Cher Ami Vol3 Issue 2

5/20/2018 Cher Ami Vol3 Issue 2

1/54

Welcome to Newsleer no.2 for 2014. When I started pung this newsleer together a

month or so ago I had nothing in my pending folder, so I have to thank everybody who

responded to my requests for material and as another result weve ended up with anoth-er leer that exceeds y pages. As I put the last few pages together Im also feverously

working to get a quick build of the new Emhar Tadpole together which will push the page

count up even further. More fool me!

Steve has been very busy too in the last few months pung on various displays including

a best of show, (some photos of which can be found in the GWSIG shows secon) as well

as answering most of the SIG requests and keeping the SIG going. As he has said to me, I

wouldnt do it unless I enjoyed it but sll deserves as much praise as can be heaped his

way.

Steve has also been keeping a list of models which members are prepared to bring to theSMW 2014 display in November and so far we have over 200 models to work with. We

do need to start to sit down and begin to choose and nalise which models would t in

to themes so I would suggest that if you havent done so already (and I have to hold my

hand up and say I havent) then please contact Steve with a list of models that you would

be prepared to bring to Telford. I know this seems early but we really will soon need to

have an idea of what gaps need lling.

If anybody would like to be involved in helping with the design of any of the display

themes then please contact Steve or myself.

Steve is also working on some display stands an example of which we trailed at Yeovilton

in February. In order to pay for these we have come up with a few plans including the

compiling of a series of hints and ps arcles for a major magazine, proceeds of which

will go to paying for the display.

The next Newsleer will be, for all intent and purposes, a centenary issue as it is due to

be sent out in August. I have no idea what this leer will include at this point and would

love to hear from anyone wishing to contribute or has any ideas of how we can make it

an extra special one.

Anyway thats about it from me. I hope you enjoy the newsleer.

DH

W E L C O M EC O N T A C T S

[email protected]

Dave Hooper -

[email protected]

(Sig Leader)

Steve Cox [email protected]

(Deputy Leader)

C O N T R I B U T O R S

Knut Erik Hagen, Steve Cox,

David Calhoun,, Nigel Rayner,

Mike McCabe, Dave Hooper, Alf

Small, Nigel Denchfield, Dugald

Emans, Paul Thompson, Neil

Crawford, Des Delatorre, Don

Ralston, Hugh Beyts and Alan

Pask.

I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E

Page 1: Welcome

Page 2: GWSig News

Page 4 GWSIG Shows

Page 11: Modeling News

Page 19: Builds

19: Junkers J.2

25: HMS Iron Duke

278 Fokker D.VII

312 Mark IV Tadpole

Page 35: Book News

Page 37: Book Reviews

Page 38: 1/1 scale news

Page 40: FT-17 part 3

Page 43: LVG C.VI

Page 44: Krupp field gun

Page 46: Room 40

Page 48: Dud Corner

Page 49 On the Workbench

Page 54: And Finally.

G R E A T W A R S I G N E W S L E T T E R

Cher Ami

May 2014Volume 3 Issue 2

Visit the Great War SIG website at

hps://sites.google.com/site/greatwarsig/home
https://sites.google.com/site/greatwarsig/homehttps://sites.google.com/site/greatwarsig/homehttps://sites.google.com/site/greatwarsig/home


2/54

P a g e 2 C h e r A m i

R e q u e s t f r o m t h e S o u t h

Y o r k s h i r e a i r c r a f t M u s e u m

GWSIG would like to welcome the following new mem-

bers to the Group (that have joined since the last leer).

Nils R. Treichel

Jusn Smith

Peter James

Simon Sargeant

John Furlong

Chris Shepherd

The GWSIG has received a request from the South York-

shire aircra Museum in Doncaster.

Like most museums, we have got loads of models that

have been donated over the years. Unfortunately, most of

them are built to a standard that is rather below what we

would like to display... They also tend to be 1/72nd scale

and are therefore a bit on the small side for museum dis-

play purposes.

I took the opportunity to ask for assistance in sourcing

some decent models when we hosted the IPMS AGM at

the museum, recently. At this stage, I am hoping to get

approximately 24x assorted 1/48th scale models to repre-

sent the various Air Forces involved in the Great War.

These would be housed in display cases in an area of the

museum that is being allocated to displays of WWI-

related material. I actually managed to nab an ex-Hornby

display case from another museum that might come in

handy...

What we propose is either to accept donated or loaned

models, or to encourage modellers to volunteer to build

some, using kits (probably Eduard) which we will happily

supply. I would be really be impressed if someone want-

ed to build the Blue Max Vickers FB5 Gunbus, Sopwith

Snipe, Avro 504 or even the Liberty DH4, all of which are

'on the table', for those that fancy a challenge!

Could anybody wishing to help contact Steve Hague di-

rectly at [email protected]

G W S I G A r t i c l e i n I P M S

M a g

The GWSIG featured in themost recent issue of the

IPMS magazine (issue 2 -

2014). The one page arcle

was wrien to drum up

support outside of the SIG

for the SMW2014 cen-

tenary display, but it also

took the opportunity to

promote the SIG.

B e s t d i s p l a y i n

S h o w

GWSIGpicked up a well deserved Bet dis-

play in Show at the Plymouth model show in

April. The display contained a selecon of

models by Alan Pask, Steve Cox, Dan Sankey

and Dave Hooper. Steve also won Gold and

Silver in the 1/72 aircra compeon class

(although the silver was for a Tiger Moth). Con-

gratulaons to Steve!
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


3/54

G W S I G E V E N T S C A L E N D E R 2 0 1 4

27th July Midland Expo

2nd Aug East of Scotland Model Show, Dundee

10th Aug IPMS Avon show

21st Aug Wings & things 2014, Spalding

30th -31st Aug Barry Island Great War Centenary

14th Sept Suon Coldeld Model Spectacular

Oct 18th Glasgow Model Fest

Nov 8th-9th Scale Model World 2014, Telford

Dates in Blue are unconrmed

if you have a show in your area and would like to host a GWSIG table, feel free to arrange and contact me so that I can list it in the

P a g e 3

Members discounts and special offers reminder

Rowan Broadbent of Pheon Models has generously

oered a 15% discount to all GWSIG members purchasing

Pheon Model decals directly from him. Pheon has a large

and growing selecon of WW1 decals sets available in all

popular scales.

In order to take advantage of this oer your will need to

e-mail Rowan and Sabine directly at

[email protected] with your order clearly stangin the mail that you are a member of the Great War SIG.

Please note that the 15% oer is not valid for Brian Faw-

ce models products which Pheon also stock.

A website for Pheon is currently under construcon at

hp://www.pheondecals.com/

Colin Strachan of Freightdog Models oers a 15% dis-

count on Pegasus and Blue Max items ordered from his

website by GW SIG members. To get the discount simply

put the order in at www.freightdogmodels.co.ukand in

the comments box state 'GWSIG member'. Colin will

then refund the 15% from your order. Note all website

orders are processed via paypal. Alternavely you can

phone Colin on 01342 716004 and do a card payment

over the phone, with correct amount deducted rst.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.pheondecals.com/http://www.pheondecals.com/http://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/http://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/http://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/http://www.pheondecals.com/mailto:[email protected]


4/54

P a g e 4

P l y m o u t H M o d e l S h o w

1 2 t h A p r i l

The Plymouth show, held in the glorious surroundings of the

Guildhall in the centre of the city, is always one of the more

relaxing and enjoyable shows that I regularly aend. Aend-

ance appeared to be up on previous years and we met a

steady stream of visitors thoughout the day. The GWSIG dis-

play was made up of models from Steve Cox, Alan Pask Dan

Sankey and myself, while on the next table Janet Cox ran a

Falkland and Coronel display on the South Atlanc SIG stand.

Elsewhere WW1 models were well represented, including an

excellent special 1914-18 display by Plymouth Model Club.

The Great War SIG did well in compeon with Steve Cox

taking both gold and silver in his class (although the Silver was

for a Tiger Moth) and Dan Sankey taking a few prizes as well.

The GWSIG table also picked up best display in the Show.

DH

Above top: Steve Cox and Alan Pask

Above: Well done Steve!

Next page: A selecon of photos from

Plymouth


5/54

P a g e 5


6/54

M o s o n M o d e l S h o w 1 2 t h -

1 3 t h A p r i l

Mosonmagyarovar is a small Hungarian town close to the

Austrian-Slovakian borders, mainly known for having a

large number of dental clinics providing services to Austri-

ans and others taking advantage of the low prices.

It is a quiet lile place 360 days of the year, but for one

extended weekend every spring it gets turned upside-

down by thousands of modelmakers aending the largest

show in Central Europe.

Most local hotels are booked months in advance so I ew

to Vienna and took the train to Mosonmagyarvr (one

hour / 17 return cket).

Arriving at the train staon I found that the taxi driver did

Knut Erik Hagen Visits the largest model show in Central Europe

not speak much else other than Hungarian, but when

he came up with the word "Makee", I felt certain he

would take me to the right place.

The model show is held in the Agricultural University

which works out very well as it has a large hall and

smaller lecture rooms as well as the other resources

you need for having a large crowd.

