Hannover Cl.II - Decal Set 32042 due mid- February

[rhallinger]

Hey Lance, that Albie looks sweet!  I must have missed it earlier.  Can you please throw up the links to save me some time finding it, so I can admire your handiwork further?  Thanks. [Sorry for the link hijack Rowan].  If that one's not already posted, well, you know what needs to be done!

Regards,

Bob

[lcarroll]

Hey Lance, that Albie looks sweet!  I must have missed it earlier.  Can you please throw up the links to save me some time finding it, so I can admire your handiwork further?  Thanks. [Sorry for the link hijack Rowan].  If that one's not already posted, well, you know what needs to be done!  
Regards,

Bob

Bob,
    Build Log is at "Under Construction" Page 3 and titled the same as the "Completed Models" Thread Page 4 "WNW Albatros DV - Jasta 15 - Kurt Monnington"
Cheers,
Lance

[rowan broadbent]

Oi you lot, get orf moi thread  !

I have posted the revised profiles in the OP at the head of this thread. Have removed the white arrow one as, on re-examining the photo (thanks again, Richard!) it was clearly a CLIIIa.... Also gone is the captured one in before and after markings - that will re-appear on volume two of "Captured!" I expect. The replacements are the bird/dragonfly one (op 8 p.2), "Nelly"01 op 9 P3 and - just for Przemol - the Polish no 218, op 12 P3.

I now finally have my Hannover kit - and what a beauty it is!- so now the final fitting and fettling of the decals themselves can be done. The artwork should be away to the printers in a couple of days so I would expect the decals to be ready by mid February.

Pre-orders being taken now Price will be £15.50 plus P&P. For pre-orders placed before the end of January 2013 the price will be £13.50


I note the plea for lozenge decals. I can't give any specifics yet but something is coming.......

[PrzemoL]

I have posted the revised profiles in the OP at the head of this thread. Have removed the white arrow one as, on re-examining the photo (thanks again, Richard!) it was clearly a CLIIIa.... Also gone is the captured one in before and after markings - that will re-appear on volume two of "Captured!" I expect. The replacements are the bird/dragonfly one (op 8 p.2), "Nelly"01 op 9 P3 and - just for Przemol - the Polish no 218, op 12 P3.

Rowan, I am delighted and personally very grateful you have taken my plea into account. It is my great pleasure to see that Polish scheme a/c from 1919 serving for recco missions during the Polish uprising against Germans which brought freedom to my homeland! I will gladly build my Hannover with those decals! I have just sent you a pre-order email.

[rhallinger]

Hi Przemo.  Since Rowan has included the Polish Hannover on the sheet, I'd really like to hear more about the history and operational use of this particular aircraft.  How did the Polish Air Service obtain the aircraft, how was it used, and who were the fliers who used it?  What do you know about the camoflage and colors?  Can you give us a little background, either here or in another part of the Forum?  Thanks!

Sorry for another apparent partial thread hijack Rowan, but look at the upside: maybe you'll get some more information for the very thorough information booklet you always include with your sheets!

Regards,

Bob

[PrzemoL]

It is my pleasure to provide the following information I have found recently:

Hannover Cl.II 218/18 was bought in 1919 from Germany (funny, there were some serious fighting between Poles and Germans in that time and this very a/c was later used against the seller!) as 667/18 (built by Roland) and arrived at Lawica aerodrome (now Poznan International Airport) on 30.04.1919. It was overhauled, repainted and serialled 218/18 before 05.05.1919. The colours were presumably green and brown, undersides most likely left in original Roland light blue. Used for recce mission over Pila (Schneidemuehl) on 12.05.1919 and damaged during the landing - flown by Lt. Jerzy Dziembowski and Serg. Zdzislaw Bilazewski. Repaired and later used in Pilot School at Lawica between 11.09.1919 and 01.11.1919. On 01.11 disassembled and sent to the eastern front - to Lwow (now Lviv, Ukraine) destined for 5. Sqn. However, after the assembly on 06.12.1919 found to be in too bad condition to be used in front service. Still, on 18.02.1920 sent to 9. Sqn but again found unfit for front service, sent to Warsaw to Central Aircraft Depot on 02.06.1920. Then moved to Central Aircraft Workshop (CWL) on 18.06.1920, where it was probably cancelled.
Sources:
M. Kabatek, R. Kulczynski, Aviation History of Pila Region (Lotnicza Historia Ziemi Pilskiej 1910 -1945), Stratus, Sandomierz, 2011.
T. Kopanski, Aircraft Hannover CL.II in Poland (Samoloty Hannover Cl.II w Polsce), in: Military Aviation (Lotnictwo Wojskowe), vol.1, 1998.

