forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com

WW1 Aircraft Modeling => Completed models => Topic started by: DaddyO on July 15, 2024, 06:06:13 AM

Title: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 15, 2024, 06:06:13 AM
Evening all
Just about managed to complete this one before the Romsey show earlier today and thought I'd add a couple of quick pictures now I'm back home. It's the Eduard 'early' SPAD XIII (with the rounded wingtips) and the camouflage is copied from photo's in an article about Georges Madons career that appeared in Cross and Cockade a few years ago. Pretty out of the box apart from a couple of Gaspatch guns and struts/aileron actuators from filed and soldered brass wire (which was fun) ;)

I plonked it on a base from another model for the final pic so the RFC pilot isn't correct but lends a sense of scale (I'm just varnishing up a wooden base for the Spad but wanted to show it on a base)

Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 15, 2024, 06:09:53 AM
Pic of the painted instrument panel
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 15, 2024, 06:11:21 AM
Struts
These are created by first sanding brass wire to an aerofoil section , then shaping and soldering before painting.
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 15, 2024, 06:12:24 AM
Pic of model on a base with a pilot
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 15, 2024, 06:17:12 AM
Final one to give a nice sense of scale  ;D

Rigging done with my usual monofilament and it was a tricky job with this one what with the doubled flying wires and the cross pieces in the middle pair of supports but I managed it without too much swearing  ;)

Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: RAGIII on July 15, 2024, 10:59:16 AM
Another outstanding build from your talented Hands!
RAGIII
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: Flamingo on July 15, 2024, 03:50:02 PM
Very nice!
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 15, 2024, 04:39:02 PM
Another outstanding build from your talented Hands!
RAGIII
;D
Thanks RAGIII (I can see what you did there)  ;)

Very nice!

Cheers Flamingo  :D
Most complicated rigging job so far with the extra rigging on the support struts and the double flying wires, but I managed to avoid crossing any which was pleasing. Top tip that I was given recently for those that prefer to use mono for rigging is to colour the end with a black Sharpie - makes it so much easier when you are trying to feed it through the hole  8)

Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: macsporran on July 15, 2024, 05:20:50 PM
Cracking model, Paul. Great colour scheme too.
Rigging SPADs always terrifies me and doing so in 1/72 is way outside my comfort zone. Congratulations.
Sandy
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: NigelR on July 15, 2024, 06:38:16 PM
Lovely work on this Paul. But you definitely need a better camera, it looks far better in the flesh than in your photos! I saw this yesterday at the IPMS Romsey show and it is a little jewel.
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 15, 2024, 06:45:57 PM
Cracking model, Paul. Great colour scheme too.
Rigging SPADs always terrifies me and doing so in 1/72 is way outside my comfort zone. Congratulations.
Sandy

Cheers Sandy - certainly a rigging challenge, but given I picked up a Choroszy Fdh G.III yesterday it didn't put me off completely  ;)

Lovely work on this Paul. But you definitely need a better camera, it looks far better in the flesh than in your photos! I saw this yesterday at the IPMS Romsey show and it is a little jewel.

Thanks Nigel. Good to catch up yesterday as well - loved getting a closer look at the Strutter diorama you've finished recently  8)
Yep photo's aren't great (okay they're pretty terrible in truth - definitely need a new camera)  ;D

Paul

Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: Brad Cancian on July 15, 2024, 07:01:15 PM
A lovely job and a great selection of colour scheme, well done!

Cheers,

BC
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaveB on July 16, 2024, 01:13:15 AM
Your Spad XIII is lovely, Paul -

Good choice of colour/marking scheme, too.

Regards

Dave
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 16, 2024, 01:43:42 AM
A lovely job and a great selection of colour scheme, well done!

Cheers,

BC

Cheers Brad  ;D

Your Spad XIII is lovely, Paul -

Good choice of colour/marking scheme, too.

Regards

Dave

Thanks Dave.  ;D
(I was happier with the colours used for the 'French 5 colour' scheme this time)
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: PrzemoL on July 16, 2024, 06:50:02 AM
Very nice!
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: herbarnold99 on July 16, 2024, 07:03:02 AM
Really nice. SPADs are challenging between the wings, but you did the job!
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 16, 2024, 07:13:04 AM
Thank you gents  ;D
Reckon having done one I would find the next one easier; possibly a linen coloured VII to keep it company

Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: Rip Van Winkle on July 16, 2024, 11:07:21 AM
 That is really nice.  The rigging on the SPAD can be a challenge.
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: Dutch522 on July 16, 2024, 11:36:49 AM
Paul - what a jewel! I'd love to do this scheme one of these days.

Dutch
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 16, 2024, 05:22:04 PM
That is really nice.  The rigging on the SPAD can be a challenge.

Rigging is a bit trickier than a Nieuport  RvW  ;) Sorting the cross wires on the cabanes was a bit of a pain, but the rest is okay if you take your time and the model is in a jig of some kind.

Paul - what a jewel! I'd love to do this scheme one of these days.

Dutch


I was tempted by the version with the red fuselage and white cowl, but think that may have used the wing pockets or later wing shape. I'd got a couple of good photo references for this one showing the wing camouflage which I always like to have.

Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: enathan on July 16, 2024, 07:38:23 PM
A good looking SPAD Paul, well done!
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: djuggie on July 17, 2024, 09:07:54 AM
Paul,

A very nice addition to your collection.  Your workmanship is to be commended.

Dennis
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 17, 2024, 06:01:45 PM
A good looking SPAD Paul, well done!

Cheers enathan  ;D

Paul,

A very nice addition to your collection.  Your workmanship is to be commended.

