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I had the Herman Goering boxing of the Wingnut Wings Fokker DVIIF which comes in a rather boring and difficult (for me) all over white. So imagine my delight when I was at Telford to see that Aviattic had a set of decals depicting an aircraft from the Ukrainian Galician Army in September 1919 with all profits going to charities to help refugees from the Ukrainian war. In addition I used Gaspatch machine guns as I lost some of the original parts and EZ Line for the rigging. Anyhow, on with the pics. Slava Ukraini!

Hi, guys... It's been a while since I posted here on Britmodeller, so I thought you might like to see the latest addition to my collection. This is the wonderful Gotha G.IV kit from Wingnut Wings. It's a large kit when finished, with a wingspan of almost three feet, but like any other model, spend a little time and you'll likely end up with a good outcome. So, to begin with, I painted and assembled the fuselage floor, bulkheads and cockpit area. Everything you see in this first image comes from the kit and I especially liked the seatbelts, oxygen bottles and the instrument decals, all of which bring great realism to the model. The floor was given an enamel undercoat of pale khaki, then overpainted using burnt sienna oil paint from the Cass Art range. I was very pleased with the wood effect on the floor and bulkheads. In this next photo, the framing around the cockpit has been added in and its rigging shows up well. The 'steering wheel' control mechanism is well produced, as are the integrally-moulded fuselage frames, although some of the cockpit areas in my kit had a lot of ejector pin marks. These were in tricky areas in some instances, but all were easily enough removed. The majority were on the right side of the fuselage, so had to be addressed, as they would have been very prominent if left unattended. I took this photo after the fuselage was closed up, and you can see some of the detail in the gunner/bomb-aimer's forward position including the bomb release mechanism and the oxygen bottle. Once I was happy with the internal areas of the fuselage, I moved on to building the engines, leaving one covered and the other without its engine panels in order to show the detail. The central section of the bottom wing was also painted up and the walkways painted metallic and then blackwashed to give a bit of a 'worn' look. I liked the fine detail on the radiator grills and the exhaust pipes came up very well with their grungy appearance; this was oil paint used again, and blackwashed. After varnishing the fuselage, the relevant decals were attached and the external fuselage rigging - which extends to the tail and connects with the control surfaces - was added on at this point and later tidied up when the elevators and rudder were attached. The few transparent pieces included in the kit are small, but are very clear and fit well. Some additional blackwashing was applied to both the panels and small fitments on the fuselage sides, and the engine cowlings. Moving on to the wings, both upper and lower surfaces were painted in the dark grey-blue, with the exception of the underside of the top wing, which like the engine covers, struts, wheel hubs and fuselage and nose panels, were left in the extremely pale blue shade, almost an off-white tone. Adhesive tape was added to cover the wing ribs after a whilte undercoat had been applied, thereafter being oversprayed in dark brown in a non-uniform manner before the tapes were removed. When this happened, the original white undercoat was again uncovered on the ribs, and these were later given an overspray in the relevant camouflage colour... ...which in turn, was a process that was helpful in drawing back any excess of the brown paint and also helped to remove the white and bring the ribs, generally speaking, back to the appropriate colour. I deliberately left them slightly 'untidy' in their appearance as I felt this gave a good final presentation. Once varnished, the national markings were applied. So, in the following image, you can see the extent of the wingspan with the lower wing sections now in situ; the cabane struts have also been attached. The Gotha's wings had noticeable dihedral and on such a large kit, you may think this would be difficult to effect properly, but the lower wings have the correct dihedral built into them and have quite a bit of 'play' as well, and the top wing, after securing the rather flimsy lower central section into place, rests easily on the cabane struts and engine frame struts without any additional support required at this stage. Now you can see that I have started to attach the interplane struts; I rigged the inner areas between the engines and fuselage first as these are the most difficult to get access to and some of the rigging crosses over other lengths of rigging diagonally and therefore, awkwardly... patience is definitely needed here, and possibly a leather mouthpiece to bite into if/when things don't go according to plan - you don't want to scare the neighbours with aggressive yelling, cursing and swearing at the top of your voice! 🤬 🤣 The cabane struts and each section, moving gradually out towards the wing tips, were rigged in their entirety before moving on to the next. The struts themselves were easily inserted into their location holes due to the 'play' in the wings, and this flexibility was very much instrumental in making the whole rigging process much easier. I resisted all thoughts of turning the kit upside down to complete the rigging under the top wing, instead electing to use two blocks of upholstery foam to support the model while accessing these areas in order to attach the turnbuckles into the leading and trailing edge points. The larger block of foam, which stood about four inches tall, allowed me to tilt the model forward onto its nose, thus giving better access to the trailing edge. The thinner strip of foam was used to support the undercarriage and raise the front of the kit, thus giving better access to the leading edges. In the latter process, it's good to remember to position the tail against something solid in order to support the model and minimise the likelihood of it slipping off the foam, and this should be done before attaching the tail control surfaces. All of the above negates the requirement to move the model around as it takes on more and more weight and size, and also reduces the need, in my opinion, to go boring right through the upper wing to draw rigging through before secuing it. I have seen this done online and admire modellers who use this method, but I wouldn't have confidence to try that, and given the rarity and cost of obtaining the model nowadays, I feel my method is every bit as effective. The rigging was completed using elasticated thread and the turnbukles came from the excellent GasPatch range. These last few photos show the model in its final stages of construction. All control surfaces are attached and rigging finished; upper wing fuels tanks, MG mounts and the guns themselves, the bombsight and all external ordinance has been added, and only a space in the cabinet needs to be found! All enamel paints used were from the Humbrol range and markings largely from the WnW kit itself, although the 'Lori2' markings were taken from the Pheon decals after-market offering for this model. So, I hope you have enjoyed seeing the photos from my build. There is a more extensive build article which you can access here: https://imodeler.com/groups/imperial-german-air-service-luftwaffe-group-build-may-1st-1910-to-present-day/forum/topic/wnw-gotha-g-iv-1-32-scale/, and I've made a YouTube video which you may also find interesting, available to view here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQqvVuxKUyM. Thanks for looking in... ;-). Regards, Paul

