sandbagger

Hi all, To correct the span of the lower wing: Wing cut through 30 mm from the wing roots. Two holes drilled (0.5 mm diameter) into outer wing sections. Rods (0.5 mm diameter) inserted into holes. Wings pushed together to indent rods into wing centre section (marks for drilling). Two holes drilled (0.5 mm diameter) into centre wing section. Two packs of 6 x 1 mm plastic card cemented together. Two holes drilled through packs to match rods in the wings. Packs fitted onto wing rods. Wing sections and packs aligned then secured together with CA adhesive and liquid cement. Packs filed and sanded to match the wing profiles. Wing strut location holes filled and re-drilled 6 mm further inboard. Mike

Hi all, I really should build models out of the box (OOB). I followed the instructions for embodying the ‘Loon Models’ resin wing tips for the early version aircraft. Now I've found that the span of the lower wing is 12 mm too short (6 mm at each wing tip). As can be seen, when the modified wings are laid onto a correctly resized drawing, the span of the upper wing is correct, but the span of the lower wing is not. The original kit is for the later D.IV aircraft, the lower wing of which had a slightly shorter span when compared to the upper wing (disregarding the extended balanced ailerons). So now, having embodied the modifications to both wings, I'm not sure whether the 'Loon Models' instructions for cutting away the kit wing tips are incorrect or the wing span of the original kit supplied lower wing is too short? Anyway, I'll need to cut the lower wing at both sides and along a rib line then pin and pack the wings to the correct span. This will also mean relocating the lower wing location holes for the outer wing struts. Mike

Hi all, Cross bracing wires were fitted between the tops of the rear fuselage cabane struts and the inside of the fuselage. These wires were attached to a small rectangular frame, located on the top centre of the cockpit front decking panel. Each of the four separate bracing wires were attached the corners of this frame. The model has the rectangular attachment frame moulded solid, which does not represent the actual frame. The ‘Brengun’ photo-etch set has two frames, either of which (or both) can be used, but attaching them to the decking panel and rigging is not explained. I removed the pre-moulded lump and drilled two holes of 0.5 mm diameter at approximately 60 degrees, down and through the front decking panel. Two lines of 0.08 mm diameter mono-filament were passed through 0.4 mm diameter tube, then through the photo-etch frame. The lines were looped back through the tubes the secured in position with thin CA adhesive. The following shot shows it test fitted. The frame will be finally fitted later in the build during the rigging phase, Mike

Hi all, I did some research to ascertain the purpose of the rectangular access panel under the early D.III aircraft. It seems that the loaded belts of ammunition for both machine guns were stored in the ammunition container fitted under both guns. The loaded ammunition belts were fed to the gun breech blocks through feed chutes. The empty ammunition belts were directed from the breech blocks through chutes to box containers, which were fitted to the fuselage sides inside the cockpit. All of the empty ammunition cases from both weapons were ejected through a tube connected to the lower front of each breech block and from there into a combined ejection pipe which was routed down to the bottom of the fuselage. On the later D.IV aircraft the cases were discharged out of the aircraft from the ejection pipe opening under the fuselage. However, in the early D.III aircraft the cases were retained in a container inside the fuselage and to access the container for emptying, the rectangular access panel was fitted under the fuselage. Mike

Hi all, A few updates for the build. When I temporarily joined the fuselage halves I found the seat support frame was too short and didn't reach its locations in the fuselage sides. To correct this I cut the frame cross members and added 1.4 mm diameter tubes to extend the width of the frame. The 'Brengun' photo-etch side formers and box cover were added - tricky to fit under the cockpit side 'Z' frames and required thinning the frame and filing the photo-etch. The 'Brengun' set has a side panel, the location of which is not clear in the instructions. However a photo shows where it locates. The front decking panel and the replacement 'Gaspatch' machine guns were modified to allow the guns to fit the panel. The kit supplied ammunition feed and ejection chutes were used and pinned through the gun breech block with 0.5 mm diameter rod. Mike

Hi all, I've used the kit under panel and opened up the louvre vents and added the panels retaining screw and louvre rivet locations. Also filled the original pilot's foot step and created a new one in the correct position. Finally added the missing panel line at the fuselage former. Mike

