Amo Aero

Is it at all possible to generalize about the quality (accuracy and detail) of the old Aviation News aircraft drawings?

Superb photos! Thanks for posting them.

To me, models always look toylike, no matter how well detailed or finished. They are, after all, toys (now ducking for cover!)

Looking forward to this. Of course I will have to have 2 to make the hunter/killer team.

Yes, it is a beauty, and I have to agree it truly is one of the very best 1/48th scale kits I have ever seen. I just received mine, direct from Greece. To the best of my knowledge that is the only way to get the kit. That has me worried for GasPatch's long term prospects--no distribution network. You really have to be motivated to get one of these magnificent kits. They also had the misfortune of releasing their Salmson right around the same time the Wingnut Wings juggernaut released theirs. I can't help but wonder how many potential sales they have lost because of that alone. Our hobby desperately needs an outfit like GasPatch to keep 1/48 scale WWI modeling alive. Eduard, while their announcement of a new tool 1/48 SSW D.III, along with a vague commitment to release one new tool 1/48 WWI kit for each of the 100th anniversary years of WWI is very welcome news, I am not sure if that will be enough to make 1/48 competitive with 1/32. A company like GasPatch, with their uncompromised dedication to excellence, coupled with a strong release schedule and a good distribution network, could go a long way toward revitalizing 1/48 as a vibrant WWI scale. There are so many worthwhile airplanes still in need of kitting in 1/48. Then there are the airplanes that were kitted in 1/48, but those kits are obsolete and out of production. I wish GasPatch well. I hope their Salmson does not go down in modeling history as a tantalizing hint at what could have been a glorious legacy.

The Gas Patch Salmson may be the best 1/48 WWI aircraft kit ever produced. It certainly looks like you are doing it justice!

Thanks Rene, for the very generous words about my book. I wish I knew about using rice to calculate volume when I was writing the book. It's a great technique--nothing "amateurish" about it at all. Sorry to hear you are having trouble finding pressure pots in Germany. Here in the USA we have a company called "Harbor Freight" that specializes in selling all sorts of tools, machinery and equipment manufactured in China. Their prices are very good, and even though some of the stuff isn't of the best quality, much of it is surprisingly good for the prices being charged. They are a good source for pressure pots. Is there an equivalent to "Harbor Freight" in Deutschland? In Europe? Also in the USA we have an industrial supply company called "Grainger's. They sell almost every conceivable item that can be used for support and maintenance in industry. They too sell pressure pots, though they are more expensive than Harbor Freight. Perhaps there is a large industrial supply company in Germany equivalent to Graingers?

I heard the BP Sidestrand and Overstrand were decent bombers with fighter-like maneuverability. Was I misled?

So many good choices in this thread! I've always been a fan of the underdogs.

Sweet Vampire!

Nice work! I struggled with mine too. Much puttying and sanding to get the fore and aft fuselage sections properly blended.

The Frank Luke story would make an excellent movie, but if it is going to be another Hollywood travesty like "Fly Boys", better it should never be made. That goes for ALL "historical" movies IMHO. I do understand the need to make movies which will be profitable, and how cinematic requirements may differ from reality or what is effective in a novel, but that still doesn't excuse abominations like "Fly Boys", "Red Tails", the "Red Baron", etc. Productions such as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" certainly had elements worthy of criticism, but at least the subject matter was respected and they didn't degenerate into mindless caricature.

Very nice!