Hi, I feel like I should know the answer to this one, but I'm doing the Wingnut Wings Fokker D.VII 32011. I'm wondering why they used 2 different finishes on the early aircraft? If they had lozenge fabric why not cover the whole aircraft as they did later? They used the streaked finish all over the triplane so what made them mix 2 different sources of fabric, clear and printed? I've read the Datafile years ago and can't remember anything about this, but then I'm at that age now. Cheers Phil

Building the Wingnut Wing Albatros D.VA in 1/32 Scale Build Guide Series No.10 KLP Publishing Online publishing is now starting to find its way into the modelling community. KLP Publishing is one of the new online publishers, specialising in eBooks for the scale aircraft modelling community. Their debut title Building Brick’s Sabre in 1/32 Scale: A Scale Tribute to K.J. "Brick" Bricknell reviewed here has proved to be a success. They have since done titles on the Bird Dog, Spitfire XIVe, AEG G.IV Late, FW 189, He 219. P-51 and Ki-45 amongst others. Their latest title tackles building the Wingnut Wings Albatros D.VA. This was done by modeller Karim Bibi. Here the book looks in detail at the kit, as well as the aircraft itself. For the build itself construction and painting techniques are looked at along with some aftermarket being used such as HGW belts and the excellent looking Aviattic lozenge decals (links are provided in the pdf to all the aftermarket products used) . A mini tutorial is includes for making your own prop if you want to go that far. A large gallery of finished model pictures is included, along with photos of a real Mercedes engine. This is one area that e books do excel in as printing these pictures in a traditional format would be expensive. Conclusion This is the type of publication that the new digital format is made for. If you want a book for a specific build having a digital publication saves you space on your bookshelves. This is clearly a book written by modellers for modellers. The text is clear and concise and the great selection of crisp pictures is welcome, many more than you would get in a printed publication. Links to the various aftermarket sets is also welcome. A reminder that if you set up an account with KLP then you can download the revisioned copies of books you have already purchased to no extra cost. Very Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Hi All After being chastised (quite rightly, too) in another thread it seems that some of us would like to throw our hat in the ring for a Wish List from the newly announced Kotare Models company, so here goes. www.kotare-models.com Heres what we know so far: They are made up of some of the key players from the now-defunct Wingnut Wings. This company had a reputation for extremely high quality …. Wait…wait … I’m gonna say it … kitsets (!). They seem to be producing in 1/32 scale (at least for the time being) 2 images posted to their home page seem to indicate a subject hint of some kind. And that’s about it so far. So what would you really like to see boxed in high quality in 1/32 scale? And/or What do you think the subject images could indicate? Although this is meant as a fun post, try to keep within limits of what you would actually like to build and what you think would actually make some money for the company in order to stay in business. Everyone’s opinion is valid, so no arguing please. Over to you

