Evening All,
"Taube" means pigeon or dove in German and the name is derived from the shape of the wings, although the original inspiration for this planform came from the leaf of the Zanonia palm. Igo Etrich was an Austrian who, through a series of designs in the first decade of the 20th century, eventually built an aeroplane that became the forerunner of the later Taube models. Although Etrich produced a number of prototypes, it was the two seat design which was produced in significant numbers, although every machine was different as each one was hand-built, and each was an attempt to improve on its predecessor. Later other companies in Germany produced similar aircraft, also called Tauben, but many of these were of simpler construction and had the underwing spar and spar extensions deleted and a markedly reduced amount of rigging, all of which reduced drag and increased speed.
I have built a number of conversions, particularly pusher types, and a scratch build, recently, and I wanted to try a kit for a change so I thought that a tractor monoplane would be a good idea. I have a vacuform of the Etrich Taube which was released in the 1970's but I am not a fan of vacuforms so I bought a Pegasus injection moulded kit instead. A notice on the box says that this kit is not a toy and is only recommended for experienced modellers and collectors: I have been warned.
The kit consists of plastic parts with some white metal parts for the fuselage bulkheads, control column, fuselage pylons and undercarriage legs and what passes for an engine. The spar extensions and struts, axle and exhaust pipes have to be cut from plastic rod and strut material which is provided. Instruction number one states remove all parts from the trees and clean them up. The plastic in this kit is fairly soft so this procedure needs care but is straightforward with a sharp knife. The parts are well moulded for a limited run kit, and except for the engine the white metal parts seem to be quite good too. The engine is a bit crude but as it is mostly concealed I will probably use it as is. The idea of building another engine from scratch just does not appeal to me at the moment. There is a problem with the wings and tail surfaces however as they are much too thick, especially the trailing edges, but as I am not prepared to spend an evening sanding them down I will reduce the thickness of the trailing edges and leave the rest, as much for strength as any other reason.
This is the kit from the box after I had removed the parts from the trees and done a little cleaning up. The long stringy bits are the rod and Contrail strut material mentioned above, and the white metal parts are bottom left.
The next step is to start painting the fuselage interior and start assembling it. More later.
Thanks for looking.