Thanks Dennis  ;D

Dennis
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: NMLeonov on July 18, 2024, 05:14:09 AM
Beautifully built! That is a good kit, though I had a little trouble with the dashboard piece not fitting on mine.
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 18, 2024, 05:18:21 AM
Beautifully built! That is a good kit, though I had a little trouble with the dashboard piece not fitting on mine.

Cheers  ;D

Yep I needed to clean off the paint and give it a bit of scrape to make sure; took a couple of dry runs till I was happy with it

Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: Rick_H on July 18, 2024, 05:52:24 AM
Lovely work!

I really like the shade of red that you used - not too garish.  What brand and shade was it?

Thanks,
Rick in Seattle
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 18, 2024, 06:27:17 AM
Lovely work!

I really like the shade of red that you used - not too garish.  What brand and shade was it?

Thanks,
Rick in Seattle

Hi Rick thanks for that.

The red is a Scalecolor artists tube acrylic. Although primarily aimed at figure painters (which is where I came across them) they are beautiful smooth matt acrylics that spray really well. I've used a few on my models (The underside colour and the light 'fawn' of the camouflage are also Scalecolor paints)
I mix with distilled water and if it's hot I add a couple of drops of Vallejo flow improver to the cup. They seem unfussy and you can spray with high pressure thickly or build up the layers with thin paint. (I normally aim for around 15 -18 psi and use an old Paache single action airbrush that I was given free - so not a particularly complicated set up  ;D)
Give them, a try
Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: WD on July 23, 2024, 06:08:13 AM
Paul,
       A lovely build! One of my favorite subjects too!

A couple of questions:

- Did the GasPatch MG's fit into the Eduard slots ok, or did they need some adjusting?

- Did you not like the kit's struts?

Warren
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 23, 2024, 06:23:20 AM
Paul,
       A lovely build! One of my favorite subjects too!

A couple of questions:

- Did the GasPatch MG's fit into the Eduard slots ok, or did they need some adjusting?

- Did you not like the kit's struts?

Warren

Hi Warren glad you like it  ;D

Nope there was quite a lot of fiddling, filing and scraping to get them in place (I had to carve the slots in the cowl wider and shave the bottom of the guns to bring them into line) Probably not worth it in terms of effort  :-\

I always make my struts from filed brass wire or soldered wire and brass strip because I think they look closer to scale than moulded plastic and they are much stronger. You can sand and reshape the plastic, but I've found that by the time I'm happy with the thickness and appearance they are too delicate for me to use. The kit struts are pretty good to be fair apart from the moulded on bands which definitely need removing IMO.

Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: WD on July 25, 2024, 02:25:38 AM
Thanks Paul!  I figured as much regarding the Gas Patch MG's, they do look so great though.

Yes, that is a problem with plastic struts in our scale! I may have to ponder doing this for my Eduard Spads. Hmmmmmm

Warren
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: WD on July 25, 2024, 02:28:12 AM
Pic of model on a base with a pilot

Paul,
        How did you deal with the flying and landing wires and the "H" struts in the middle?

Warren
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on July 25, 2024, 02:58:30 AM
Hi Warren
Inner 'H' struts were made the same as the outers using soldered brass; I used a slightly narrower upright (a bit more filing to make them appear slimmer) and soldered a piece of 0.4mm brass wire as the cross piece which was 'fun' :P although once done and excess solder cleaned off it's surprisingly strong.

Flying wires are just my usual fishing line (1lb) with two holes drilled in the wing surfaces close together.
I did the crossed lines on the inner struts first and made sure they were secure and then did the main flying and landing lines by feeding the inner one inside the H strut and the outer one outside the H strut. Definitely a fiddly job that needed an optivisor :o

Hope that helps
Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: WD on July 25, 2024, 09:22:21 AM
Hope that helps
Paul

Yes it does, thank you very much.

Warren
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: ScottJ on August 01, 2024, 12:13:02 PM
Great looking SPAD... really enjoyed the subject you chose.  Red can be a tricky color to get it so it looks "right", especially in 1/72.  Yours looks excellent.  Always enjoy seeing what you will put up next... whether it's getting ready to fly the dawn patrol or walking around kicking the tires, you put out an excellent product.
Take care
Scott
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on August 01, 2024, 05:51:55 PM
Many thanks Scott.  ;D

(Next up after the Pfalz is likely to be a twin bay aircraft since I've not done one before - so many beautiful early war designs or perhaps something big and 'brutal' looking such as an AK8 or Salmson)  ;)

Paul
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: lone modeller on August 14, 2024, 04:44:48 AM
Got to agree with all that has been written. Those extras are truly tiny so you have done really well to incorporate them in the model. Super model in the Correct Scale.

Stephen.
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on August 14, 2024, 05:10:42 AM
Got to agree with all that has been written. Those extras are truly tiny so you have done really well to incorporate them in the model. Super model in the Correct Scale.

Stephen.

Cheers Stephen.  ;D
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: Pep111 on August 18, 2024, 08:25:19 AM
That is A great looking Spad!
I could never imagine myself attempting something that small.
Well done Sir
Title: Re: 1/72 Spad XIII Madon
Post by: DaddyO on August 18, 2024, 05:04:04 PM
 ;D
Thanks Pep111 - Bit of a fiddle so I built up some experience on simpler builds first, but since I had a bunch on the shelf I decided to have a go and see what happened.

In truth I made it difficult for myself by making the struts from brass and swapping out the guns. They are a really nice kit and go together well if you take care when fitting the cockpit details (they might need a scrape/sand to ensure the fuselage top fits well) A small jig helped putting the top wing on for me, but plenty of folks could manage without

Do have a go at one. The early versions are easier to paint and the decals adding splashes of colour  :)

Paul