Search the Community

Here is another of my latest builds. The base is Lukgraph's Potez 25, heavily moded with some home-designed and 3D-printed parts. It was built as part of the "Sandbox" GB on LSM, where you can find a more detailed build log. Before the pics, some background on this project. The idea was to build a project "that had something to do with use in the sand or desert". When doing some preliminray reserach, I stumbled upon some pictures which had an irresistible appeal for me . Let me explain why : 1. French colonial presence in North and Western Africa. In the the XIXth and XXeth Centuries, France expanded its colonial empire across large chunks of Africa, in the North, with Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, and in the West and Center, expanding from the Ivory Coast and along the river Niger. In 1893, Ensign Aube, on an armed launch, went thus up the Niger river, until he reached Tumbuctu, with the goal of establishing a French presence there. After a few weeks, he was unfortunatley massacred with his expedition by the local tribes, which were subsequently defeated and submitted by a French ground brigade. The French presence in Africa went with the development of routes between the colonies, and thus the French had to tackle a major hurdle between the North and the West of Africa, i.e. the Sahara desert. This was was progressively mapped and crisscrossed with a number of roads, during the 1920s. A road was thus departing from Morocco, Tunisia or Algeria, to merge in Algeria in the North of Sahara, and then went south across the Tanezrouft and Sahara towards Mali and West Africa. Along this road, a number of stations were established, every 50 kilometers, initially by burrying a barrel of water ("bidon" is the French word for barrel), and developing limited infrasructures along these "Bidon" outposts, namely ways to refill the tanks of the trucks, coaches, cars ... and aircrafts which attempted to cross the Sahara. A famous post is "Bidon 5", in the Tanezrouft, which even had a "hotel" made of the bodies of two coaches. The "Black Cruise" ... and the Pink Cruise In 1933, France established the Air Force as a separate entity from the Army. To celebrate this event, a PR stunt was put in place : the "Black Cruise". The idea was to have a major force, made of about 30 aircrafts, that would fly from Paris to the Western African colonies, and back. Under the command of General Vuillemin, the Black Cruise was a huge success, and demonstrated the capacity of the newborn Armée de l'Air to project its force across the empire. This widely acclaimed feat warmed the inter-service rivalry between the Air Force and the Navy, which had its own aerial component, and more specifically the feelings of Rear-Admiral De Laborde, a consumate sailor AND aviator, who commanded the French Navy forces in Africa. De Laborde wanted to show that the French Navy was as able as the new Air Force, by replicating the Black Cruise. In December 1934, a commemorative plaque for Ensign Aube was to be unveiled in Tumbuctu. De Laborde informed the Ministry, that, as the most senior French Navy representative in Africa, he would personally attend the commemorative ceremony, with his wife. He only "forgot" the mention that he intended to reach Tumbuctu by aircraft, in a remake of the African leg of the Black Cruise. Thus, in November 1934, De Laborde, leading a flight of three aircrafts, with his wife as passenger, took off from Bizerte in Tunisia, to cross the Sahara and reach Tumbuctu. The flight was a success, and although a veil was put on it officially to avoid fostering the inter-service rivalty, the flight earned the somewhat derisive nickname or "Pink Cruise", to take into account the presence of Countess de Laborde, wife of Jean de Laborde. I found a period picture of the three aircafts, adorned with their "fishhook" roundels typical of the French Navy aircrafts, during a stop in the middle of the Sahara. The idea of a Navy aircraft about 3000 kms away from the nearest shore was just irresistible for me. And thus my GB entry was set ! 2. The Potez 25 The Potez 25 can, in many aspects; be considered the F-16 equivalent of the 20s and 30s. Built by Potez (who had been associated in WWI with Marcel Bloch to build propellers, before Bloch and Potez parted ways in the early 20s), using conventional WWI construction techniques, but with an innovative engine bearer structure that allowed almost and 500 hp engine to power it, it was produced at more than 3 500 units, and sold un used by 24 countries, not a bad number for these troubled peacetimes. It was thus sold to Poland, and it is because of this Polish Aviation link that we now have a 1/32 kit of the Potez 25, thanks to Lukgraph. The main variant of the Potez 25 was the A2, powered by the very successful and reliable Lorraine W12 engine, and this was the one used by the Polish Air Force and therefore represented by Likgraph. Bu the French developed a specific version for the Potez 25, the "TOE" (for Theâtre d'Opérations Extérieures", aka foreign opertions theater). Compared to the A2, the TOA had many differences, starting by a heavier weight dur to an enlarged main tank (which was jettisonable in flight in case of fire), and an additional fuel tank of 300 liters, conforming to the belly of the Potez. The extra CFT and larger main tank implied a revised nose cowling, to fair into the deeper belly, and a fariring of the under-rear fuselage, up to the tail. The TOE had also a larger radiator, to cope for the wemer climates it was supposed to operate into. This was achieved by adding "ears" to the radiator, fairing in the covers of the lower cylinder banks of the Lorraine W12 engine. To cope for the heavier weight, a new oleo undercarriage was developed by Messier, as well as a new tail skid. The Potez TOEs of both the Black and Pink Cruise also had two extra water tanks that prolonged the fairings of the lower cylinder banks. De Laborde's aircraft, coded "BZ 65) (BZ stand for Bizerte, the main base of the French Navy aircrafts in North Africa), also had a revised upper fairing above the cockpit, with the suppression of the rear gun position, a new windscreen for this position, a head-rest fairing for the rear position. It also had a seat comparable to the pilot's one in the rear position, as opposed to the initial bench-type for the rear gunner, and a set of radio emitters and receivers, identical to the ones used during the Black Cruise. 