Steve's Models

[Sailor Steve]

I had hoped to have it painted today, but real life intervened. I did get the upper wing assembled and the gravity tank mounted. The tank that came with the kit was too short, so I ended up sanding some sprue to the correct size and shape, which took awhile. Last came the odd radiatior they carried in their early days. Painting is the very next step, so definitely tomorrow.

[Sailor Steve]

Basic paint.

[Sailor Steve]

Aircrew in, top wing mounted, struts painted. On the F.K.8 the struts were wrapped in cloth soaked in glue, and painted the same color as the rest.

[Sailor Steve]

Got the decals on. I had hoped to have the rigging at least part-way done, but the decals kept giving me trouble - falling apart, mostly. Even after I had given them an overcoat of liquid decal film they still wanted to come apart. One set wasted. The second set got two coats, and that seemed to work. To match the serial number I had to find a sheet with some numbers on it that were the correct size and shape. That took more looking than I had expected. At least it's done now. Just a little touch-up and the rigging.

[Buddahaid]

Nice model. Do keep it up as I may not always comment, but I do always look.

[Sailor Steve]

Thanks, Scott. It would seem that a lot of people look.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Nice job Steve

[u crank]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

Thanks, Scott. It would seem that a lot of people look.

We do and just because we don't comment all the time doesn't mean we don't enjoy your posts. They are great. Keep 'em comin'.

[em2nought]

Yep, love these old birds. I check this thread every week. The pilot figures are wonderful, where do you get those? I hope to someday build some fiddler's green card models, and I'd love to use some of these figures.

[Sailor Steve]

Pilots are always a problem. If I were building display models I wouldn't worry about it, but for gaming they just don't look right without them. Thirty years ago we had a guy locally who had a bagged set of WW1 goodies - pilots, seats, cameras guns, propellers, engines and more. Also kits used to come with pilots. These days the dedicated display model is more popular so aircrew just aren't made, at least for the smaller scales. There are lots of cool posed crew members for larger dioramas.

The ones I've used for the more interesting recent poses came from this set. Unfortunately out of 48 figures only 10 of them are actually pilots, and they are a bit large. The good news is that the other figs make for some pretty good diorama material.

The best pilots I've found available now is this pair from PJ Productions. They are great, but there are only the two, so you end up with a lot of planes with pilots in the same poses. Still, it's better than having none at all, and they are great figs.

[Sailor Steve]

It took a little longer than I wanted, but it's done. At least this one didn't take three months!

At the time the F.K.8 was the largest two-seater in the RFC inventory.


Most of them had the PC10 dope extend all the way down the fuselage sides. The model represents one of the first deliveries.


The observer is either waving to the camera or trying to warn another plane of the Hun fighter diving on him.


The kit rudder represents the later version with a flat overhanging balance. I converted it to the early version with the triangle balance. It's difficult to move the control surfaces against the pressure of the wind at high speeds like 80 mph, so a small extension forward of the hinges lets the wind push on both sides equally, balancing the force required to move it.


Close-up showing the bulky early radiator. The stenciling on the real plane read "Machine Must Be Put In Flying Position When Filling And Draining Radiator". My stenciling comes from an 'N' scale railroad decal sheet I picked up long ago for just this sort of thing. I don't know what the tiny stencils actually say, but they look right and add to the feel of the model.

[Buddahaid]

That one came out great Steve.

[Jimbuna]

Aye, certainly one of the best of many great ones yet

[Sailor Steve]

Next is the Albatros C.V, the first of the so-called "second generation" German two-seaters. They had engines of 200 horsepower or more and a fuselage that was carefully designed around the engine to make better airflow and thus a faster plane. For the most part they certainly looked sleeker.

The Albatros was indeed faster than contemporary fighters. It's major drawbacks were that it was heavy and had a mediocre climb rate and a very poor turn rate. Worst of all was the 220-horsepower Mercedes D.IV engine. It was an inline 8-cylinder motor which produced a great amount of torque, but this caused the engine itself to twist under heavy loads and lead to crankshaft failures. They ended up building only 125 production models, plus the three prototypes. The first 75 were built in three batches of 25 each. Improvements led to the last 50 being designated C.V/17, with the ear-type radiators being exchanged for one in the upper wing, rounded lower wings and balanced ailerons and elevators to match the rudder. After that they were superceded by the C.VII.

[Sailor Steve]

This kit comes with a complete etched-brass interior. Even though it will be entirely invisible when the pilots are in place, I figured for what I paid for it I'd better at least try to build it. That plus I'll have the pictures to look at and show off, so it's worth the effort.



First was the framing. It's all one piece; all I had to do was cut the tiny parts holding it to the sheet and fold it to shape. They did such a good job with the etching that I didn't even need to use a straight-edge. Just a gentle push with the fingers and it folded all by itself. The central bulkhead, between the pilot and observer, was part of the same piece, so it folded up and holds the whole thing together. The fore and aft bulkheads are separate, but I have a flat-head tweezer that made it easy. A shot of superglue on the bottom and sides, use the tweezers to put it in place, then hold it by the frame with the left hand and a shot of accelerator with the right, and it's done in ten seconds.

The fuel tank consists of three parts. The sides fold up like one of those card models that used to come printed on cereal boxes, and the ends wrap around with no trouble. Another shot of glue and accelerator and they were done. Then glue them both to the top of the tank. The pilot's seat was one piece, except for the separate cushion. I'm kind of regretting that I didn't take pictures of the parts before I assembled them. Still, so far it's easy enough.