Well this is good news https://www.kotare-models.com/

Albatros B.II 1/32 Wingnut Wings The Albatros B.II was an unarmed 2 seater, almost unique in having been produced in 1913 before the Great War broke out, and remained in production until the Armistice in 1918. It was produced by many companies ,and with lost of subtle variations. The Observer sat in the forward cockpit, but I assume did not have the best of views, with the lower wings blocking his view downward, and the engine the view forward. His position was somewhat precarious, with his seat being mounted on top a the large petrol tank, another auxiliary tank above his head, and radiators with boiling water to either side. I just love the look of domestic type radiators plumbed in to the fuselage sides! The pilot sat in the rear cockpit with a big ship-type steering wheel. Fortunately I bought this kit before Wingnut Wings suddenly closed, and I'm glad I did because it was an absolute pleasure to build. I decided not to use the supplied woodgrain decal as it looked yo coarse and yellowish to me, so I instead used Uschi van der Rosten woodgrain decal over Tamiya XF-78 Wooden Deck Tan. The clear doped linen is my own brew of Tamiya acrylic, also using XF-78, white an yellow. I painted a representation of the upper wing crosses on the underside of the top wings, to represent the see through effect of the light coming from above. Can you see it in the next 2 photos?? The wheels come with etched brass spokes, 1 'disc' per side, and were very easy to, and look great. Plastic spoked wheels are also provided, but don't look anywhere near as good. Thanks for looking, John

A Wingnut Wings WWI aircraft build is always a cosmic nirvana modeling experience. This is my fourth WNW build, the excellent two seater Roland C.IIa "late", also known as the "Whale". My wife gave me this gift about six years ago for Xmas so she was especially enthusiastic and supportive during this build. She picked the kit out for me because she thought it was "cute", lucky for me her "cute" = my "awesome"! Other than EZ line and Bob's Buckles for rigging, it's pretty much OOB. Tamiya acrylic paints were used per the instructions except for a slight amount of Alclad aluminum and brass in the engine area. I built version 'A' of the kit's five options, ("Kasta 2/ Kogohl 1, 1917) in which WNW guessed at some color and feature aspects so I deviated a little here and there. As always with WNW, everything fit perfectly and the finished product comes out much better than my skills should allow. Too bad WNW shut down. Despite the crazy price escalation of these kits on eBay, I refuse to not build the remaining WNW kits in my stash. Life is too short and I'd rather have a bunch of dusty built models than unbuilt $$$ kits when I'm too blind and feeble to even separate the parts from the runners or spend the money on other things that wouldn't be as fun (other than good Irish Whiskey 😁). Cheers, John

Sopwith Pup "Gnome" Wingnut Wings 1/32 This is WnW's Gnome engined version of the Sopwith Pup, and it's the first kit of theirs that I've built and way out of my comfort zone, being an AFV and Sci-Fi modeller generally. The kit went together without any real issues, although handling it become more difficult as the build went on and a few repairs were needed along the way. The single biggest job was the masking for the stripes, although I simplified it as much as possible by breaking the painting down into stages, rather than trying to mask and spray the whole thing in one go. I wasn't looking forward to the rigging due to my zero experience with it, but it went reasonably well once I got the hang of it. Thanks for looking Andy

