Banfield's A11 progress report...

John Masters · 19 March 2006, 06:56 AM

Folks--

After setting aside yesterday as Day 1, I began the Mickl-Oeffag flying boat, 'Blau Vogel', flown by Gottfried von Banfield. This is a straightforward kit, providing you have some good references, some scratchbuilding skills, and the Aerodrome Forum to ask for help!

Picture 1 shows the upper wing, sawhorses, dolly, stabilizer, and rudder.

Picture 2 shows the main body of the craft, with the lower wing, lower cabane, and engine mount. The cabanes were partially scratched from brass rod, using some of the resin pieces from the original set. The aft support struts for the stabs and rudder are also partially scratched, using some of the resin and some Contrail plastic. While cleaning up the original resin, one snapped--these were extremely thin, a testament to resin detail--so I replaced it.

Picture 3 shows the motor (supposedly a Hiero 6, but it looks more like a BMW ), and the 2 wing pontoons, yet to be painted, wih more brass rod work. The resin pieces I replaced were too thin to be kept from snapping while cleaning with my hamfisted thumbs! the brass rod on the motor will be part of the radiator piping going to to airfoil radiator on the top wing.

Questions: The kit came with a gravity tank that supposedy fits under the radiator. None of the profiles show a tank like this, and the photos seem to suggest the same, yet there it is o the rudimentary instruction sheet. I'm loathe to attach the thing, so point me in the right direction, please. Also, the dolly--what was it made from? All metal? Only metal rims?

The overall color is Humbrol 109, Misterkit AH Flag Red, and PollyScale Reefer White.

Thanks Rowan!

From the Factory on the hill,
John

Matt_Bittner · 19 March 2006, 09:38 AM

Looking great so far. What kit is it, though?

John Masters · 19 March 2006, 10:33 AM

Matt--I have no idea who made this kit. Rowan Broadbent sent it my way a few weeks ago. It is light green resin, with nothing but a photocopied exploded view, and three profiles, thankfully in scale with the kit. I'll use one as the basis for the unique lettering for the serial. No name, no manufacturer, nada.

Here's what I worked on this morning---struts, big ones, little ones, brass, Contrail, etc...also mounted the engine and added what I hope, going by the photos, to be somewhat accurate engine details. I'm working on control horns this afternoon. No idea what to do for the control lines on the tailfeathers, though. No info.

From the Factory on the hill,
John

Rowan Broadbent · 19 March 2006, 11:47 AM

Crikey, John, you model at 100mph compared to me! Looking really good!

I see what you mean about the colour, the greyish tint does look good.

As to the provenance of the kit, I originally bought it in Hannants, Colindale, London; probably around 1993/4. I thought it was a very early Czechmaster resin (1/72).

Like the strutage - that resin would have snapped if you looked at it!

John Masters · 19 March 2006, 01:15 PM

I model the same way that I worked in kitchens when I was a working chef...There is always something to do--maybe little, big, but it moves the project forward. I think a good estimated time for completion would be Tuesday, EST sometime. I had to fiddle about with the struts to get them to fit, and then spent all afternoon with little bits of black decal to spell out 'A 11' twice. If I had real AMS I'd model in the four scupper ports on each side of the fuse...actually I might do that tonight--not too tough, really.

Ha! This is much more fun than reading Kant!

From the Factory on the hill, taking tea,
John

John Masters · 20 March 2006, 03:03 PM

Well, it's not Tuesday, which means that the Factory on the hill is ahead of schedule with the building. I finished the rigging and finial touchups about an hour ago. However, this means that my stack of homework has begun to loom allthe more ominously on my desk...Kant and Hegel can wait for another day, i.e. tomorrow!

So a big thank you to Rowan Broadbent for the chance to build this very pretty little ship. The rigging is all stainless, drawn through a black marker. The 'A 11' is the culmination of several hours worth of cutting and snipping black decal, and the cross on the side is from the decal file. The upper shots came out blurry, so you cannot see the crosses on top, framed in this lovely blue tint. The Schwarzlose are from Aeroclub. I said no to the drop tank that came with the kit for the simple reason that there would not be enough room betweeen the wing and motor, and there was no sign of it in the profiles.

Here you are...36 hours or so after starting...Gottfried von Banfield's one and only...

From the Factory on the hill,
John

Ross_Moorhouse · 20 March 2006, 03:56 PM

Wow what a quick build.

When are you going to send some pics to me????

StephenLawson · 20 March 2006, 05:01 PM

So far all I have is on Banfield's birds is the Hansa Brandenburg CC "A.24" with the 185hp Austro - Diamler. I have a couple of other sources I'll check.

John Masters · 20 March 2006, 06:00 PM

Thanks boys. Ross, I'll send you some pictures of three different builds using new pictures of each. My little outdated Fuji Finepix takes better pics in difused sunlight, not indoors like the pics of A 11. Tomorrow, I promise. Should I just email them or go to your site and send them that way?

John

Rowan Broadbent · 21 March 2006, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StephenLawson

So far all I have is on Banfield's birds is the Hansa Brandenburg CC "A.24" with the 185hp Austro - Diamler. I have a couple of other sources I'll check.

Have a look at the late Dr Martin O'Connor's Air Aces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - lovely book if you can find it. The Bluebird features on the cover (on my edition) and as a sideview in the book. The colour was picked out by the old Gent, Banfield, himself from a Methuen colour book during a fascinating interview with Dr O'Connor in October 1977. Sad that both interviewer and interviwee are no longer with us.

Cracking job, John and in record time! The Caproni will make a nice "target"!!

Rowan