Shopping is good with numerous Polish and Czech

ouits aending, but I had hoped for some smaller

producers from the area to market their stu -sll

managing to ll up my backpack & emptying my wallet.

Knut Erik Hagen

P a g e 6


7/54

P a g e 7


8/54

S t o w M a r i e s 1 0 t h M a y

Here are a couple of shots of Tom Fryars tender

and trailer at Stow Maries. Stow is dierent to a

model show, as most visitors are not interested in

the model as much as the history behind them and

you get a dierent assortment of quesons. One

asked if I had any French aircra, as they didnt

know what colour the roundels were, we spent a

while discussing naonal markings. Another wom-

an wanted to see a model of a Spad as her father

had been ground crew on them during the war,

fortunately I had a 13 in the boxes under the table.

Steve Cox

P a g e 8


9/54

H e n d o n 1 1 t h M a y

At Hendon I hardly got away from the tables except for a

quick trip around the traders. I bought some Eduard WW1

gures, having seen John Constables that he put on the

table, and a Revell Fokker D.VII. Very late in the day at Hen-

don someone came up and started talking about build-

ing a model in silver!

Steve Cox

P a g e 9


10/54

S c o t t i s h N a t i o n a l s , P e r t h

2 6 t h - 2 7 t h A p r i l

The Scosh Naonals was a great success, as usual. I've heard

on the grapevine that they are connuing to do beer year on

year so that is encouraging for the hobby. The aached photos

were all taken early on the Sunday morning. Honest the place

was busier than it looks here!

Unfortunately I seemed to have had a catastrophy and 'lost'a

card of shots which had the SIG table pictures. Luckily I had one

of the table on the card I used wandering around the hall, re-

greably I have no close-ups of the models.

Again it was prey much a solo eort but I did manage to get

three models from Dundee Club members to place on the dis-

play and have got promises of more. There was also a good in-

terest in the SIG so hopefully there will be more members in the

ong.

There certainly were more models of Great War

items on club stands and a good representaon on

the compeon tables

Dugald Emans

P a g e 1 0


11/54

These pages attempt to give an over-

view of WW1 modelling News from

March 2014 to the present.

P a g e 1 1

Tamiyahave announced their rst ever WW1 related kits. The main

aracon is a 1/35 Mark IV tank which will inially be released as a motor-ised kit. Images in the Japanese press release show a Male tank. One can

only assume that a female variant will follow at some point. To compliment

this kit a set of ve 1/35th

WW1 Brish infantry gures will also be released.

Visit hp://www.tamiya.com/for the latest info on these kits.

The Model Cellarhave released a120mm WWI Geman Pilot and Observer

set (MC1206) as well as a 75mm gure

entled WW1 Brish Work par-

ty (MC75004). The German gures have

been sculpted by Mike Good. Also availa-ble soon will be 1/9 busts of Brish and

German Trench raiders sculted by Carl

Reid and a pair of WW1 Aviaon related

wedgies in 1/32 by Dave Maddox. A

75mm Brish trench raider will also be

available soon. Visit hp://

modelcellar.com/For the latest info
http://www.tamiya.com/http://www.tamiya.com/http://modelcellar.com/http://modelcellar.com/http://modelcellar.com/http://modelcellar.com/http://modelcellar.com/http://www.tamiya.com/


12/54

P a g e 1 2

Wingnut Wingsannounced a surprise release of two

Roland C.II kits at the recent Scale Models Expo in Wellington.

In addion to the standard boxing, WNW have also released

Late version. Each kit contains 5 decal opons while the late

version in includes oponal engine cooling louvers, 12.5kg

PuW bomb rack, exhausts, gun rings, nal producon n, rud-

der & tailplane struts. Wingnut Wings have also released a

second boxing of their excellent Roland DVI kit, this me con-

centrang on the D.VIb variant with the Benz Bz.IIIa engine.

The kit includes 5 decal opons (four German and one US ver-

sion). The kits 125 parts include 48 new parts. Go to hp://

www.wingnutwings.com/ww/for the latest informaon.

Imperial Galleryhave announced the releaseof a WW1 Brish Commonwealth Soldier, as might

be encountered in the "Wipers" mud. The 120mm

gure entled WW1 Brish Soldier, Ypres is a availa-

ble from the Imperial Gallery website; hp://

www.imperialgallery.co.uk/

Meng Modelshave release a new version of theirpopular 1/35 FT-17 kit depicng the Riveted Turret ver-

sion (TS-011) which were used because the original cast

turret was too small to mount a cannon. The kit contains

10 plasc sprues, one PE fret and metal components in-

cluding springs. Visit hp://www.meng-model.com/

index.phpfor more info.
http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/http://www.imperialgallery.co.uk/http://www.imperialgallery.co.uk/http://www.imperialgallery.co.uk/http://www.meng-model.com/index.phphttp://www.meng-model.com/index.phphttp://www.meng-model.com/index.phphttp://www.meng-model.com/index.phphttp://www.meng-model.com/index.phphttp://www.meng-model.com/index.phphttp://www.meng-model.com/index.phphttp://www.imperialgallery.co.uk/http://www.imperialgallery.co.uk/http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/


13/54

P a g e 1 3

Tommys Warhave released two versions of a 1/32 Thorneycro

type J Lorry.

TW54E05 Thornycro Type J lorry an-aircra variant

TW54E06 Thornycro Type J lorry (general service variant)

Both variants contain over y resin parts and include Photo etch de-

tail for the canvas cover straps as well as comprehensive decals to

model a wide number of vehicles in Brish and Empire service.

April has also seen the release of Tommys Wars rst 1/10th Bust:

TW10B01 Corporal, East African Mounted Ries, Mount Longido

1915. This bust is a quality 1/10 resin model kit in three parts sculpted

by Antonio Meseguer. The kit is packed in a high quality full colour box

with a brass rod to mount the gure on to a plinth

May has seen the release of Tommy Ways rst mounted gure:

TW54C01 Trooper, 9th (Queens Royal) Lancers, Elouges 1914

(Mounted gure)

Go to hp://tommyswar.co.uk/for further informaon.

Mitches Military Modelshave released a 120mmWW1 Canadian Infantryman WW1 (120/26). Visit hp://

www.mitchesmilitarymodels.co.uk/for further details
http://tommyswar.co.uk/http://tommyswar.co.uk/http://www.mitchesmilitarymodels.co.uk/http://www.mitchesmilitarymodels.co.uk/http://www.mitchesmilitarymodels.co.uk/http://www.mitchesmilitarymodels.co.uk/http://www.mitchesmilitarymodels.co.uk/http://tommyswar.co.uk/


14/54

P a g e 1 4

Hot on the heels of Tamiya Takomhave also announced apair of 1/35

thMark IV kits with separate boxings for the Male

and Female variants. The kits will include workable track

links, accurate suspension and drive systems and a 1/35th

gure. The release of both kits is slated for June. Takom have

also released a variant of their 1/16 FT 17 kit with a Girod

Turret. Visit the Takom website at hp://www.takom-

world.com/index1.html

Aviac items scheduled for release include a set of three US 1/32Resin gures and a German refuelling cart. The gure set has been

sculpted for Aviac by Steve Warrilow and will be the rst of many

1/32 scale gures. The set includes a Pilot, observer and ground

crewman -perfect for that Wingnut Wings Salmson! The refuelling

rig, created for Aviac by Simon Grzywocz includes a German ground

crew gure. Also new from Aviac are two dierent high altudeOxygen tanks in resin and PE, A 1/35 Nieuport 28 peach basket seat

and Another 14 sets of Fokker DVII wing sets with coloured rib tapes,

factory fresh and faded.

Visit hp://www.aviac.co.uk/aviac.co.uk/Welcome.htmlfor the

latest informaon on these and other new items from Aviac.
http://www.takom-world.com/index1.htmlhttp://www.takom-world.com/index1.htmlhttp://www.takom-world.com/index1.htmlhttp://www.takom-world.com/index1.htmlhttp://www.aviattic.co.uk/aviattic.co.uk/Welcome.htmlhttp://www.aviattic.co.uk/aviattic.co.uk/Welcome.htmlhttp://www.aviattic.co.uk/aviattic.co.uk/Welcome.htmlhttp://www.takom-world.com/index1.htmlhttp://www.takom-world.com/index1.html


15/54

P a g e 1 5

Kaisers Armyis to release a 54mm gure depicng an NCO of the Infanterie-Regiment Graf Barfu (4.Weslisches) Nr.17. The figure will be cast in one piece.Also available is a Trench scene vigenette. The nextfigures in the range will be Somme 1916 figure and scene sculpted byWerner Leiss. Kaisers Army figuresare available from http://shop.bestsoldiershop.com/KAISERS-ARMY-1914/1918/en

Small Stu Modelshave the following 1/72 World War I engines listed as coming soon:-Gnome 7 Omega

