Thank you Roden and the Forum - 1/32 SPAD XIII B6732

[KiwiZac]

Hi all,
Well, after the excitement and thrill of winning an example of the Roden 1/32 SPAD XIII c.1 (early) in the recent forum competition came its very quick (thank you Dave and the Australian and NZ postal services) arrival and my own unboxing. Having worked mostly with 1/72 kits in recent times I felt this had to wait a moment as I looked over the sprues. There are several in-box reviews and analyses of this kit on the forum. In terms of detail it's between the other two large-scale WW1 aircraft builds I've had - the Revell 1/28 Fokker Dr.I and (much closer to) the Wingnut Wings 1/32 Sopwith Pup, which I have yet to finish for reasons I forget.

So yesterday I finally got out my Tamiya XF-60 Dark Yellow and based all the wooden interior parts! I also did the first coats of XF-1 Flat Black for Black and XF-16 Flat Aluminium for Roden's generic Steel. Since childhood I've been a believer in painting parts on the sprue where practical and this is no different.
Roden 1/32 SPAD XIII c.1 (early) by Zac Yates, on Flickr

This morning I'm gathering reference photos from the beautifully restored airworthy SPAD XIII of the Memorial Flight in France and I can already see I'll be using some different colours than just those called out by Roden.

I'm leaning toward assembling the engine and leaving it out to display alongside as it doesn't seem like there are any panels which I can leave off and give any decent look at it. While painting engine components I noticed 13D
Roden 1/32 SPAD XIII c.1 (early) by Zac Yates, on Flickr

does not look as advertised in my copy:
Roden 1/32 SPAD XIII c.1 (early) by Zac Yates, on Flickr

If you look closely at the right-hand "arm" it looks bent. That's because I found that piece in the box and superglued it back on. I'll have to improvise the missing centre part. There is also a pipe piece which was almost broken off but I similarly saved that from oblivion.

From the get-go my plan has been to build B6732, the Royal Flying Corps machine, as I learned one of its pilots was New Zealander Lt J D Hewett:

Hewett, James Duff, 1891-1955
World War I pilot. Awarded the French Croix de Guerre with palm in 1918. Established Falcon Airways Ltd, using a De Havilland DH60G Moth, ZK-AAR. In Oct 1931, he made the first powered flight to Great Barrier Island. Pilot for Air Travel (N.Z.) Ltd in 1937. Educated at Wanganui Collegiate School. Apprenticed by Messrs. Holland and Gillett, engineers, of Auckland. Son of Robert Basil and Anna Hewett. Father of James Duff (Peter) Hewett (d 1941). Husband of Lynda Ellen Hewett. Formerly of Auckland, and later of Kilbirnie, Wellington. Died in 1955 aged 64 years

Source: National Library of New Zealand

The key point that swung this for me was that Hewett - who shot down a German two-seater in this machine on February 19 1918 - went to Wanganui Collegiate School, which is in my home-(and current)town. You'd be silly not to, right? SPAD B6732 has some notoriety as one week after Hewett's victory Hauptmann Adolf Ritter von Tutschek of JG II in Fokker Dr.I 404/17 forced it down and pilot 2Lt. David Colquhoun Doyle was captured with a bullet injury to one toe. As a result of this there are several contemporary German photographs of this aircraft online and it has been fodder for profile artists and kitmakers in the century since. There have been drawings with the triangle, A and serial in white, one with all three outlined in red, and a few - including the road taken by Eduard and Roden - with just the serial outlined in red. That seems right because of this photo:

tumblr_pnfkg7lClp1rq1jaa_1280 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

However. As mentioned elsewhere on the forum the decals are less than ideal in several respects and initially I and a friend thought I'd been given a misprinted sheet! Imagine my surprise to see the same register and streaking issues on the other kits posted here. The biggest issue for me is the serial. You can clearly see a very fine outline in the above photo but this is what Roden supplies:
Roden 1/32 SPAD XIII c.1 (early) by Zac Yates, on Flickr

Even if they were in register the outline is too thick. Luckily I have a whole kit to build before this becomes a problem!

[RAGIII]

Great to see another build of this kit started. It looks as though part 13D is either a short shot, or more likely broke during transit. I don't recall any issues with mine. As for the decals, yes they are pretty poor in most respects. You could see if Bob of Bobs' Buckles could help you out with stencils for painting? I am looking forward to your progress!
RAGIII

[KiwiZac]

As for the decals, yes they are pretty poor in most respects. You could see if Bob of Bobs' Buckles could help you out with stencils for painting?

That's a great idea! I've never used paint masks except for canopies so it would be another cool thing to try.

[lcarroll]

Zac,
    I agree with Rick, I'd say the center piece was broken off at some point. I took a quick look at my Review Copy and it's all there.



    I'd bet a message to Roden for a replacement would work although it appears to be an easy scratch built repair as well. If I were a betting man I'd say some rough handling in transit was the problem; as I noted in my review mine arrived in a badly crushed box however appears undamaged. Just as Rick did I noted the same problems with the decals as have you, looks like it's a consistent condition and the only detraction to an otherwise nice looking Kit.
Cheers,
Lance

[lone modeller]

Good start - this is clearly going to be a popular kit and I hope the first of many more in this scale.