The engine was completed but was short of bits and bobs so added some of the pieces from This is not the best PE from Eduard, the instructions are hazy in part and there aren't enough spark plug leads. The WNW instruction book is required to reduice its short comings. Having spent the best part of a day to lead wires form the two magnetos into the pipe-work and then from this piepwork to the 12 spark plugs (I hope its the magnetos and spark plugs 😂). Waiting for the below to harden the engine was dirtied. I've used the excellent article in 'Air Modellor's guide to WingNut Wings Vol 2; Jeroen Veen Jess'. The vertical part to the Pilot's seat is a ball ache! It's almost impossible to fit seamlessly. My work around is to thin it from the rear glue to the Nacelle and then split it and paint the seat and blend into the rest of the cockpit!! More to follow...

Hello everyone, best wishes, hope you are all coping as well as possible. Just posting my latest effort. I seem to be whizzing through some builds, due to the lockdown, so went with this plane. Im not totally sure I have got the colour right, but in some respects I guess there isnt a right colour with these old planes. So just went with what was in my paint box. Picking a colour scheme is becoming as hard as picking what to make out of my stash lately. This is my ninth wing nut build (currently Germany 6 England 3) and for the first time I came across a couple of little problems. Had some warped sprues, some odd numbering for the build - bottom wings before undercarriage was definitely wrong. Also a few decals not numbered in the instructions. But dont want to quibble as they are by far my favourite manufacturer (fingers crossed they carry on). I also had to make my own rigging holes for some of it, which was unusual. This is a fairly large plane, 410mm wingspan compared to 265mm for a Sopwith Camel, im running out of space to put these. I think I made a few mistakes, 1 or 2 bent struts. I bonded the wing struts to the bottom wing, way, way to early, wont do that again. They are so fragile and I snapped 3 off. Quite a nice amount of rigging on this one, compared to the AMC DH2 or the FE.2B for instance. Ive stopped putting in the internal rigging, as there doesnt seem much point really. But do enjoy the external rigging. Am always reading about it putting people off, which was an outloook I used to have myself, then I had a go and really enjoyed it. Am a brush painter and am reasonably happy with the finish, for some reason, crap as I am at taking pics, they always show up the mistakes and not the good bits. I do like trying to recreate the wood effect on the propeller, there are so many different techniques for this, sometimes it just works, other times not so much. Would love to hear any comments, thank you for looking and take care, cheers, Martin

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Ninetalis/photos/a.288358611331509/1490326114468080/ V.P.

Hey everyone, It has been a long time since my last post on this forum. I'm still working on finishing my Wingnut Wings Fokker EII (see my other post), which has progressed rather slowly since last September as i had to focus on the reconstruction of my house instead (model building in 1:1 scale i guess!). But, work on the house is almost done now and whilst i'm looking to finish the Fokker, i've also picked up & started with another Wingnut Wings kit: their Albatros D.Va "Bavarians" limited edition. I've decided to build the version as flown by Michael Sigmann, which i've named the "midnight" Albatros due to de darkblue/stars decoration. Here's a snapshot of the kit + the version i'm going for: I've made a start with the engine, which has turned out quite nice (see photo below). As i want to leave the engine cowling partly open, i've decided to add extra detail to the engine. I've added Taurus spark plugs + have used electrical wire to conncect the sprak plugs to the engine as per the photo's of the actual motor. Man, those sparkplugs & wires are TINY! It took me an entire afternoon with trial and error to make just one side look a bit like the real thing. I'm ok with how it looks now. I didn't want to make a bright and shiny factory fresh engine, so while painting i added some subtle rust, oil and chipping effects. Apart from the engine, i've also started with the pilot's seat, but i managed to drop the seat compartment while working on it and in an automatic reaction trying the catch it before it fell to the ground i crushed all the small parts..............ouch. This will need some time for carefull repair. Will be posting again when i've made some progress!

