Siemens-Schuckert R VIII- Any three-views at all?

Lucien Harpress · 9 January 2008, 08:07 AM

Giant aircraft in general hold a special facination for me, especially the one-off, generally unsuccessful prototypes. This spills over into WWI aircraft, too, and, not suprisingly, the Siemens-Schuckert R VIII. It was a large six-engined R-plane built by Germany at the end of the war. It never flew, as a propellor accident grounded the aircraft during taxi trials, and the war ended shortly afterward and it was subsiquently scrapped.

Because this airplane is (to me) so awesome, I may want to scratchbuild a model of it at some point in the future. The only problem- the only photos of diagrams of it I have seen are totally unsatisfactory.

Does anyone know of any decent diagrams of this aircraft, or at least more than the two photos of it that I've seen? (A straight frontal view and a front three-quarters view) Any info at all is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Varese2002 · 9 January 2008, 01:06 PM

There is a fine drawing of the Siemens R.VIII in the German Giants - The German R-planes 1914-1918 by G W Haddow and Peter M. Grosz. Latest is the 3rd edition of 1988, ISBN 0851778127.

It is probably all you want, but the wings of the drawing are clipped (no full span drawing) because it would probably need a page which folds out. Still a very good and detailed drawing.

Kees

Lucien Harpress · 9 January 2008, 02:22 PM

Thanks for the info. I considered picking that book up, but I didn't want to drop the cash for it if nothing was in there.

Another quick question, though- When you say clipped, are both wingtips cropped off, or just one? If just one, no problem. Same with fuselage, etc.

There is a decent side diagram in Bill Gunston's book "Giants in the Sky", but the tail is cropped off, so when getting an exact size to scale it to, the drawing is basically worthless. In fact, I know nothing of how the tail looks at all.

Ah well. Thanks very much. I'll have to see if I can find it someplace cheap, being a broke college student and all.

I'll look around.

Varese2002 · 9 January 2008, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucien Harpress

Thanks for the info. I considered picking that book up, but I didn't want to drop the cash for it if nothing was in there.

Another quick question, though- When you say clipped, are both wingtips cropped off, or just one? If just one, no problem. Same with fuselage, etc.

There is a decent side diagram in Bill Gunston's book "Giants in the Sky", but the tail is cropped off, so when getting an exact size to scale it to, the drawing is basically worthless. In fact, I know nothing of how the tail looks at all.

Ah well. Thanks very much. I'll have to see if I can find it someplace cheap, being a broke college student and all.

I'll look around.

Just one side of the wings is cropped. Fuselage is complete.

To get the idea of the fuselage it is like this (this is not the drawing in the book I mentioned, that one is more detailed, but this one is quite good).

Kees

Cigogne · 9 January 2008, 04:22 PM

Check this link to a webpage out. There is a front view of the R.VIII further down the page.

German Giants

http://www.earlyaviator.com/archive/...mens_Rviii.jpg

Also, why not check with the Siemens-Archiv in Germany? They have photos available for research. I received a few nice photos of this aircraft when I contacted them a couple of years back. I don't have them with me on this machine, but you can email them at:

siemensarchiv@siemens.com

Lucien Harpress · 9 January 2008, 09:06 PM

Thanks for the links, guys. That profile is the FIRST full profile I've seen of this aircraft in ANY way, shape, or form. Quite the beast, isn't it?

That Top Ten site was something I found a while ago, and was actually how I got to know about the R.VIII in the first place. Some other neat stuff on there as well.

I'll have to shoot the archive a message too, see what I get from there.

All great stuff. If I DO ever build a model of this, it probably won't be for a while ; this is just a fact-finding adventure right now. I have to say, though, it seems to be going quite smoothly!

Thanks again!

Varese2002 · 9 January 2008, 10:21 PM

You can find original Siemens archive pictures of the Siemans R.VIII - and parts of it - here.

Kees

Uhlan · 10 January 2008, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lucien Harpress

Thanks for the info. I considered picking that book up, but I didn't want to drop the cash for it if nothing was in there.

Another quick question, though- When you say clipped, are both wingtips cropped off, or just one? If just one, no problem. Same with fuselage, etc.

There is a decent side diagram in Bill Gunston's book "Giants in the Sky", but the tail is cropped off, so when getting an exact size to scale it to, the drawing is basically worthless. In fact, I know nothing of how the tail looks at all.

Ah well. Thanks very much. I'll have to see if I can find it someplace cheap, being a broke college student and all.

I'll look around.

Prices seem to start at around $60, not counting shipping.

AbeBooks: Search Results - german giants and 1914

I can guarantee that book is well worth the money, anything with the name Peter M. Grosz on it usually is. I'd have to check my copy concerning the quality of the drawings.

Kilian · 10 January 2008, 04:43 PM

Try this pdf there's some image on page 20 where you can see it without cowling.

http://www.appel-net.de/dglr/100-jah...it-siemens.pdf

--
regards
Kilian

Lucien Harpress · 11 January 2008, 12:07 PM

Varese2002- Those are probably some of the most amazing photos I've seen in quite some time. I go from only knowing of two photos of this aircraft to a whole, detailed set. Awesome stuff!

I put my order in for that book today, so hopefully in a few weeks I'll have everything I need.

I'm just dabbling in scratchbuilding right now, but despite the size the R VIII doesn't look TOO difficult- the fuselage is really a simple box with other "stuff" added on. The wings may be a bit more difficult, but not so much that they are un-buildable.

Thanks again, and if I ever DO start this project, I'll be sure to post something up here.