[WWI] 1/28 Spad on LSP

[Diego Fernetti]

Fred!
> Check this out:
> http://forum.largescaleplanes.com/index.php?showtopic=21757
> Looks like a nice job, eh?

Without knowing the modeler, I have to say I'm not too impressed.
First, the pilot -quite competently painted and all- doesn't look at all
like a WW1 era pilot (beard? earphones in the leather helmet?) I know it's
probably a kit part, but since the modeler seems quite competent, it looks
odd that he chose not to research a little and make simple modification to
the figure if he chose to include it in the model. Later he took it off, I
wonder why.
Besides, the added details and rigging are heavy, and the strut attachments
in the finished model are untidy. The rigging attachment points are
fictional (real airplanes had special fittings to anchor rigging, not holes
in the sticks) and the strut "bridges" to ease the model construction are
unsightly. Given all the work and skill he had to add other details he
should have fixed this too visible flaw first. One note: the aileron strut
attached in the kit part to the read interplane strut is short-cast in the
kit part, but he didn't corrected it.
The wooden parts are very nicely painted (he did a good job here) but on
comparing them to the many pictures of surviving airplanes they are not
related at all. The exhaust pipes weren't attached to the fuselage by heavy
brass rings neither! And to add a final comment, he weathered the fuselage
with assorted "oil" drips but the wheels are pristine and the "pneus" look
more of the modern type rather than the light gray of the period.
I'm curious to see that even when the modeler has made good use of many
techniques, and built a rather involved model, he chose to ignore any
reference to the real thing, when they are quite easily at reach by googling
"Spad" on his computer.
D.