Viking

Hannover Cl.II (Early) 1/32 Wingnut Wings. (32079). The Hannover CL.II was designed in 1917 as a two seat escort fighter to protect other two seat reconnaissance aircraft.Hannoversch Waggonfabrik AG were actually manufacturers of railway waggons who had branched out into license building Halberstadt, Rumpler and Aviatik aircraft. Their first indigenous design was the CL.II, which first flew in July 1917 and entered service in August 1917. Like the Roland CL.II the fuselage was a lightweight structure formed of thin plywood layers covered with fabric and doped, as were the wing centre sections. It makes an interesting comparison with the Bristol F.2b fighter as some of the design aims were the same. Most obvious was the need to give the gunner as wide a field of fire as possible. Frank Barnwell did this on the Bristol aircraft by placing the fin and rudder pretty much half and half above and below the fuselage. The CL.II achieved it by shortening the span of the tailplane but maintaining the surface area by making it a biplane unit, and locating the gunner very high in the fuselage. Also similar to the F.2b the top wing is at the crews eye level, giving them an excellent view above and below. Unlike the Bristol with its lower wing mounted below the fuselage on short struts, the Hannover simply has a much deeper fuselage to maintain the gap between the two wings. In service it was very well liked, being strong, fast, highly maneuverable and generally versatile. It also had the advantage of being smaller that most two seaters, leading allied pilots to think it was a single seater that could be sneaked up on from behind. Any pilot who did so would place himself at the mercy of the rear gunner. As the war progressed into 1918 the Hannover was also used in the ground attack role, and continued in front line service up until the November armistice. The kit. As always the artwork is beautiful, this time showing a Cl.II in the escort role fending off an SE.5a attempting to attack an Albatros C.X. Inside are eleven individually bagged sprues, three large decal sheets, a small etched brass fret, and a set of the outstanding Wingnut Wings instructions. The plastic parts are pretty much the same as in the previous release (32024), but the decal sheets are all new. Sprue A. This mostly holds the interior and tailplane parts. The main cockpit part is A42 which is the floor and fuel tank, forming the core around which much of the rest of the detail is built. It is a sobering thought that the pilot sat above the petrol tank, when the risk of fire through enemy action or accident was high. One of the interesting 'bonuses' of building Wingnut Wings kits is that they are so accurate, you get a real insight into what these machines were like. When building up an interior I can't help but drift into thoughts of what it must have been like to have been aircrew on machines like this. Great stuff! I guess it why we all enjoy this hobby so much. Enough daydreaming, and back to reality. The Observers cockpit for options B and E has the choice of fitting a '50cm Flieger Kammer' Camera, and a Telefunken Type D wireless (found on sprue G3). These are such lovely parts, that it really is very tempting to use the, both even have their own miniature decals to further detail them, the wireless alone has eight of them. Also worth mentioning here is that the etched brass fret has some bracket work that is used to further detail the Observers cockpit. The parts are beautifully moulded, with delicate frameworks, bulkheads, levers and switched that go to make up the pilots and observers cockpits. There are also the distinctive biplane tailplane, elevators and ailerons. As expected all are moulded to perfection with fine trailing edges and delicate rib detail. Also exhibiting superfine moulding are the wing mounted radiators, a choice of either a Mercedes-Daimler or a Teeves & Braun unit depending upon which of the marking options you choose. They come as upper and lower inserts that are fixed into recesses in the wing centre section. Further items are the pilots LMG 08/15 Spandau in both 'solid' or 'High detail' etched jacket form, Undercarriage legs, Observers gun ring, and engine bearers. The following 4 photos are from my build of the previous release of this kit, taken a few years ago. the give a good idea of how well this all assembles. Sprue B. The wings are moulded with beautifully sharp, lightly scalloped trailing edges. There is fine rib stitching detail and a lovely aerofoil section that cambers gently but definitely across the top and bottom. Substantial locating tabs on each wing will make their fixing very strong. Always impressive is the standard of moulding that Wingnut Wings achieve on large parts such as these. There are never any flaws such as sink marks or short shots, just precise, clean, and perfect mouldings. Sprue C. Traditionally the smallest sprue in a Wingnut Wings kit (because there isn't much glazing on aircraft from this era), the parts are still to the same uncompromising standard as the rest of the kit. Crystal clear, the pilots windshield even his tiny rivet detail along its bottom edge, where it is fixed to the fuselage. Also on this sprue is a camera lens for the observers 50cm 'Flieger Kammer'. Sprue D. There are two of these, sensibly each supplies parts that need to be duplicated, such as the main wheels.In addition to the wheels are various fine struts and brackets for the tailplanes, some tiny flares, and inspection covers for the forward lower fuselage. The inspection covers are moulded with real open louvers, and it is much appreciated that they are provided as separate parts rather than being moudled into the fuselage halves, when they would sit on the seam line and be impossible to clean up. Another smart move by Wingnut Wings. Sprue E. The Argus As.III engine is moulded with separate sump/crankcase and cylinder units, to which is added all the necessary