Weekend warbird

buzz1941 · 3 May 2005, 12:50 PM

Since I obviously have MADD -- modelling attention deficit disorder -- and I was musing on comments made by some posters on the sanctity of ancient aircraft kits, and I ran across a cool website with pulpy pictures of aeroplanes, plus I REALLY NEED to hang some models over my desk at work, and there's nothing wrong with treating built models as decorative objets d'art, in addition to the urge to knock something out in record time, and because of a rush of nostalgia over uncovering a stash of kits in the garage ... well, it all boils down to trying to build a 1/28 Revell SPAD in one weekend.
I didn't succeed -- yet -- because I got called in to work on Sunday. But when you force yourself to not care about the accuracy of the parts, nor the intricacies of the paint scheme, that puppy goes together fast.
I think when I was 12 last time I built one of these, and I see by the label on the box end that I paid $1.59 for it at the local druggist emporium. This one was the white box '60s issue of the model, though I also have some of the '50s versions.
Perhaps because these are near-new moldings, everything fit together precisely. What a nice kit! I had forgotten what terrific detail and engineering it had, particularly for the time period it was produced. Revell really pushed the envelope with these models...

buzz1941 · 3 May 2005, 11:30 PM

Ah, as I remembered from childhood -- the upper fuselage panels and the cowl are very tricky to fit, and nothing much lines up. For the first time, there's a lot of rough filing and filling.
As for the rest of the bird, no fancy stuff. The top section of the hoizontal stabilizer is sanded down flush with the fuselage, and the struts have the botton piece cut out and glued into the wing and filled in. What remain are holes in the wing that the struts fit snugly into.
Bits are beginning to get painted with Tamiya spray paints -- lovely, tight, buffered lacquers, but shamefully limited in color range -- with the wings and tail primarily getting a Light Sand and the fuselage a bilious Park Green.
Our older readers can likely sense where this is going...

Hans · 4 May 2005, 02:05 AM

Nice to see you back in the rows of the modelbuilders.

As a kit-collector I am...how should I say...a little bit...sad

that you really builds such an old kit.

But...kits are made for building them, not for storing them....

Hans

SteveS · 4 May 2005, 04:35 PM

Years ago, I must have built all the 28th scale Revells at least three times each. Except the D.VII of which came later. I don't even remember painting the Camels or Spads. I still love the kits. Got a couple stashed away.

I forgot that the Revell Spad had the Hisso to go under the panels. It's something that I missed in the Hobbycraft 32nd scale version.

I keep telling myself that someday I'm gonna do a weekend build, nothing fancy, straight from the box using tube glue just like the old days........but something always happens.

Maybe sometime we should do just that. An online weekend build.

Salute,
Steve

Taz · 4 May 2005, 06:43 PM

Burl- Brings back old memories. Built both the Fokker Dr.I (red, naturally) and Spad (Rickenbacker's, I believe) in Oslo, Norway in the timeframe 1959-1961. Traded models I had built for unbuilt ones with the local hobby shop at the foot of the hill where we lived. Started out painting them with dope because that was all we could find. Enamel was a revelation to me. Of course, I could be mistaken and built them in Palos Verdes 1961-1965, but who is counting? Both the Revell kits were so much better than the 1/72 Airfixes I had been building, it was not even funny. Took up a lot more space, though.

Taz

drIace · 6 May 2005, 09:55 AM

Buzz has hit a familiar cord in how advanced those 1/28 kits were, and in reality still are !!! Now that the Roden Dr-I is out many more Revell 1/28's are appearing on ebay at reasonable prices. Hopefully Revell will get the message and expand the 1/28 line. Being biased, I still think this is a better scale for WW I than 1/32.

And a reminder to go to the Revell.de web site and vote in their dream kit survey in 1/28--ie: Alb Dv/DVa, Se5/5a, Pfalz D-III, Nie. 28, Fok. E-III, Nie.11

buzz1941 · 6 May 2005, 04:40 PM

Revell designed this thing to have a removable cowl and prop so you could gaze in wonder at the Hisso engine buried inside. But that also means almost nothing lines up properly on the front of the model, unlike the rest of the kit. Be prepared to file off the lovely rivet detail on the cowl edges, and do yourself a favor -- simply chop off the top of the Hisso cylinder heads, everything's way too tight ...

But that done, the cowl bulges fit like a charm.

Cowl in place, gear attached, beginning to look like a SPAD ...

stringbags4ever2 · 7 May 2005, 09:50 AM

Burl:

Can't wait to see your Spad. I'm almost in tears....... I built the exact same model with my Dad back when I was around six or seven..... he rigged it, too. Snif.

buzz1941 · 7 May 2005, 09:22 PM

Lots of masking tape and large Post-It notes on the wings and tail. The fuselage is green, way green. It's my excuse to test a Tamiya spray-can color called Park Green -- I may use it on Jasta 5 birds.

Boy, is it green.

The markings I'm doing aren't available, so they're drawn on computer, printed and then traced with low-tack Frisket. The wing roundels will be British. Either I'll rob them from the Camel kit or mask off with a circle cutter.

Time to pull off the tape ...

buzz1941 · 11 May 2005, 02:58 AM

While Tamiya tape is great stuff, it turns out the masks with Badger low-tack frisket work even better. Hmmmm. Overpainting with Tamiya lacquer makes the frisket masks rubbery when they pull off.

National marking are done by recycling British cockades from the 1/28 Sopwith Camel kit. The decals are about four decades old. Too old. They crack and shatter at the slightest provocation. Some areas are going to need touch-up. Luckily this will be an arm's-length model. That is, it will look ok from an arm's length away. I hope.