-Gnome 7 Lambda/Oberursel U.0

-Oberursel U.III

-Oberursel U.I

-Gnome Monosoupape 9B-2

Visit hp://www.smallstumodels.com/for their webpage

Masterboxhas released a 1/35 Brish and German sol-diers at the Somme gure set (MB35158). The set includessix gures Also coming soon will be a series of 1/72 Mark II

tanks. Visit hp://www.mbltd.info/for the latest info

Mach 2has released a 1/35 model of the Taxide la Marne The Renault Taxi de la Marne was an

automobile manufactured between 1905 and 1910

by Renault and used as a taxicab. The name Taxi de

la Marne was not used unl the outbreak of World

War I, when the eet of Paris taxis was requisi-

oned by the French Army to transport troops from

Paris to the First Bale of the Marne in early Sep-

tember 1914. The kit includes decals and markings

for one vehicle. You can visit Mach 2s site here;

hp://www.mach2.fr/indexgb.htm
http://shop.bestsoldiershop.com/KAISERS-ARMY-1914/1918/enhttp://shop.bestsoldiershop.com/KAISERS-ARMY-1914/1918/enhttp://www.smallstuffmodels.com/http://www.smallstuffmodels.com/http://www.mbltd.info/http://www.mbltd.info/http://www.mach2.fr/indexgb.htmhttp://www.mach2.fr/indexgb.htmhttp://www.mach2.fr/indexgb.htmhttp://www.mbltd.info/http://www.smallstuffmodels.com/http://shop.bestsoldiershop.com/KAISERS-ARMY-1914/1918/en


16/54

MGM modelshave released a 1/72 Nacke3,5t Subvenonslastzug German Truck with a 2,5t

Trailer. The kit is available directly from hp://

germania-guren.com/gx2/index.php

AC Modelshave announced a 54mm release depicng an AlliedStretcher bearer WW1 (ACM32002) . The resin kit will include a base

and is expected to be released in May. Also available now is a 75mm

Anzac from Gallipoli,1915 (ACM75011). Scheduled for future release

is an ANZAC in the Middle east circa 1915. The gure is based on the

Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry as part of the NZMR. Visit hp://

www.acmodels.co.nz/for the most up to date informaon.

Voyager Modelshave released a photoetch upgrade set designed for use with the

Meng Models FT-17 Cast Turret kit. Visit hp://

www.voyagermodel.com/for more info

Revell has released two of their 1/28 WW1 aircra

04730: Spad XIII

04747: Sopwith F.1 Camel

Both kits contain two decal opons each

Visit hp://www.revell.de/en/home.htmlfor further details

P a g e 1 6
http://germania-figuren.com/gx2/index.phphttp://germania-figuren.com/gx2/index.phphttp://germania-figuren.com/gx2/index.phphttp://germania-figuren.com/gx2/index.phphttp://germania-figuren.com/gx2/index.phphttp://www.acmodels.co.nz/http://www.acmodels.co.nz/http://www.acmodels.co.nz/http://www.voyagermodel.com/http://www.voyagermodel.com/http://www.voyagermodel.com/http://www.revell.de/en/home.htmlhttp://www.revell.de/en/home.htmlhttp://www.revell.de/en/home.htmlhttp://www.voyagermodel.com/http://www.voyagermodel.com/http://www.acmodels.co.nz/http://www.acmodels.co.nz/http://germania-figuren.com/gx2/index.phphttp://germania-figuren.com/gx2/index.php


17/54

P a g e 1 7

Recent releases from W^D models include: A Crossley

Sta Car, An Ausn Armoured car (available in Brish and Indi-

an Paerns) and a LGOC lorry.

New gure sets currently in producon are

Brish: Lewis machine gun team, military police, late war walk-

ing, late war sappers, sta car ocers and drivers, armouredcar crew and 1914 Royal Marines Light Infantry (dark blue naval

type uniforms).

French : cavalry (two sets) and tank crew. These should be

available within the next month or so, possibly with the rst in

the line of new accessories sets, rst will be Brish weapons to

include etched parts to make some highly detailed lile mod-

els.

Victory Miniatureshas released a120mm model of a dismounted brish cav-

alry trooper, 1914. Go to hp://

www.victoryminiatures.co.uk/index.php?

id=modelsfor the latest info

Resicast has announced the release of a 1/35

8inch Howitzer Mk.II. This resin kit includes photo

etch details. Future kits will include a 60 pdr. The

latest info can be found at hp://

www.resicast.com/index.html

Elan 13 Miniatures has released a

new 1/32 scale WW1 pilot gures entles

Anyone for Cricket. The model is availa-ble from hp://www.elan13.co.uk/
http://www.victoryminiatures.co.uk/index.php?id=modelshttp://www.victoryminiatures.co.uk/index.php?id=modelshttp://www.victoryminiatures.co.uk/index.php?id=modelshttp://www.victoryminiatures.co.uk/index.php?id=modelshttp://www.resicast.com/index.htmlhttp://www.resicast.com/index.htmlhttp://www.resicast.com/index.htmlhttp://www.elan13.co.uk/http://www.elan13.co.uk/http://www.elan13.co.uk/http://www.resicast.com/index.htmlhttp://www.resicast.com/index.htmlhttp://www.victoryminiatures.co.uk/index.php?id=modelshttp://www.victoryminiatures.co.uk/index.php?id=modelshttp://www.victoryminiatures.co.uk/index.php?id=models


18/54

P a g e 1 8

Mirage Hobby have released a 1/350

scale A86 German Torpedo boat type A/

III/56/1916 (350505). More informaon and

photos can be found here; hp://

mail.mailnews.pl/p/ing4v3ny/vsj58d5say

Emhar has released their 1/72 kit of the Mark IV

Tadpole conversion. A quick build can be found else-

where in this newsleer. Pocketbond Iwho distrib-

ute these kits in the UK) has a site under construc-

on here; hp://www.pocketbond.co.uk/

BrandMenu.aspx

Imperial Gallerys latest 120mm gure depicts WW1 German

Infantryman Sniper. Sculpted by Moz, painted by Carl Barton and

resin casngs by Darkstar Miniatures. The kit includes a, scenic trench

backdrop. Visit hp://www.imperialgallery.co.uk/for more details.

GPM has recently released a card model of HMS Lion, a balecruiser launched in 1910 and which nearly blew up at

Bale of Jutland but for prompt acon of Major Harvey R.M. who ordered the ooding of Q turret magazine. The 42 "

long kit is 55.95 withlasercut parts available to replace some in the kit at 45.95 and a set of metal main and second-

ary gun barrels for 16.95. The kit is available from hp://www.marcle.co.uk/
http://mail.mailnews.pl/p/fiing4v3ny/vsj58d5sayhttp://mail.mailnews.pl/p/fiing4v3ny/vsj58d5sayhttp://mail.mailnews.pl/p/fiing4v3ny/vsj58d5sayhttp://www.pocketbond.co.uk/BrandMenu.aspxhttp://www.pocketbond.co.uk/BrandMenu.aspxhttp://www.pocketbond.co.uk/BrandMenu.aspxhttp://www.imperialgallery.co.uk/http://www.imperialgallery.co.uk/http://www.marcle.co.uk/http://www.marcle.co.uk/http://www.marcle.co.uk/http://www.imperialgallery.co.uk/http://www.pocketbond.co.uk/BrandMenu.aspxhttp://www.pocketbond.co.uk/BrandMenu.aspxhttp://mail.mailnews.pl/p/fiing4v3ny/vsj58d5sayhttp://mail.mailnews.pl/p/fiing4v3ny/vsj58d5say


19/54

Junkers J.2Alan Pasks latest scratchbuild project to build Hugo Junkers experimental fighter

P a g e 1 9

During the Great War there were some civilian

trades that were of great value to the many indus-

tries that helped the war eort on both sides, some

less obvious than others. When Hugo Junkers de-

signed his all metal monoplanes his factory employed

plumbers. Although his designs were ahead of their

me he had no idea how to build them, and neither

did any of the plumbers! The all metal planes of Hugo

Junkers were built out of trail and error, new tech-

niques had to be invented and new skills learned.

Hugo Junkers believed that plumbers, with theirknowledge of working with metal would be the best

trades people to employ. This of course meant fail-

ures were built but learned from, the rst being the

two seater J.1 which was simply too heavy for the

120hp engine. The J.2, a smaller single seat ghter

monoplane looked more promising. The J.2 in my

opinion was one of the best looking aircra of its era

but unfortunately despite its looks had the same

engine in a smaller frame which gave at best an av-

erage performance. The soluon was to make theplane lighter or give it a more powerful engine. A

160hp Mercedes engine was ed and to accommo-

date it in the secon between the engine bay and

the cockpit was enlarged as was the wingspan.

These alteraons were paid for in extra weight

which oset the advantage of the extra horsepower.

What was more concerning was that the engine

would cut out for no apparent reason and that the

mechanics and plumbers never solved this problem.

The design of the J.2 could have come from the

1930s but unfortunately the engines denitely came

from 1916. Hugo Junkers himself ended the project


20/54

P a g e 2 0

when test pilot Max Schade was killed ying E.252/16,

only six J.2s were built. The Junkers factory then

turned to the second opon, make them lighter. This

they achieved and the J.4 (J.I, Idieg) and the J.9 (D.I)

were born.

