Aces Mounts 2025 GB - 1/72 Eduard SPAD X.III Early

[Brad Cancian]

Thanks for the suggestions folks - have signed up to Flickr - can you confirm that the photos can be viewed?





Certainly is a bit of mucking about to get these to show in comparison to imgur... lots of cutting and pasting URLs... these also seem to be appearing as a smaller size as the original images. Any tips on how to embed these so that they are the proper size..?

Cheers!

BC

[NigelR]

Ooh look, a Spad!  Thanks for switching to Flickr. This is a great start, it's a lovely little kit (I built it back in the day) and I really like your interior.

I don't know how you embed the full image, if you look at the generated BB code Flickr seems to choose the sizing, you might be able to edit that but it's beyond me. I just make all my photos 1200 pixels wide and Flickr seems to embed a nice sized image.

Your photos are all fine as they are IMO, they are a good size on my PC screen.

[DaddyO]

Yay I can see a lovely SPAD taking shape
(Thanks for switching Brad; thought I was going to miss out on this one)

Size looks fine to me too
Paul

[Allan31]

Coming along nicely Brad.

[IanB]

Nothing less than what I have come to expect from you, Brad! Regarding image size on Flickr, when you click on BBC Code, it will give you options for picture size.
I use medium.

Ian

[Brad Cancian]

Thanks all - glad to see the pictures are working!

For some reason I find the 'priming' stage a milestone; I think it's because it's when the model starts to 'come together' and the blank canvas reveals itself. If you'll indulge me on this little milestone, she is now primed and ready for paint.





I did have to fill in the 'channels' on the forward fuselage for the forward angled "V" cabane struts which were present on the later models of the SPAD XII, but not the earlier model of the SPAD (these were angled wires on the earlier machines). The instructions tell you to cut off the forward most angled struts but not to fill in the slots for them... so I made sure I filled those in.

Next... onto some paint...!

Cheers,

BC

[PrzemoL]

Great progress. And I do understand well your milestone feeling! I have the same one. 

[NigelR]

Looking lovely! And yes, that is a milestone. Sometimes the initial stages of a WWI build can take so long with all the various subassemblies (and waiting for oil paints to dry) that you can start to lose heart. Then when it all comes together and gets primed, everything speeds up!

[RAGIII]

Great to see this advance to the painting stage! I am tempted to try one of these Eduard 1/72nd scale kits!
RAGIII

[Tim Mixon]

Sharp build Brad. I sometimes dread the priming stage and all its ugly revealing errors I?ve made!

[Brad Cancian]

Hi all,

Alas I didn't come anywhere near meeting the deadline for completion as part of the Group Build, but I have continued to plod away and make slow progress. She now has some paint on the airframe. Heres' my step by step on the painting.

First, some masking and pre-shading:



Next, the basic colours were applied, in this case SMS RLM79 Sandgelb, which I think is a fair representation of French linen. The darker forward fuselage colour was then mixed from the same paint with some yellow and brown added to taste. The paints were sprayed to let some of the pre-shading show through:



Next up, a clear coat and the decals. I went with the in-box option for Guynemer's final mount, S.504. These are the older style of decals and they behaved wonderfully; I wish Eduard would go back to these...



Another clear coat and a wash of burnt umber oils:



Some additional weathering and staining was added with pastel chalks. Here's the end result:



Some additional pictures:

 









I kept the weathering fairly light as this aircraft wasn't in service for that long (S504 was delivered in August 1917 and was lost with Guynemer piloting on 11 September). Even so, photos of this machine still show some exhaust staining on the fuselage. I also noticed in closer examination of these photographs that Eduard got the shape of the numeral "2" wrong on the fuselage, but as I was going for an OOB build I decided to leave it as is.



I also painted up the prop. Normally I would have replaced the propeller hub as the one in the kit is crudely defined, but in sticking with the out of box spirit, I left it as is.

 

Next, the fun part - mounting the top wing...!

Cheers,

BC

[NigelR]

You missed the deadline - boo! But the build is back on track and looks amazing - hooray! Really good job on the fabric effects, The preshading has worked really well and the weathering so far looks spot on. Hard to believe this is 1/72!

[RAGIII]

Deadline or not this is a Gorgeous Model! Your shading and weathering is First Rate!
RAGIII

[Brad Cancian]

Thanks chaps for the kind words!

Managed to get a solid couple of hours at the bench yesterday evening (Mrs Cancian was very accommodating) and got the hard part over... rigging is done and wing is now mounted - phew! Always the most daunting step of a build for me...



Rigging is Uschi elastic for the fine stuff. The SPAD had wrapped double flying wires, which I took the easy option on - I used thicker EZLine for this, and painted the line a fabric colour to represent the wrapped flying wires. It's a cheat's way out but it works for me

On the home stretch now...!

Cheers,

BC

[NigelR]

Ooh, that looks very good. The top wing has gone on very well. I think the cheat with the EZ Line is very effective, I was wondering how you did that. I think it works well in that small scale!