3. Building and converting Lukgraphs' Potez 25 The Lukgraph kit ias a sound, if not perfect, basis for a Potez 25 A2. To represent a TOE, I had however to proceed to some major surgery and changes. I designed the conversion parts, and 3d-printed them. The list of new parts include: - a new radiator, - new fairings for the clyinder banks, including the extra water tanks - a new lower nose / cowling - an extension of the mainfuel tank - a new underbelly conformal fuel tank - a hew fairing for the rear fuselage - a new main undercarriage - a new tail skid - a second seat for the rear position - new wheels as the TOE ones wear of bigger diameter and larger thread than the A2 ones. The standard practice for aircrafts crossing the Sahara was to have a third, spare, wheel fastened to the side of the fuselage. - radios for the emitters and transmitter (3 sets overall) - a new upper fuselage fariring over the cockpit. This Included the head-rest fairing. - a new windscreen for both the pilot and the rear passenger. In the end, i designed the whole new upper fuselage with the windscreens, and then printed it in clear resin. - new throttle quadrants and throttles, as the supplied PE parts were too flimsy … The kit is a typical high-quality resin kit, with some 3D-printed parts. It has, however, a significant issue, namely the - large - main upper wing is molded solid. When assembled, the upper wing alone weighs 186 grams. And the finished aircraft with all the additions is close to 370 grams. One of my pet topics is trying to replicate the "mass feeling" of the original subject in kit form. In theory, using the same materials, we would have a similar density. Thus, if the all-up weight of the Potez 25 was 2500 kilograms, the 1/32 kit shoudl weigh 2500*1000/32^3 = 76 grams. The finished kit is almost five times more heavy than it should be if the density was constant ! This creates issues of their own : a) large resin wings are known to sag and flex over time, b) the 3d-printed resin undercarriage may not be strong enough to withstand durably the weight of the finished kit, c) the supplied interwings struts and cabane struts, in 3d-printed resin, may just as well be unable to withstand the weight of the upper wing in the long run, as they have holes for just stub inserts of rods, but are not designed to have the reinforcind rods going through them. So I modified the lower sesquiplane wings to incorporate a span-continuous double spar made of 2 mm aluminium tubing. The spars are connected to a reinforced carry-through structure in the fuselage. New struts were designed and printed that allowed to insert 1mm-dia steel rods across their wole length. The undercarriage was similarly designed to allow the introduction of brass rods reinforcements, and to be connected to the internal carry-trhough structure. By the way, the 3d-printed tail skid did not resist the weight and snapped after about a week. I replaced it with a new one sratchbuilt out of brass. The upper wing is made of three parts (a central and two outer wings panels). They were drilled to a significant depth to allow to insert 2mm-tube spars. And the rod-reinforced interwing struts and cabane struts all connect to the carry-through structure inside the fuselage or the lower sequiplane spars. The Potez 25 TOE was the workhorse mainstay used both for the Black Cruise and, as a utility aircraft, by the French Navy, and therefore for the « Pink Cruise ». De Laborde's Potez, coded BZ65, sported the 4-star pennant of a rear-admiral on its fin. This made BZ65 a true "Blue Goose" aircraft. The markings are a mix of masks, home-made decals and the kits decals (the "fishhooks" come from the Lukgraph decal sheet. All the rest is either masked or home-dessigned and printed. 4. The saynette I found many pictures of the various Sahara stops performed by French aircrafts. Whilst the major "Bidon" stops had fuel pumps, for both the wheeled vehicles and the aircrafts, in other places, the fuel drums were brought in by 4-legged bowsers, namely camels ! I had my scene : BZ65, the Potez of de Laborde and his wife, stopped in the Sahara, whilst camels bring in the fuel drums to replenish the aircraft. I found that the drums in these occasions used were not the "standard" 200 or 225 liters drums, but smaller, more handleable ones of 70 liters. A net search provided the specs of these 70-liters drums, which I also designed and printed. The ubiquitous "Japy" hand-pump was used for refueling. One was designed, printed and inserted in its location in the lower fuselage, where it cannot, unfortunately, be seen ... The 1/32 camels are 3d-printed, found on a German website. The figures, including Mrs de Laborde and his husband, are from various sources, like Red Dog or The Bodi Capsata, or others. Finally, a picture showed that these airbases in the Sahara had a windsock. One was designed and printed in clear resin. Duly painted, the see-through effect of the fabric windsocks was restituted pretty convincingly And now, after this lengthy intro, on to the pics. You can click on them to get enlarged versions. At the end are some detailed pics of the WiP process. I hope you like it. Hubert PS: the scene also had an « interesting » ingredient to it : part of the « sand » is actually some curry powder I had mixed up to the « right » colour on the Marrakech souk. The odour is now faded out, but my work area smelled very good for a few months 😂 …