Stephen.

[KiwiZac]

Given that it's such a small, simple piece I think I'll scratch it, I don't think I'll have any issues. I expect it was an in-transit issue so I don't hold Roden responsible, and given the madness of the postal system this time of year I won't bother them if there's a chance I can fix it on my own.

Just as Rick did I noted the same problems with the decals as have you, looks like it's a consistent condition and the only detraction to an otherwise nice looking Kit.
Cheers,
Lance

I totally agree - apart from the decals it is a gorgeous kit and I'm excited to get building.

More painting yesterday and I will start graining the various wood parts, and maybe start getting that Hispano-Suiza together...

[Europapete]

Hi Zac, if you enlarge the photo you posted above, the triangle and most likely the A  ( looks like it to my eyes) are indeed outlined. Regards, Pete in RI

[RAGIII]

Hi Zac, if you enlarge the photo you posted above, the triangle and most likely the A  ( looks like it to my eyes) are indeed outlined. Regards, Pete in RI

Pete,
Could be but as I have some really good photos in several books of this aircraft I tend to "respectfully" disagree as to the outlining on the triangle and letter. Really Not Common on 23 squadron aircraft. JMHO,
RAGIII

[KiwiZac]

Hi Zac, if you enlarge the photo you posted above, the triangle and most likely the A  ( looks like it to my eyes) are indeed outlined. Regards, Pete in RI

Pete,
Could be but as I have some really good photos in several books of this aircraft I tend to "respectfully" disagree as to the outlining on the triangle and letter. Really Not Common on 23 squadron aircraft. JMHO,
RAGIII

Zoomed in, I think I can see an outline to the triangle but not the A... here are the three photos I've found, cropped for emphasis (thank you Google Images):
B6732 crop 01 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
B6732 crop 02 by Zac Yates, on Flickr
B6732 crop 03 by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[KiwiZac]

Just to show I've done more on this project than pore over three photos 
Roden 1/32 SPAD XIII c.1 (early) by Zac Yates, on Flickr

After doing the first pass of light woodgrain I noticed that, at least in the Memorial Flight's restored example which I'm using for reference, some of the members in the engine bay are metal rather than wood. So expect to see some of the brown disappear under silver. I've decided I'll build up the engine for separate display and button up the cowlings so the cylinder banks have gone together this morning.

[jeroen_R90S]

Nice!

Regarding the outlines, I found this (clearer) shot of one of your images which IMHO makes outlines on the A and triangle clearer. [edit] it's a different one, as Von Tutschek is now on the opposite side of the fuselage. Guess I didn't have my coffee yet!

There are more shots from where this came from: https://hjmarseille.tumblr.com/page/42 (scroll a bit down, it's a blog kind of site)
Note also that other than the thick outline of the serial number the font is also almost completely wrong
[edit again] I just noticed that the left and right s/n on the real aircraft aren't quite the same, too.  (look at the 6 and 3)
The fuselage stitching RAGIII mentioned earlier in his build is quite visible here, too.

Happy building! I've fondled mine too (got it for 'Sinterklaas') and apart from my decals looking poor as well it looks nice otherwise. I really hope someone will do some decent decals for SPADs...

Jeroen

[RAGIII]

I have spent some time going over the photos in the Data File and The Blue Max Airmen Volume 9. The "Clearest" photos are actually in the Blue Max volume. In all of the photos the outline is quite clear on the serial number. In at least one I am certain that there is No Outline to the triangle or A. The fact that I have to "think" or "imagine" the outline on the A and triangle tells me there is none. The profile on the rear cover of the data file shows both just white. If I were doing this bird I would not outline the triangle or A. That being said sometimes we all see things differently and it is Your Model and Your decision!  Either way it is an interesting scheme.


One interesting fact about this one and a few others operated by 23 squadron is the red leading edge on the rudder as seen on USAS SPADs. Apparently the French delivered them painted this way. On those that were re doped with the blue leading the large S and engine info is not present.

RAGIII

[KiwiZac]

Thanks for the link and info Jeroen (I didn't have those photos!), and thank you Rick for your helpful input.

Different fonts for the serials...another fun part of the puzzle! It could be my brain trying to fill-in but I could swear I see a tiny outline around the A in his photo...

Anyway, as I said all this is a long way from needing to be definitively sorted. Thank goodness! But any input is gratefully accepted.

I'm not sure how much I'll get done today due to the weather as rain tends to come in through my "ventilation" window but we shall see. I did get to do a little engine work yesterday as well before we had a thunderstorm that required battening-down of hatches.
Roden 1/32 SPAD XIII c.1 (early) by Zac Yates, on Flickr

[RAGIII]

Good Start on the engine Zac. I found that My abilities caused me to end up with the cylinder banks not quite lined up properly. When I build another I plan to use the supports to get things aligned. Ken, on the other hand didn't have an issue 
RAGIII

[kensar]

I found the oversized bases of the cylinders made getting alignment impossible.  The cylinder banks would not seat onto the crankcase properly, hence the re-making of the cylinder bases on mine.