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Kit: XtraVac (1:72)
The kit is a 1/72 XtraVac vacuform representing "The Count Keller Air Detachment" of the Western Army (White)operating in the Riga, Latvia theatre c. 1919. Scratched: interior, engine exhaust pipe, gun ring/gun mount, struts, undercarriage, portside bombrack, fin/rudder and Russian Orthodox Cross decals. Lewis gun was modified from the Roden Nieuport 11 kit. Grenade-bombs are white-metal from the Pegasus Halberstadt Cl.II kit. Wheels, Spandau gun and radiator are resin supplied with kit. Decals: Wood-grain finish by Tauro, 4 color lozenge (upper/lower) by Eagle Strike and Imperial Russian roundels came from the Red Star Anatra kit. Rigging is nylon thread. Paints are by Humbrol.
Reference: Aircraft of the Russian Civil War 1917-1921
This is a Sopwith Camel in the service of the Georgian Airforce c.1920 operating in the Crimea Theater of Operations. This is a 1/72 Revell kit that has seen better days. Molding on this kit had a lot of deficiencies such as misalignment of the fuselage halves and top and lower half of each wing. After that I filled in the wing troughs for the interplane struts with putty and separated the kit trapezoidal struts into indivdual proper scaled lengths. I bored out the molded engine in cowling and then modified the cowl for a 110hp LeRhone (Aeroclub). Interior is a combination of scratch and Airwaves Sopwith Camel photo-etch kit. The Airwaves PE interior doesn't really fit, but I was successful in forcing it to. Undercarriage, tailskid, Cooper bomb rack and vertical stabilizer/rudder are scratch built. Wheels are Roseparts, propellor and Cooper bombs are Aeroclub, decals are BlueRider, woodgrain finish is Tauro, paints utilized are Humbrol and nylon thread used for rigging. I want to thank Steven Perry for sending some addition info on this plane in the service of the Georgian Airforce.
I want to apologize for the blurry shots I took. I borrowed a friends digital camera and I am not a good photographer. I will take (or have a friend take) better shots later.
Kit: Roseplane (1:72)
The kit is a 1/72 ROSEPLANE resin representing the plane piloted by Yu. A. Bratolyubov at Khodynka, Moscow c. 1918. Scratched: interior, undercarriage, upper and lower "king"posts, gun-stow support and tail skid. Decals: Roundels and "devilish" figure are computer generated onto decal film, Lettering on cowl are Microscale Railroad Letters and Numbers decal sheet RH 69, Fuselage rib tapes are by AeroMaster. Madsen machine gun, detailed with FOTOCUT, taken from the ICM 'Ilya Muromets' kit. Wheels and photo-etch spokes taken from the EDUARD 1/72 Fokker Eindecker E.III kit. Engine provided by the kit detailed with brass rod and TOM's MODELWORKS photo-etch (French Set) which was also used to for the rest of the photo-etch detailing of the model. Propellor is by Martin Digmayer. Paints are by Humbrol. Rigging used is smoke colored nylon thread.
Notes on the model: The only photograph that I know of this particular plane shows it "nose" down in the snow from a crash. The Imperial Russian Air Service Roundels on the top wing appear to be 'whited' out, which was common practice when a former IRAS aircraft was commandeered by the infant Red Air Fleet (Bolshevik). I have taken some artistic license with conjecture on my finished model. As I said the top roundels of this aircraft appear to be 'whited' out, but I took it a step further with the lower roundels on the underneath wing. I had decided to place the "Red Star" over the 'whited' out underneath roundels. The "cyrillic" lettering on the cowl is RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) has been photographed on some Morane-Saulnier's during the Bolshevik revolution, but there is no way to tell this aircraft had those letters inscribed on it's cowl.
References: AIRCRAFT OF THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR 1917-1921, RED STARS 3, and WINDSOCK Vol.10, No.4, July/August 1994
Acknowledgements: I want to thank Andy Roberts for computer generating my unique decals and to John Roach for photographing my models.
The kit is a Revell 1/72 Nieuport 17c. Converting it into a Nieuport 23 is not difficult at all. The most noticeable difference is the offset positioning of the Vickers gun. The kit as a whole has been modified for accuracy. I sanded down the wings, tail planes and fuselage using a light grade sandpaper to remove the coarse linen look.
Removed all access doors and exhausts and replaced with photo-etch doors and styrene rod for exhausts. Cowling was drilled out removing molded engine, added exhaust ports, thinned thickness of cowl and reduced diameter cowling opening. Engine and gun are by Aeroclub. Interior was scratch built utilizing Tom's Modelworks photo-etch. Rudder and under carriage are scratch. Wheels are Roseparts. Propellor is by Martin Digmayer. Paints used are Humbrol. Decals are by Blue Rider. Nylon thread used fro rigging.
References are Windsock's Nieuport Fighters Datafile Specials, Alberto Casirati's Nieuport 17 build article in FSM and Pedro Soares. Nieuport 17 build info in the gallery.
The subject airplane is of the Red Navy operating in the North Dvina theater ca. 1919.
Kit: Airframe (1:72)
You are probably asking yourself why is this model entry is being placed in the "RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR" category and not in the "BRITISH MODELS" category. The kit is an AIRFRAME 1/72 vacuform representing a Robey built SHORT 184, serial number N9290, that served onboard the HMS PEGASUS that operated in the Archangel region during the Allied Intervention into North Russia from 1919 to 1920.
