I was wondering which WW1 biplane kit that you guys would recommend as a first attempt. Thanks. Cheers! John.
Hi John, good to see you over here.
I can echo what the guys said over at The Aerodrome. I bought the Roden F2.b and Fokker D.VII (Albatros-built, early). They look great in the box. I also got the Part PE sets for both planes, so we’ll see how that goes.
The new Revell Fokker Dr.1 has gotten great reviews and seems to build up nicely. The new Eduard Spad 13, in both regular and Profipack versions, has gotten good reviews too.
I’m currently working on a Glencoe 1/74 scale Martin MB-2 bomber. It’s a little post war, but it’s still a bi-plane, it’s close to 1/72 scale, and it’s the only kit of that plane that I know of. This is the type of plane that Billy Mitchell used to show how airplanes could sink battleships.
So far, I’ve spent four or so hours working on the wings. There are numerous raised ejector pin marks that need to be sanded off. Things are going well, but slowly. Still, the kit only cost me $5 at a show.
I’ve seen photos of your work, John, and have no doubt that you’d do a fantastic job on any kit you build. Certainly much better than I can do.
Regards,
Dont be so sure Drew about my skills.We are talking 1/72 here.I always admired the guys who do biplanes at this scale.Wish me luck. Cheers! John.
So John, what kit are you going to build?
Regards,
I’d go with the new 1/72 Revell kit of the Fokker Dr.1. It’s dirt cheap and supposedly a great little kit. The advantadge with the Dr.1 is that there really very few cables to represent, while as you certainly know, most other WW1 airplanes are full of strings! Roden, Toko and Eduard kits are great too, but more expensive. The Revell kit retails here at less than £3 (less than $5)… Once you get that one done (there’s so much great colour schemes you can do with the Dr.1), go for a Fokker DVII or DVIII which will slowly take you to slightly more difficult subjects, slowly building on your skills and experience!
John,
After building a 1/72 Fairey Swordfish, I kinda got the bug for doing more rigging (Sick Puppy !) I recently bought the 1/72 Roden Albatross D.III and was pleasantly surprised at the contents. I bught it cuz I wanted to try something in a natural wood finish (A term you dont’t hear or see often in A/C circles). The kit contains extra parts to build 2 versions and gives you decals and painting instructions for ELEVEN ( ! ) different A/C. If you can’t find a scheme to your liking among these eleven - there’s something wrong. These are really unique painting schemes.
Can’t give you a full-build review as I haven’t glued any parts yet, but the surface detail is very fine. If it finishes half as good as it looks in the box it should be pretty enough to wear around my neck. (pun intended)
Oh - and one more thing I thought of: Some of these kuits are incredibly small.
Good luck and let us know what you pick !