As I menoned earlier I think this is one of the best

looking planes of its era and one I would love to have

in my collecon. There is a kit available but to the best

of my knowledge only in 1/72 and I like to build in

1/48. Also the kit version is of the early 120hp variant

and I prefer the looks of the 160hp aircra, mainly

because they have a two tone colour scheme. This le

me with no choice but to scratch build my J.2.

I blew up the 1/72 Datale plans on the photocopier

to 1/48, I cut the nose o of one copy and taped it ona second at the appropriate distance from the cockpit.

This is because the Datale plans are of the 120hp

version. I usually make lots of photocopies of plans as

I nd them useful to build jigs or moulds from either

by cung secons out and gluing them to cardboard

to be cut out or building directly on the plan itself.

I used Harry Woodmans method of heat moulding to

make the fuselage. There is plenty of info on this on

the internet but here is how I made mine. The rst

thing was to buy an assorted pack of balsa wood frommy local model shop. I then cut a plan view of the

fuselage in half and glued each half on balsa pieces

and cut down vercally. The two halves then had the

prole plans cut out and glued on the inner sides, I

once again cut out around the plans. I now nearly had

two fuselage halves, I just needed to round them o.

By scking the frontal plan to a piece of cardboard and

cung out the plan I had a template for the fuselage

curves. Balsa is really easy to work with and most of

the shaping was done with les and sandpaper. Thenext step was the female part of the mould, I once

again cut out a prole plan, glued it on a sheet of bal-

sa and cut about 2mm around it. I then aached a

piece of .75mm plasc sheet to the female mould us-

ing scky backed foil and popped it under the grill.

When the plasc started to sag in the hole I pushed

the fuselage half thru. The female mould was then

ipped over and the process repeated with the other

male mould. Cung the correct amount of excess o

was a lot easier than a vacuform kit because all I had

to do was cut horizontally along the back of the fuse-


21/54

P a g e 2 1

lage half and that then gave exactly the right sized fuselage

half. One benet of the way I did it was I got super thin

plasc around the cockpit area.

The wings gave me serious problems. I made mould

paerns for them out of plasc card and old le over plas-

c sprue. I lled the gaps up with plaster but this contrap-

on fell apart when I tried to use it. I decided to make the

wings out of solid balsa in the same way as I made the balsa

fuselage halves but in three secons. I glued the pieces to-

gether with wood glue but they then curled up like Turkish

slippers. To recfy this I soaked them in watered down

PVA and taped them at to a large metal le. I took

them o when they were dry but they just went back to

their old shape again. I got there in the end by pung

them in a jig with lots of coins balanced on top as

weights so they were bent the other way. A large dose

of wood varnish was applied to keep them that way.

One of them did curl its p a lile aer but I reasoned

that the addion of the ailerons would correct this. If I

was to do this again I would persevere and use Harrys

method to heat mould at least the wing roots and build

up the rest with plasc card and ller.

I have no idea what the interior looks like so it prey

much was invented. The seat was made from plasc

card as was the oor and steel frame around the sides.

Seat belts were strips of masking tape detailed with a

HB pencil. For the compass and dials I drew large ver-

sions on A4 then reduced the pictures on a photocopier.

I sliced like a cucumber pieces o a round piece of sprue

and glued on to them the ny photocopied dials. Heat

stretched sprue made the control sck and pedals, as

were the steel

tube bulkheads

either end of the

cockpit. I build a

small control pan-

el to go on the

starboard side in

front of the pilot

as the back of thiscan be seen in an


22/54

P a g e 2 2

archive photo. I drilled small holes thru this, poked thru

them heat stretched sprue then cut the excess o. Tiny piec-

es of stretched spue were added to make them look like

switches. For the engine I used a Smer Fokker D.VII engine

and cut the top o. The cylinders were short pieces of sprue

again with the top detailed once again with

stretched sprue and plasc card. I made the

springs by wrapping very thin heat stretched

sprue around a piece of copper wire and pop-

ping it in a mug of hot water. I could then cut

them the appropriate lengths and slide them

o. The exhaust expansion box was made

mainly from Milliput with the pipe being thick

copper wire, its end being Milliput so it can be hol-

lowed.

With the fuselage halves joined and the wings aached

it actually looked nearly done but there is a fair amount

of surface detail that needed to go on. Some of thesurface detail appears raised whereas others is re-

cessed. Raised joints on wings and panels is easy, for

this I stuck strips of scky backed foil. What I did not

want was for only the raised details to be seen, I did

not want this to look like an old Airx kit. The area

around the nose has recessed panel lines. I did these by

cung double thickness insulang tape and scking

this on around the nose as a guide. I then very carefully

went around them with a very sharp blade. The control

surfaces which were made from plasc card got thesame treatment.

The under carriage was made from copper wire spun in

a drill to make it dead straight then bent / cut to length.

Wheels were from the scrap box. I cut o the tyre parts

and added rubber O rings because I noced in thearchive photos J.2 wheels are rather chunky. I made the

undercarriage fairing by cung strips of 10mm plasc

card, wrapping and clamping them around straight

pieces of copper wire and then dropping them in hot

water. These were then just cut to length and they liter-

ally just clipped on easy!

When it comes to spray painng I am a real novice. This

all went well at rst and the panel lines looked great

under a few coats of paint. You know when you get to a

point that is good enough and for no good reason you


23/54

do one more thing that was probably not necessary and

make a huge cock up well, that is what I did. I was copy-

ing E.252/16 mainly because I had the decals for this (le

overs from a couple of Roden kits) and they seemed to

match size wise. E252/16 has a very gradual fade be-

tween the top colour and the boom. I really impressed

myself by managing to do this and was delighted with

the result. I then decided to, rather than quit while I was

ahead to use up all that was le in the mixing pot. It was

then that the lid came o and the contents spilled over

the fuselage. The plasc underneath started to craze so I

had to take it o as quick as I could. The lovely gradual

fade job I had done was no more. I was not able to re-

peat this. The job that ended up on it sll looked good

but it would have to be another J.2.

This was not a huge problem as I could turn a number 2

upside down and build E.255/16. I nd decaling one of

the more enjoyable jobs in modelling because you really

feel you are nishing it o. This was dierent, this was

decaling from hell. For a start the Roden decals disin-

tegrated the moment they touched water. FortunatelyI do have a large collecon of le over decals so I went

thru them and took out everything that had numbers

and leers on. Most of what I had was not much

beer than Rodens decals (probably because what I

was using was years old). I am sure I could have

wrien Tolstoys War and Piece with the leers I got

thru, of the ones that went on they did so kicking and

screaming in a decal jigsaw puzzle from hell. What I

had managed to get on was a completely dierent size

to the livery on E.252/16 but I can say in my defencethat the leer size on E251/16 is completely dierent

so there is clearly no consistency in sizes between

them. I sll stuck with E255/16 because I could nd no

archive picture of this showing the leers and num-

bers so I guess I cannot be proved wrong even if I can-

not claim I am right (arsc license I think they call it).

Propeller from the scrap box, leather cockpit surround

P a g e 2 3


24/54

from a thin rolled sausage of Milliput, oil cooler from

plasc card and wires from thin fuse wire and that is

it! It took a long me to make this and I probably

could have made three or four kits in the me but I

do have a fondness for Junkers aircra and I will be

very surprised if I ever come across a kit of this (if Iam being stupid and there is one please keep it to

yourself). Now it is in my display cabinet and I cannot

go past it without a good look each me. I have no

doubt this will not be the last Junkers aircra I build

but for now it sits proudly beside its younger brother,

the D.I.

Alan Pask

P a g e 2 4


25/54

HMS Iron DukeSteve Cox updates the classic Airfix 1/600th kit

I leant heavily on Nigel Dencheld for informaon and guidance and without his help this model would never hadbeen nished. Ships change with me and Nigel's own build notes gave me what I needed to convert the Airx

model to the state the ship would have been in in 1918 when the ying-o plaorms were ed.

Boats

The ships boats were one of the rst things I started

working on though its not the obvious place to start.

I was on holiday, and the boats are one of the detail

items that could be worked on easily with limited

facilies. I hollowed out the hulls with a sharpened

dental burr, and added the seang from plasc strip.

The oars were made from stretched sprue, the ends

crushed in tweezers to form the blades. Some of the

kit boats are a strange shape, the whalers in parcu-

lar, so I found some drawings and carved a couple out

of some thick sprue. I spruced up the steam boats by

adding venlators, again based on pictures from the

internet. Deck supports were cut from thin plasc

card. Another steam boat was scratchbuilt and set in

the water near the stern.

Hull

Aer assembling the hull and main deck I cut o the

hull at the water line and stuck on a base plate of

plasc card. One of the changes needed was to plate

over the a (rear) 6 gun posions and create a new

posion on the deck above the rest of the 6 gun

baery.

The superstructure was the one area where I had

most trouble with terminology. What is a starsh

doing up a mast? Do they crawl up there at night

when no-one's looking? Turns out the starsh is just

the supports for the plaorm at the top of the mast.

The major job on this secon was to modify the range-

nder, using Nigel's notes and build pictures as a guide.

Experience at sea showed that water got into the 6 gunposions and low walls were placed in front to help pre-

vent ingress. These were added from plasc strip.

