Not a productice year for me but finally something rolled off the production line. The SE5a has been a bland plane for me, but learning, in the Memorial build, that the SE5 was a favourite of Dave s I decided to have a second look. I had two Roden kits in my box, which I mainly bought because a Great War collection without its best(?) scout would be lacking, and decided to have a go. I have to say I have changed my opinion. It has a sleek, no-nonsense appearance with several interesting design choices. At a first glance it is difficult to imagine that this comes from the same office as the slow, overly stable but ungainly-looking BE2 and RE8, but a closer look does show the inheritance in several details.
I built two in parallel, one with a Viper and one with a Hispano-Suiza engine. Trying to find two airframes to demonstrate as many different variations as possible, I settled on the following:
Viper: E4071 of ballon-busting ace Sydney Highwood, No 84 Squadron, autumn 1918.
Reinforced wooden undercarriage, 2-blade propeller, no headrest
Hisso: McCudden?s B4863, No 56 Squadron, late 1917.
Spindly legs, built-up cockpit, shortened exhaust pipes, early roundel inboard location, etc
I know 84 squadron painted the undercarriage PC10, but I?m waiting with that until I see a photo of Highwood?s machine with painted legs? (red: I painted it before I selected airframe and need an excuse not to repaint)
I experimented with the colours. McCudden?s machine looks brownish enough to live eyes when standing alone, but is decidedly green when placed next to Highwood?s chocolate machine.