Hi all, The top decking panel has its photo-etch panels fitted (the quarter turn fasteners will be fitted later). I'd previously fitted photo-etch hinges to the panel, however the 'Brengun' photo-etch panels include these hinges. Also the tail skid support brackets are fitted. Well, I thought I'd covered all the necessary changes before starting the build. However I've found other changes that need to be done. The right fuselage half from the kit has a scooped vent, which was not fitted to the early D.III, so that was removed and filled. That allowed me to fit the two photo-etch side access panels, which again are different in desin from those fitted to the later D.III. The kit fuselage halves are missing a panel join at fuselage former E - this needs to be scribbed onto the fuselage halves. The underside vented panel is different from the later D.III, which had two scooped vents fitted. The early D.II had no vents, but an access panel was fitted. This means the photo-etch panel supplied with the 'Brengun' set is not correct for this model, so I'll probably modify the kit panel. The left fuselage half from the kit has a poorly moulded pilot's foot step, which in reality was a retractable to close off when not in use. The kit location for the foot step is incorrect as it's too high above the lower wing root. I'll fill this foot step and create a new one. Apart from that it's plain sailing so far!!! Mike

Hi all, The aircraft had padding protection for the pilot in three areas: Padding at the front of the cockpit decking. Padded headrest on the front of the fuselage fairing. Padding around the centre section cut out in the trailing edge of the upper wing. The padding on the headrest is moulded on the fairing but is slightly offset and hardly visible. The padding on the upper wing is not represented in the kit. I added both by using 'Milliput' two part putty. The ‘Brengun’ Siemens Schuckert D.III (BRL32014) photo-etch set has the parts to create a pilot’s seat. However I chose not to use those parts as photo-etch parts are in some cases too thin to be realistic. The pilot’s seat is such as case. Therefore I used the photo-etch seat back as a guide to drill out the kit supplied seat, then added a seat cushion made from 'Milliput', as the kit does not supply a cushion. That's the last modifications at this preparation stage, so now I can start the actual building phase. Mike

Hi all, Earlier Siemens-Schuckert aircraft designs were basically copied from French Nieuport fighters, such as the Nieuport 11. The method of aileron control used for the Siemens-Schuckert D.III was not the usual cable systems, but was a copy of the French design using control rods from the cockpit to the upper wing. The pilot’s control column was attached to a torque bar, which was located across the cockpit floor. The ends of this tube were attached by universal joints to control rods, which were routed up and out of the cockpit forward decking. The control rods attached to bell crank levers in the upper wing and control rods from these routed outboard to the ailerons. The cockpit to upper wing control rods/bell cranks are represented in the kit, but only to the underside of the upper wing. Photographs of the aircraft show what appears to be cut outs, which allows the tops of the aileron bell cranks to protrude slightly through the top surface of the upper wing. These cut outs are represented on the kit wing as recesses on the underside and raised solid moulded rectangles on the top surface. Also the kit control rod/bell crank part have round rods, whereas the actual rods were flat sided (streamlined). I drilled out the aileron apertures in the upper wing then scrapped them to the required shape. The kit aileron control rod/bell cranks were reduced in thickness to more represent the actual parts. Small squares of 0.85 mm thick plastic card was cemented onto the bell cranks and were then rounded and drilled with a 0.5 mm diameter drill. Short lengths of 0.5 mm Nickel-Silver tube were cut and secured through the pre-drilled holes. The modified parts are a snug fit into the wing apertures and will be fitted later in the build, Mike

Hi all, The upper wing, as supplied in the basic kit, has a pronounced bow across the thicker, centre section of the wing. As the underside of the wing in that area has a glossy finish, I can only assume the bow was caused during the injection process. Unlike resin parts, polystyrene seems to retain a shape 'memory' once moulded, so it can be more difficult to correct distortions without introducing white 'stress' marks in the part. However I applied heat on both sides of the wing centre section from a hair dryer (on high setting). The heat was maintained for a few minutes Then the wing was flexed and held in position whilst cooling. Mike

Hi all, I've separated the resin elevator from the tail plane and added 0.4 mm rods, to enable the elevator to be animated. The pilot's and ground crew grab handles were drilled out, reshaped then 0.85 mm styrene rectangular rod added to correct the open shape and correctly locate the handles (which were actually a fuselage longeron). The forward decking panel was hinged at both sides by continuous hinges located under the cooling jackets for the two machine guns. These are not moulded on the kit part so have been represented by using 'Aviattic' photo-etch rib tapes. Mike