P a g e 2 5


26/54

Another holiday task was thinning the sidescreens of the

superstructure plaorms, in reality a sheet of canvas, on

the model a two-foot thick wall, these were carved/

scraped as thin as possible with a sharp scalpel.

The kit gets the relave height of the funnels compared to

the superstructure wrong, so the funnels were mounted

on some thin spacers and the height of some of the

plaorms on the masts reduced to bring things into line.

Looking at pictures there is a lot of support structurearound the base of the rear funnel that is missing in the

kit. Some of this was added from stretched strip.

Gun Turrets

The rst task was to correct the rangenders on some of

the turrets, the smaller ones are correct so the others

were cut down to match. The guns were sanded to re-

move the mould line and stuck into the turrets.The

gap was lled with mulple layers of white glue, the

nal layers being built up to mimic the blast bags. The

lines of the bearing scales on B and Y turrets were

made by scratching the paint with the point of a scal-

pel to show the plasc underneath, the numbers were

handwrien with a mapping pen and white acrylic

arsts ink. The ends of the barrels were drilled out

and painted dark grey inside. I stuck a small strip of

plasc over the end of the turret spigot, and cut a

corresponding slot in the decks, so the turrets can be

removed if they are rotated fully an-clockwise. I

thought this would stop them jumping out during

transit to model shows, and will be useful if the ying-

o plaorms got damaged.

P a g e 2 6


27/54

The ying-o plaorms were cut from thin plasc card,

and aached to the guns and turret with thin strip. The

tail trestle guide was made by stretching some U chan-

nel plasc strip. Ladders on the sides of the turrets

were made from strips of net curtain.

Detailing

Chains The anchor chains moulded on the hull were

removed, and replaced with ones braided from copper

wire. I found the technique in the book 'Ship Models

from Kits' by David Grith. It involves plaing four

wires, which gives a beer look to the nished

chain than a standard three-wire plait.

Captains Walk I found some pictures of stern walks

on the internet and decided the kit part was far tooheavy. The plaorm was thinned down and the

railing made from net curtain, sened with

thinned white glue.

Derricks The derrick for the boat deck was set lean-

ing out over one side, with one of the steam boats

suspended by ne shing line over the water. The framework

at the top of the supporng pillar for the derrick was assem-

bled from stretched sprue.

Ships of this me had a lot of rigging and radio aerials, I made

a token eort using EZ-line, split down into ner widths. What

I have not aempted is the ships railings -no brass etch has

been harmed in making this kit. Nor have I put on any gures.

Steve Cox

P a g e 2 7


28/54

P a g e 2 8

WNW Fokker D.VII (Fok)The Editor takes on the decades most eagerly awaited WW1 kit

Very few WW1 models of recent mes have arguably

been as eagerly ancipated as the WNW Fokker D.VII.

Announced at Wingnut Wings launch just over ve years

ago, the subject with its lack of rigging and exoc colour

schemes was perhaps seen by many as the Holy Grail of

WNWs kits, but has the kit been worth the wait and is it

everything that we all hoped it would be?

When you open the box for the rst me you cant help

be impressed by the shear scale of the product. The

model comes on eight large plasc sprues which are

packed with a myriad of nely detailed parts including

plenty of oponal radiators and side panels allowing for

the many variaons of the D.VII in operaonal service

during WW1. I have also never seen so many decal

sheets in one standard boxing before! My set (which

was the Fokker variant) contained two large A4 sheets

containing aircra markings and insignia, three Lozenge

sheets covering both 4 and 5 colour fabrics and a sheet

of Fokker streak cookies, in total six large decal sheets.

As with all previous WNW kits that I have built the cock-

pit area is built up around a framework tub type con-

strucon which I put together and painted in various

subassemblies, before nal assembly. If you have built aWNW kit before then you are on familiar territory here

although some of the aachment lugs are not as dened

or posive as on many of the previous WNW kits and

there are some parcularly tricky areas to look out for.

In parcular I would recommend ng the oor com-

pass earlier than the instrucons suggest.

You will need to know exactly what colour opon you

are intending to build from the outset as there are

many variaons of the Spandau mounng frames to

choose from depending on which opon you will even-

tually build. I decided to use an opon not from the

basic kit, but from a separate aermarket sheet that

Wingnut Wings produce entled Fighng Fokkers Part

1. I had chosen for my build no.382/18, partly because

the skull and Cross bones insignia was so striking but

also because I felt that the over sprayed lozenge would

be an interesng challenge. Back to the cockpit which

needs very lile embellishment over what is already

supplied within the kit. I added trigger wires to the con-

trol column, control wires to the rudder control bar and

control column and bracing wires to the side frame.

Once completed and painted the cockpit secon looks

striking and it seems a shame that most will eventually

be hidden from view. The engine bearing mounts are

then ed to the side framework forward of the cock-

pit. Exact posioning of these parts is not 100% obvious

and at this stage you need to be very careful to ensure

that the engine bearers are square as any slight devia-


29/54

P a g e 2 9

on will result in a twisted nose and radiator later in thebuild.

The majority of the engine is provided on one large sprue

which allows for either the 180hp or the 200hp Daimler-

Mercedes D.III to be built. The subject I was building re-

quired the 200hp version. This is perhaps the most

straight forward and easiest secon of the kit to build

with the numerous engine parts ng together with ease

and precision. The instrucon booklet includes two pages

of very useful engine shots which are parcularly helpful

to those who wish to go to town on detailing the engine

and I couldnt resist adding spark plugs and various bits of

wiring. The instrucons suggest ng the engine to the

engine bearers on the internal frame at this point but I

would advise waing as at this stage the exact posion of

ng is not obvious.

The fuselage was not as straight forward as I expected. In

order to cover o as many variant eventualies as possi-

ble Wingnut Wings has chosen to go down the route of

breaking down the fuselage sides in to three secons. The

main parts being two rear halves that t up to the rewall

which are applicable to all variants, a triangular secon

forward of these parts and the side cowling plates both of

which come in various forms. I used the Aviac internal

lozenge sheet in preference to the parts provided by the

kit (which were used as templates). This was my rst rst

hand experience of the Aviac sheets which I found in-

credibly easy to use. Test ng the two main fuselage

halves suggested that the cockpit tub was too wide which

resulted in a fairly large gap at the rear of the fuselage

opening. I decided to cement the two halves of the fuse-

lage together as best as possible and deal with the gap

once the two halves were dry. Its worth nong that other

modellers I have talked to have not

experienced this issue, which sug-

gests that the fault lay somewhere in

my construcon of the cockit tub.

The underside of the fuselage is

sealed by a strip of plasc depicng

the underside stching seams and as

such it is recommended that the

upper half of the fuselage is glued

together rst. The underside is then

glued together sandwiching the

seam strip between the two halves.

With the aid of a small desk vice this

worked well. The large gap in the

upper half was then lled with plas-

card and ller. There are three dierent variants of

radiator included within this kit. The correct radiator is

ed to the pipes which will eventually t to the un-

derside of the engine and to the underside nose panel.

Now comes the tricky bit! There are two lug recesses

that need to t to the ps of the engine bearers while a

small pipe at the top of the radiator needs to t to the

front cylinder of the engine, while also manoeuvring

the water pipes through the engine bearer supports to

the underside of the engine. This is made more dicult

because you cannot see the locaon lugs so you are

eecvely working in the dark. Its also at this stage

that you will nd out whether your engine bearers are

twisted or not. The engine itself remained loose

throughout this process, I added a few well-placed

drops of superglue to secure the engine to the bearer

aer the radiator was ed. As the cockpit coaming

was based on an ideal world where the fuselage halves

t snuggly into one another my coaming was predicta-


30/54

P a g e 3 0

bly too narrow. I ed it as best I could and then used ller to

extend the width of the coaming on each side slightly. For the

aircra I was building the engine had a low exhaust which waspre-painted and ed in to posion.

The kit contains a large selecon of engine cowl panels, how-

ever for the opon I was building there was nothing that en-

rely matched my requirements. The decal sheet instrucons

tell you to use the early producon version with added lou-

vers which would work but would require an awful lot of re-

medial work. I chose instead to use early producon cowls.

These have no louvers but otherwise met my requirements.

Using a brand new scalpel blade I sliced the two forward lou-

vers from the early producon cowls with added louvers and

glued them to the early producon cowls. The cowl panels

were then added to the fuselage. The instrucons for these

parts are not parcularly clear and it took me quite a while to

gure out that the side cowl panels t over the upper panels

(which in the instrucons are ed later). As there is an op-

on to make these panels removable I used the upper panels

as guides to t the side panel over. Once the side panels were

in posion the upper panels were removed. The port side

upper cowl was not such a good t as the starboard side and I

therefore chose the glue the port side upper cowling panelpermanently in to posion while leaving the starboard side

upper cowl free to be removable.

