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My adventure with 1/72 scale biplanes continues! This was a peculiar little kit for being of Eduard lineage. I built the first boxing of the kit from 2003 when it was a new tool, and it has been reissued with new parts and new decals in subsequent releases. The instructions were in a straightforward and easy to understand style, although I ran into a fairly significant issue early in the build. The fuselage is unusually molded in upper and lower halves instead of left and right sides, with the "instrument panel" slotting in under the top fuselage piece. Except that it... doesn't. There's no way it will ever fit. So after an unexpected session of plastic surgery and some putty, it eventually laid down and the rest of the build continued on smoothly! I hand painted this model and rigged it with Uschi "Rig That Thing!" superfine line. I think it is my most tidy rigging work thus far, so I'm very excited to show it here. 1st Lieutenant Jacques M. Swaab's first combat mission was on the 8th of September 1918, when he shot down 3 enemy aircraft within the span of half an hour. He would eventually claim 17 kills and be officially credited with 10. He survived the war and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism in aerial combat and swiftly coming to the aid of a comrade in mortal danger. Please enjoy the pictures!

Roden is to release a 1/32nd Spad XIII kit - ref. 634 Source: https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=11367.0 V.P.

A little while back I dragged out my last remaining Hobbycraft SPAD XIII in the stash to do this long-planned project---'Smith IV,' the Smithsonian NASM's beautifully-restored Kellner-built a/c, the original flown by long-lived ace Arthur Raymond Brooks of the American 22nd Aero Squadron 'Shooting Stars.' (Copyright Smithsonian Institution, photo by Mark Avino; used under terms of fair use for non-commercial, educational purposes; https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/spad-xiii-smith-iv) I first 'met' (and fell hopelessly in love with) Smith IV when she was still a battered and tattered hulk at the Smithsonian's Silver Hill storage facility back in the 1980s...and was tremendously excited when the docent leading our tour-group shared the news that this very a/c was slated for an imminent full restoration to near-original condition, in her original markings. [Needless to say, I have 'visited' this beauty in her spiffy new colors a number of times since.] I immediately resolved to build it...excitedly supposing it inevitable that someone, somewhere, would come out with a top-notch set of aftermarket markings for what is undoubtedly one of the best-known original SPAD XIIIs still in existence. [Cue the crickets chirping....] Failing that, I resorted to what dear Baldrick might have termed a 'cunning plan'...in my case, through the minor magic of computer graphics and 'print it at home' inkjet decal paper. Markings sorted (after a fashion), Hobbycraft's quite-nice 1/32 offering (which was an old favorite anyway) seemed the perfect basis for the project. The NASM's particular aircraft will require two relatively minor mods to the kit. First is the wings: Smith IV has 'mismatched' wings, probably due to replacements being fitted following operational damage (which was a pretty common occurrence). The aircraft's upper wing is the 'square' wingtip style adapted in later factory production to provide greater wing area and improved handling...and which, coincidentally, matches the Hobbycraft kit. Lower wings are the original rounded-tip style...to which plywood 'pocket' extensions were added as a field-modification, to give a profile similar to the late-production wings. Fortunately, Tom's Modelworks makes a small photo-etch set supplying the wingtip 'pockets' complete with scale templates showing the slight span extension necessary before fitting the retro-tips. Second mod concerns the armament: as Vickers machine guns were in painfully-short supply when the AEF squadrons took the field, an American-made Marlin design was substituted in many US-operated aircraft. Smith IV has these very distinctive-looking guns. No aftermarket help here---although I've heard Wingnut Wings supplied them in some of their kits---but there are plenty of photos around, and they're relatively easy to scratchbuild. Enough blather, let's see some photos. The kit: And some of the the 'stuff': Eduard's 1/32 p-e set (actually designed for Roden's SPAD VII, but some of the components and fittings are useful or can be modified for the XIII); and the Tom's 'wing pocket' set---which also includes some nifty screens to replace the solid engine-access panels, a common swap-out also seen on Smith IV: And my 'ace in the hole'---a second set of scratchbuilt cockpit components I turned out at the same time as last year's build of the same kit...as Charles d'Olive's 93rd Aero bird. [RFI here, for any who may be interested.] And last but certainly not least, a sampling of my home-brewed decals: So much for the long-winded tedious introduction. Next post will be the wing mods. Thanks for looking in.

As my last build, a Fokker Dr.1, drew to a close I found myself really looking forward to finally getting stuck into this one. (I'll post an RFI for the Fokker over the weekend when I can take some pics in natural light) I'll be doing a tandem build of two 1/72 SPAD XIII. Namely the Revell XIII C-1 and the Eduard Profipack XIII late version. Both will be finished in French markings. Spad-Double-Build by Martin Fay, on Flickr Here's the Revell - (the original tooling was 1963 apparently - it's older than I am!!!) pretty low part count, lots of flash, cheap as chips. There's not much in the line of detail so I think it'll need a little help in that regard. Revell-Spad by Martin Fay, on Flickr And here's the Eduard - (2003 but updated with new parts in 2009) Lovely clean sprues, nicely detailed for 1/72, clear parts and photoetch details for the radiators etc... Yummy! Eduard-Spad by Martin Fay, on Flickr Both are eye wateringly tiny so I'll be making use of the magnifier again. Oh, and this will be my first attempt at using Photoetch; what could possibly go wrong?

After the Ansaldo Balilla A1 (http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234969869-132-ansalado-a1-balilla) a 1/32nd Spad XIII resin kit by Aviattic? Source: https://www.facebook.com/aviattic/photos/a.377742595655686.83488.377520989011180/837512063012068/?type=1&theater To be followed V.P.