Nice effort Jiří.
It has made me realize that I need some more Italian Spad VIIIs.
Rob.
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Nice effort Jiří.
It has made me realize that I need some more Italian Spad VIIIs.
Rob.
Last out of the repainting hanger in the current batch are two SPAD VII of 19 Sqn RFC. At the time I got interested in WoW the SPAD VII wasn't available so I bought a couple of F-Toys ones (in Guynemer markings) from eBay which have lain dormant in a box until my recent revival and efforts to sort out my game stuff. I'd opened one of them up on initial receipt and thought at a cursory glance that it was quite a nice little model.
How wrong I was... Having finished the repaint on these two planes I certainly won't be thinking about buying or recommending any more F-Toys stuff!
The basic stuff first. Decals were mostly Dom's Decals, with the band around the fuselage of Child's SPAD being from mehusla. These also saw my first foray into making my own decals for Orlebar's dumb-bell marking and the roundels for Child's wheel covers. In hindsight I wish I'd also done my own decal for the red, white and blue bands on Child's plane as the blues are distinctly different shades. Ah well; poor Lt Child's plane is a bit of a monstrosity anyway...
The eagle-eyed may notice in the photos a couple of differences between the two planes, which are - theoretically - identical models. The outer starboard wing struts on Child's plane were missing (this was the box that had remained unopened for about three years). It wasn't loose in the box - just missing. The wings were somewhat misaligned so I suspect they'd fallen out somewhere between construction and packaging. I replaced them with a pin snipped down to size. And what about his wheels, eh? The entire undercarriage of his plane had been put on and glued back-to-front! I didn't feel at all confident about getting it free in one piece to turn around so I decided I'd just have to live with it.
In addition to these specific problems, the fit of the fuselage on both planes wasn't great, with a noticeable lengthwise gap between the two halves which I tried to disguise with paint. And of course... the wing struts in general. Each set of struts has two uprights and two cross struts; the latter being completely wrong. I'm guessing the cross struts were meant to represent the bracing wires... I guess. Ironically it means that the bodged dressmaking-pin replacement struts on Child's plane are the most accurate on the pair!
I have four more SPAD VII to paint - this time from Shapeways - which I'm hoping will be much more enjoyable than this rather annoying pair!
Attachment 176241
Spot the difference in the struts!
Attachment 176239
Now spot the difference in the undercarriage!
Attachment 176240
With their custom cards. Also shows that the wing alignment on both planes is a bit wonky - Child's particularly so!
Attachment 176238
Quite an admirable job with what you had to work with. I'll wager your Shapeways come out even better.
Well even if you have not quite managed to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear Alex, you got jolly close.
well done again.
Rob.
I bet ot was quite a stressful work to deal with these strange planes. But you ended up doing a nice paint jon on them. :thumbsup: I'm looking foward to your Shapeways models.
Thanks
Nick
Well I finally got the Keller cards done for this repaint. I have had it done (repainted) for quite some time but have just not had the time to take the pictures and post them until now. The inspiration to paint up this plane came from the thread started by Maurizio (Mau Fox) over a year ago. OMG! Has it been that long?
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sho...t=Guido+Keller
As for those who have read this wonderful thread by Mau, Guido Keller was quite the colorful pilot. Since there is no known photo of his SPAD VII, with some input from Mau and others the plane is of course not historical so I had a little fun with it.
It is a Guynemer repaint. The yellow used was Humbrol 103. I had some other options for the shade of yellow but liked the shade of this one. The color for the cowling, guns etc was some custom mixtures and since it has been awhile I must apologize as I do not remember the combinations. Everything but the wheels and Guynemer’s top fuselage stripe have been repainted on this one.
Since Keller was the brain child for the Griffon I put one on his fuselage. Not historically correct but Keller was not your typical pilot so thought it fit in nicely. Speaking of which, the Griffon was supplied by Rob (Flying Officer Kyte)……Thanks again mate!
The rest of the decals are made by me. If anyone else would like to do something similar, I will upload the decal sheet and of course will note the credit for the Griffon. The decal sheet will have plenty of extras on it in case of a mishap or extras for other Italian planes.
Anyway, finished the decals off with some Mircro Set and Decal bonder followed by a light dull coat of lacquer.
The photos below were taken with my phone….probably would have turned out better with my camera but they’re not too bad.
http://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...pshfxk6rbb.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...pshjidgjgx.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...psrdc6chpy.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...psibcdarpf.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...ps3udd3m2p.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...pskuafyehe.jpghttp://i207.photobucket.com/albums/b...psgpcwz1pf.png
A very neat job Kelly.
