The Twins (RFC and French Moranes)

[jamo]

Here are some pics of my twins - RFC and Aviation Militaire Morane Saulnier Type Ns in 1/72.
One of these kits was the Eastern Express Morane type ‘I’ converted into an ‘N’ by altering the gun fitting and forward fuselage top decking. The other is the old Revell kit after receiving the kit equivalent of an extreme makeover. The spinner came from an old ME109 which is almost the same as the Eastern Express spinner. I think both of the spinners should be a little more sharply pointed to be strictly accurate – ah well.
The RFC Morane has photoetched brass for the zigzag stitching.
I used the Roseparts resin undercarriage struts which were very nicely done. A second set of undercarriage struts were made from plastic card using the Roseparts items as a pattern. The wedges on the propeller were made from scraps of plastic card and wire. The RFC pilot is made by Plum Blossom (long out of production unfortunately) and the pilot in the French Morane is by IT Miniatures, slightly converted so that he is holding the trigger of the Hotchkiss machine gun (Aeroclub).
On the French Morane I tried to simulate the cane strips using strips of plastic but unfortunately it is way over-scale and I am not happy with it. The RFC plane uses decal strips which worked better bu are still too wide. Next time I would try cutting grooves over each rib and gluing in some thin wire and then carefully dry-brushing over it. The concave underwing surface would be a bit tricky however. Anyone got other suggestions for doing the cane strips?
When blown up for the close-in detail the photos show all the imperfections! Someone should start a thread about model photography - I would like to know how to post shots of entire planes without exceeding the 50kb limit. Maybe I should start by taking 1Mb size pics instead of 4 Mb . . .

Those are some really nice builds jamo! I think the wing ribs came out very well and I'm impressed with how you used the ME 109 spinners too! Thanks for sharing your pics with us.

Brian da Basher

[NeilE]

Nice 1/72 builds these James.

Did you ever build that Baby?

Regards

Neil

[jamo]

Hi Neil

The Baby is high on my list of future builds - thanks heaps for the effort you went to getting it. I really wanted to do the one with the red/white checkers on the cowling but I haven't found a source for the decals: large letter K on the fuselage or the serial. Bob Pearson has a number of Baby profiles from which he produces decals, but this Baby wasn't one of them. Anyone know where I might find these in 1/72?

I like the idea of a little diorama using the naval figures produced by Nicolai, http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.asp?manu=NIK&code=KUK01 which look fantastic (although a bit pricey).

Regards
James

[RAGIII]

Really Impressive! I like the colors and the character the pilots add to the builds!
RAGIII

[StephenLawson]

Jamo; Very nice indeed. Model On!