pipework and anciliaries. Pushrods run from the crankcase to the rocker arms on the cylinder head on the left side of the engine. There area three types of propellers to choose from, Niendorf, Germania, or Reshke. You are given the option of using a set of cylinder halves with the pushrods moulded in (E14) but where moulding limitations mean that there is no gap between the rods and the cylinders, or cylinder halves with no pushrods moulded on (E13), and you provide your own 0.5mm wire to create them. Sprue F. The fuselage halves are most prominent here, along with the upper wing centre section, cabane struts, ailerons, and engine cowlings. The fuselage captures the shape of the real thing to perfection, and has very neat detail both inside and out. There are some light ejector pin circles, but they have cleverly been located in areas that will be hidden once the fuselage halves have been joined. The engine cowlings are amazing. All four of them feature delicate 'D' shaped cooling louvers, part F7 alone has thirty one of them within a small area, all perfectly formed. Alternate nose caps are provided with different cooling hole patterns, again depending upon which marking option you have chosen. One of them will require you to open a flashed over hole (part F10) for options A and B. The Upper wing centre section is made from upper and lower units, with big slots to locate the big tabs on the outer wing panels from sprue B. This will make for a very strong upper wing assembly. Three 'G' Sprues carry generic items that are applicable to several aircraft, so not all parts will be required for this kit. Sprue G1 carries the Observers armaments, a choice between a Parabellum LMG/14 or a Parabellum LMG 14/17. The main difference is in the cooling jacket for the gun barrel. The /14 has the familiar large fretted jacket (and there is the choice of a 'solid' moulded barrel, or an etched brass one), while the 14/17 was fitted with a much thinner air cooled jacket barely any wider than the barrel. Sprue G2. There two G" sprues which contain half a tail trestle each, that can be joined to make the complete article. Also present are some Granatenwerfer grenades and two types of flares, along with external racks to fit on the outside of the Observers cockpit. Wheel chocks complete the parts for use with this kit, but there are also some handy parts for the spares box such as oxygen flasks and 12.5Kg PuW bombs. Sprue G3. This is a real treasure trove of diorama accessories, with four types of reconnaissance cameras, three types of flare pistols, first aid kit, homing pigeon box, box of photographic plates, step ladder, barograph, and even a mascot Teddy bear! There are also propellers from Axial, Astra, Heine, and Wolff, which are not required for the model, but would be useful in any workshop diorama. Photo Etch As mentioned previously the etch fret holds air cooling jackets for the 'High detail' LMG 08/15 Spandau, and Parabellum LMG 14. The pilot and Observer are supplied with seat belts, there are the bracket assemblies for the Observers cockpit, and the shutter mechanism for the wing mounted radiator. A nice touch is the little embossed name plate for the aircraft, with the Wingnut Wings logo on. Decals. Three very large sheets are found in the box, only just fitting the length and width. Printed by Cartograf the first sheet covers all the individual markings for options A to E. There are also a mass of instrument, placard, stencil and other details, including those for the cameras and other diorama accessories. Two further sheets provide the lozenge decals. There are complicated combinations explained for the options, with four and/or five colour lozenge being used, sometimes with four colour on the mainplanes and five colour on the ailerons. Lozenge is also given for the tail group, up to where it blends with the fuselage. Options Hannovers often featured irregular hand painted lozenge shapes on the fuselage often over painted with a dark glaze, which is the case for options A to D here. It is not difficult to do, but in case any modeller is unsure Option D is given as simpler alternative of a pale blue machine with clear doped linen wings. There are a few minor variations within the given options, (A) can be finished as (A1) without the wing stripes and upper fuselage chevron, or (A2) with them. Likewise (B) can be done without the red comet on the side as (B1), or with it as (B2). A. Hannover Cl.II 9276/17 “White 5", H Bronner, Royal Bavarian Schusta 27b, late 1917 to early 1918 B. Hannover Cl.II 9280/17 “Comet", Grönhagen? & J Gfrör, FA (A) 282, November 1917 C. Hannover Cl.II 9301/17 “White 4", J Missfelder, Royal Prussian Schusta 12, March 1918 D. Hannover Cl.II 9398/17 “2", JKH Müller & A Zitzelsberger, Royal Bavarian Schusta 24b, March 1918 E. Hannover Cl.II (Rol) 622/18 “White 2", Bayerische-Fliegerschule 5, mid to late 1918 Conclusion. This is a welcome return of a kit that sold out rapidly in its initial release (Kit 32024) and then began to fetch large prices on the second hand market. It has all the hallmarks of Wingnut Wings kits, beautiful mouldings, excellent fit, exquisite detail, fabulous instructions, and high quality decals. It is also a very good looking aeroplane, having a tough sturdy look that was possessed by few of these early biplanes. I am able to confirm that it is a trouble free build with absolutely no pitfalls or things to watch out for, as I built the previous release when it came out a few years ago. Get one while you can, it was one of the fastest sellers last time it was available, and I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case again. Highly Reccomended. Footnote: As mentioned earlier, I have already built the previous kit of the Hannover Cl.II a few years ago, finished with markings from the aftermarket Pheon Decal sheet. I have a few photos of the completed model, showing some of the diorama ccessories that come with it.

