Hello everyone,
My question is where is the variety when it comes to bi-planes. I have always had a special liking of bi-planes, yet there always seems to be a lacking on scales and particular models when it comes to plastic. I have started towards building a limited number of r/c models to get both varitey and size. One example would be a ‘Pitts Special’ a favorite of mine and a larger scale of a stearman , which got me into balsa to get a larger scale. Curious and would like to see some opinions.
Have a good one!
cwnco
As far as variety goes, you have pre-world war I civilian planes, military aircraft from pre-WWI to post WWII and everthing else. A lot of choices, and many are represented in the modelling world.
Per my post at another thread, Airshow Models currently has beautiful 1/32nd resin models of the Christen Eagle and different versions of the Pitts S-2. They will eventually have out a Pitts S-1 and a Stearman. The Stearman will be available stock or as a “Super Stearman” airshow airplane.
Go Here ===> http://www.airshowmodels.com/
Jim
Cwnco, unless you are only looking for light civilian birds (and in that case, Jim got you some good info), there are absolutely tons of biplanes kit on the market nowadays… All shapes, all sizes, all scales. Hasegawa has some really expensive and exquisite large scale biplanes (Wright brother’s Flyer, Fokker Dr.I), and at the other side of the scale spectrum, you can find 1/144 WWI fighters as well. In between, you can chose from Revell, Hobbycraft, Airfix, Frog, Matchbox, Hasegawa, Roden, MPM, Aeroclub, Sword, Azur, Heller, Monogram, William Bros., Esci, Italeri, Eduard,… (to name but a few). I’d stay away from the older Airfix, Frog and Revell kits but would definitely recommend the Eduard and the Roden kits.
That’s without even mentionning what’s available in vacuform and resin kits…
Unfortunately for those of us that like bigger scales, ie 1/32 & above the choice is hard to come by. Revel in 1958 came out with a four plane series in 1/28 which has been re-issued up to three time since then. I even seen a few of those same kits molded under a british company called advent. Their are PE details avail for them thru copperstate and a cople of others. The german DRI & DVII are in current production you guess it from Revell of Germany. ( Guess they got beat so bad after the armistice they don’t want to re-issue the Camel & Spad ) Those are up to four times the retail price of the FOK’s avail through a few out of production kit finder sites.
Hobbycraft 1/32 Has a scaled down Camel mold and a Spad and Nueiport 17 , GO FIGURE like the german company HObbycraft of oh Canada has no german planes.
Battle axe of france put out a Resin 1/32 Fok D7 and EIndecker EIII. nice and pricecy.
After that the real selection and historical variety are in the micro- 1/48 & 1/72 nd scales. For the life of me I’ll never know how one is supose to add 1/72 nd scale PE to a WWI subject? Hasegawa does have a museum quality skeletal model of the DrI back out but it to has a Camel and Se5 in that series it hasn’t re-released. Model expose puts out an wood & white metal part skelital in 1/16 scale of the Alb Dva, Neuiport 28 and curtis jenny. Museum quality as well. I truely wish there was more. Iam hoping wiht the anniversary of the war comeing up there will be more in the near future. Mean time I keep looking out and striving to add more detail to those kits I’ve got.
Hang on there…The detail that can be fitted to the Vickers Vimy and the HP 400 even in 1/72 would be hard to beat. The Focker Dr1 didnt have any wire bracing any how so no problems there. As you seem to be a reasonable worker in wood try scratch building in what ever scale you like.
There is a Matchbox Tiger Moth in 1/24 available too.
Dai
I always thought there was a good selection of biplanes. If you can live with 1/72 you can find just about anything! The larger the scale the less the selection, but that is true of almost any modeling subject matter.
I get the feeling that you are into r/c and prefer kits - if you don’t mind scratchbuilding see if you can find some of the old Cleveland Models plans - They were quite wide spread in the 30s and 40s (or so I’m told) - I’ve seen some of them in the past and they are quite detailed - they had a large number of biplanes (and some were quite large - how about a Fokker DVII with an 8ft wing span) - think they are still in business (see an occasional small ad for them in various magazines and sets of these plans show up on eBay quite a bit - good luck [;)]
You sure that Matchbox Tiger moth isn’t 1/32nd? I have that one. It’s also out of production. But I’d much rather have a 1/24 Tiger Moth if they make it.
points well taken. Eastern European manufacturers have flooded the market with good examples even eastern block ones…An-2, Po-2 etc
Could have been 1/32 the brain is a bit shakey going all that way back.
Dai
Blueprint Models offers a variety of WWI biplanes in large (1/24) scale :
http://www.largescaleplanes.com/lane/Blueprint_Models.htm
Regards,
-Drew
Lufbery, You ARE a SAINT ! Where did you find that Blueprint Link? How much do you know of them? How long they’ve been around? If you’ve built any of their kits? Your review/opinion of them? MGTaylor
MGTaylor,
The Blueprint planes used to be marked under another name. They’re mixed media kits: vaacuformed fuselages with resin and photoetch other pieces.
Let me refer you to two threads over at The Aerodrome:
I asked about these models and started this thread:
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http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/YaBB.cgi?board=models&action=display&num=1046447254&start=0&showall=true
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I got a ton of good answers and somebody posted some pictures of the kit parts.
Here’s a thread started by someone working on the Nieuport 28 model:
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http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/YaBB.cgi?board=models&action=display&num=1055658061&start=0
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Regards,
-Drew