Siemens Schuckert DIII - 1/72 – Ernst Udet - Toko Kit - Lessons Learned

[Brotrob]

Hi all,

 

After the “Lessons learned Albatros DV ” I’m now showing the second of my past builds: Tokos (Eastern Express) Siemens Schuckert DIII.

 

 

Tokos SSW kit offers modellers the choice to build an SSW DIII or an SSW DIV. The detail of the kit is outstanding, for 1/72. Unfortunately, the kit only contains parts for an accurately scaled SSW DIV, as the SSW DIII option is not possible to build out of the box without addressing some serious scaling/accuracy flaws, which are:

 

1. The elevator is too small for a DIII
2. The upper wing us too narrow
3. The spinner is too small

 

To illustrate the inaccuracies, here is a comparison of a spare kit I bought with Dick Bennets 1/72 drawings from 1991:

 

 

 

On top of that, the Lozenge decals are not accurate at all, as they are far too bright, and the same for top and bottom surfaces.

 

Things I wanted to try with this kit

 

Despite the kits shortcomings for the SSW DIII option, I chose to build it, in Ernst Udets markings, because it combines a colourful paint job with a prominent ace status of its pilot. Here are some original photographs of the SSW:

 

 

 

This was the first kit where I decided to:

 

1. Make serious changes to the dimensions of major parts of the aircraft
2. Apply Lozenge decals
3. Use the airbrush

 

The completed model

 

I decided to increase the depth of both the elevator and the top wing using an unusual and very lazy method. I folded a piece of simple transparent adhesive tape around the wing and elevator, respectively, letting the folded edge of the tape stand off the original edge of the upper wing/elevator and therefore increase the depth of both parts, respectively. With the paint and lozenge decals added, this solution generated acceptable results.

 

 

Regarding the bright Lozenge, I sprayed a very thin mixture of black on top of the decals for the top wings, to darken the colour. It looked less bright, but was a) still not an accurate representation of 4 colour Lozenge and b) not applied diagonally. Then, I tried to manually paint some of the hexes of the bottom wing lozenge with colours more typical for underside Lozenge, which looked quite bad in close-ups.

 

Rib tapes were added with a black permanent marker, again out of laziness and ignorance of the true colour of rib tapes.

 

 

 

 

 

The lessons learned whilst building this particular kit

 

1.    I should just have bought proper Lozenge decals instead of trying to improve the ones from the kit

2.    Changes to components can be achieved quite easily, and are worth the effort

3.    Airbrushing is worth the effort too, even in 1/72

 

Best regards,

 

Rob

Edited June 26, 2018 by Brotrob
Forgot the "Hi"

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Good looking model 👍

[Andwil]

Oh dear.  I built one of these a few years ago but was unaware of the inaccuracies.

 

It is a nice little model though.

 

Andrew

[Roger Holden]

13 hours ago, Brotrob said:

The lessons learned whilst building this particular kit

 

1.    I should just have bought proper Lozenge decals instead of trying to improve the ones from the kit

2.    Changes to components can be achieved quite easily, and are worth the effort

3.    Airbrushing is worth the effort too, even in 1/72

 

Best regards,

 

Rob

Another minor error.......the rudder on Udet's plane was painted white, not red.  It was originally shown as red in the Windsock Datafile, but Ray Rimell later said this should be white in Windsock magazine.  But your self-critical approach is the right way to go about improving your models.

[Brotrob]

1 hour ago, Roger Holden said:

Another minor error.......the rudder on Udet's plane was painted white, not red.  It was originally shown as red in the Windsock Datafile, but Ray Rimell later said this should be white in Windsock magazine.  But your self-critical approach is the right way to go about improving your models.

Ho Roger,

 

How funny! Long after I built this kit I saw the white rudder version, but always thought it was just opinion. Now, that you mentioned it, I had a look at the image of the SSW I posted above, and in its left corner, you can actually see that the rudder was not red. Thanks for pointing this out! It is easy to correct with my spare rudder though

Rob

[glatisant]

Really nice build. Have one in the stash. Thanks for the heads up regarding the inaccuracies of the kit.

[GrzeM]

Extremely impressive! Now try to do the D.IV from the same kit!

[stevehnz]

I had the Eastern Express repop of this kit delivered a couple of days back, I've book marked this thread for guidance. Re the comments about about the lozenge camo, is the 4 colour correct, I seem to remember reading it should be 5 colour, either way there is plenty of options out there.

Steve.

[Kev The Modeller]

Very nice great finish