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My Collection Of Great War Aeroplane Models


Old Man

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I thought I would take the opportunity of our Great War Centennial GB downstairs to post up my collection (to date) of models from this period. It has grown somewhat over the last nine years or so. All are in 1/72 scale. Some you may have seen, others probably not.

First, the scratch-builds:

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This is the prototype Morane-Saulnier Type N (militaire), flown by Sgt. Gilbert in the summer of 1915. It is my first finished scratch-build, though the second I started.

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This an F.E. 8 of No. 40 Squadron, in late August, 1916. It was the first scratch-build I started, and was built in tandem with the Morane 'Le Vengeur'.

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This a Caudron G.3 of Esc. C11, at the Marne in September, 1914.

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This is the Morane Parasol Guynemer piloted in his first successful air combat, when his gunner downed an Aviatik in the French lines in July, 1915.

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This is a Breguet U.1 'affine' of Esc. BR17, on the Alsace front in September, 1914, flown by Sgt. France Vaurin. This one took quite a while, and is the one which left me convinced I could build anything....

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This is a Maurice Farman MF 11, of Esc. MF62 at the Battle of Artois, September, 1915. It carries the unit's 120cm focal length camera, used for detail pictures of points already identified as worth especial interest.

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This is a Martinsyde G.100 Elephant, seconded after long service from 72 Squadron to 'Dunsterforce', flown by Lt. MacKay at Baku in September, 1918 (an especially odd little passage in the chaos of the east at that period). The nose was particularly difficult, being open and pieced by many louvers; everything in front of the cockpit, basically, is egg-shell thickness.

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This is a Caudron G.VI of Esc. C575, at Port Said, Egypt, in autumn of 1918. Known as "l'Escadrille de Palestine", C575 retained the Caudrons after the war, based in Lebanon. The camouflage pattern is largely conjectural, but this machine was painted in the 5-colour scheme. Wife did the escadrille markings.

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This is the Breguet AG 4, flown from Paris by M. Breguet and Lt. Watteau, on the flight which discovered the first signs von Kluck meant to pass east of the city, early in September, 1914. Short of 'Enola Gay', this may have been the most significant single sortie by an aircraft in history.

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This is a Vickers 'Bullet' (FB.19 mkII) of 14 Squadron in Gaza, in the summer of 1917.

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This is a Short 827, with floats removed and wheels fitted, operated by the R.N.A.S. 'up the Tigris' in autumn of 1915, in support of Gen. Townsend's 'Force D' at Kut al' Amara.

These next are either conversions, or extensively re-worked for accuracy....

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This is a Nieuport N.27 of Esc. N87, flown by Lt. Descours, early in 1918, made from an Eduard N.17 kit, well before Roden came out with their 'ropund-body' Nieuport range. Unit marking is hand-done using reverse masking on white plastice (this is before home decal printing, too). M. Descours, I learned later, had quite a career as a pioneering flier in Indo-China after the war.

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This is a Fokker AII (military version of the M.5 with long-span wings), in summer of 1915 on the Russian front. It is a conversion employing two Eduard E.III kits.

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This is an R.E. 8 of No. 5 Fighting School at Abu Suier, in mid-1919, the result of major surgery on an Airfix R.E. 8 kit.

Here are more or less straight kit builds: though all are Great War types, not all are Great War subjects, being in post-war liveries...

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This is an Albatros D.III flown by Lt. Strahle of Jasta 18 in March, 1917: Roden kit, which is little rough at the rear of the cockpit, prepared to a profile by the late Dan-San Abbot.

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Nieuport 17 of No. 60, December, 1916, flown by Lt. Meintjes: Eduard kit.

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Albatros D.V of Jasta 4, July, 1917, flown by Sgt. Clausnitzer: Eduard kit.

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Bristol Fighter of No. 2 Sqdn, Ireland, 1920 (this particular machine crashed onto rooftops in Barrack St., Waterford Town): Roden kit.

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Fokker D.VII, U.S.M.C., Brown Field, Quantico, 1922: Roden kit (with scratch-built struts).

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Nieuport Scout (built as N.23) of No. 60 Sqdn, April, 1917, flown by Lt. C. S. Hall (KIA April 7): Eduard kit.

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Meant as a Sopwith Camel in U.S.N. service at Guantanamo NAS, 1922, but botched the center-section cut-outs, leaving them standard, and they were not: Roden kit.

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Ko-3 trainer (N.24.E-1), IJAAF, 1920: Roden N.24 kit.

Here a couple of 'near things':

First, a scratch-build that met a dire fate:

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All that was left to do on this was add a pair of oddly mounted Lewis guns, plus a bit of touching up and I managed to drop a large squeeze-bottle of white glue on it, shortly after this picture was taken. It is a Morane-Saulnier Type BB of No. 3 Sqdn, which was downed by Immelmann in March of 1916: a dying pilot brought it down intact, his wounded observer later died in hospital.