A short while ago there was only one model available in 1/32 scale of a Tiger Moth, the venerable, rather basic and in many areas inaccurate Matchbox/Revell one. Like many kits of its era it could nonetheless be worked on, with a fair degree of skill required, to produce a good looking model of this famous and iconic aircraft. Enter Silver Wings, the well known Polish company whose kits are made from resin and photo-etch. The kits are always well researched, complex, faithful and intricate in the level of detail but require considerable experience and skill to put together, but it has to be said that resin is not everybody's choice of modelling medium. The new kid on the block Tiger Moth kit-wise is produced by ICM, the Ukrainian company which has really made a name for itself in the variety of models in their catalogue and the apparent research that has gone into ease of construction., epitomised in this kit with the one-piece lower wing which attempts to address the Achilles-heel of the lower wing dihedral which didn't quite tick the box in the other Tiger Moth kits. I produced a thread fairly recently which compared various aspects of these three kits but finally I have got round to actually starting to model the ICM one, and I'm looking forward to it! Since the ICM kit in particular came out there have been a few after-market additions, all are included here within this build, and I'm going to start by having a look at each to consider if I think they're worthwhile, if indeed they make much difference to the kit.

LUBLIN R.XIII D 1:32 LUKGRAPH It was supposed to be from FLY both "Tunnan" but life has verified the plans as always. As a tribute to the fallen crew there is Lublin R.XIII D in 1:32 from LUKGRAPH. The model will be built in the colours of the 1st Platoon 26 EO (observation squadron) of the 2nd Air Regiment Cracow. The probable designation of the aeroplane is the letter E on the fuselage, the military number of the aeroplane is 56-126 and the under wing number is 16 K. The crew consisted of Lt. obs. Leon Wrzeszcz and Staff Sergeant Pilot Adam Baran. On 1.09.1039 the aircraft was shot down by ground fire and crashed in the village of Piasek near Strzebinia / Lubliniec, the crew died. The deadline for making the model is very short, because I want to make it in time for the unveiling of the newly-made memorial at the site of the plane crash. So much for the story, and now for the model; in the box we have everything we need to build it. From the extras there is an instrument panel available for it in the company YAHU MODELS YMA3231, which I will use in the model. Thanks to the companies LUKGRAPH and YAHU MODELS for their help. ps. There will be a little surprise in the next post.