Those are all lovely, but yes the tow truck is alos my favourite. Cheers John

Douglas DC-8-62CF 'Thai Airways International' 1:144 Minicraft with 26Decals. One of my favourite airliners in one of my favourite liveries, a combination of two classics. The DC-8 is the Minicrfat kit available from S&M models but without any decals. This is not a problems as I expect almost all buyers would want to choose their own aftermarket decals anyway. I've always wanted to make one in the beautiful Thai Orchid livery, and found that 26 decals do a sheet for the the DC-8-63. I could have built the kit straight from the box and the decals would have been perfect for it, as Minicraft provide the fuselage for the stretched -63 version. However they also provide recessed cut marks inside the fuselage to show you where to remove sections forward and aft of the wing to shorten it down to a -62 version. I much prefer the -62 as it looks like a much better proportioned aircraft. The only thing was that Thai operated the stretched -63, but I came across some images of a single -62 Combi Freighter that they used for a while. Being part owned by SAS, Thai used lease/borrow/purchase several of their aircraft. I'm assuming this one was leased as it retained its Danish registration OY-KTE. All I had to do was shorten the cheatline decals, and find some suitable purple letters for the registration, which I did on the Thai A350 sheet I already built (never chuck anything away!) On with the photos: 'With something else", a Thai 737-400 in the same livery! Thanks for looking John

Oh wow, I'm really looking forward to seeing this at Telford. Ah! De Havilland

Very nice, One of the best ever liveries, along with the BOAC livery of the same time. Great that you were able to save the kit and achieve such a lovely finish. Cheers John

It is a lovely looking aeroplane, and certainly looks more war like in camouflage. Great work on the rigging, and the prop looks magnificent. Cheers John

Love the 'reproduced' pose of the model & original photo, what an amazing job you have done Bob. We need more pictures, not soon, but now . Waiting with anticipation, Cheers John