The nose demarcaon lines were masked o and the nose

was sprayed with a Games Workshop Mephiston Red. The

nose was then carefully masked o and the remainder of the

aircra and major parts was sprayed with white. I also

sprayed some subtle oil stains using lifecolour Tensicroms

however I later discovered that my aempts were perhaps a

lile too subtle to show up. Everything was sprayed with

Johnsons Klear before I commenced applicaon of the loz-

enge using the Aviac ve colour faded sheet. Once again I

used the original kit decals as templates for my Aviac re-

placements. I began with the rear decking which

went on a treat. The great thing about Aviac decals

is that they are really thin and therefore conform

well to the model but they are really extremely

strong and will take almost anything you throw at

them. The one area where you do need to be carefulis that they are quite east to stretch, however in

some cases where your part has been cut ever so

slightly too small this can work in your favour. I then

applied the fuselage crosses which would require to

be over sprayed. Unfortunately WNW do not supply

suitable crosses for this in either the Fighng Fok-

kers aermarket set or the original kit. I managed to

source mine from a Albatros D.V set. The red nose

and unlozenged wings were then carefully masked

o and the fuselage over sprayed with Tamiya FlatBlue so that the lozenge and fuselage cross was sll

visible underneath the blue paint. This was then over

sprayed with Johnsons Klear as I know from previous

experience how easy it is to damage over sprayed

decals with handling. The wings were then decaled

with lozenge, which were from Aviac cookie

sheets, pre-printed to the exact shape and require-

ments of the D.VII wings and including accurate rib

tape posions. Again these were an absolute joy to

apply and very soon all the major parts were painted,

decaled and ready to put together.

The kit gives you the opon of either using plasc

moulded Spandaus or versions with photo etch cool-

ing jackets. Wingnut Wings have thoughully provid-

ed a plasc rod intended to be used to roll the photo

etch jacket around. What I didnt expect was to nd

that rolling the cooling jacket around the plasc rod

template would result in a gap between the two

ends, but as far as I can tell this is intenonal. Flash

guards are provided with an etched brass frame. Theinstrucons are not very clear on the exact posion

of the guard suggesng that the frame ts between

the rocker boxes. I believe that they should t on top

of the rocker boxes. I chose not permanently aach

this part so that I could t and remove the upper

cowl panel at will. The ash guard will t quite happi-

ly on top of the engine without the aid of cement.

Fing the upper wing was not as easy as I expected.

The instrucons suggest that if you are building the

model with removable cowling panels then frontcabane struts should not be cemented which is good

advice and I would go so far as to recommend not


31/54

P a g e 3 1

scking these struts even if you are intending to cement

your cowls in. The reason being that this allows enough free

movement to correct any alignment issues you may experi-

ence. I inially also glued the rear cabane struts in to posi-

on but found in doing so that test dry ng of the inter-

plane struts was not going to work and the cabane struts

seemed to be very slightly too long. Plan B was to remove

the rear cabane struts and t the interplane struts in to po-

sion. This also did not

work parcularly well as I

believe that the front

cabane struts were also a

tad too long. In desperaon

I very slightly lengthenedthe ends of the interplane

struts by drilling holes in to

the ends and ng spent

guitar string. The top wing

was then successfully dry

ed, and then cemented

in posion. Finally the rear

cabane struts were very

slightly shortened and

spring ed in to posion. I think its very probable that thet problems I experienced in this area are a knock on result

of the fuselage being a very slightly wider than intended. I

suspect that if you built up the fuselage without trying to t

the cockpit framework tub inside then you would not expe-

rience any adverse t issues. The undercarriage is fairly sim-

ple to t together. The two halves of the axle wing t per-

fectly and the struts have very posive t points. In addion

I decided to t a pair of RB Producon turnbuckles to the

Axle wing in readiness for bracing wires. The front undercar-

riage struts have good strong and posive t points in to the

fuselage but the rear struts are less impressive. Firstly there

are what looks like two possible t locaons for these struts

and nothing obvious in the

instrucons to say which

points to use. Secondly

both points are really shal-

low and I feel this aach-

ment point would benetfrom some reinforcement,

especially if you are in-

tending to cart the model

o to shows once in a

while. Oen the weakest

handling point of WNW

kits are the ailerons and I have been known to rein-

force these points. The D.VIIs ailerons each have two

tabs which result in a strong t but there is enough

play on the tab to be able to set the aileron in to an upor down posion. The kit also provides an oponal

anemometer to t to the port interplane struts. The

aermarket decal instrucon suggest that you should

use this part on the opon I was building but this in-

strument is not visible on any of the period photos of

382/18 that I have

seen and so I opted

not to use this part.

The wheels and

propeller are fairly

standard Wingnut

Wings aairs and

gave me no prob-

lems. The nal

stage of the build

was to t the n,

rudder and eleva-

tors in to posion

aer which control

wires made from invisible mending thread were add-

ed.

From a builders perspecve I found the WNW Fokker

D.VII to be the most demanding kit that I have built

from this manufacturer. I think many were expecng

this kit to be a relavely simple build and Im afraid

these people are going to be very disappointed. I

would certainly not recommend this kit anybody new

to the WW1 genre or to WNW. On the plus side hard

work is rewarded with an absolutely stunning model

and I cannot fault the end result which is up there with

some of WNW nest.

DH


32/54

P a g e 3 2

Emhar 1/72 Mark IV TadpoleA quick weekend build of the new Emhar kit

The Mark IV tadpole conversion has always been one of the more interesng Brish tank subjects from the Great

War. With its extended body, designed to bridge the wider German trenches the Tadpole was successfully trialled but

never went in to acve service. I have had the Matador conversion kit for some me, but found it to be rather disap-

poinng as the rivet detail was much heavier the Emhar

kit it was designed to t on to and so when Emhar nal-

ly released their 1/72 tooling I jumped at the chance ofbuilding it.

This is less of a new kit and more of a revised tooling as

it is essenally the Mark IV Male kit with two new

sprues. The good news is that it this has kept the cost of

the kit down (I paid 7.99 for my kit -a bargain for the

amount of plasc you get). The bad news is that all the

faults that existed on the original Mark IV kit are sll

here. The two new sprues contain the replacement

body parts and an oponal rear mortar (tested on at

least one machine).

The main issue with the male sponsons is that

the rear panel goes in to the body at a 90 de-

gree angle. Mk IV sponsons had a slight angle at

the rear. This was corrected with plascard.

There is a slight lip at the front of the sponson

which if removed will oset to a reasonable

degree the amount of plasc being added to

the rear. The other adjustment I made was to

t plascard to the underside of the roof in

order to thicken the area above the turret.


33/54

P a g e 3 3

In the instrucons the small hatch is on the top of the

back box, not at the rear as depicted on the kit part. Look-

ing at photos what I can say with certainty is that there

was no such hatch at the rear. To correct this, what was

the kit parts boom panel was removed and plascard

was use to create a new boom panel.

The new inner body sides ed the origi-

nal Mark IV parts very well. Interesngly

the aachment points of the port and

starboard sides are completely dierent

from each other.

The exhaust pipe was replaced with brass rod. A new ex-

haust box was made from plascard to replace the original

kit part which appears to be moulded inside out.

The revised sponsons were ed to the outer body

sides before nal assembly. Note the small piece of

plasccard in the corner of the opening, used to block

up a corner secon originally removed from the spon-

sons during their update.


34/54

P a g e 3 4

The outer body sides were then ed to the inner

body parts .

The tank tracks supplied with the kit are

made from so plasc. Two sprues of the orig-

inal Mark IV track are supplied to create one

large track. I chose to use the resin track parts

from my Matador conversion set in place of

the kit tracks. In order to do this I needed to

t a lile extension made from plascard in

some areas to lay the track on to.

The kit includes and oponal rear mortar and blast plate.

Conclusion

This really is a nice lile revised tooling. Its a shame that Emhar

didnt use the opportunity to correct earlier errors but none of

these were too dicult to recfy / improve. This inexpensive kit

builds in to a nice lile representaon of this interesng subject

DH


35/54

P a g e 3 5

Seaforth Publishingconnue to publish Arthur Marders From the

Dreadnought to Scapa Flow series of books with Volumes 3 (Jutland and

Aer May to December 1916) and 4 (1917 Year of Crisis) available. Volume 5

(Victory and Aermath January 1918June 1919) is due for publicaon at the

end of May.

German Balecruisers of World War One by Gary Sta is expected to be pub-

lished at the end of July. This is the most comprehensive study yet in the

English language of the German Imperial Navy's battlecruisers that served

in the First World War.

Visit http://www.seaforthpublishing.com/for the latest info

May publicaons from Osprey include thefollowing WW1 relatedbooks:

Trench: A History of Trench Warfare on the Western Front by Stephen Bull

which is described as an authoritave history of the trenches, drawing on

the renowned resources and photographic collecon of the Imperial War

Museums, providing unique insight into trench warfare on the Western

Front

Medium Mark A Whippet by David Fletcher is a one of the most successful

Brish tanks of World War I and part of the popular Vanguard series.