Hello all, I have had this kit in my stash for about 6 months now and I've been trying not to scratch a constant itch that demands I build it …. but now I have to give in …. as it's driving me mad! These WnW kits are sheer quality, with some beautifully moulded parts, loads and loads of detail and a superb instruction booklet to ease construction. As soon as you open the box and see one in the flesh, you just know that you've bought a quality kit and regardless of the higher bracket prices that they demand, these kits are definitely worth every penny - money well spent! I normally like to scratch-build bits and super-detail my models (it's just a habit I have) but this kit will be built mostly OOB with very little added detail other than maybe some ignition leads on the engine which don't appear to be included. To be honest it doesn't very much else! Kit and contents in the photos below: This is the scheme I will be using in my build, which is the same as the box art: Thanks for looking in on my build, all comments and criticisms welcomed! Kev.

My apologies, but this should've been posted into 'Ready for Inspection'... anyway, the end result is the same... ;-). This is my third venture into the world of 1/32 scale WW1 aircraft. The work on this kit was inspired by the front cover and article in the 'Iron Cross' publication from last summer, Issue 2. This is a relatively new quarterly publication regarding the German armed forces from 1914-1945. The article covers various matters, not least the day today life of a pilot of the Imperial Fliegertruppe during the last months of WW1. It also sheds light as to why the initial interpretation of the colour scheme from period photos is possibly now inaccurate, and offers the colour scheme on this model as a more likely representation of Josef Kister's aircraft. This kit has been finished to represent a D.Va variant, although due to my own mistake, there are errors with the aileron actuators and consequent lack of some associated rigging; in fairness, this is the 'Richthofen'-specific WnW kit and although it has the correct interplane struts for the outer wings included as part of the kit, the parts for the correct D.Va aileron detail would not have been required in this kit. If nothing else, it should teach me to pay more attention. In my own defence, this was apparently the only available version on the market when I bought it. No matter, on to the build; the first image below shows the internal surfaces of the fuselage painted up to represent a wood effect finish. This comprises a base coat of white, followed with pale tan, then mid tan. All colours are enamels. Thereafter, some small spots of transparent oxide yellow oil paint were applied behind the bulkhead location and gently buffed to the appearance you see here, and burnt sienna oil paint to the forward section. Although the colour behind the bulkhead will not be seen, it provided an area for me to hone my oil painting skills a little more. Once fully dry, the burnt sienna shade was carefully and very lightly reapplied to the framework on the forward fuselage interior just to highlight the detail. This was left un-buffed. The various additional parts representing the internal frames, the sides and rear of the pilot's seat and the propellor were all treated in the same manner, with a very light dusting of homemade blackwash to darken the propellor blades slightly. The wings and horizontal tailplane were all finished in lozenge pattern; the transfers seen here are from the Aviattic range; they settle very nicely with a little patience. Always remember to pre-paint the relevant surfaces to be covered with lozenge transfers white and then gloss varnish; this brings out the best from the transfers during and after application. As my subject model had an extremely pale blue, almost off-white, background to both upper and lower wing crosses, and having clumsily attempted this with painted strips of transfer sheet, I eventually elected to hand-paint the backgrounds. This was a slow process and care had to be taken in measuring out the correct position and dimension, and the progress made can be seen in these following three photos, applying the coats very thinly and building up their strength gradually. In the last of these three photos, you can also see the assembled fuselage, with seat belts in position along with the engine and other sundry items. The machine guns have still to be attached at this point. The markings of this aircraft included a large yellow '6' and a smaller red '6' above and below the wings respectively, on the left side, and a red six with yellow outline on both sides of the fuselage. Again, I chose to apply these freehand, by paint brush. The first photo below shows me outlining the dimension of the upper wing numeral. The strips of black transfer for the crosses were sourced from the spares box and applied to the wing. In this image, you can see the completed yellow '6' on the wing; the wing crosses have received their thin white outline, just visible against the very pale blue backgrounds. A block of yellow has been applied to either side of the fuselage and once dry, a red '6' will be superimposed, with the excess yellow thereafter being painted out with a further application of pale blue, thus creating a yellow outline around the number. Next up, a view of the completed sections so far. The underwing red '6' has been applied and the outline to the fuselage number has been finished as well; this takes time and patience to go round the number with a small, thin paint brush, touching up the detail until it looks acceptable. The lower wing roots are left in natural wood