German Fighter Aircraft in World War 1. - Mark C. Wilkins Casemate Illustrated Special. As aviation enthusiasts we tend to be drawn to particular areas of interest, be that modern jets, naval aircraft, airliners etc. For me one of the most fascinating areas is early aviation, and in particular the First World War. So many new ideas were being tried out, that a wide variety of different aircraft types emerged. This 21 x 26 cm hardback book from Casemate looks at the major German manufacturers and the designs they produced. Separate chapters are devoted to: 1. The Taube 2. Aviatik 3. Halberstadt Flugzeugzelte 4. Fokker Flugzeugwerke 5. Junkers Flugzeugwerke 6. Albatros Flugzeugwerke 7. LFG Roland and Pfalz Flugzeugwerke 8. Production Methodology 9. Siemens-Schuckert Werke 10. Armaments and Engines Each chapter looks in detail at the successful aircraft these manufacturers produced. For example the Fokker chapter covers the E.1 to E.IV Eindekkers, the D series, The Dr.1 Triplane, The D.VII and the D.VIII. Not only is the aircraft type and history described, but worked into several of the sections is a series of photographs and descriptions of accurate replicas under construction. These have built using the original drawings, production techniques, and engines. Many of the modern colour photographs are paired with original black & white photos showing the same stage being undertaken over 100 years ago. The Fokker sections features replicas from Achim Engels E.III Eindekker, Fokker Team Schorndorf's Dr.1 Triplane, Achim Engels D.VII, and Fokker Team Schorndorf's D.VII. All of them have been built as close as possible to the original machines, as if they were an extended part of the production run. The Albatros chapter features Craftlabs beautiful D.III's, with their varnished plywood fuselages, and reveals many useful details for model makers. The picture of the Craftlabs D.III in flight, looking up at the sunlight showing the wing construction the fabric covering, is one of many stunning photos. As well as containing a wealth of period and modern photographs, there are beautiful profile drawings by Ronny Bar of several aircraft, and numerous original drawings. The final chapter looks at the Engines and Armaments with particular emphasis on the widely used Daimler Mercedes D.III and LMG 08/15 Spandau. Colour photos provide many useful details of the D.III and Austro-Daimler 6 engines. Conclusion. I absolutely love this book, and have been totally absorbed in it. The author seems to have found a unique approach to describing these aircraft by blending a little bit of history with some understanding of the production techniques and materials used to create them. I'm not aware that anyone else has ever done this before, and it is a winning formula. As a modeller of 1:32 First World war aircraft, it has really advanced my understanding of how these aircraft were built. I can see how struts were fitted to wing spars, and how turnbuckles are hardly noticeable on rigging wires, it's brilliant and wins my personal 'Book of the year' award! - All I want now is another couple of these books covering British and French aircraft in the same way. Very Highly Recommended Review sample courtesy of

You're not wrong there Ian! The thing with me is that I enjoy trying to improve the old kits, so I guess I like the process more than the end result. Like you say, Dave's Caravelle was lovely, and I'm already eyeing up an Airfix one and a set of 'early' SAS decals. Looking forward to his DC-9 as well, and just hoping he does it with a cheatline! Cheers John

