1/72 Academy SPaD XIII

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Hello, my fellow modellers!

While I’ve been waiting for paint to dry on my Stuka I was quietly working on this little number in the background. Although the box says it 1/72 its closer to 1/76. Its smaller than the Albatros by a couple of milimeters in all dimensions. I wasn’t orriginally planning on rigging this thing because of its size, but I talked myself into it this morning and I’ve been working on finishing it up for half the day.

I never meant to challenge myself in this fashion, but that’s exactly what I ended up doing. Especially since I’ve used stretched sprue for the wires. None of it is perfect, but its a pretty fair looker from more than 8 inches away lol.

These following macro shots are a total buzkill. There are far more flaws than I’d like to admit, but macro shots do that. lol

I have more respect now, than ever, for anyone who has to string these things. 1/48 must be difficult enough, but then there are those lunatics that feel the need to wire up something in this size. Those guys must have some issues lol.

I even managed to make up a windscreen, which can be seen in some of the pictures, but ended up out of focus in most of these pictures.

I’m still confused as to why the instructions would have me add the Finnish markings to the fuselage, but I think the decision to add the white band is something I’m not regretting lol. I’ve already had to tell a few family members those are not Swastikas [facepalm].

History, is just lost on most people.

Anyways, that was a nice build. Some filler was used and some misalignments were present, but nothing out of the ordinary for an Academy kit. I found the wings easier to align then my Revell Albatros, and with less trouble. I added the outer wing spars to the upper wing and the main spars to the fuselage during painting and attached the wings just last night. The tail was the most problematic part of the entire build and you can’t tell how much rebuilding I did to get it lined up. The blue on the decals for the roundels and the tail was way too dark and I had to paint those over by hand. I think I did pretty good with the hairy sticks this time. :wink:

Anyways, its smaller than the Albatros, but it looks pretty good sitting next to it. Time to finish off the Albatros soon.

Thanks for looking! Have a great night! :slight_smile:

2

Nice looking model. I have not built a biplane since I was a kid 60 years ago (yikes). I remember that I had a difficult time getting the upper wing aligned properly.

3

This is the first crate I’ve completed in over 30 years myself lol. I was never brave enough to rig these things then, and I’m not so keen on doing it again lol. But it really does add the final touch to the way they look. Obviously I didn’t add all of the rigging, because what I did add was very challenging already. Getting those sucker straight was a big accomplishment lol.

Yes, I’m going to do it again with my Albatros, but no, I’m not looking forward to it lol.

4

WOW! WOW! Phenomenal! My hats off to you. I’ve never made a bi-plane in my life. Too complicated with all that rigging. LOL!

Toshi

5

Well its definitely a challenge, my friend. Especially rigging with something only twice the thickness of a human hair and made of soft plastic lol. I had to glue one end down, wait five to ten minutes and then very carefully stretch the other end into place, hold it there with the x-acto, and add a spot of Tamiya extra thin while holding in place so the glue could dry enough to hold the end in place. It took a little practice, but that was the method that ended up working.

To firm them up a bit I held the model in front of a solar heat lamp. So they are mostly straight and a little too thin in a couple of places… and a touch loose in a few others, but its not easy to tell.

I think it turned out alright. Last night after I posted I decided to give it one last clear cote of Vallejo with a brush. Unfortunately it came out glossy. That was confusing and I investigated the bottle to find out the stuff that makes it matte was all stuck to the bottom. So after 20 minutes of shaking to get it all mixed back up I ran it through the AB and the finish is now very flat. It looks better now lol.

Anyways, this build was good. I used a lot of sprue bits for filler instead of my typical bondo and I can’t tell where I had to fill anything in at all. For small spaces sprue bits are the way to go for filler. :slight_smile:

Have an excellent day my friend!

6


Its smaller than the Albatros. No joke. Now imagine trying to rig this thing. LMAO!

7

Excellent job Mike! I’ve got this little kit packed away in my stash. Maybe I should get around to building it one of these days. What did you use for rigging?

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I used really thin stretched sprue for the rigging. It was a PITA which is why I only did the four cables on each side lol.

Its a decent kit. You’ll have to watch out for the fit of the tail pieces though. They don’t fit too well together. I had to use card stock to make things line up where I wanted them. Other than that, the wings should line up okay adn the front engine cowling needs some extra TLC to fit right without gaps.

That only thing that bugs me is the size. It looks too small. lol

9

Nice! Very cool Mike. Regardless, it appears that you did a fine job on the rigging as well as the kit overall. Really nice work. I too have this exact kit as well as their Sopwith Camel. I’ve pulled it out once in a while and consider tackling it. I’ve yet to try my hand at rigging but, I’d like to as I would really like to add some bipe builds to my collection. I’ve also got Eduards 1/48 Spad XIII and Fokker DVII in my stash that appear to be really sweet kits that I look forward to building some day. I’m really glad you shared this with us Mike. You sure did a fantastic job on it.

Joe

10

Well done, sir.

11

WOW !! That is amazing !!! I think those small scale birds are simply stunning when done up like that. I dont have the eyes for hands for that anymore, but that’s nothing short of incredible.

BK

12

Thank you guys! Thank you very much!

Joe, there isn’t much to this kit. You’ll want to detail something to bring it up past “blah” and have something that has some visual interest. I think I could have done more with mine.

13

Mike,

That’s way past “blah”.

I think you pegged the “SWEET-O-METER”

Chris

14

Thank you again, Chis! Its growing on me. :slight_smile: LOL