The model is about 85% scratch-built. The items that are not scratch are: the fuselage halves, upper half portions of the top and bottom wings and portions of the main floats. What was scratch-built: the entire engine, radiator, aircraft interior, all struts, tail and wing floats, gun ring, bomb rack, engine cowl, horizontal stabilizer/elevator and vertical stabilizer/rudder. I discarded the all lower halves of the wings that was provided by the kit due over thickness of the wings. I used EVERGREEN .010" styrene sheet for the lower portion of the wings to get the proper scale. I used drafting tape on the wings by painting over the drafting tape, then removing the tape and then painting over the removed tape to get the rib detail effect. PHOTO-ETCH used were a "mixed-bag" of FOTOCUT and TOM's MODEL WORKS. PAINT was HUMBROL. To get the PC12 effect I used HUMBROL 170 (Brown Bess) as the initial base coat. Then I applied heavy streaking, washing and filtering of HUMBROL 98 (Chocolate). Finally I washed and filtered the overall painted finish with HUMBROL 160 (German Camoflage Red Brown) subtle on some areas and not so subtle on other areas of the model. Under wing surface was painted with HUMBROL 103 (Cream). Rudder and Fin Flash were painted with HUMBROL 109 (WW1 Blue), 34 (White) and 73 (British Crimson/Wine). The propeller is a wooden prop by Martin Digmayer. 112 lb bombs and Lewis gun are from spares other kits. Decals: Main/Tail Floats are wood grain decal by TAURO, Roundels are AMERICAL/GRYPHON and stencils are from AEROCLUB. Rigging: smoke colored nylon thread was used.
Kit: Flashback (1:72)
The kit is the FLASHBACK 1/72 scale injected mold representing the 1st or 2nd Air Detachment, People's Revolutionary Army of the Far Eastern Republic circa 1920. Where in the "HECK" is the Far Eastern Republic you ask? It is east of Siberia to Vladivostok bordering north of Mongolia and Manchuria.
A little short history lesson: During the time frame that my model is depicted in. The Far Eastern Republic came under Bolshevik (RED) rule after the October 1917 Revolution. Shortly there after in June 1918 Bolshevik control ended and the Far Eastern Republic came under the Provisional All-Russian Government (WHITE). By January 1920, following the fall of the Provisional All-Russian Government, Partisans seized power in the Far East. In order to avoid a clash with Japan (Part of the Allied Intervention Forces. The Japanese still had significant strength in the region), the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) government did not immediately occupy and annex the area. Instead they created three non-Bolshevik leftist administrations (PINK) to serve as a buffer zone and to facilitate negotiations. After the Japanese forces have left the area in October of 1922 the RSFSR annexed the Far Eastern Republic into what was later be part of the Soviet Union.
The origins of the modeled Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter. My belief is the aircraft that I have modeled after started with the Allied Intervention into Russia, specifically the French Military Aviation Mission in Siberia. The French were there flying missions operationally for only a few months and then turned over their aircraft (including several French built Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters) to the WHITES under Admiral Kolchak. September 1919 when the WHITES received this particular Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter they retained the French roundels only adding a Russian Imperial pennant painted on both sides of the fuselage. By late 1919 the WHITES were on the run and were constantly being pushed eastward by the REDS. Many airplanes of the WHITES were either captured or obtained by the REDS through WHITE pilots defecting over to the REDS.
My contention for the overall finish of my model is to depict the markings of the Far Eastern Republic by showing that they just painted over the French roundels and any other markings were hastily painted over to obliterate the Allied or WHITE previous ownership. DECALS: "mixed bag" of French roundels from the kit, Imperial Russian Pennants by BLUE RIDER and Far Eastern Republic rhomboids are computer generated. The RAM generator, arch of the under shield behind cowling was grooved and detailed, multiple cowling vent ports, pitot, intake ports, tailskid and its steering system were built from scratch and utilizing photo-etch. Spoked wheel is spare vacuform halves utilizing PART PHOTO-ETCH. PHOTO-ETCH: "mixed bag" of 1/72 FOTOCUT, TOM'S MODELWORKS 1/72 BRITISH, PART PHOTO-ETCH (Sopwith Snipe) and kit PHOTO-ETCH. Hotchkiss machine gun is by AEROCLUB. PAINT: HUMBROL 108 (WW1 Green){a Heretic favorite} overall upper base coat; HUMBROL 159 (Khaki Drab) overall upper wash and dry brush on base coat; HUMBROL 74 (CDL)underside and rudder, HUMBROL 170, 160, 70 (various Brown colors) used as a wash and filter to give the model a tired, worn and dirty look; HUMBROL 56 (Aluminum) cowling and spoked wheel; HUMBROL 49 (Matt Clear) overall finish. RIGGING: Smoked colored nylon thread.
WINDSOCK Datafile #34 SOPWITH 1 1/2 STRUTTER; BLUE RIDER INSIGNIA Magazine, Issue 17, page 34; AIRCRAFT OF THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR 1917-1921; FRENCH AIRCRAFT OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR, Flying Machine Press, pages 465-473; GATCHINA DAYS (Reminiscences of a Russian Pilot) by Alexander Riaboff.
I want to thank John Roach for photographing my model; Andy Roberts for the computer generated decals; Matt Bittner, Michael Kendix and Chris Banyai-Riepl for their INTERNET MODELER build articles on the "STRUTTER"; to Sanjeev Hirve, who inspired me by his build of his White Guard Aviation Unit (Wrangel's Volunteer Army) R.E.8; and to August Blume (WARCHRON Website) for his knowledge and advice.