Well worth the wait.
You need not bother crediting the Griffon.
I'm just pleased that you found it useful.
Rob.
Lovely SPAD Kelly!
Just a dark green by humbrol and probably some "ferrary red" by humbrol too that visually matched as close as possible any trustworthy color pic I had on hand at that time -- most likely an Italian national marking by a 1/48 SPAD XIII by Eduard that has Barraca's decals.
Reasons for not getting too obsesive with 'actual colors':
First and foremost: I live in Argentina and it's very hard to find a variety of good quality modeling paints now a days... I like Model-Master and Vallejo, but I'm lucky when I can buy good'ole Humbrol cans at a decent price. Three hurras the day I can buy Tamiya from my local Hobby Store -- and imorts are very restricted so I cannot just go and buy on-line anymore
Secondly: Let's be honest: nobody really knows the exact color of this airlpanes and its markings. It's all black and white pictures and somewhat obscure references and guessing
Last but not least: 'actual' colors had all its brightness and sharpness the day the Airplane left the factory ... two weeks in the front lines and the sun, the wind, the rain, and all the weather would take a toll, especially in canvas painted airplanes.
So I try not to be really obsesive with it, especially with this models that I use to play games :)
OK.
Budget Hasty Repaint - 91a Squadriglia aircraft no. 1 - Pier Ruggero Piccio. SPAD VII, ARES miniature (Started out as a Guynemer)
Matching the paint I would classify as a near miss. Spent quite a bit of time mixing, looking, mixing, looking, mixing.....then I settled. OK at game distances.
Reverse Italian Roundels by Dom's Decals.
Rampant Griffin by Armorcast decals (Had to go Medieval to find these....)
Overall flat spray is ModelMasters flat lacquer, which is not entirely flat.
Next up is a Pessi, once I find, or find a way to create a crescent moon of the appropriate size.
Attachment 196183
Attachment 196184
Attachment 196185
On the lower wing you can see the old French Insignia bleed through with light behind it. Better to have white primed over it first. No problem with the green however. Red and Green Paint was just some old Citadel colors I had lying about.
Had a near impossible time removing Vieux Charles - you can still see traces. An exacto, a steady hand, and more patience would either have removed it, or scraped through to the base material......or both.
As a gaming piece, I am satisfied.
Nice work Bob. For future reference I might add that for the yellow I have found Humbrol #103 a nice match. Credit goes to Mau Fox (Maurizio) for informing me of the yellow.
Also if you ever need a griffon again, Flying Officer Kyte (Rob) supplied me with the image (if you print decals). It is in the decal sheet I uploaded for my Guido Keller repaint.
http://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/dow...o=file&id=2222
Well, if anyone need griffins from now on, I have a sheet of many, in various sizes. Come one, come all! Yours for the postage if you're across the pond.
Here is Tenente Pessi.
1. I found some old decals in black for a 1/48 P-51 I was not using. Check.
2. Find multi-size hole punch tool. Check
3. Punch out black circle roughly the diameter on the fuselage insignia (should have gone a size smaller...). Check.
4. Punch out two spheres. Re punch a smaller diameter circle, turning the circle into a crescent. Check
5. Apply decals. Check.
Viva Italia!
Attachment 196186
Mi portano gli austriaci!
More great work Bob.....like the hole punch idea.:sAprvd:
Nice jobs guys!
I'm attaching two cards for your birds. If you look in the Files area you can find a zip file with most pilots of 91a Squadriglia
Attachment 196192Attachment 196193
Nice set of cards Ezekiel....got'em downloaded.
Very good of you to post the cards Ezekiel.
Thanks.
Rob.
Ltn Colonel Armand Pinsard's SPAD S.VII
Attachment 196307
This is a very simple and straight forward re-paint I did some time ago.
Ltn Colonel Armand Pinsard was commander of Escadrille SPA 78 from October 10th 1916 to July 12th 1917. He is regarded as have been the first pilot to shoot down an enemy airplane on a SPAD VII.
He piloted two diferent SPAD S.VII with their fuselage painted black (at this time you may want to play the Rolling Stones' Painted Black theme)
The most famous of of them had the legend REVENGE on the sides of the fuselage, the other one had two yellow-golden leopards (#406) -- a personal adaptation of the black Borneo Panther that was SPA 78's squadron marking
Attachment 196308
This plane had a tragic fate, Cnel Pinsard suffered an accident on June 12 while doing a low altitude maneuver. The plane was destroyed and pilot suffered a server head injury.