Though I have never been a pilot, I have had a number of great flying experiences such as ridge surfing in a 2 seat Schweizer sailplane over Elmira, New York, and flying in Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's 1929 New Standard biplane over the Hudson River valley. Then there were the great flying experiences I had as a USAF C-141 Flight Engineer: night aerial refueling operations; low level cargo drops in support of the USMC; paratrooper drops in support of the US Army; cruising along the fjords of Greenland with the altimeter showing 2,000 feet and the cliff tops towering above us; flying at altitude over the Arctic and experiencing the Aurora Borealis as multi-colored shimmering veils of light stretched across the night sky; cruising at 41,000 feet above the Atlantic, looking up and seeing a white arrowhead pass above us in a flash and being told it was the Concorde at 65,000 feet. But my most memorable experience was flying in a US Army Blackhawk helicopter. I was a C-141 aircraft mechanic on TDY to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, home of the Army's 101st Airborne. One quiet afternoon me and some buddies wandered over to the helicopter end of the field and asked if we could take a ride in a Blackhawk. The Army guys were happy to oblige; I think they wanted to show us Air Force "weenies" what real flying was all about. Our pilot proceeded to take us on a white knuckle, nap of the earth flight, weaving in and out of the treetops, roaring down narrow creek gullies, pulling up violently to avoid hills, then diving to hug the ground and get back in the valleys. We eventually landed in a large open area where troops were on maneuvers with M60 tanks and APCs. We were asked to get off to give some of the soldiers a chance to ride in the Blackhawk, and while we waited they let us drive the tanks and APCs. Driving the M60 tank remains my most memorable driving experience! After hanging with the tanker troops for a while, the helicopter came back to pick us up and treat us to another wild ride back "home". By the time we got back, my knees were weak, and when I saw the tree branches stuck in the landing gear I literally dropped down and kissed the ground.

Nice clean builds--superb!

Very nice models. Love that splinter scheme!

Very impressive output!

Very nice collection! I particularly like your Tony and Avenger.

The Eduard Camel is indeed a challenging build. OTOH, if I was capable of doing it, any reasonably competent modeler should be able to do it too. Take your time, dry fit everything before committing to glue. You will almost certainly want to use some sort of jig to get the upper wing aligned properly. The interplane struts set the proper gap between the wings. The cabane struts are too long, so if you set them first you will end up with the top wing bowing down to meet the interplane struts. Some say the problem originates with a mistake in the instructions which have the front and back cabane struts reversed. I am not sure if that is true--my memory is kind of fuzzy on that point, but I do vaguely recall checking the cabanes and finding them too long no matter which were placed in front. I glued the interplane struts in position using a jig, let them set hard, then glued on the top wing. This resulted in a fragile structure which nonetheless was sturdy enough to allow me to test fit and trim the cabanes until they fit perfectly. Here is a photo of the simple jig I used to align the interplane struts: and the completed model:

Thanks OzH. I hope you find it helpful. Karl Thanks rayprit. Happy casting! Karl

Nice output!

Very nice collection. I like the way you did the cowling on the Fokker Eindecker

I will be the contrarian here--I really hope Airfix doesn't do a 1/48 Vulcan. It is so good to see Airix finally on track, going from success to success, rebuilding their reputation and company. When I think of the tooling and other associated costs of doing something that huge, versus the probable sales, "epic debacle" comes to mind. There are so many other worthy (potentially profitable) British aircraft that need kitting in 1/48; unless the management completely loses their minds, it is hard to conceive of Airfix committing to a 1/48 Vulcan even within a few years, if ever. It's easy to say now, while speculation is running rampant, that you will buy one, but how many actually will when faced with the sobering reality of one "in the flesh"? How much would a kit of that size have to cost? Same goes for the size issue--it's easy to want one in theory, but how many will ultimately decide not to buy when faced with the reality of the Vulcan's size in 1/48? Please Airfix, give us a 1/48 Tempest, or a really nice Sea Fury. How about a Scimitar, or a decent Hunter family? Sea Venom anyone? Beaufort? Continue issuing new tool Spitfires. Any one of those, and perhaps a dozen other choices in 1/48 would likely be more profitable for Airfix than a 1/48 Vulcan.

That could account for the delay. When the book was first released in mid October, it was only available on CreateSpace (Amazon's publishing site). About a week later it became available on Amazon.com, then sometime after on Amazon UK. I believe it is now listed on most European Amazon sites. I have no idea why Amazon does it that way.

Thank you Mark. I am happy to hear you are finding it worthwhile.