Future publicaons include;

Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914 by Prit Buar

(due in June)

Soldiers Songs and Slang of the Great War collected by Marn Pegler (due

in August)

Invasion 1914: The Schlieen Plan to the Bale of the Marne by Ian Senior

(also due in August)

US Navy Dreadnoughts 191445 by Ryan Noppen (due in August))

Reconnaissance and bomber Aces of WW1 by John Guman (due in Decem-

ber)

Visit hp://www.ospreypublishing.com/for the latest news
http://www.seaforthpublishing.com/http://www.seaforthpublishing.com/http://www.ospreypublishing.com/authors/profile.aspx?ID=5101http://www.ospreypublishing.com/authors/profile.aspx?ID=5101http://www.ospreypublishing.com/http://www.ospreypublishing.com/http://www.ospreypublishing.com/http://www.ospreypublishing.com/authors/profile.aspx?ID=5101http://www.seaforthpublishing.com/


36/54

P a g e 3 6

The Latest centennial book from Aeronaut is Aviak Aircra of

WW1 by Jack Herris. This book has 160 photos, 34 color proles,

scale drawings of 7 aircra to 1/48 scale, and 90 pages.

The Rumpler book should be in print by the me you read this item.

It is about the size of the recent Roland book; 208 pages. Rumpler

will have about 370 photos, 53 color proles, and scale drawings of

9 aircra.

There are a number of books in the pipeline aer Rumpler. The

next in the Centennial series will be a book on SSW that is about the

size of the Rumpler book. The SSW should be in print around the

middle to end of June. Following on from the SSW book will be one

cover AEG aircra.

By the end of June, Royal Prussian Jagdstael 30 by Bruno Schm-

ling to be in print. That will be a convenonally-printed hard bound

of 208 pages, 158 photos, and 56 color proles, many of which arevery colorful and have never been seen before.

Aeronauts website can be reached here; hp://

Albatros publicaons rst Windsock datale of 2014

covers the early BE2 types; Datale 163 -Be2, Be2a & Be2b is

wrien by Paul Hare and is supported by over 70 archive pho-

tos with nine pages of accurate GA drawings by Mick Davis.

Future datales will cover the RAF Be2e at War and the Hand-

ley Page HP V/1500. Visit hp://

www.windsockdatalespecials.co.uk/for the latest info on

forthcoming publicaons

A search through forthcoming World War One related books on Amazon has

brought up a few interesng publicaons;

Wisden on the Great War; the Lives of Crickets fallen 1914-18 edited by Andrew

Renshaw.

The First World War in the Middle East by Krisan Coates Ulrichsen

Art from the First world War compiled by the Imperial War Museum
http://www.aeronautbooks.com/http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk/http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk/http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk/http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk/http://www.windsockdatafilespecials.co.uk/http://www.aeronautbooks.com/


37/54

British Military Trucks of World War Oneby Tim Gosling Tankograd Publishing

P a g e 3 7

This book was purchased on a whim as something a lile dierent from the

norm. Its not very oen you come across a book covering WW1 military

trucks and as such it caught my imaginaon. The book, which is limited to

999 copies is contains 200 pages of high quality paper inside a hardback

cover. The book is essenally a scrapbook of photographs each with de-

tailed capons in the same manner as the Windsock datales. Aer a brief

introducon the book takes a look at the motorisaon of the Brish army

prior to 1914, and a short chapter on Driving for the Army service corps.

Aer this comes the main bulk of the book which provides a reference to all

of the Brish Trucks and Manufacturers, both Brish and Foreign built.

There are secons coving General service (Cargo) trucks, Workshop trucks,

Tanker trucks and Gun trucks. The book isnt just conned to your tradion-

al trucks and will also nd photos and informaon on tracon engines, Bus-

es and even the Holt tractor. To round the book o you are provided with a

secon on Numbers, Names and Markings.

This really is an excellent book. The reproducon of the photos is top notch

and there is plenty inside to inspire would be truck modellers. One inter-

esng omission is the American Mack AC Bulldog (kied by RPM), although

there is a brief reference to the army ordering 150 of the type in the introducon to the non-brish built cargo trucks

secon. In an ideal world I would have also liked the book to include some drawings but other than these nitpicks I can

nd very lile to fault about this book. I have seen comments on the net complaining about the majority of photos hav-

ing soldiers or drivers posing in front of the machines. Come on guys get real! The photographers of the me were not

taking photos exclusively to provide references for modellers 100 years on.

To sum up, an excellent book on an interesng and unusual subject and well worth invesng in.

DH

by Jack Herris Aeronaut Publishing

Aviatik Aircraft of WW1

The latest book in the Aeronaut centenary series turns its aenon to the German branch of Aviak which is oen one

of those German manufacturers generally overlooked by publishers and kit manufacturers but was nevertheless a ma-

jor German manufacturer during the Great War. This book is about half the size of the recent Roland book but, no less

impressive. Aer a brief introducon describing the history of the manufacturer, Jack Herris delves straight into the

niy griy of providing a comprehensive overview of every aircra designed and built by Aviak during World War

One. The narrave is complimented with a generous collecon of period photographs and good selecon of Bob Pear-

sons excellent colour proles. Aviak are best known for building two seater B-types and C-types, but did design some

prototype D type ghters towards the end of the War. The book even covers a very lile known F-type (designated

late in the war for long range reconnaissance aircra) which I certainly havent come across before. In addion model-

lers will be pleased to see a nice selecon plans depicng seven Aviak aircra.

This is another must have book for anybody interested in WW1 aviaon and excellent value, especially when com-

pared to the Windsock datales.

DH


38/54

News

P a g e 3 8

Caproni CA.3 replica takes to the air

P a g e 3 8

Areplica Caproni Ca.3 took

its rst short ight at theFrancesco Baracca aireld,

just north of Venice, Italy

recently. The ight was a

short hop to test the re-

sponse of the ight controls

and engine behavior.

The project, built by

Giancarlo Zanardo for the

Jonathan Collecon, began

in 2009. The Ca.3 is the big-

gest aircra yet built by Giancarlo Zanardo and the Jonathan collecon although they have already created

many WW1 and Pre WW1 airworthy replicas including a Wright Flyer, Fokker DR.I, and a Bleriot XI.

The team at the Jonathan collecon sll have to complete some details on the engines, with the central pusher

requiring parcular aenon. They are also preparing some new propellers.

New perminant WW1 exhibitions at Hendon and CosfordThe Royal Air Force Museum has announced that it has re-

ceived a conrmed grant of 898,558 from the Heritage

Loery Fund (HLF) for the creaon of The First World War In

The Air. Two major exhibions sited in Hendon and Cosford.

Work on the historic Grahame-White Factory is already under

way with an intended opening in December 2014. As part of

this new exhibion the museum will develop unused spaces in

the Grahame-White Factory. A drawing oce, equipped with

sketching tools, open drawers lled with facsimiles of originaltechnical drawings and aviaon-related publicaons, will give

visitors a balcony view of the aircra and hangar.

The Cosford site will have a new perminant exhibion

that will tell the naonal story of the First War in the Air

using content, displays and aircra. The exhibion will

be enriched by individual stories of pilots such as local

hero pilot, Lt. Kevin Furniss, who was posted to France

in April 1917. Shot down on his second mission he died

as a Prisoner of War on 29 April 1917 aged 19. The Mu-

seum will be using his story and artefacts to engage

with schools, as well as in informal learning acvies.


39/54

P a g e 3 9

Details of the IWM revamp

Details of the revamp of the Imperial War Muse-

um, reopeneing on July 19th have been an-

nounced. Central of which will be a A recreatedFirst World War trench with a Sopwith Camel

ghter plane swooping overhead and a Mark V

tank looming above. Trench visitors will be able

to experience the sound of thunderstorms and

gas aacks -as well as a kele being boiled for a

cup of tea as life in the trenches is made real.

The First World War galleries are part of a major

40 million development of the museum

(below)including the transformaon of the atri-

um. In Shock, visitors will hear the scream ofshrapnel and shells they will come face to face

with the French 75mm eld gun, one of the new

quick-ring guns which contributed to the

deaths of a million European men in just four

months of ghng in 1914.

Objects from the Christmas Truce of 1914 will

also be on display for the rst me, including a

buon from a German tunic that was given to a

Brish soldier as a souvenir.

There will also be exhibions covering , The Na-

val War, Posters, The Home front, the Air War,

The Somme and Passchendaele. Further details

of the new exhibions can be discovered here;

hp://www.centenarynews.com/arcle?id=1605

Old Bill Bus to return to Belgium and France

The London Transport museum are due to unveil a re-stored B-type bus next month. The Bus, B2737 -which is

one of only four examples from the First World War peri-

od sll known to exist has been restored to its original

state with the help of a Naonal loery fund as reported

in a previous GWSIG newsleer. The hope is that in Sep-

tember the bus will be converted in to its War me Old

Bill Bus appearance and will tour places in France and

Belgium where the London buses played an important

role in moving troops about. An appeal has been set up to

raise the 25,000 required to make this happen. Visithps://www.buzzbnk.org/ltm-balebusto learn more.
http://www.centenarynews.com/article?id=1605http://www.centenarynews.com/article?id=1605https://www.buzzbnk.org/ltm-battlebushttps://www.buzzbnk.org/ltm-battlebushttps://www.buzzbnk.org/ltm-battlebushttps://www.buzzbnk.org/ltm-battlebushttps://www.buzzbnk.org/ltm-battlebushttp://www.centenarynews.com/article?id=1605


40/54

P a g e 4 0

FT-17 Part 3Knut Erik Hagen connues his series of lesser known FT-17 walk-arounds.

