Chingford Model Aerodrome 1.48 Solid Scale PFALZ D-12 from 1943.

[TonyW]

Chingford Model Aerodrome 1.48 Solid Scale PFALZ D-12 from 1943.

 

First entry for the GB from me is going to be a bit of a rehersal build. This Pfalz D12 is part started, with a bit of shaping being done to the wings and fuselage. I need a gentle introduction to wooden kit building and I hope this one will provide just that.

If this one turns out OK, I have a Fairey Battle from the same company that I hope to build as well.

I've wanted to get stuck into a bit of very early days modelling for ages. The GB is giving me a suitable shove in the right direction!

 

 

The box contents are a bit intimidating in their very basicness, with narry a photoetched sheet in sight.

 

 

Transfers (most certainly not Decals) look OK. I'll be clearcoating them as well as making copies to guard against any disasters.

 

 

Instructions and paint guides are somewhat basic but the full 1.48 scale blueprint should come in handy.

 

 

Given the lack of much in the way of references or colour guides I'll be resorting to some period materials.

 

 

 

 

All good stuff, and probably more than the average builder from 1943 would have had access to. I'll use the references as a guide and will attempt to build in period. Glues and fillers will be a bit more modern as I'm reluctant to boil a rabbit down for glue for instance. Paints will be mixed primary colours and I may well have a go at the powdered paints provided in the kit.

 

Enough of the intro, the next post should involve a few wood shavings.

 

Tony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Spadgent]

Blimey!!!! I didn’t realise they even made wooden kits at one time. Every day is a school day. 😨

 Looks fascinating. I’m in. 

 

Johnny

[Mr T]

39 minutes ago, The Spadgent said:

Blimey!!!! I didn’t realise they even made wooden kits at one time. Every day is a school day. 😨

 Looks fascinating. I’m in. 

 

Johnny

My dad used to build from scratch in wood during WW2. Unfortunately none survived the 1947 floods. If you come across any of the original 'Aircraft of the Fighting Powers' publshed during the  war they have several adverts for wooden kits, including CMA. 1/72nd as a scale allegedly originated with  'Skybirds' kits in the mid thirties, and later taken up by Frog with their 'Penguin' kits made out of cellulose acetate. Wooden aircraft kits survived until the mid fifties, one of the last being from a company called Vernon. 

[Mr T]

Hi Tony, welcome to the GB with a kit that I suspect will be out of a lot of our comfort zones. This going to be an interesting insight into the earflier days of modelling. Put on the latest Glenn Miller on the gramophone, listen to ITMA on the wireless and have the Wooton pie in the oven. 

[TonyW]

Here's an advert for CMA kits from one of the referece books above. CMA were prolific with their advertising, keeping up a steady flow right up to their demise in around 1948. The kit adverts of the time were no real indication as to the quality of the models inside the boxes. Skyleada, for instance, did a few beautiful double page colour adverts but their kits were pretty poor. Ditto Authentic models. It's a fascinating period. Skybirds and the FROG Penguin range were probably the best available, but rather pricey.

 

 

The two German types are sort of like the real thing, although you would have to squint a bit.

 

Wooden kits of the time were very hit and miss with a few real howlers alongside more accurate ones.

James Hay Stevens kicked things off with his 1.72 scale Skybird range. The first Skybird kit was a Puss Moth, released in 1932. His early kits were in the region of 1.72 but later ones were a proper 1.72.

Most of the other manufacturers followed suit with a few releasing 1.48 scale kits. CMA stayed true to 1.48 as far as I know.

 

The arrival of full plastic kits in the early fifties pretty much blew the wooden stuff right out the water. The crossover kits of the period are more than a bit interesting to me. Hawk released a plastic Javelin in a full colour box with parts that fitted together very well without carving or sanding. Wooden manufacturers like Bateman fought back with a Javelin in a flimsy card box containing barely shaped bits of wood and a plan. The modelling press at the time at first derided the newcomer plastic kits but the incredible sales the things generated soon changed all that.

 

More as the thread progresses.

 

Tony.

 

 

 

 

 

[AdrianMF]

Nice choice Tony. Not only wood, not only rigging, but a two-bay biplane to boot! Extra NMCZ points for that.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[CliffB]

Biodegradable, carbon neutral, sustainable modelling.  A glimpse into the future 

[TonyW]

1 hour ago, AdrianMF said:

Nice choice Tony. Not only wood, not only rigging, but a two-bay biplane to boot! Extra NMCZ points for that.

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

The kit instructions mention simple colours. I'm rather taken by that little lozenge template though. Best I get the thing to the painting stage first, before I go all Banzai with the finish.

