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Sorry, late to the show. This GB is long enough that I might actually be able to finish this one...once I finish the other build on my desk (which was from another group build that I didn't finish in time)! Although I haven't been able to complete one before a deadline, they do get me organized and at the bench to start a kit. I was going to join in with the Dora Wings Dewoitine 510 but since there was another Dewoitine here I thought it would be more interesting to add a different aircraft type to the group. I've chosen to try my hand at the Roden Nieuport 24bis, in Polish Air Force colours. This particular aircraft, No.5086, was originally in the service of the 3rd Artillery Observation Squadron of the Red Air Force . In July 1919 it was flown to Poland by Juliusz Gilewicz, a pilot of Polish nationality who was defecting from Russia. Both the aircraft and pilot then served with the Polish Air Force. The pilot, Juliusz Gilewicz, had a remarkable life that ended tragically in Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in 1943. He was called up by the Tsarist army in 1915 which cut short his studies in medicine and law. He trained as a pilot and joined the 3rd Squadron in the Russian Air Service. After flying 200 combat missions and being wounded twice flying for the Russians in WWI, and then the Bolsheviks after the Revolution, he then defected with this aircraft and joined the Polish Air Force in July 1919. He commanded the 5th Squadron against the Russians in the Polish-Soviet War, and took part in 40 sorties. After the war he rose through the ranks commanding various squadrons and bases and eventually left the Air Force as a lieutenant-colonel in 1937. During the Second World War he joined the resistance and was eventually arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz where he was shot. This is just a very distilled biography, his full story makes for remarkable reading. Richard

The generosity of the people on this site never ceases to amaze me. Kevin (LSP_Typhoonattack) sent me his full sheet of Nieuport 17 decals which included the set for Billy Bishop, so I'm back underway with this build - thanks Kevin!! Here is the obligatory box shot: And the decals Kevin so kindly sent (the bottom is not shown and are Russian markings). I really needed the fuselage markings, the Canadian Maple Leaf, and the rudder markings. All impossible to find: All silver aircraft (my last build was all black - I may be getting into a Monotone rut here...). I always rig the fuselage lines before putting the two halves together - much easier than trying to add later. That does require painting (and sometimes decaling) the side of the fuselage before assembly as well, but in this case, taking care of the top and bottom seams was not that much of a problem. The struts fit very well and this is probably the easiest time I've had aligning top and bottom wings. I did follow the instructions exactly (not that it was very complicated..) and it fit perfectly. This aircraft was not really marked up in any particularly interesting way, just done very simply, but the markings are still unique in terms of the font for the letter and numbers, how the tail number is painted and of course, the Canadian Maple Leaf next to the cockpit. Hard to see in this picture but I cut out and inserted a 'glass' windshield in that triangular 'A' pillar. Will shoot a clear coat after the decals have dried. A little tricky with the rigging but should be ok. What I really liked about this aircraft is the blue (oh maybe this should have been in the Color Me Blue group build?). This is actually Vallejo's Arctic Blue Metallic and I really like how it comes across. In various pictures of this aircraft, Billy Bishop's plane seems to have sported some very pretty blue so hopefully this is pretty close. Before the serial number decals... And after: The white surround of the lettering is one of the characteristics of this aircraft (and maybe others of the group) that I think is rather unique. Front and back of the wheels. The tyre color is my now-standard go to for rubber: Vallejo's RLM66 Black Grey. It just looks right to my eye. Still want to so a black wash to pull out the rigging and the eyelets. And the engine, mostly to be hidden in the blue cowling. Ok, next stop is the landing gear rigging, and then on to the wings! Thanks for looking, comments welcomed! Chris

Now this a Group Build I could not avoid participating in, in spite of the fact that I am incredibly poor at delivering anything, whether it is a group build or a "standard" build. But, as this is me era of predilection, and I have been a proponent of the theme, the least I could do was to show my support and participate ... I had to make choices in the (ever-extending) stash, and I went for the esoteric : a vac-formed model of a French racer and record plane : the Nieuport Sesquiplan In the early 20s, this aircraft has beaten a number of speed records, in the hands of the famous (in his time) pilot Sadi Lecointe, and Georges Kirsch. It was the first aircraft to fly above 200 mph, on September 26th, 1921. Highly streamlined, with Lamblin radiators ("lobster pots"), it was influential in its time and inspired other aircrafts looking for ever-higher speeds. I fetched the 1/32 Air Craft vacform kit of this one on ebay some time ago, the kit dating back to 1996. Air Craft was a UK cottage industry producer, and I confess I do not know what they became. First, the pic of the box : And its content : three sheets of nicely done (female-molding) plastic parts, plus some white metal parts for the prop, the Lamblin lobster pots, the prop-boss and the tail skid. Not included in the pics are some Contrail streamlined struts. Finally, a detailed instruction sheet with drawings and explanations, and a mini decal sheet with the numbers for "6" , Lecointe's red-tailed aircraft, or Kirsch's blue-tailed "7". The kit is of really high quality, the sheets having been formed in female molds, i.e. the plastic sheets have been "sucked-in" the molds (rather than formed over a postive master). Thus the details and surface are really sharp and neat, with great definition. The best among vac-form kits IMHO. Vacforms, especially of this quality are less daunting than they look. The dreaded separation of the parts from the backing sheet is fairly straightforward, and does not take that long. First, use a Sharpie pen with a flat head to draw along the countours of the parts : Then, gently score with a knife along the perimeter of the part. Do not try to cut through the plastic : this would just risk cutting through the part. You can then snap the part from the backing sheet. This is where the sharpie black line will help : the backing sheet apears as a thin white line, that needs to be sanded away. When you reach the black line, you have sanded enough ! Then starts a quick sanding on a wet-and-dry sandpaper sheet, (using circular motions to avoid oversanding some areas), like this : In the case of the Sesquiplan, the half-fuselages are molded with a hefty "filling"for the top cowling and front of the fuselage, that you need to keep until the basic sanding is done. You can then cut it away, this time by scoring gently but repeatedly along the lines, to discard the unwanted plastic. The half-fuselahe then looks like this : All in all, it has taken me less than 15 minutes to end up with the ready-to-use left half of the fuselage. TBC Hubert