More pre 1914 models

[bobbberz]

Nigel hit the nail on the head with his comment: Almost like something from the sketchbook of Leonardo da Vinci. 

How difficult was it to come across blueprints, reference and plans for these aircraft?

[Des]

It is extremely difficult kiwiness to obtain blueprints, plans or drawings for the early aircraft, even reference material is very hard to come by. The Battaille for example, this was built from photos of the original machine and a restored example in the museum at Brussels, I had to scale the photos to get some sort of dimensions. It is always better if there is a machine in a museum somewhere, close-up detail photos can be made which certainly helps a lot, but this is not always the case, so in reality some of the build details are guess work. I have had to abandon my latest scratch build project for lack of reference material, all I have are a couple of photos and some crude drawings, not enough to build a model from.

Des.

[Umlaufmotor]

An incredible collection of pre 1914 models.
Excellent work, Des.
I take my hat off to all scratch-built modellers.
This is in my eyes the true art of magic, make a beautiful model from a handful of different materials.

Greetings from Bavaria
Bertl

[dr 1 ace]

An incredible collection of pre 1914 models.
Excellent work, Des.
I take my hat off to all scratch-built modellers.
This is in my eyes the true art of magic, make a beautiful model from a handful of different materials.

Greetings from Bavaria
Bertl

Big Ditto to bertl's comments !!!!


Ed

[Wolf]

Wonderfull. This is a superb collection of pre 1914 planes and all are examples of top craftsmanship.

[Dol]

What a wonderful collection !!!!!!!!!

[Derrick]

Having just bought the Osprey book, Pusher Aces, I would like to build a Voisin III one day. However like the other pusher aircraft from WNW the rigging terrifies me. There are so many things I want to build it is hard trying to stay focused on one thing, in my case the pfalz IIIa that I am working on. Although I just removed the body halvess from the sprues for a Nieuport 11 ...

Of the scratch builds that you have done to date, what ones would you suggest would be a good subject to try, for someone completely new too scratch building ?

[Des]

Of the eight scratch builds I have completed the "easiest" one to do as your first scratch build would probably be the Bleriot. It's a monoplane which reduces the number of wings to make, there is still rigging but nothing too difficult and being only one wing the rigging is easy to get to. The cockpit is is only very basic but the fuselage being a box section frame does require rigging. I think the most difficult part of this build was the engine.

You have to bear in mind that the Voisin was my first ever scratch build, enormous amount of rigging, large wings and a pusher, everything to make a scratch build difficult.

Des.

[xan]

Wouaw....

[jknaus]

You are an incredibly talented modeler Des and your work is very inspirational. One thing I have never done in all my time modeling is scratch built a model. I find myself drawn more and more towards the idea with every new unique a/c you do. Thank you
James

[Culi]

I just saw this topic. Des... You are my idol. Fantastic works on beautifull planes.
Aleksandar

[Des]

Thanks very much for all the kind comments, they are really appreciated.

Even though I love WW1 aircraft my passion is for the pre war machines, the forerunners to our fighting aircraft. Without these early mostly experimental aircraft development of the aeroplane would not have taken the steps it did. I feel that these early aircraft have been sadly neglected by the model manufacturers and it is this reason that has driven me to scratch build these models in 1:32 scale.

I like the unique and unusual as can be seen in the Bataille and the Blackburn Heavy Monoplane but I also like the more well known early types such as the Bleriot and the Fokker Spin, the Taube is still my favorite shaped aeroplane with its bird like wings and fan tail. I will continue to make my scratch builds and I do a daily search on the net seeing if I can come across more subjects to add to my list.

Des.

[ermeio]

Keep building them, Des
Your collection is astonishing
we have the same passion - I have no time, though... :-(