Sopwith Pup "Gnome" 1:32 Wingnut Wings The lovely Sopwith Pup from Wingnut Wings makes a return with some new parts and decals to enable building of the ‘Gnome’ powered version. The most common powerplant was the 80hp Le Rhone 9c engine, but the 80hp & 100hp Gnome and Clerget engines were also used. The Pup itself entered service in 1916 and quickly proved to be an agile and popular machine amongst those who flew it. The name was never official, but derived from the observation that it looked like a smaller version of the twin seat Sopwith ‘One-and-a-half Strutter’, as if it were its ‘Pup’. Wingnut Wings have previously released two kits of the Pup, 32013 for the RFC version, and 32016 for the RNAS machine. Rather nicely, this new release gives you a choice of two RFC, two RNAS, or one training school machine. This kit shares most of the main sprues (A, B, C, and D) with the previous two releases, but adds three new ones. There are two sprue E's giving a choice of two different engines, and sprue G which has the cowling specific to the Gnome engine, and a full set of Le Prier rockets. As always, the silver gilt edged box features a beautiful painting of the subject in action, this time RNAS Pup N6179 squaring up to an Albatros D.II. Instructions. You can't help but be impressed by the completeness of the instructions in every single Wingnut Wings kit, they are quite simply the best that have ever been supplied with any kits, ever. These are as good as always, printed in colour on heavy glossy paper, with a parts map, detailed assembly drawings, colour and black & white photos of the real thing to show details, and five sets of Ronnie Bar illustrations to show the finishing choices. One of my favourite features is the completed sub assembly drawings, showing how things should look on the completed interior. Plus another drawing showing how all the interior control cables run from the joystick and rudder pedals. They are superb reference documents in their own right. Sprue A. This hold most of the smaller detailed parts such as the interior fittings, prop and cowling choices, struts, and other details. All mouldings are very finely done with sharp detail, no sink marks or flash, and minimal contact points where they attach to the sprue frame. The Pup had a couple of different inspection hatch shapes on the forward fuselage, and both the square and oval types are supplied here as panels to attach to the cowling area. Two types of propeller are provided, the instructions noting which one goes with which finishing option. Sprue B. Here we have the tailplane, rudder, wheels, Vickers gun, and a few other smaller parts. Again the precision of moulding is evident. particularly on the Vickers guns (only one of which is applicable to this model). Sprue C. This is the clear sprue, with a choice of windscreens and the clear inspection panels for the wings. They are all crystal clear, and the frames even have incredibly tiny little screw heads moulded in, that I can only see under a magnifying glass. Sprue D. Both wings are on this, along with the fuselage halves. The wings feature beautifully fine trailing edges and rib tapes with delicate stitching. The real wings featured a small see through panel near each tip, that allowed instant inspection of the pulley and cable that ran to each aileron.These are nicely moulded, and the clear sprue has the clear cover to go on top of them after painting. Especially impressive is the 'quilting' effect on the forward fuselage, so typical of the Pup. It was where an interior 'grid' frame was built in to smooth the transition from the round cowling area to the flat sided fuselage. Covered in fabric it gave a sort of quilted look that Wingnut Wings have captured to perfection. Sprues E x 2. There are two complete and distinct 'E' sprues that cover the 80hp and 100hp Gnome engines. The moulding is amazingly fine with the cylinder cooling fins rendered about as finely as is possible, and all the nuts and bolts are beautifully sharp. The 80hp Gnome was precisely copied by the German Oberursel company, the only differences being in the pushrods. These are contained on the sprue but obviously marked as not required. I often start my builds with the engine because they are such lovely little gems of a model in their own right. 7 cylinder Gnome 80hp: 9 cylinder Gnome 100hp The 100hp option even has tiny little decals to replicate the brass data plates on the crankcase. Whichever engine you choose you will have a complete unused one for the spares box, or even better, for use as a diorama accessory. Hows that for value!. It is typical of Wingnut Wings that they take a 'no expense spared' approach to their kits, so that you get precisely what you need to build an accurate model straight from the box. Sprue G. To my knowledge, this is the first time that a set of Le Prieur rockets have been released in 1:32 scale. Looking like giant fireworks that you might buy on November 5th, they were attached to the outboard struts. Intended for use against observation balloons, they proved to be ineffective in use due to directional instability. I.e. they didn't particularly fly to where they were aimed. They were tried on Pups, as a period photograph in the instructions show, but it is also noted that it is not thought that any of the five options in the kit actually used them. Also included is the characteristic semi cowling of the Gnome powered Pup. This only goes around two thirds of the engine, with the bottom third left uncovered, and is a good identifying feature of Pups with this engine. Etch. A neat little brass fret supplies the lap type seatbelt, foot plates for the wings, gunsights and cocking lever, along with a chute for expended ammunition links. Options. A. N6179 “Baby Mine”, TC Vernon (1 victory)& AW Carter (17 Victories) B Flight 3(N) Sqn RNAS March to April 1917. B. N6200 “Bobs”, AM Shook, B Flight 4(N) Sqn RNAS, April to May 1917 (12 victories). C. B2192, HH Balfour and EL Foot, School of Special Flying Gosport, August to September 1917. D. B5904 “A 1”, 61(HD) Sqn RFC, September 1917. E. B5906 “Impikoff 5” 44(HD) Sqn RFC/RAF 1918. Decals. A large decal sheet occupied the full width and length of the box. Printed by Cartograf, it provides all the decals for the five finishing options, plus a myriad of tiny stencils and instrument faces. If you want to read any of this fine detail you will need a good magnifying glass as the printing is incredibly small, but faultlessly done. It almost doesn't need saying, because this is Cartograf, but the printing is in perfect register, beautifully sharp, with minimal carrier film and spot on colours. Option C, the unarmed training machine with a stripy fuselage, is provided with two sets of stripes. It is notoriously difficult to distinguish black from red in old balck & white photographs, and although this machine is thought to have black stripes, they may also have been red, so you get the choice. There are no stripes for the wings as these can be simply masked at each rib. Conclusion. It is nice to see the Pup back in Wingnut Wings catalogue, as it is one of their simpler kits to build. I have already built two of the RNAS version (32016) and bought an RFC kit (32013) when it was about to go out of stock, as I couldn't bear not to have one! I have the usual indecision over which of the five options to go for, as they are all attractive in their own right. I think the striped training machine might just edge in, as I don't have anything like that in my 1:32 collection. You can have hours of fun with any Wingnut Wings kit trying to decide which one to go for. It builds up very easily and without any faults or problems. Everything fits with precision, making it a delight to put together. The rigging is very straight forward and fairly simple, and not difficult to do with either fishing line or the elastic EZ-line. Add to this the choice of attractive finishing schemes, then this is one of the best 'starter' kits to introduce you the wonderful world of Wingnut Wings. With Christmas approaching you need to get this on your list, you won't be disappointed. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of Footnote: This is one of the Pup kits I have built previously, from 32016, the RNAS Pup, which enables this 'In box' review to go a bit further and confirm that it does indeed build up beautifully without any problems.