presentation. The following photo shows the preparation for the next characteristic of this colour scheme. So, a question.. where would we all be without the ubiquitous Tamiya tape? Answer - heaven's knows! Strips of tape have been applied over the fuselage to block off the relevant sections of pale blue, naturally after the paint on the numbers has dried; they were later cut away from around and behind the number for reasons that will become apparent soon. I deliberately left the rear fin unpainted so as to give me a place to hold the fuselage while painting it. The unusual red flecking on the wing crosses has also been added, as can be seen on the upper wing in the background. This is the bit that excites and frightens me in equal measure! In this case, flame red is applied to the exposed areas of the fuselage, brushing inwards from the tape towards the centre. Thin paint and slow application are best - the paint will dry quicker if thin, and going slow reduces the risk of seepage under the tape, thus hopefully ensuring a clean finish. Here, you can seen where the tape was cut away prior to applying the red. The main section at the front of the fuselage is just about to be uncovered. The reason for not extending the red stripes up to the number 6 is because there is an optical illusion of a blue background to the cross, and that it 'cuts through' the red in the area of the number, and because the stripes (intentionally) cut through the crosses at a slightly different level on either side of the fuselage, I though it best to complete them by hand. Below, you can see the red stripes have been 'carried through' the number 6 with very careful hand painting; the fuselage cross will be applied in due course in the area behind the number, and then the red stripes can be completed as appropriate, in order to produce the optical illusion of a blue outline to the national marking. You may just be able to see the the first red stripe on the upper fuselage starts aligned to the right side of the fin edge heading forward; the first blue stripe starts from the left side of the fin edge, thus creating the irregularity of position of the stripes on the sides, and this has to be taken into account when creating the illusion of the background to the cross. In the next two photos, the lower wings have been attached; slight droop may be noted in the second photo, but this was rectified when the struts and upper wing were attached... no need to panic! It isn't readily obvious here, as the discrepancy is so slight, but the engine front sits fractionally too high. The frames holding the engine did give cause for a few heated exchanges between me and them, but I won... well, almost. Nonetheless, it does look very smart once the engine is installed; you may also see a lozenge pattern to the front of the fuselage bulkhead, behind the pilot's seat. The fuel tank, MG magazines and various aspects of engine detail are all in evidence here. The fuselage was blackwashed slightly to bring out the panel detail, and at last, you can see the completed stripes and the blue 'background' to the cross. You will see the subtle differences on either side if you look closely. So, now we're approaching the end of the build. First up, a nice shot of the undersides of the model along with a hint of some of the rigging in place. There were a good few turnbuckles required for this model, sourced from the GasPatch range. The Albatros must have been one of the most heavily-rigged single-engined fighters possessed by the Germans. Additional blackwashing was applied to the tail skid, wheels, undercarriage legs and propellor spinner. The front of the engine block was made flat and a plastic card tab of appropriate dimension was added to the engine front and painted accordingly, as it can just be seen through the open cowling. The propellor spinner was then able to be permanently fixed at the correct position without anyone knowing that the engine itself was slightly misaligned. The rear of the tail fin, plus the rudder, were painted with white oil paint. The forward fin on the right side was blue, and red on the left side; the the small windshield was also attached in front of the cockpit area. These last three images are ones which I think really show the model off well. I like the colourful camouflage scheme as it is a little out of the ordinary compared to other, better known options. Thanks for looking in, and I hope you like the finished model... 😉 Regards, Paul

Hi everyone, thought I'd post my latest build/attempt. I'm not totally happy with the finish but I enjoyed building it, which is the main thing. This was my first attempt/foray/failure into the lozenge type of decal, or indeed any type of large covering decal. I am pretty sure I made a mistake, dont know if anyone on here can confirm that I did indeed go wrong? I decided to apply the lozenge decals onto bare styrene. I had a hell of a job getting them to stick, also they became very brittle. After they were dry just the slightest touch to trim them would make part of them shatter. Dont look too close to the leading edges of the wings. Over the last couple of years I have come to enjoy doing rigging on my WW1 builds, this plane had next to none. I was finished in ten minutes, whereas I made a AMC DH2 a while back which took me over a week to rig. I am very happy with my wooden propeller and loved the little map on the drop down table in the cockpit. I'm still very much making it up as I go along when it comes to weathering. I put too much dried salt effect on the floats of this I think. One day I will take a good pic. Would love to read any comments, all the best, Martin

