bit. The warp in the wings came back during the build and I'm now stuck with it. Anyway, if it's of any help to others, what I did was the following: replace undercarriage and interplane struts, add the gun mount struts that hinge on the rear trestle cabane, add some piping and supports to the radiator, make a control wheel in place of the control column that was missing from my kit, scratched exhaust pipes and the support structure for the tailskid, and replaced all markings according to my (also probably wrong) interpretaion, using Pegasus decals, the kit serial and monogram, and Mr Kit paints. There is probably a roundel painted on the nose, certainly a white band around it, and I forgot until to late. Oh, and since there where none, I scratched the overwing and observer's gun mounts.


Ansaldo SVA5

Kit: Spin (1:48)

Spin resin kit in 1/48th.


Farman F30. Omega 1/72nd resin.

Kit: Omega (1:72)

I'm not sure if this is a good model or not, since there was a lot of variation in F30s, and little documentation. What info I got from WWI modelling listees (thanks lads) leads me to think that I made the wrong choices wherever possible, but the result is quite spectacular anyhows. I used the resin booms as patterns for plastic ones but if I ever do another I'll try soldering up brass instead. The nacelle really needs hollowing out and detailing, and the rigging material I've used is too heavy. Live and learn as they say. My greatest cause for concern is the long thin upper wing. Only time will tell how well this will survive.


Macchi M5. Pegasus 1/72nd.

Kit: Pegasus (1:72)

According to the Datafile there where 2 patterns of floats used on this aircraft. The one supplied in the kit is wrong for the markings (I think), so I scratched new ones. Otherwise completed out the box and painted with Mr Kit acrylics.


Morane Saulnier Type L

Kit: Eduard (1:48)

1/48th Morane Saulnier L by Eduard. Made OTB except for replacing a few bits I lost and beefing up the undercarriage PE struts and pipes on the engine with Kristal Klear.A few extra holes where needed in places, and a few more bits of rigging than suggested in the instructions. The kit transfers worked well, except I think that the lettering on the rudder is too large. The subject chosen was the 'plane used by Flight Sub Lieutenant RAJ Warneford to sucessfully bomb Zeppelin LZ37 on June 7th, 1915. Eventually I intend to add a set of Aeroclub 20lb Hales bombs to the carrier.


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