Hi all, A bit more progress preparing various parts. The fuselage halves have bee scraped and sanded to: Reduce the depth of the panel lines. Forward side access panel removed for photo-etch replacements. Air scoops opened up. Forward vertical panel line removed. Step at forward panel removed. The resin spinner has been sorted to fit the kit propeller and spinner back plate. Both wings have had their wing tips removed and re[laced by the resin early wing tips (pinned to wings). All four ailerons replaced with resin ailerons (pinned to wings). I'm now modifying the pilot and ground crew 'grab' handles, Mike

Hi all, Based on other modellers reviews I expected problems with the 'Loon Models' engine support frame, and it didn't disappoint. The four struts supplied are intended to fit over the front support ring and be long enough to reach the engine bulkhead. But if you follow the instructions, the struts are too short and don't reach the bulkhead. Also it's difficult to fit these four struts in their correct positions on the support ring such that they can fit through the cylinders to reach the engine bulkhead. In the end I located the support ring inside the engine cowl, then fitted the four struts inside the cowl, with the front end contacting the support ring and the other flared ends at the cowl rear edge. The four struts were then scrapped to reduce their thickness and allow the engine to locate fully into the cowl and support ring. Now onto modifying the wing tips and ailerons, Mike

Hi all, I marked the six cooling slots then drilled lines of 0.4 mm diameter holes, followed up with a 0.6 mm diameter drill. Then using a thin scraper, cut between the holes to form a slit. Lastly I open out the six cooling slots using a straight edged scalpel blade. The two cooling holes were created the same way and finally shaped using a round needle file. To make it easier to handle and to stop the fragile cowl from flexing, I taped the kit engine bulkhead onto the cowl. The cooling slots should be just three across the bottom of the cowl, but doing that made the cowl way too fragile, so I left resin between the cooling slots for strength. Now it's onto the resin support frame, Mike

Hi all, Onto the resin conversion set from 'Loon Models' (LO32006) for the early D.III aircraft. The resin engine cowl is well formed but is so thin in places I can virtually see through it. Also when offered up to the kit engine bulkhead, the resin cowl outer diameter is undersized, which leaves a step between it and the bulkhead. As the resin cowl is way to fragile to contemplate modifying it, I chose instead to modify the bulkhead and fuselage halves. The outer edge of the bulkhead was sanded to match the cowl. The forward inside ends of the fuselage were scrapped to form a shoulder for the bulkhead to locate. The end result is the fuselage. bulkhead and resin cowl now align. The next step is to create the cooling slots and apertures in the bottom of the cowl (good thing the set has two cowls!!) The early production SSW D.III aircraft were fitted with a full, circular cowl around the engine. In addition the propeller was fitted with a large domed spinner. These combined with poor engine lubrication, caused by the use of synthetic ‘Voltol’ oil, caused many engine failures. In an attempt to increase cooling airflow across the engine, some engine cowls had two oval apertures and three slots cut through the bottom/sides of the cowl. Although I could not find photographic evidence of this for the Jasta 15 aircraft of ’Ziegesar’, there is a photograph of the aircraft of Lt.d.R. Alfred Greven of Jasta 12, which clearly shows one of the cooling apertures. Should be fun, Mike

Hi all, The engine is finished now. The only changes I made (not that you'll see much once installed): Valve push rods made from 0.4 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tube with 0.5 mm bases. Ignition leads from 0.148 mm diameter black mono-filament. Ignition lead plate at engine rear from 0.5 mm thick plastic card. Mike

Hi all, I've amended the first post in this thread. The aircraft I had intended to build was the later D.III version, but that model has been built by quite a few modellers. So I decided to change to an 'early' D.III, which is a less common build and take up the challenge of incorporating the 'Loon Models' resin conversion. This will entail replacing the engine cowl and support frame, tail plane/elevator assembly, propeller spinner, wing tips and ailerons. Lets see how 'easy' this will be, Mike

Hi all, I've started this model with working on the engine. My original intention was to replace the kit supplied engine with the excellent resin engine from 'Aviattic'. However, as I started to build that engine I decided that it was too good to be hidden under an engine cowl, even though the engine cowl on this aircraft exposed more of the engine than most rotary powered aircraft. Therefore I've built the kit supplied engine, but with one modification, namely replacing the oversized valve push rods. To do this the push rods were cut away from the engine front casing, which was the cemented onto the engine. I then drilled 0.6 mm diameter holes into the outer edge of the housing, making sure the pairs of holes were drilled staggered at an angle, as with the actual engine. Each push rod was made from 0.4 mm diameter Nickel-Silver tube, which was bent at one end then flattened to represent the valve operating levers. A sleeve of 0.6 mm diameter brass tube was cut and slid onto the rod. This is to represent the end fitting at the bottom of the push rod. Each rod was then secured in position using CA adhesive. The end result is not as good as the 'Aviattic' engine would be, but hoefully is an improvement on the original kit engine. Mike

