Koster 1/48 Siemens Schuckert build. Finished.

[HAMERF2B]

To anyone who may remember me first posting about this model back in April. I apologise for totally failing to post pics as the model progressed, but there have been all sorts of issues with my pooter, not all of them sorted, and it is only now that I have been able to re use the attachment facility on our p.c. Any way here is my finally finished Koster vac/metal/etch Siemens Schuckert SSW D.III. Apologies for the bloody awful grainy pics, but I am still getting to grips with the camera and everything else necessary to post here. I hope I can do much better in future. If anyone is interested I will happily give my thoughts on this build, and again I apologise for starting a build thread on this model and then just losing the plot with it, so I hope these belated pics help redress the balance a little.
Nick.

[JohnReid]

I remember your post back then.Please Nick ,I would be interested to hear about your experiences with the build.

[StephenLawson]

Yes, give us a blow by blow account.

[CB]

Your build so inspired me that I went and bought a Koster SS D.IV kit.

[terri werner]

Nicely done Nick !

[HAMERF2B]

Thank you folks, for your interest in this build. Firstly, I would highly recommend the Koster kits of the D.III and probably even more so the D.IV because of the one piece resin wings and lower wing centre section, which would make the build a little easier with the D.IV (I'm guessing, because I haven't built my D.IV, yet). The Koster multimedia kits appear to be at least on a par with the Aeroclub vacs, so I can't really pay a higher compliment than that.
With my D.III I started by opening all the handhold and step openings around the fuselage and deepened them put in sides and backs , then put in a length of evergreeen strip for the grab bars, details like this are not easy for vac forming to capture very well. Also I cut off all the scoops and vents on the sides of the fuselage and the underside of the fuselage behind the engine. The louvres and scoops on this area of the kit again, are let down by the vac forming process. This is in no way a criticism of the kit rather I just felt that I could improve things a little by taking the time to replace the louvres and scoops and vents on the model with new ones. The scoops and vents were made by nicking some missiles from a Phantom kit and re sanding the ends to the right profile and just plunge moulding them, then the plunge mould of each missile tip was sliced down the middle and you have a vent/air scoop. The lovres on the underside are just quater section fine evergreen strip cut in small sections and glued on in two rows.
I had conflicting drawings, as reference for this build, the old William Wylam drawings, which I reckon this kit was based on, and the Datafile drawings ( Thank you Bryon!!!) which both gave different wingspans. In the end I went with the Datafile drawings so I had to lose iirc about 1.5 cm off the wingspan, and also the cut out in the upper wing for the pilot had to be re done. I lost the moulded in wing ribs, but these were perhaps overscale and anyway, the decal rib tapes replace them perfectly and with greater scale effect. The control surfaces were all seperated and hinges added.
The white metal kit engine is o.k. but very anaemic in that there is very little detail and the pushrods are rather unconvincingly moulded on the cylinders. I very carefully scraped the moulded pushrods off the front of the cylinders and then put simple representations of the little rocker arms on each cylinder head and then used fine fuse wire for the pushrods, it made a heck of a difference to the kit engine and was actually simple to do. Looking at pictures of the Siemens Halske engine it was necessary to do this work on the engine. The cut away vac cowling on the D.III makes for a hair raising experience when cutting away from the backing sheet and opening up the front, along with sanding the edge to give a scale thin appearance. Just take it slow and when cutting and sanding this part the old saying 'less is more' applies.
I used the all the white metal cabane and wing struts, but I replaced the undercarriage struts with rolled wire with the aerofoil section made from thin strips of paper folded around the struts and covered with c.a. as the kit white metal u/c struts looked very starved when compared to the pictures in the Datafile. As an aside here, anyone who is contemplating building an SSW D.III, I have learned through Bud Pearson, that Albatros Productions have just done a ltd re-print of the Datafile. So get one in if you haven't already.
The cockpit is mostly scratch built to a basic standard apart fromthe harness, control grip and the decal instruments. The white metal and etch guns are simply gorgeous, and look great with very little effort. The model is painted with Citadel acrylics over plastic primer from a spray can. I find myself using the Games Workshop Citadel paints more and more these days, they airbrush beautifully and brush paint really well and that's something that I've always never been abeen able to do using acrylics is brush paint. The kit decals were used, I think the Lozenge is almost as nice as the old Pegasus Lozenge and the decals are of amazing quality, they adhere bloody well over a little johnsons clear with Micro set and Sol.
Well, I hope this hasn't bored you too much and has answered a few questions about the model and the Koster Kit. A lot of the work I did on the model may not have been necessary- the model would still have looked like a SSW D.III without doing it. Maybe if I had stuck with the old William Wylam drawings I would not have felt compelled to ring the changes with the wings. However, I still am glad Bryon supplied me the Datafile and I was able to make an informed choice there, so, thank you, mate!! I love these koster kits, and I hope one day, to aquire the Hannover CL.III that will be fun.
Incidentally, I actually sold my old Eduard D.III kit before starting this build, I don't know why, but the glass hard plastic and 'bent' upperwing coupled with the acres of etch, just made me feel that though the Koster kit would take longer, and be more work, it would be easier, if that makes any sense? Thanks for the interest and I hope this rambling helps anyone considering the Koster kit. I am at this time fighting the Hi-Tech Sopwith Salamander, having destroyed the kit cowling, tonight I'm hoping to finally plunge mould a new one thanks to a small slice of broom handle which just happened to be the right diameter! And unlike the original cowling maybe it will fit around the resin Benley Br.2. Maybe.
Cheers,

Nick.

[Spads1957]

Nick that's one fine SSW.

[BLOWHARD]

Really nice! I really enjoyed building mine almost 20 years ago, I did the same markings too. It's a nice kit!

[surfjunke]

Beautiful job, Nick. Very nice SSW.

[HAMERF2B]

Thanks again for the kind comments, folks. I've attached a couple of pics of the build process here which may make sense of some of my ramblings on the subject of building this great kit, at least, I hope so.

Cheers,

Nick.