1:32 scale - Siemens-Schuckert D.III

[sandbagger]

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

Edited May 26, 2020 by sandbagger
updated details for build

[Lothar]

I'm quite excited to see the magic you do with this kit - it'll be pure enjoyment to follow this build thread. BTW, excellent choice of aircraft.

Lothar

[DocRob]

1 hour ago, sandbagger said:

One day I will build something 'OOB',

Quote of the day . Nice choice with the Siemens Schuckert. As usual, I will follow with great interest, I have two Eduard 1/48 boxings in stash, beside some resin goodies and Aviattic Lozenge.

Cheers Rob

[Umlaufmotor]

Nice project, and a very nice model.
In my eyes much nicer than the successor, the D.IV.
But it takes a lot of work, patience and dedication to create a piece of jewelry out of it.
As far as I can judge from your previous models, you will create a really outstanding model.
Also the ingredients you use (the after market parts) are very promising.

 

Servus

Bertl

[HubertB]

Another cool project I’m looking forward to.

IIRC, there is a surviving exemple in the Krakow Air Museum.

Hubert

[sandbagger]

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  

 

[HubertB]

2 hours ago, sandbagger said:

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  

 

Thanks for the feedback. I remembered peeking quickly in the Deutsches Luftfahrt Museum hall during my (short - my ex-wife was not fond of aerospace museums, or modelling for that matter) visit there and recognising the unmistakable cowling shape of D.IV. I obviously completely missed the large wingspan wings, though  

Hubert

[sandbagger]

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

  

[sandbagger]

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 

[sandbagger]

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

[sandbagger]

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

[sandbagger]

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

[harv]

Really clean work !....harv 

[sandbagger]

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

[sandbagger]

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  

[Jeff]

On 6/1/2020 at 11:18 AM, harv said:

Really clean work !....harv 

Like a surgeon.....................

[sandbagger]

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
 

[sandbagger]

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

 

[sandbagger]

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

[harv]

Wow ! Nice work......harv 

[sandbagger]

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

[Bomber_County]

Mike, seeing your last three builds, I think it’s about time I retire from this hobby........sublime modelling Mike..........

[DocRob]

I'm watching with rising interest, first, because of your fantastic skills and research and second because yesterday I started two tiny Eduard SSW's in 1/48 scale to get used to Lozenge decals and wood painting and third, because I like the design of the stubby SSW, which could be seen as the P-47 of WWI.

Cheers Rob

[sandbagger]

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

[harv]

Damn , this gets better all the time !.....harv