Hi there, just thought I'd post my latest attempt. Although Im not totally happy with the end result, I thoroughly enjoyed making it, which is what counts. I chose this colour scheme as it was the only option that didnt involved lozenge artwork, im not a huge fan of that look. Im quite happy with the doped linen look but not sure I have nailed the blue. Had one nightmare session when putting the top wing on. I scratched the paintwork, drilled a hole through the wing, bent a strut. Then when I had finally got it on and glued, I went back a few hours later and another strut had actually snapped. Still I got there in the end. Its quite a big kit in relation to other Wingnut kits I have made, the wingspan is 375mm which is about 100mm bigger than the Sopwith Camel of the same scale. I seem to have become addicted to Wingnut kits lately, my stash has plenty of ww2 aircraft and various tanks and ships but I cant seem to make any of them and just start another Wingnut. Thanks for looking, apologies for the poor photos, would love to hear any comments, all the best for the new year, Martin

Hi everyone, just finished this and thought I'd post a few pics. Had a lot of satisfaction while building this, it seemed to go well and I seemed to fly through it in a month or so which is super fast for me. I am in awe of the men who actually flew these things. As I was making it i was struck by the fragility of what the real thing must have been like. Surely one dodgy landing and the plane would crumple. This is the plane that Lanoe Hawker was killed in after a dogfight with the Red Baron. The blurb with the kit says Richthofen described his duel with Hawker as "the most difficult battle I have had" after expending 900 rounds of ammunition. As the pics show there is a lot of rigging with this kit, I had to have a lie down after each session If I had one small criticism of Wingnut Wings its that I do sometimes find the rigging diagrams a bit confusing, I know that's a bit like trying to find fault in Margot Robbie but I do wish they were a bit clearer on the intricate sections of rigging. Im still brush painting and I seem to have reached a plateau of how good I can make things look. I can never decide whether to take the plunge into getting an airbrush. Overall I am happy with it though, which is the main thing. What a very therapeutic hobby this wonderful pastime is. As usual I think I have struggled with the pics but I would love to hear any comments about what you guys think, good or bad. I'm now at my usual dilemma of trying to decide what to make next. Many thanks and best wishes to all for the new year, Martin

Hi Folks, finally got the courage to upscale my old 1/72 Felixstowe decals - so they are off just now to the printers, hope they come in useful for some people here, thanks for looking.... 32D020 - Felixstowe F.2A N4283 32D021 - Felixstowe F.2A N4512

Hi everyone, Sopwith Camel bracing wires for Wingnut Wings kit off to the printers for test shot. Thanks for looking

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.

Wingnut Wings is to release mid November 2019 1/32nd Pfalz D.IIIa special boxing - ref. 32909 - Pfalz D.IIIa 'Flying Circus part 1' - http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/product?productid=3219 - ref. 32910 - Pfalz D.IIIa 'Flying Circus part 2' - http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/product?productid=3220 V.P.

Hallo This is my Roland CII late. In contrast to the Roland CII early, it is much more colorful. My Roland CII early, you will find here. Beside this, I did two major changes. · The rigging without knots · The airscrew, now laminated. Well, I hope you enjoy it. Happy modelling

Hello all, Wingnuts beautifully crafted Sopwith Triplane has been fumbled together by me over the course of the last 9 months. For anyone who knows me, that is RAPID! I can't fault the kit. It is pure New Zealand Gold. The only thing I can fault is my need to try to make everything look perfect. I'm sure I can work on that imperfection and as a result build more kits. I have one image for now, but will upload more soon. Cheers my dears Von Buckle KFC 1st Class

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.