World War One Whifs

[NARSES2]

Coming along very nicely 

What paint do you use for your "doped linen" by the way ?

[stevehed]

The CDL is Revell SM314. Its more yellow than HU121 Stone which I also use. There is such a variation of CDL that anything close will do as far as I'm concerned. I'm actually getting very low on supplies so will have to use white tainted with SM314 in future. I've cracked on with this one and got it finished. I'd used the interplanes elsewhere so used some Contrail remnants and 30x60 thou Evergreen strip. The Lewis guns are courtesy of HR and Roden and the wheels are white metal spares. So here we have the Tereshchenko V, a reverse engineered Rumpler married to Anatra wings which were based on licence built Aviatik aircraft, serving on the Russian Front, in early 1917.  Regards, Steve

[Old Wombat]

 

[NARSES2]

The CDL is Revell SM314. Its more yellow than HU121 Stone which I also use.

Thanks for that I normally use Humbrol, but I like the look of that colour 

That really has come out well. Well done sir 

[stevehed]

I bought these two a while ago when they were cheap as chips. Both are old KP and I had a vague idea that they might make decent conversion fodder. The plan for the Po-2 was something Italian but I've had second thoughts. I'm going to try and convert it into something a bit more Germanic and dispatch it to the Balkans. The B21 will be providing the escort and my intention is to give it a 1918 engine and a little more length to balance out the weight increase over the 1920's Hispano Suiza. Timelines are a bit all over at times but I'll have to assume the Bulgarian Front did not collapse in September because German reinforcements from Russia arrived in time to bolster the defences. Aerial replacements saw the depleted air units brought back to strength as newly trained Bulgar personnel became available. Just thinking ahead but the withdrawal of Central Powers troops from Russia allows the opposing sides to start fighting each other so no change there to the potential for whiffery.




I've made a start on the B21 and painted the insides Hu121 as CDL with the ribs wood and the instruments ghosted with metal. A bit of card has been added to the rear to extend the fuselage about a scale foot and a half. Once the halves are joined all the gaps and steps will be treated with filler, in my case, the whiffer's best friend.
Regards, Steve

[NARSES2]

I've recently finished a history of WWI on the Eastern Front in four volumes and the author takes it through to 1921 and it's an absolute treasure trove for whiffery.

[stevehed]

Completely agree about the Eastern area of operations. My next whif is going to be a Russian. As for the B21 it's now on the way to become the B2, Avia's first fighter to be produced. The company had been a small player within the Austro Hungarian aero industry and were producing limited quantities of training aircraft. However, pre-war they were an engineering company and had ambition to grow. One of the talents they had developed was refurbishing the worn out engines usually fitted to aircraft destined for the training units after use at the fronts. Avia developed a working relationship with LMA another small company who were building Hannover parts for the German air force. Although officially within what became Czechoslovakia and therefore Austro Hungary Avia managed to obtain a contract from the German Air Ministry, Idflieg. Avia had spare capacity because the AH aero industry could not produce enough engines for the aircraft built. Avia could repair and refurbish but was not set up for production. The German contract was to refurbish Argus 111a engines which were normally employed in Hannover two seat types. Avia's budding design team had been working on a fighter and a trainer. The lack of a suitable engine had caused work on the fighter to stall so an Argus 111a of 180hp was fitted to test the basic design. Problems with the tail section led to the temporary use of Albatros sections which were obtained from LMA. The trainer was also tested with an Argus which led to a change of role. It was re-designed for artillery co-operation and short range reconnaissance. Both aircraft handled well but were little improvement on existing types. Performance received a boost when Avia re-bored a consignment of Argus 111a's and boosted the power output to 210hp. Idflieg were made aware of developments and saw an opportunity for Avia to supply the Bulgarian air force as German production was desparately needed for the Western Front. Vienna wasn't happy but couldn't supply machinery to enable Avia to licence build aircraft for the LFT so the Czechs began to build the Bulgar contract in June 1918. Aircraft began to arrive in the Balkans in September and served to EOW. The first twelve B2 fighters were fitted with Albatros tail units but the remainder of the contract reverted to a strengthened version of the original type.




After adding the cockpit section and a Boris from the spares the fuselage was sealed up. First job was to fill the gaps created by the card extension at the rear and build up the tail with filler. Few minor gaps and everything was smoothed out. The B21 has a Hispano Suiza V type engine and the cylinder head covers are moulded into the nose panels. There is no shortage of plastic in this kit so I removed the covers and exhausts, the black bit in the photo, to create more streamlined forward panels. The upper decking has grooves for the guns which were handy for alignment as I had to drill a line of holes in order to make a slot for an Argus engine Germanic style. So far so good.

[Old Wombat]

 

[stevehed]

While waiting for paint to dry I've made a start on the Po-2. Initial plan was to alter the engine compartment by blending a Hannover nose section to it. An engine with exposed heads and a radiator in similar fashion to the fighter. However, I had a look in my old Munson's WW1 Pocket Encyclopaedia and decided the old popov would not pass muster as a recce machine. I know it was used in belligerent fashion in WW2 but I guess that was because there were so many of them and needs must. Compared to WW1 types the crew positions are farther forward and the observer cannot see directly below because he's over the wing. So I decided to make the chap's job a little easier and move the crew positions. To this end the upper decking from the back of the rear cockpit was cut off using the upper longeron as the guide. A new rear cockpit was cut out. The plan is to replace with a spare upper decking from a Roden Albatros. This has the engine cut out in place. I've widened the engine compartment a little to accept a frontal radiator but I'm still in the design stage.

[stevehed]

The upper decking proved a decent fit with the help of a little filler. The lower wing cut out needed the customary work before the wing would sit level but nothing too drastic. I've ran out of spare engines so a basic sump and cylinders from sprue, rod and strip is in progress. The large flat bottomed sprue usually found in the older kits comes in handy. Last job in this session was wing cut outs so the observer can see better. Fairly standard on most two seaters so I thought I'd he'd appreciate the effort.

[stevehed]

Returned to the fighter and finished her off. This is a basic kit typical of the time but it goes together well. The most important bit was the struts which lined up with no problems. Little extras were representive cooling vents on the side, just bits of card, and air holes in the nose. Rigged the wings with invisible thread and used Balkan crosses from the Airfix Hannover and a white star and number eight from spare oddments. The B3 became the Avia D1 in service and served from September 1918 to mid 1919 in this timeline. This is an early type with the Albatros tail unit and served with the 3rd Aviation Unit. This unit was re-supplied after suffering total losses during the Allied September offensive and returned to active service in November. About 50 were built and others served with the Ist Aviation Unit while others were supplied to the home defence forces, predominately around Sofia, and flew alongside the only Fokker DVII's to reach Bulgaria.

[NARSES2]

Very neat Steve 

[zenrat]

 

[stevehed]

Thanks Gentlemen, appreciated.

[zenrat]

Everytime I look at this thread I start thinking about the five or six WW1 aircraft in my stash.