Hi all, Thanks. Hubert: The surviving example in the Krakow Museum is the one-off conversion from a Siemens-Schuckert D.IV into the Albatros H.1 high altitude test aircraft, which the allies allowed to be built for research after WW1. An interesting aircraft though - thanks, Mike

Hi all, Next up on the modelling bench is the Roden 1:32nd scale Siemens-Schuckert D.III. As the last three models I've built were resin and needed more than a little 'correction', I thought I'd get back to styrene for this one. That said I am aware this kit will also need some attention, so I've noted observations from the previous builds of 'Lance', 'IWIK' and our own 'Des', in addition to those noted in the 'Pheon' decal booklet. This model represents the early version of the Siemens Schuckert D.III (Serial number between 8340/17 and 8359/17), as flown by Ltn. Joachim von Ziegesar when serving with Jasta 15 during May, 1918. Aftermarket consists of: ‘Aviattic’ linen effect Lozenge decals -ATT32108, ATT32109, ATT32013, ATT32073 and ATT32075. 'Aviattic' Wood grain dark (ATT32235). 'Aviattic' photo-etch rib tapes (ATTETCH001). ‘Pheon’ 32023 decals - Siemens Schuckert D.III Markings. ‘Brengun’ photo-etch Siemens Schuckert D.III (BRL32014). ‘Gaspatch’ 1/32 Spandau 08/15 Extended loading Handle (Late) machine guns. 'HGW' Models' seat belts (32006). 'Loon Models' resin conversion (LO32006) Hopefully, if Alex comes up good - 'ProperPlane' wood laminated four bladed propeller. One day I will build something 'OOB', Mike

Hi Phil, Sorry I missed your post - my bad. Basically the CDL was applied: Smooth white base primer. 'Tamiya' Smoke (X19) pre-shading around rib tapes. Blow over as required with base coat (blend tapes and pre-shade) Using polishing stick (Flory Models) polish across raised wing ribs to partially remove base coat. Gloss sealing coat. Apply 'Aviattic CDL decals. Semi-matte sealing coat. Mike

Hi all, The Lewis machine gun, wind screen and pilot figure have been finished, along with the display base. That wraps up this build, which is now up in 'LSM Aircraft Finished Work'. Thanks for coming along for the ride and for your encouraging comments. A final note - this aircraft was intended to be launched from floating pontoons or from ship mounted platforms, intercept Zeppelins then ditch in the English Channel. Then the pilot was supposed to get out of this tiny aircraft, after ditching in the sea, probably at night - brave men indeed, The next model will be a Siemens-Schuckert D.III. Mike

Hi all, The finished 1:32nd scale model of the Port Victoria PV.7 'Grain Kitten'. A prototype 'disposable' fighter, intended to be launched from towed pontoons or ship mounted platforms in the English Channel. The intention was to intercept Zeppelins, that were attacking England, whilst they were still out over the sea. At the end of the flight, the pilot was to ditch in the sea, then somehow get out of this tiny aircraft and probably at night - brave men indeed, Needless to say the PV.7 and it's sister the Port Victoria PV.8 'Eastchurch Kitten' never went into operational service. As usual, a fully detailed build log, in PDF format, will be available to download from my site (Gallery 2) - (site link below). Mike PS: The slack landing wire (left side) has been tightened.

Hi all, The engine and propeller are now finished. As the kit only supplied the two cylinders and induction pipes, I added the two valve push rods (0.3 mm Nickel-Silver tube) an an ignition lead (0.3 mm lead wire) to each cylinder. The propeller was base coated with 'Tamiya' Deck Tan (XF55) then given two coats of 'DecoArt' acrylic oil paint (Burnt Umber). Finally it was airbrushed with 'Alclad Semi-Matte lacquer (ALC-312) mixed with 'Tamiya' Clear Orange (X26). Just the windscreen, pilot figure and display base left now, Mike

Hi all, Rigging complete. Just the windscreen, Lewis machine gun, engine, propeller and spinner to go. Getting there, Mike