[malpaso]

Wow, that CMA kit is a lot more sophisticated than I expected.  The period wooden “solids” kits I have come across (Grace, Airyda, Frog (yes THAT Frog)) were just profile cut flat planks!  I only knew of Skybirds providing a shaped fuselage and wing blanks; I have a couple of theirs built-up so not sure exactly how much extra shaping the modeller had to do on those.

 

I have the same “solids” books as you and two(!) complete sets of AFP!  The models illustrated actually look pretty good if you can discern in the terrible photo reproduction.  AFP gets a bad rap but given the constraints of preparing 3-views from limited open-source at a time of massive secrecy they did pretty well.  The poor reputation may stem from Vol1 which originally had terrible drawings, but this volume was revised and updated (and twice the price) in 1942.  Around the same time they revised your “Solid Scale Model Aircraft” and more particularly its companion plan book.  The Spitfire in the original volume is particularly execrable, oddly as JH Stevens had done a fairly convincing one in a 1938 magazine!

[Galligraphics]

Wow. The sort of kit that my dad would have built, if his family could have afforded it. We did find a roughly 1/72 scale Spitfire carved from glued-together matchsticks that he’d made as a teenager but sadly I’m not sure what happened to it…

[Malc2]

I am going to be really interested to see how you get on with this, my Dad made some CMA kits in the 1940's when they were commonly found in the local model shops, I think one was a Pfalz as I remember the chequer pattern and crosses on the top wing, sadly they had a hard life and got thrown away in the 80's after several generations including me had played with them!

I still have the blue plans somewhere.

Dad 'superdetailed' his by simulating the wing ribs with cotton wrapped round the wing then covering with tissue and paint.

These kits lead to a lifetime of modelling flying scale planes which he passed on to me.

 

Malc.

[TonyW]

Thanks Chaps, it's good to see a bit of interest in 't good old days surfacing. I'll be padding the thread out a bit with all kinds of early modelling stuff.

 

As well as the boxed kits available there were also a few DIY efforts. Hobbies of Dehram ran a weekly craft magazine for years that provided ideas and plans for the possibly less well off modeller to make his models from scratch. The company are still up and running.

 

From the 16th of March 1935 issue you could make Campbells Bluebird using a basic plan, or really go to town with a near 1.72 HP Heracles model. The enclosed plan for that one is full size. The wingspan is about two feet! The company did stuff like this for years. In the fifties and sixties you got plans for the Brabazon, Canberra, Javelin and Comet for example.

 

 

 

 

 

[Malc2]

Wow, that HP42 is impressive.

The Bluebird reminds me of a balsa car Dad had made from a kit in the 40's or maybe 50's, it had a couple of u shaped staples underneath for string to run through, so it was a straightliner, and was powered by a sparklet bulb in the back that when you punched a hole in the nozzle with a nail and hammer, it shot off along the line!

He still has a tin speed boat powered by a rubber band that is about 2 feet long and 2 inches wide!

 

M.

[81-er]

That Hobbies magazine sparks some memories, my grandparents were avid readers and had a fair number that I used to read over as a kid. I've got a couple somewhere, I've just not found them after the move yet. As for the build, I well and truly take my hat off to you for attempting it, that one would have me running to the hills in fear!

 

James

[Bandsaw Steve]

Oh yeah! 👍👍👍

 

This is gonna be good!

[PeterB]

Hi Tony,

 

If it is of any interest I have a copy of the Windsock Data file on this plane! I also have the Roden kit as yet unbuilt. It seem that as with the D.III, Pfalz used their trademark Silbergrau finish on the fuselage of early production version, but they were more often see in the usual greens/mauve/red-brown finish with or without lozenge fabric on the wings and light blue unders.

 

Pete

Edited April 20 by PeterB

[dnl42]

Nice! 

[TonyW]

6 hours ago, PeterB said:

Hi Tony,

 

If it is of any interest I have a copy of the Windsock Data file on this plane! I also have the Roden kit as yet unbuilt. It seem that as with the D.III, Pfalz used their trademark Silbergrau finish on the fuselage of early production version, but they were more often see in the usual greens/mauve/red-brown finish with or without lozenge fabric on the wings and light blue unders.

 

Pete

 

Thanks Pete, a much appreciated offer.

I'll be sticking to period references for the build though. The kit instructions and the books shown above should keep me within my self set boundaries.

 

This build came about as I have a part started kit and I thought it would be an easy way into wooden kit building for this novice. The real deal sat in front of me is a different matter though.

As Adrian has so helpfully pointed out, it's got all the nightmare points built in. Rigging, struts, wooden construction, and hand painted lozenge pattern finish! Add to that my near total lack of knowledge of WW1 subjects and I'm starting to get worried.  A perfect project for the GB in fact.