So here is the plane:
Attachment 196309Attachment 196310Attachment 196311Attachment 196312
I also have a home-made card for this plane. I'm uploading in case anyone likes to do the same model which as I said is an easy re-painting.
Attachment 196323
This same card and the one for REVENGE plane can be found at the Files Section/Custom Cards/Entente Powers here in the Aerodrome. I'll upload a small document with the decals on scale for doing Pinsard's planes and some other SPA 78 airplanes shortly.
91ª Squadriglia Aeroplani da Caccia "Degli Assi".
Attachment 196332
Tenente MARIO D'URSO
Attachment 196333
Sergente CESARE MAGISTRINI
Attachment 196334
Maggiore FRANCESCO BARACCA
Attachment 196335
Capitano FULCO DI CALABRIA
Attachment 196336
Tenente FERRUCIO RANZA
Attachment 196337
Tenente Colonello PIER RUGGERO PICCIO
Attachment 196339
Now that is indeed a magnificent aircraft paint scheme Ezekiel.
Where are you sourcing all this information. I can only find the ones mentioned in Osprey.
Rob.
Thanks Rob!
Check out following URL. It's in French. It has tons of data regarding French Squadrons including photographs, pictures, missions data, etc.
http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escad...adrille078.htm
Above link is for SPA 78, you can browse for each squadron too
http://albindenis.free.fr/Site_escad...e_centaine.htm
Thanks Ezekiel, that is indeed a mine of information.
Rob.
Great SPAD VIIs Ezekiel. I'll definitely have use for those SPA78 Escadrill decals! Thanks for the Pinsard card.
Great set of planes Ezekiel!!
Very impressive squadron, Ezekiel! Well done!
Super SPAD Squadron! :clap::clap::clap:
Sorry. Missed this when it was posted :p
That Pinsard SPAD is just excellent :thumbsup:
Great paintjob.
And that goes for that squadron to ;)
So now I have some geart new ideas for the dozen Spads stacked in the shop, prepare the conversion elves! Thanks for the inspiration and great models!
SPAD VII
77a Squadrigilla
Lt. Ernesto Cabruna
Ares Games SPAD VII model with decals from 1/144 direct - origial Nexus games plane card.
Some details are improved like the late war Italina rondels.
Nice alterations there Sven.:clap:
I am not about to follow your lerad, however, and change all my Roundels for the late war conflict.:D
Rob.
Nice work Sven! :thumbsup:
Blue skies Sven :thumbsup:
Nice Spad. ;)
looks great!
a friendly note for all members re-painting Italian SPADs regarding Italian roundels:
Italy didn't have a oficial standarized rule for national markings for most of the WWI
Planes that were imported from France (such as the SPAD VII) usually keept the French marking style replacing the blue inner circle by a green one.
Planes produced in Italy (such as Hanriot HD1) had the green circle in the outside
Some SPADs used a smaller, 'low-visibility' roundel -- same size as the roundel in the fuselage sides
Under-wing markings for quick recognition and to avoid friendly fire was Dark-Green (3/4 right under lower wing) and Red (3/4 left under-lower wing). White wasn't used in the middle, just the natural sail or silver color.
With the production of an official Ares Guynemer SPAD S.VII I found myself with two F-Toys Guynemer versions needing a repaint.
Attachment 203266 Attachment 203264
My first repaint is an Imperial Russian Air Service SPAD S.VII flown by the 20 victory Russian 'Ace of Aces' Polkovnik Aleksandr Alexandrovich Kozakov in September 1917. The aircraft is the second on the left in the 1st BAG line up above. By that time there was very little combat activity on the Russian Front, which was disintegrating as the revolution spread to troops in the frontline. On 10 September Kozakov, flying his SPAD attacked four enemy aircraft near Smotrich. Minutes later Alexey Shirinkin of the 7th AOI, also flying a SPAD VII, entered the battle. He quickly brought down one of the enemy machines near the village of Shidlovtsy, but was then set upon by another German fighter, which caused him to disengage from the battle and make a forced landing. Kozakov remained in the melee and eventually forced his three adversaries to retreat to their own lines.
Attachment 203261
Attachment 203262
The decals are home made, copy below.
Attachment 203263
Nice work Carl. :sAprvd:
Thanks Kelly. I really like the look of the Russian roundels.
SPAD S.VII from SPA 62 flown by Sous Liutenent Entienne Moungeot
Attachment 210423
Attachment 210424
Attachment 210425
Nice one Ezekiel!
:thumbsup: