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Kit: Airfix (1:72)
This is the Airfx kit. It originally started life as the single seat night fighter conversion as depicted in the Harleyford book. Then I found this three seat barnstorming profile in an encyclopedia of aircraft (I can't remember the title) as well as an Air International article on the Avro 504 with profile paintings. The fuselage is lengthened, rear cockpit expanded and extra seat added. I didn't strip the original PC12 color from the single-seater, but painted the red over it and it looks like an ex-military machine. Tires are rubber "O" rings; landing gear, struts and tail skid scratch built. All lettering is hand-painted and it has weathered nicely.Original barnstormer build dates from 1979. It has been rebuilt 4 times. The Avro is one of my favorite British aircraft.
Kit: Scratch (1:72)
This is my scratch built Bristol F.2B, based on a photograph in Squadron's Bristol Fighters in Action, built in the 1980's. ( I do not have the Airfix built, nor did I get the Roden version.) The fuselage is pine (as several of my other scratch built projects), the cockpit cut out, detailed and skinned with sheet plastic, the rest is sheet styrene, and Aeroclub wheels. Unlike Eduard's release, I decided the scales were the same blue as the national insignia. There was an Aeroclub gun ring, which has since fallen off. Something else to repair.
Kit: Omega (1:72)
was my first resin kit by Omega, bought at Granddad's Hobby Shop in Fairfax, VA. Struts were replaced with styrene. I was missing one of the radiators and cast one by pressing the kit part in clay and using two-part epoxy. The resin colour looked so much like fabric, I left it unpainted. I completed the model in 1998 and the wings still show no signs of sagging. I rigged the model with stretched sprue. The decals went on with no problem.
Kit: Academy (1:72)
This is a conversion of the Academy 1/72 SPAD 13. Not much use as a XIII, but I converted 3 of these kits. The second one was the SPAD 14 floatplane. Scratch built floats, float wheels and tressle (or saw-horse, as we across the pond call it). I started this kit when I first joined the WWI Model Listing all those years ago (1992). It's been rebuilt 4 times.I give a big THANK YOU to Peter Leonard for the basic information (so long ago, he doesn't remember it). And I dedicate this model to Neil Crawford, who loves SPADs as much as I do (I have more SPADs in collection than any other aircraft make).
This is my scratch built Ago C.IV in 1/72 scale. The cockpit and engine are from the original model built in 1982, these parts were incorporated into the rebuilt model in 1990 or thereabouts. The colour scheme is conjectural.
Kit: Meikraft (1:72)
My first Meikraft model, bought years ago at Rosemont Hobbies. Built OOB. An easy build, and a nice addition to my collection. The fuselage streaks patterned after the photos in the Harleyford Fighters of the 1914-1918 War.
Kit: Renwal (1:72)
This is the Renwal "Aero-Skin" model. I bought it already built at an estate sale. I replaced all struts, and touched up the colours with acrylic paints.
This is my first diorama, based on a photo in the Fokker E.III Datafile. Fokker took 70 of these photos of planes in for repairs. Except for the wings and horizontal stabilizer, the model is scratch built. Dirt is hand crumbled potting soil, and given various washes. The fuselage is slightly larger than 1/72, which adds a little forced perspective. Now I'm looking for a figure to convert into a cameraman.
A scratch-built model, using wings from Life-Like's AVRO Triplane.
My latest model/diorama is of a German carrier pigeon wagon with crew, based on two photographs found on the internet. I don't know much about wagons from the underside, so I kind of fudged the bottom. The personnel are two HAT Austro-Hungarian figures, the other three are pilots from the Revell Fokker D.VII kits.; ladders are from Plastistruct and evergreen. The wheels are PVC pipe. Brass rod used for the wagon handles and brake,. The pigeon loft is made of brass rod and black nylon pantyhose. Grass is railroad mat. The tree are seedlings of the Rose of Sharon trees, gathered when about 3-8" high. dried and turned upside down, I use the root system for trees. The branches are dipped in tacky glue; first the branches are sprinkled with dark green railroad "leaves", they are painted again with glue and the lighter green is sprinkled on. Allowed to dry, I trim the branches, super glue extra branches, or use the trimmings as vines or young trees. Lichen moss was also treated this way for bushes. I was quite pleased with the results. Fence is bamboo skewers with thin wire for the wires. Pigeons where made from Sculpty. White powder was used for the pigeon poop. If one looks in the rear door, one can just make out the pigeon cages inside.