FT-17 - Parola Tank Museum , Finland

Finland received a total of 32 FT-17s in 1919 along

with Weltz trailers and Lal tractors for moving

them on roads.

They were outdated at the me of the Soviet inva-

sion in 1939 and relegated to training while others

were dug in as pillboxes.

The only Finnish survivor is now on display in the

main building of theParola Tank Museum along

with a spare engine in the engine shed and a

transport trailer as part of the outdoor display.

Parola is located some 10km fromHmeenlinna

which is 100km North of Helsinki.

Hmeenlinnais the home of the Finnish Arllery

Museum and the two museums can easily be visited

at the same me, using train from Helsinki

toHmeenlinnaand connuing by bus to the Tank

Museum.

hp://www.panssarimuseo./kehys-e.html

hp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

The_Arllery_Museum_of_Finland
http://www.panssarimuseo.fi/kehys-e.htmlhttp://www.panssarimuseo.fi/kehys-e.htmlhttp://www.panssarimuseo.fi/kehys-e.htmlhttp://www.panssarimuseo.fi/kehys-e.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artillery_Museum_of_Finlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artillery_Museum_of_Finlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artillery_Museum_of_Finlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artillery_Museum_of_Finlandhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Artillery_Museum_of_Finlandhttp://www.panssarimuseo.fi/kehys-e.html


41/54

P a g e 4 1


42/54

P a g e 4 2

Knut Erik Hagen


43/54

P a g e 4 3

LVG C.VINeil Crawford sent in some photos of the current LVG restoration at Cosford

Neil Crawford


44/54

P a g e 4 4

7.5cm Krupp Field Gun

This example of a Turkish Krupp field Gun can be found in the grounds of Sherbourne

Castle. The Gun was captured at Aba Shusheh on the 15th November 1917 by B

squadron of the Queens Own Dorset Yeomanry. And presented by the regiment to the

town of Sherbourne.


45/54

P a g e 4 5

Dave Hooper


46/54

Room 40

P a g e 4 6

Alan Pask takes a brief look at codebreakers of the Great War

Although the Great War is seen by many as a conict

fought by a great many people over a few narrow, un-

moving fronts in reality it was a global conict that

stretched across oceans, connents and even the skies

above. Communicaon had always had an important role

in previous wars and codes, ciphers and codebreakers

were not new. In this conict however they would have

an absolutely enormous importance, more than ever

previously known. For the Brish and French this was not

a fact that they would learn the hard way, they were

from the start of the conict already ahead of the game.

At the outbreak of war France already had in place ve

codebreaking groups and once French and Belgian soil

had been taken they wasted no me in destroying tele-

graph lines and cables that aected German held territo-

ry. The Brish navy dragged up Germanys underwater

telegraph cables on the rst day of the war. This meant

the Germans had to rely more on wireless telegraphy to

communicate or go through telegraph cables of neutral

naons (many of which went through Britain anyway). In

both cases it was easy to pick up their communicaons.

The Germans themselves had a sophiscated system of

codes and ciphers and changed them regularly. They also

had their own code breaking heroes like Ludwig Foeppl ,

a professor of mathemacs in his normal life. When the

Royal Navys ciphers were cracked the U-Boats gained a

deadly upper hand against Brish ships. Unfortunately

much of what was known about German codebreaking

acvies was lost during the second world war when

records were destroyed.

Britain had Signals Intelligence Staons set up

by the Admiralty but not long aer the outbreak of the

war they realised the need for a central codebreaking

organisaon. Sir Alfred Ewing, a Scotsman and director of

naval educaon put together a team of what I can only

describe as a right bunch of eccentric characters. Intel-

lectuals of high intelligence, they went on to include peo-

ple like Dilwyn Dilly Knox who insisted in working in a

bathtub as that was were he did his best thinking and

Captain Blinker Hall so called because he has a facial

twitch and was known to blink rapidly when he got exit-

ed. Blinker took over from Ewing when he le in 1916 to

take up a senior posion in the University of Edinburgh,

he felt his work was done and was no longer of need to

the group. Their ocial name was Intelligence Division

25 but they were more commonly called Room 40. This

is because they quickly outgrew Ewings oce and were

primarily moved to Room 40 of the Admiralty Old Build-

ing, then other rooms as they expanded. Dilly took room

53 and then installed a bath in it.

These code breakers got a fearsome reputaon

but more than just their abilies were needed. Sunken

enemy vessels were searched for code books. Similarlytrench raiding pares would also look out for code books.

Room 40 did receive a huge boost when Russia handed

over cipher books taken from the corpse of a German

signals ocer recovered from the light cruiser Magde-

burg. Although hugely useful informaon was able to be

passed on the Royal Navy, by the me of the Bale of

Jutland the Germans were on to Room 40 and sent erro-

neous messages. The eect of the messages, the intelli-

gence from Room 40 and consequence of acons that

followed are open to debate as in fact was the outcome

of the Bale of Jutland itself. One outcome that was for

sure was that the Royal Navy no longer trusted infor-

maon from Room 40.

In Ewings remaining last months Room 40 fo-

cused on U-boats but when he le and Blinker Hall took

over, Blinker took an interest in German diplomac com-

municaons. This was much to the anger of the Foreign

Oce who considered this their job but luckily Blinker

was able to connue his spying on German diplomac

communicaons, luckily because this resulted in one ofthe greatest achievements in military intelligent history.

Earlier in the War Germany launched a campaign of

Unrestricted Submarine Warfare. This meant that their

U-Boats could aack anything regardless of its naon of

origin, without warning once it was within the war zone.

Inevitably American vessels were sunk outraging the

American public. This came to a head and almost brought

America into the war when the Lusitania was sunk re-

sulng in the deaths of 128 Americans. Many Americans

wanted their country to enter the war and Germany was

forced to abandon its policy of Unrestricted Submarine


47/54

P a g e 4 7

Warfare in order to keep America out of the war. Late in

1916 it was thought by many in the German high com-

mand that if Unrestricted Submarine Warfare was re

instated America would either not have the stomach to

join the war or if it did Britain would be knocked out of the

conict before they could have any impact on the front. At

least one man however wanted to go a lile further and

ensure America could not enter the war in what has be-

come known as the Zimmermann Telegram. This was

without doubt one of the most insane schemes of the war

but none the less it was real. The German Foreign secre-

tary Arthur Zimmermann proposed that Mexico should

invade America in order to re take the territories lost in

the war of 1848. Japan (currently allied to Britain and

France) was also part of this plan and were expected to be

asked by Mexico to side with them and invade the Ameri-

can West Coast. Germany itself would also assist in the

conict. With America ed up in a war with Mexico and

Japan it would be impossible for America to enter in a war

in Europe. This proposion was sent by telegram by Ar-

thur Zimmermann to Heinrich Von Eckardt Germanys

ambassador to Mexico, intercepted by Nigel De Gray of

Room 40, parally de-coded and given to Blinker Hall. One

can only imagine how much Blinkers eyes blinked when he

saw this one. He was however faced with a dilemma. This

telegram if proved real would almost certainly bring Amer-ica into the war. It was however so mad it was unlikely to

be believed and could backre badly on Britain causing

huge damage. Furthermore presenng the message would

also let the Germans know that Room 40 was currently

capable of intercepng and de-coding their internaonal

telegrams. America too would be aware that Britain could

look at trans Atlanc messages (moreover their own) and

would cause great anger. Blinker insisted rst that the

whole message was de-coded, then hatched a clever plot.

A Brish spy supposedly obtained the telegram in Mexico

and passed it back to Britain. The Brish Intelligence Ser-

vice then bungled the handling of the telegram almost

loosing it. This story was then passed to the Brish press

who had a eld day and caused a naonal controversy.

The telegram was presented to the Secretary of the Amer-

ican Embassy Edward Bell on the 23rd February 1917. Ger-

many was fooled, the American public outraged and what

was worse was when challenged Zimmermann admied

sending the Telegram. Despite President Woodrow Wil-

sons eorts over the last two and a half years to keep

America out of the War on the 6th April 1917 America

declared war on the Central Powers. The Zimmermann

Telegraph was not of course the sole reason for Americas

entry into the war as unrestricted Submarine Warfare was

resumed in February 1917. The Zimmermann Telegraph

did however make a considerable contribuon to Ameri-

cas decision to enter the war.

When it comes to Brish code breaking the great

eorts of Bletchley Park and their legendary cracking of

the Enigma and Lorenz ciphers are best remembered. This

is of course for good reason but the brilliant work made

Brish, French and even American code breakers of the

Great War must also be remembered.

Above: The decoded Zimmermann telegram


48/54

P a g e 4 8

No 8 Dud CornerIn part 8 Nigel Denchfield visits Cemetery's around Loos

Loos, situated 5km north west of Lens, is one of those

emoonal names, it conjures up images of troops marching

across no-mans land into heavy shell and machine gun re

whilst sustaining enormous losses. The acon ran from

September 25th to October 19th 1915, and was the rst

use of poison gas by the Brish army. What isnt really ap-

preciated

Cher Ami Vol3 Issue 2

Documents

Transcript of Cher Ami Vol3 Issue 2