LSP_Mike

Chris, glad to see your usual excellent work;but I see a subtle improvement in the foil work. Damn nice!! when you enjoy JD for a few years, you get to know "him" well enough to call him "John"! cheers from Calif

Dan, this size plane will be interesting to display-I assume you will put this withthe F-15 I like the size comparison with the Tiffy; is that the one you got from chris? nice job there as well. looks like an interesting build, thanks for sharing. mike in calif

Make a hell of a ceiling fan! mike in calif

Jack, that is one nice airplane! You are doing a hell of a good job on it. I have watched your posts for the last year,watched this comming along,and I must say, very impressive! This is one of those planes that I've always liked the looks of. If it were available I would be tempted to try one ....I think. At any rate thanks for sharing. mike in calif

Hey ,thats a really cool article! are there similar one for the camel and tripe? Thanks gene mike in calif

stm, Iguess I'll take a shot at this one- the rev SPAD is considered by some to be the most accurate of the four1/28 kits. probably the second is the camel. Copper state is an excellent starting point for the aftermarket goodies,P/E and that. OOB the kit is good;the main fix is the atrocious wing struts. fill the troughs and cut the struts apart,taper the ends and gofrom there. the wings can be left alone, rounded at the ends for an early machine. The best reference I have is the WINDSOCK datafile #32. this along with squadrons "in action" , profile(the old ones) and the Aircraft Archive set all have photos ,and /or line drawings. Glencoe also released a small reference on the Spad scouts;SV11 thru SXIII ,and there is an additional WINDSOCK for the Spad 7c1(#8) there are some decals for the spad, most are the box set for Rickenbachers #1. you may find Lukes' machine, but you'd have to buy the white box kit from the early seventies,and you may find some IPMS decals on e-bay for the 1/28 Spad,camel and Tripe. Don't forget Copper State! other than that I'm in the dark hth, cheers mike in calif

Guys, don't forget about Copper State models-I have some of his stuff and its really tops. I alsoscored some wooden (yes!) props for WWI a/c, camel, spad and 2 DVII s ;the axial prop,also for the tripe. really nice and the correct number of laminations as well. cheers mike in calif

Guys , don't forget Copper

Erwin, yes they did. I think that the style of markings you are refering to is a standard to identify an A/C in the air- as such this does not have a geographic boundry. ospreys 109 aces of the med and no. africa (Afrika?) shows several A/C with these < + , <<+ styles of markings;these are shown in weise und schwarz by the way. hope this helps mike in calif started the J panther and doin the Zimmerit now-Tamiya putty and a flat screwdriver! talk to you later mike

Mike,tim, I too had eyed my f4b4;no goodies though. I did see an article here from a guy who scratchbuilt much of the interior.the very old AeroSeries books have a volume with excellent photos;you may be able to dig one up. keep in mind the interiors were much simpler affairs back then! cherrs mike in calif

Mike if you get a chance would you shoot the belly of the beast so we can see the mods? mike in calif

Mike, I feel your pain- I have some stuff I've been "working" on now for a few years. A 1/28 Fokker DVII-lozenge,streaky doped finish,checkerboard tail,P/E guns ,and wire wheels...no wait thats the problem,can't get the d#*^ wheels to come out the way they should! IT waits,lurking,on the shelf...... you know Mike your way ahead of me-I can't even compress my pics enough to post them ,soI can ***** about them! but I do have some P/E dive brakes from the '89? IPMS nats down in San Diego-would that help? mike in calif

Chris , nice job so far.... I like the weathering,and scuffle marks. Got a paint scheme yet? mike in calif Is JR going to do the Tony? mike

Erwin, why not post a pic of the Tripe as-is; I think you can turn this around and into a real "hands on " learning experience. my first thought is that I would remove the decals, re-paint, buy a replacement set, and go again. as an aside, the "Barons" tripe had only a red upper wing, tail, cowl and landing gear. I think the rest was the "streaky' paint described earlier-on a DVII I simply dry-brushed until I acheived the desired effect. this might work for you -instead of tossing the kit,built up,try the repairs. There are much, much ,more qualified modellers here than I ,who I am sure would help. Bueno suerte, mike in calif

Adrian, AIRFIX!!! delicate detail, two canopies(early and late) and choices of decals. Plus I don't think the bandai looks right mike in calif