[rowan broadbent]

Przemo,

Many, many thanks for posting that history!- I hope that you will allow me to use it (quoting the source, of course) in the booklet. I would have had no chance of getting that sort of detail from my published sources. We really need something comprehensive in print for us English speakers about this most interesting and important period of Polish aeronautical history - if there is anything out there that I've overlooked, please let me know!!

I still only have the single photo of this machine in the Datafile and I've done the best I can with the serial number; do you have any better photos which you could send me? I've also shown the observer as having a Lewis rather than a Parabellum m/g, as I believe that that was standard issue for the Polish Air Arm at that time. Do you have any information on that?

By the way, the Polish wing insignia are tailored to fit the WNW plastic parts exactly at full chord - seoarate decals for tyhe wing and aileron (with double printing of the white areas, so no need for paint). I have also shown them as not handed, that is with the red square in the top left and bottom right positions on both right and left sides; can you confirm that this is correct?

Thanks again,

Rowan

[PrzemoL]

Rowan, that was exactly my idea that you would use this story in the decal booklet. You are welcome to do so!

It is great news to hear that Polish checkboards will be included in the sheet. But, please note their position, they extended to the wing zones were these were tapered, so the boards are not simple rectangles.
And as for the layout of red and white fields - it was an early period of Polish aviation and no standards were yet established. From the photos of Cl.II 218 it can be seen that the boards on the right side of the fuselage and fin had red field at top left. I do not know any photo showing the left side, so one has to guess - any way is likely probable. The top wing had a not-handed version, again with red in the top left (when seen in the flight direction). The second photo I found in the above mentioned book and article shows, that if looked in the flight direction from the bottom of the wings the boards were also not-handed with white fields at the top left. In other words considering both wings, red fields on the top were exactly over the red fields on the bottom, and the same about the white ones - top ones exactly over the bottom ones. Unfortunately this second photo does not reveal anything new concerning the layout of two-colour camo.

The armament question is rather easy to answer, most likely there were no guns fitted to 218, at least during that recce mission on May 12th (btw, I have read more and found that the crew also took leaflets with a text encouraging Poles to fight agains Germans, to be dropped over Pila).

I will send you the photo to your email.

Once again, many thanks, Rowan,, for bringing this machine in Polish colours to the wide public in your decal set!

[rhallinger]

Thanks for the additional information Przemo.  I recently pre-ordered this sheet, and I really like the Polish markings and may build that version.  

Your additional information on leaflet distribution raises an interesting detail modeling subject for the Polish Hannover in 1/32 scale: a few bundles of leaflets sitting on the observer's seat! 

Regards,

Bob

[Whiteknuckles]

You guys are spoilt!!
Outstanding service Rowan and your collegiate approach is to be commended!
One day, when my modelling skills improve, I'll be getting some of your products that's for sure.

Andrew

[bobs_buckles]

I have showed Richard Alexander the HGW and Wood & Wire sets at our last IPMS club meeting and he had a good hard look. Didn't say much, but Richard never talks 'shop' anyway. WNW do practice 'continuous improvement' and read all our posts on forums.

Amen!

I think we all forget that WNW's is only 4 years old and like the rest of us, improving with age. Give the guys more time and you will be rewarded.
Rome wasn't dismantled in a day and all that.

Keep doing what you do best, WNW. You have my thanks and support. 

Cheers,
Von UK-Nut-Fanboy 

[mgunns]

Hello Rowan:

Will you be providing Lozeng decals for the fuselages?  If not will you be providing patterns for the modeler to paint them on? 

Thanks

Mark

[gcn]

Mark are you secretly hoping he's not so we all have to go through the same pain you did. 

[uncletony]

Mark are you secretly hoping he's not so we all have to go through the same pain you did. 

lol

[mgunns]

Share the pain guys!  As we say in the Marine Corps: "Pain is weakness leaving the body, or is it the mind leaving the body?"  I can't remember.

It would be nice to get it right and Rowan is the man to do it. 

L8R

Mark