 

Talking the talk is over, today see's me walking the walk. Sandpaper turned up in the mail yesterday.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

Tony.

[TonyW]

The build is well underway now, with a fair bit of experimentation and some assembly going on.

 

 

The fuselage had been started before I got the kit and the work seems pretty good. I've made a start on hogging out the cockpit with thoughts of a basic interior later.

If I carry on doing wooden models I'll be needing a set of chisels and gouges, as the improvised tools I've been using today are a bit hard work. I've been chipping and slicing out the cockpit with scalpels and an electric drill being called into play.  It works but at some point I'm going to end up cut or drilled myself. The proper tools would cut the risk right down.

 

 

The top and bottom wings have been sanded and scraped to something like aerofoil shape using fairly rough sandpaper and a Surform. Finer grades will get the finish as good as I can get it later.

As the wings got thinner, they became rather fragile. One split along its trailing edge and I've had to re glue it into place. Ditto one of the tail pieces. Lesson learned.

 

 

I've also made a start on pinning the wing to fuselage joints using brass wire. A much stronger fitting would be to make a one piece lower wing unit and set it into the fuselage. I'll carry on as I am and see how it goes. I'm trying to keep things simple here.

 

The plastic wheels have been fitted to the metal axle provided and will get a lick of paint once properly dry.

 

 

The wood provided for the wing struts is a bit coarse and thick. The thought of sanding down twelve struts on the wings alone, before the cabane and wheels struts come into it, fills me with gloom. Fixing the things into place looks like fun as well. Thoughts are straying towards wire struts with card wrapped around them to give an airfoil shape.

 

More as it happens.

 

Tony.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Malc2]

Great to see your progress, funny to think 75 or 80 years ago my Dad was doing exactly what you are doing now with the same kit.

Is the kit wood balsa or something harder?

Going through my plans today I found a CMA Lysander drawing.

 

Malc.

[TonyW]

1 hour ago, Malc2 said:

Great to see your progress, funny to think 75 or 80 years ago my Dad was doing exactly what you are doing now with the same kit.

Is the kit wood balsa or something harder?

Going through my plans today I found a CMA Lysander drawing.

 

Malc.

 

Thanks Malc,

 

The wood provided is a mixed bag. The fuselage is quite close grained and sands to a smooth finish. I don't think it is balsa but it might be a better grade of the wood. The wings seem softer with a more open grain and the strut lengths a more coarse grained softwood. It's all uncharted waters to me!

No doubt supplies were limited in 1942, which may go some way to explaining the varied wood types. Period advertising often mentioned material shortages affecting availability.

 

The CMA drawings are possibly the best part of the box contents.

 

Tony.

 

[AdrianMF]

Looks good!
 

FWIW the struts weren't far off round, being tubular metal ones rather than streamlined wood. You could squeeze a bit of tube in a vice to get it just a little elliptical. I used plastic rod on my 1/72 vac one, and it hasn't broken yet - the N struts are structurally pretty sound.

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

[TonyW]

9 hours ago, AdrianMF said:

Looks good!
 

FWIW the struts weren't far off round, being tubular metal ones rather than streamlined wood. You could squeeze a bit of tube in a vice to get it just a little elliptical. I used plastic rod on my 1/72 vac one, and it hasn't broken yet - the N struts are structurally pretty sound.

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

 

 

Thanks Adrian.

The tube idea will save a lot of work at this end and I hope be taking that route.

The one fly in the ointment is my self imposed period style of build. I'm trying to not get too modern with the construction, using newer wheels and cockpit extras for example. If I can find mention of using tubes for struts in the references I have here, I'll definately go for it. If not, my 1940's builder is going to have to do it the hard way.

It's an odd way of building but I think something would be lost if I 'cheated' and built too far out of period. It's a bit like adding details that nobody will ever see on a current build, the builder will know.

Watch me do an about face if things start to get messy though! 😉

[AdrianMF]

Tony,

 

I completely understand and share that mindset. It's why I don't cover my 1960s kit builds in resin or PE.

 

I'm sure they had cocktail sticks in the 1940s though, and they might work as strut material if sanded down a bit?

 

Regards,

Adrian

[TonyW]

2 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Tony,

 

I completely understand and share that mindset. It's why I don't cover my 1960s kit builds in resin or PE.

 

I'm sure they had cocktail sticks in the 1940s though, and they might work as strut material if sanded down a bit?

 

Regards,

Adrian

 

That sounds like the perfect solution Adrian!

Harder wood with a close grain and very near to the required shape. I was about to think of that later this morning, honest.