Lukgraph's stunning Dragon Rapide/Dominie in the spotlight: In the topsy-turvy World we currently find ourselves in, this kit makes me happy! Have fun, Iain

ok here my entry its a small nice plane its my first kit from this brand full resin but the castings and the fitting looks verry good Mark

With Toryu almost finished it's time to start another build. Lukgraph is producing range of some really great kits and I like all US Navy biplanes This Command aircraft is special with the not so typical glossy navy blue and silver finish. Having built Vought SBU already 2 years ago I know what to expect and I think this will be trouble free and straightforward build. What's in the box The best on this will be finish. Almost no weathering Thanks for looking jan

Hello here a quick revieuw for this wonderfull kit This is the first kit i have from this brand and i must say im impresd whit what i see in the box the box when you open the box you find a lot of zipbags with the parts nicly packd and i found no broken parts The major parts out the box and the casting blocks alraedy removed from the parts also nice PE set A detail off the feuselage The floats everything is packedin seperat zipbags what is easy all parts for engine are in one bag The struts for the floats are with metal inside to give them more strenght cockpit frame parts for the engine exhausts the instructions are clear no numbers for the resin parts only for the PE but thats no problem because everything is in seperate bags for the construction for me its a great kit with very nice details now i have to find time to build it i only can recomend this kit Mark

Hi guys I finally managed to finish Lublin. Not my best build overall, however it's a nice and quite simple kit, compared to other resin biplanes The most challenging was to keep the geometry of all struts and to clean small resin details  Painted with Mr. Color and Mr. Paint, weathering done with AMMO of Mig Jimenez stuff. Glue used - mainly HPH epoxy and different Loctite's superglues. You can find WIP build here Thanks for looking jan

Hi guys, Let me present you my recently finished Vought SBU-1 from Lukgraph. You can take a look at WIP thread here Build took me 2 months. It`s really nice and quite easy kit of beautiful plane. No fit issues, nice decals and simple ringing. Wing struts aligment and vacuformed canopy were the biggest challenges for me. Painted with Mr. Color, Mr. Paint and Alclads paints. Filters, Pigments and panel line washes from AMMO. this is already my 3rd resin Navy biplane finished this year so it`s time to start with something different (search and rescue calls my name) thanks for looking and all your comments are welcomed jan

This is brand new resin model from Lukgraph. Was really looking forward for it because it`s not so well known plane, but really nice one. And you can choose from several colorfull schemes. Initially I was thinking that I will start build it after I will finish my current ongoing project. But I could not resist after I have opened box and saw all that resin parts and nice additions. So I will run this build along with my Uhu and Me-262 projects. What is in box? several bags with resin parts instructions PE`s nice additional stuff (personalized card, canopy masks, stickers with unit emblems....) some resin parts details There is almost no evidence of armed SBU`s available (with machine-gun and bombs). So most probably I will build it with flaps closed, with wing bomb racks attached and without machine-gun. Want to build VS-41 or VS-42 plane (assigned to USS Ranger) and want to focus on cockpit area because it will be quite visible when finished. I have started as usual with gluing of upper wing there is no dihedral so quite easy step. I decided to create new cockpit internal frames out of metal tubes, just because it looks better then resin parts thanks for looking jan

Hi guys, I would like to present you my recently finished Boeing F3B from Lukgraph WIP thread you can find here Overall it was easy relaxing build, with just few minor things to correct Painted with Mr.Color and Mr.Paint paints, subtle wetahering with Ammo products There is not much reference online for this particular plane, even I did at the end quite extensive research. So mostly I was following instructions What I really liked, was the painting process, because these command planes were maintained to highly polished finish. So no heavy weathering was needed. Still I am working on flight deck base, but did not finished it yet, so will post some photos later. Hope you like it Thanks for looking and any comments are welcome jan

Hi guys, I have decided to build this superb blue-silver bird, while working on the Stearman. My plan is to build it OOB, with polished and clean finish. I briefly looked at the history of this machine on web and collected all photos I was able to find but still do not have any photo of cockpit, so appreciate any help or advice here are some photos of kit content and details, build photos will follow in upcoming days and nice touch from Lukasz - dedicated card thanks for looking jan