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Jasta 18 Vol. 2 Raben's Ravens - 1:48 Pheon Decals

Eduard 1:48 kits.

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August Raben took command of Jasta 18 im March 1918.Like many German commanders he sought to build an 'esprit de corps', and ordered the application of a striking livery to all of Jasta 18's aircraft. The noses back to the cockpit were painted in bright vermilion red, the rest of the fuselage back to the tail in white. The top of upper wing was in red, and later the top of the lower wing also. Some aircraft also received red lower surfaces of their wings. Each also had the symbol of a Raven (Raben in German) as a unit marking, and individual pilots chose their own marking to go alongside.

 

Thus marked, Staffel Raben went to war and achieved notable success, with something between 112 and 126 victories by the time of the armistice seven months later. By this time they were equipped with the superb Fokker D.VII which were of course painted up in the flamboyant red and white scheme.

This decal set from Pheon was released in 2013 and reviewed here.

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Ever since, I planned to build at least one of each aircraft type and with a few days off at Christmas have finally got around to completing the set. I would still like to add a couple more of the Fokker D.VII's to the line up if I can obtain the kits.


The beauty of these 1:48 sets is that you can build several of them as I have done here, as they they don't take up much space. It reminded me how good the Eduard kits are as well, I still have quite a few in the stash and this project has got me building more of them now, after being diverted on to Wingnuts Wings 1:32 kits for several years.

 

Pfalz D.IIIa - Ltn. Hans Muller

 

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Albatros D.Va - pilot and serial unknown

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Fokker Dr.I - 479/17, Ltn. August Raben

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Fokker D.VII (OAW) - serial unknown, Ltn. Hans Muller

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The only one I modified was the Albatros, as the Eduard kit has undercarriage legs that are too short, resulting in a 'dumpy' look to the way it sits. Details are at the end of this post.

Nex up, I am working my way through Jasta 18. Berthold's Boys. A Pfalz is already under construction, and I have some Alabatros D.III's & D.V's waiting in the stash.

Using a Wingnut Wings Alabtros as a reference, I measured the undercarriage legs in that kit, and converted the result from 1:32 to 1:48. This showed the Eduard 1:48 legs to be 3mm too short. It is not much but it makes a huge difference to the sit of the finished model.


Lengthening them could have been problematical, as the upper position of the legs needs to remain as it is, in order to meet the fuselage mounts in the kit.
Leaving them on the sprue in order to hold this position, I cut the lower 'U' shape off and inserted 2 3mm lengths of plastic strip. Left to harden, the extensions were later sanded flush and blended in. The work will later be mostly hidden by the undercarriage bungee cords that are wrapped around this area.

 

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Comparison with an unmodified kit (top) and the modified one (below). The difference is subtle, but very noticeable in real life.

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Happy new year everyone!

 

John

 

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3 minutes ago, woody37 said:

Wow, you knock 4 brilliantly finished builds out over Christmas, more than I’ve done all year! Looking forwards to seeing your yearbook :)

 

Thanks Neil, but it's taken over a year to build all four, one at a time. I thought I'd wait until I had the full set before posting.

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Absolutely beautiful, well done!

 

Personally I still can't drag myself over to 1/32 it's just too large a scale for me so that's why I haven't picked up any WNW kits. I'm still 72 and 48 and 48 seems to hit the sweet spot for WWI aircraft IMHO. Big enough to not be too fiddly but not so large as to demand enormous amounts of detail. And with those beauties you just reaffirmed it in my eyes.

 

 

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A fine and dashing bunch of Bosch birds you have there...skillfully built, rigged, marked...5 Stars

 

I am impressed and gladdened by your persnicketiness regarding the landing gear...^_^  That's just shy of

OMS...Obsessive Modeller's Syndrome--a curious dysfunction whose only cure is, sigh, more modelling!:D

 

 

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