Aviatik 30.40, 1/48

[Bughunter]

Aviatik 30.40

Today I can show the most light weight fighter of the Austria-Hungary: the Aviatik 30.40 with an empty weight of 366 and fully loaded 586kg. It was developed to use the planned production in Steyr of powerful 11-cylinder Le Rhone rotary engines with up to 160hp. Only 35 engines of 150 planned was delivered, and there was a shortage of Voltol oil not delivered by Germany as expected.
So only a prototype was build and flight tested and no serial production was started.

 

My reference was the very nice book "Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of World War One".

 

This build promised a quick progress with not many parts in the box, but it converted again into a huge scratch build with using some kit parts. The engine was reworked with parts from Small Stuff, the spoke wheels was a completely new experience for me, all the struts and undercarriage are new from brass and all the front panels are polished aluminium.
Some parts like airscrew, tailskid, fuselage undersurface and some parts in the cockpit I made from real wood. Additional accessories are Gaspatch turnbuckles, HGW seat belts, PE from Eduard and Parts. Apropos Gaspatch: This prototyp was unarmed, but had the Schwarzlose MG mounts. On my model you can put on Gaspatch Schwarzlose MGs of course
For the painting I used Alclad, Gunze, MRP and oil paints. Decals are not used, the cutting plotter had a lot to do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, these were not new reference pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You may know the Fokker E.V as small aircraft, the Aviatik is smaller in all dimensions:

And finally original versus forgery:

 

 

 

I hope you like this little aircraft!

Cheers,
Frank

Edited November 23, 2021 by Bughunter
Add text.

[foxhandybread]

Good lord. That is probably the most realistic finish to a model that I've *ever* seen.. the metal effect is just spot on. Really nice job 👍

[Bughunter]

And some Details:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More here:
https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=12483.0

 

Cheers,

Frank

[Bughunter]

2 minutes ago, foxhandybread said:

Good lord. That is probably the most realistic finish to a model that I've *ever* seen.. the metal effect is just spot on. Really nice job 👍

Thank you very much! It looks realistic because of the real materials. I'm not able to paint polished aluminium that realistic, so I turned the cowling on my lathe and used also for the other panels real alu plates. I polished them with a rubber polishing stick in my Proxxon drill.

 

Cheers,

Frank

[RMCS]

Stunning

[Luka]

OK, from the first pic scrolling down it went from Very Nice! to Absolutely Amazing! Especially those construction shots blew me away. Cool!

[kiseca]

the cowlings blew me away too, until I read they are actually turned metal when it made sense! That's a lovely piece of work and a fine comparison to the original.

[Andy Dyck]

Uff…… this is finest art . Your metal parts are unbelievable. Top realistic photography! I am blown away for the next hours.

 

Andy 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[Viking]

What incredible work, it looks as near perfect as it is possible to get.

 

Cheers

 

John

[Wlad]

Absolutely amazing. And you laced the spoked wheels! That's some feat. 

 

Did your reference book mention what the prototype was like to fly? I imagine with the small control surfaces, light weight airframe, and a rotary up front this must have been a handful to fly.

 

Cheers,

Wlad

[rakete173]

Phantastic work.

The motto is: If you wan´t a realistic look, use real materials. TOP👍

[S. Uehlinger]

Truly Incredible Work....of an aircraft I am unfamiliar with.      Manufacturing Wheel spokes in 1/72...WOW!

[Bughunter]

Thank you very much!

 

12 hours ago, Wlad said:

Did your reference book mention what the prototype was like to fly?

There  is only short note, that due to promising performance recorded during trials in July and August 1918 it was proposed for production.

 

 

30 minutes ago, S. Uehlinger said:

Manufacturing Wheel spokes in 1/72...WOW!

Sorry, but as stated in the headline the model is 1/48. But also in that scale not easy.

 

[Spitfire31]

Pure poetry in model form. I can only guess at the time and dedication that must have gone into this masterpiece.

 

Kind regards,

 

Joachim

[Toryu]

Incredible skills! Deine Augen und Fingerfertigkeit müssen so perfekt sein wie das Ergebnis - wunderschön!

[GrzeM]

Wonderful! I love these Aviatik fighters (biplane, triplane and monoplane) and I love your model!

[exdraken]

Incredible work!!

Was just to ask about those wheels, when I saw your spoke setup!!

 

 

[Harold55]

What a beautiful job you have done on a unique aircraft.  I myself dable in 1/48 wwi aircraft but have never heard of this plane nor the kit manufacture so now I think I need to look around for what they produce.  Thanks for posting!

[Bughunter]

Thank you very much for your kind comments, highly appreciated!

 

22 hours ago, Spitfire31 said:

I can only guess at the time and dedication that must have gone into this masterpiece.

I started beginning of September, so you can count the hours until now But of course I had also some sleep, a family trip and other real life things. But yes, the effort was huge!

 

 

11 hours ago, Harold55 said:

I myself dable in 1/48 wwi aircraft but have never heard of this plane nor the kit manufacture so now I think I need to look around for what they produce.

I'm not sure, but this manufacturer is may be out of business now. As usual Scalemates helps:

https://www.scalemates.com/brands/alliance-models--1026

 

Cheers,

Frank

[Gary Brantley]

Incredible seems far too understated to describe this work of art.   It is though, and more.  Wow!   Frank, what a scale model, and what a demonstration of the modeling art! 

[russ c]

Fantastic job, really nice work

[Remus389]

Very fine job on this rare, special aircraft. 👍

[diablo rsv]

Fantastic work Frank!

I have been dipping into your build of it over on the WW1Aircraft Models forum. You have spotted a couple of details that I missed on my build that I shall have to add. 

The way you have done the metal cowlings is excellent. It was the main thing that I was never happy about on mine, using real aluminium has made a massive difference to the look of the model and is something I shall attempt next time. 

Your spoked wheels are another stand out feature, luckily I had some suitable etch ones for mine but I will definitely be using your method in the future. 

I missed the fact that the prototype had the MG mounts, it would make sense as I presume the weight of the guns would have had quite an impact on the flight characteristics.

I've been focusing on building British armour lately but seeing your work has given me the urge to go back to building WW1 aircraft again, I've got plenty to choose from.

Looking forward to your next project, any ideas as to what it may be?

 

Wayne 

[IPMS19]

- What a beautifull model!!!  it is a justice rendered to our great elders  

- I wonder how they could fight in such flying soap boxes......

[Bughunter]

Thank you all for your fantastic feedback! Highly appreciated!

 

On 11/25/2021 at 5:18 PM, Gary Brantley said:

Wow!   Frank, what a scale model, and what a demonstration of the modeling art! 

Thanks! I try to come closer with every model to my signature, but I assume that I will never be reach the goal completely. So there is always a room for improvement.

 

Wayne, I have to thank you for showing your build here, as it makes me aware of this type and kit!

7 hours ago, diablo rsv said:

Looking forward to your next project, any ideas as to what it may be?

I think I need to deal with the new Eduard Camel kit because I got that as a gift. And this type is still missing in my Sopwith collection.

 

Cheers,

Frank