Erwin, Ona of the main attractions of WWI a/c is their bright colors; this was to be able to easily recognize pilots in the air.The main downfall of this is you often wind up needing t do a specific plane. To do a generic "tripe" the plane would be covered in 'doped' cloth. Fokkers men painted the 'dope' on the fabric in a distinctive way. The brush would be loaded with color,then applied;diagonally across say, the wing chord at about a 45 degree angle. As the color came off the brush it was NOT re-loaded or 'evened out'; this would result in the 'streaky' paint job of Fokker finished A/C;sort of a light-to- dark effect. these colors would be clear doped linen-a light tan,or turquiose, and a dark green;I've usedRLM 70,or olive The pilot would often have his plane distinctively marked after assignment at the squadron level. Lother v. Richtofen had his plane marked with a yellow upper wing,,and rear of the fuse; the wing struts cowl and U/C would be red to show jasta affiliation. there would also be either of two crosses: balkenkruez or maltese cross. OR a mix of the two. gettin' easier yes? carefull study of some period photos should give you some ideas. One thing though - on a tripe NEVER any lozenge cammy. always the 'streaky, thing. looking forward to seeing your work, mike in calif

Ray, you must hate the runs in the fishnets..... mike in calif

erwin, I was thinking of the value of this kit on e-bay , but am glad to see the kit complete and actually used for what it was intended, some thing that sometimes gets lost in the mix. nice job, very clean. i am saving mine for a Rex Conversion as I have this thing for float planes . your pics really show off the size of the fat engine stuffed under the cowl. must have been a blast to fly..... cheers mike in calif

Chris ,phenomenal work! any plans to do a fokkerDVII or sopwith using your amazing technique?that spit is really looking good! cheers mike in calif

jeff, mig is lookin great!I should be able to start my plane in about a week, as I'm just gettin my bench back togetherafter a teardown to redecorate. I will be using a similar process though, and hopefully it will look as good as yours. cheers mike in calif

Denie, have you seen the Verlinden 109e superset? lots of goodies including resin ,P/E, and wire bits. I put one into a hase 109 that I backdated to a -1. this is to me a true "classic" both in terms of all the goodies you get in the box;and the box art( the original I mean). looks real nice - cheers mike in calif

Chris, yet another outstanding work! your NMF is really getting better with each kit- now when will you do the NMF Tony with the cammy blotches? hope all is well thanks for sharing-again. mike in calif

IT DIDN'T start out this way........ I always built the 1/32 stuff;and the 29cent Hawk fighters;and the He-111 by Lindberg. One day I saw a tank. Coooolll so I built one.Acouple years later I built a ship,with masts and lots of thread,then some battlwagons...... The Present- Chronologically 44,I have amassed a collection of 250 kits,60 120mm figgysand some odd 120mm tanks and stuff. I do like to see the Me-109,Spit,Fw190,etc. lineage on the shelf. I know the history,the personalities.... I know you guys know.. what its like to have this connection with history..... and testors glue,no not the sissy stuff that smells like lemons or oranges or whatever.. . but seriously, I have a desire to build the stuff I collect;and I only buy what I want to build- sooo not much else but 1/32 in A/C,and very selective with my armor,tall ships and other stuff. that said,the ebay will provide for me should I ever feel the need to acquire... a 4th jug? . I do have some kits on the shelf simply because they remind me of simpler days... mow a lawn,get paid, buy a kit,and BAM, start building. My wife thinks that not only am I off my rocker,but that I broke it when I fell off of it. dilemma: last october we had some brush fires out this way and I had to evacuate my house I only had room for so many kits(insert music from Psycho here)how do you value these things? well we were lucky and the wind changed when the fire was 1/4 mile from my house. bottom line: I probably won't build all I own, I will acquire some new stuff;1/24th Rufe and a repop Kearsarge, but its fun chasing kits,trading kits,learning the historyand hanging with guys like these on this site. beerCHEERS to all mike in calif

Smolders, Don't live in denial- GET the 1/32 109 by Hasegawa and build it oob; then- use the airbrush to its potential doing a nice Afrikan paint scheme. Ifyou want to really push the limits,Verlinden makes a decent 'update set' for this bird. RELAX.... no more peering for wee parts, add as much detail as you want,and lots of neato kits, accessories,and decals to choose from..........who knows, someday-!/24TH????? cheers mike in calif

Jeff,kasatka, I like the challange of the two tone cammy.... and thats how all my T-34s and Kvs and Is s have been done. plus alot of weathering options. regards mike in calif