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At least one Vickers Vimy reached France for operational trials before the Armistice, so by a real squeak of a stretch, you could call this a Great War type; it is a conversion to trainer configuration, in late service with Jaguar radials replacing the original RR Eagles, serving at 5 F.T.S., Abu Suier, in 1930.

In the WWI GB, I am doing a scratch-build of a Martinsyde S.1, also from the Tigris campaign of 1915, one of the two poictured here:

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Here is a link...

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/forum/478-world-war-one-100th-anniversary-group-build/

Edited by Old Man
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Have you ever thought of rigging your models as they would look much better? Only joking,......what a superb collection and they are all beauties,.......you should be very proud of them and a lot of work has gone into them all,

Cheers

Tony

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Absolutely superb, OM, and those scratch-builds are a real inspiration to me to have another go after my first 'trial-and-error' attempt was abandoned (an Avro 510 where a lot of trial resulted in too much error!). I'll definitely be coming back to this selection to see what can be achieved. Thanks for going to the trouble of posting; it's much appreciated.

Jon

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The amount of scratchbuilding and the research you do for these models is superb.

I like the fact that you don't just build a model and thats it, the whole accuracy and research aspect in order to depict a particular type flown by a specific pilot is awesome.

A very impressive collection! :thumbsup::poppy:

Rich

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..to think I'm having trouble with a 48th scale Fokker Triplane (..well the SMER 44th scale kit actually..) !!

favourite has to be the Breguet U.1 ...but a super collection!

Edited by FalkeEins
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Old Man, I was originally just going to "like" your post, because what could I possibly say about your work, and how could I lay any claim to judging it -- even to say I think it's incredible, which I feel it is -- when your skills are so superior to mine? But I decided I had to say something, because I think your work is absolutely splendid; the artistry on display here, coupled with your astonishing ability to scratchbuild these fragile-looking aircraft, is nothing short of amazing.

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I can only echo what others have already said... fantastic, absolutely fantastic. I especially like the Short 827, it looks like it would antagonise the air rather than fly through it (I know some-one else said this about another type but it seems apt).

(edited to correct spelling)

Edited by Beard
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Have you ever thought of rigging your models as they would look much better? Only joking,......what a superb collection and they are all beauties,.......you should be very proud of them and a lot of work has gone into them all,

Cheers

Tony

To rig is to live, Sir. I actually enjoy it, at least most of the time....

What a wonderful collection of aeroplanes. Absolutely stunning.

Thank you, Sir. I am glad you like them.

These are all stunning. I REALLY envy your scratch building abilities, you've definetly set a benchmark!

Ben

Thank you, Sir. The camera can be somewhat kind, as well as cruel. The first four of the scratch-builds I am considering taking another run at in future, as I think now I could make a beter job of them in some respects.

A truly superb collection of models.

Gary

Thank you, Sir. It has been a pleasure putting them together, and there arte certainly more I want to do.

A fantastic collection of WWI aircraft, everyone a cracker,

Sean

Thank you, Sir! I was a little surprised by how many there were when I came to assemble this....

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Absolutely superb, OM, and those scratch-builds are a real inspiration to me to have another go after my first 'trial-and-error' attempt was abandoned (an Avro 510 where a lot of trial resulted in too much error!). I'll definitely be coming back to this selection to see what can be achieved. Thanks for going to the trouble of posting; it's much appreciated.

Jon

Thank you, Sir.

Took a look at the 510, it looks similar to the Short, a big horse of an aeroplane. It certainly looks do-able, I don't know if you saw the WIP for the Short, but it might give you some ideas:

http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234961961-short-827-converted-rnas-mesopoptamia-1915-scratch-build-in-172/

Man! I'm SOOOO Jealous!

Stunning work there, especially on the rigging. Some really beautiful models.

:mike:

Thank you very much, Sir. Rigging on some of these is functional, particularly on the lattice-tail types, actually holding things true with the balanced pull of the elastic.

The amount of scratchbuilding and the research you do for these models is superb.

I like the fact that you don't just build a model and thats it, the whole accuracy and research aspect in order to depict a particular type flown by a specific pilot is awesome.

A very impressive collection! :thumbsup::poppy:

Rich

I am glad you appreciate that, Sir, It is one of my favorite parts of a build, actually. It is nice to be able to tie a thing down to a particular time and place. My personal favorite among these in that regard is the 'Elephant' at Baku, the names of the two pilots were known, but the serial, and its tie to one of them,was hidden by a typo in a list in the Martinsyde file....

A wonderful line up! The Caudron G3 is my favourite.

Martin

Thank you, Sir. I like that type a great deal. The subject is one I may well take another run at (at a miniumumj, I could do a better job on the tapes). If/when I do, I may do it as a Chinese example, on operations against the 'White Wolf' rising early in 1914.

Lovely models - you've captured the look very well.

Thank you very much, Sir. I do not do a lot of post-painting weathering; what you see is mostly the result of thin coats, often mixed up fresh for each use, and so varying slightly in tone.

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