Fokker DR1 Triplane, 425/17. Roden 1:32 I recently bought this Roden 1:32 kit of the Fokker DR.1, only for Wingnut Wings to announce their own kit to be released later this year. Of course I would prefer the Wingnut Wings kit, so before this one got relegated to back of the stash, I though I'd better build it. It is a perfectly nice little kit, there is nothing wrong with it except for a few simplified details, which are easily corrected. If it is of interest I did a Work In Progress thread on this forum. Anyway, I am pleased to add this to my display cabinet. The figure of Manfred von Richthofen & Moritz (the dog) is from Elan13 miniatures, and a really beautifully sculpted and cast piece. Thanks for looking, John

I'm calling this one finished, although I may add a little more oil staining on the underside. Decal are all one, I used the kit ones from various of the four options provided, as I only needed the black crosses. One thing I did need to do was get the correct serial number on, which is 425/17. Fortunately I had a decal sheet in the stash with just the right size numerals and very close to a matching font. All I had to do was use the kit 'Fok.DR1 477/17' and replace the numbers. Also, I wasn't sure whether or not it had the weight table on the cockpit side. One of my references showed it in an artwork, so I went with it to add a little extra interest on what id otherwise a plain finish. Here it is, 425/17. Manfred von Richthofen, and Moritz, his dog. Thanks for looking, and the comments along the way. I hope this may be of use to anyone contemplating building this kit. I would say that at full retail price in the UK it is somewhat expensive. I got mine for a reasonable £30 from an Amazon seller, making it a worthwhile build. No doubt the forthcoming Wingnut Wings kit will surpass this one in every way, but this one is still worth it if you can get one at a good price. More pictures in Ready For Inspection John

That is lovely Martin, an all round very good job, especially with the rigging. Whats next on the bench? Cheers John

Perfect! It's got a red cheatline, what more could you want, Beautifully done yet again Dave, I've seen this kit in my LHS but declined to buy as I didn't know of any decent schemes for it. Next time in in, I think I'll be buying it. Cheers John

Dave, a non too brilliant picture, but this is what keeps luring me in, daring me to start the build. It's your super builds with the AA windows that caused that nice Mr Chris Stringbag to order some sets from Kurt, and kindly allowed me to add a few sheets to his order. I'm aware of the corrections needed to the wing box, tailfin etc, and am itching to start. But I really must reduce all the WIP's on the workbench, So many models so little time! Cheers John