¹⁄35

Zeppelin Staaken R.VI

Step 4
I discarded all the kit struts and used modified Contrail Strut stock (sold as a separate item) still sold through Rosemont and Sopwith Hobbies. These were then drilled out at their leading edges and I inserted brass-rod and faired the brass with the remaining airfoil of the Contrail struts. These will of course be ultimately seated in the socket holes drilled into the upper and lower wings. I also used bent and shaped brass-rod in lieu of the kit landing gear struts. Instead of the kit wheels (42 vacuform halves), I used sixteen rubber 5/8 inch ‘O’ rings purchased from a hardware store on four sections of 3/8 wooden dowel (with four ‘O’ ring/wheels each). These four dowel sections should have a hole drilled through them to accommodate the axles also made of brass-rod. Wrap the axles in the ‘V’ legs of the undercarriage with upholstery thread (Canvas/awning shops) to represent the bungee type shock absorbers used on the original. To be very accurate you can add an inverted length of ‘U’ shaped brass-rod above the axles connected to the landing gear legs. The resulting collar restricts the travel of the axles on landing. Add a brace from one under carriage ‘vee’ to the other behind the axle.

Step 5
I also followed Mr. Rimell’s advice and used only the lower halves of the dual whale tail arrangement but balsa wood cores are unnecessary. The tail-camber was inverted, so just sand and fill all the grooves, add rib stations and score/ scribe the control surface separation lines. Use the flat side as the top surfaces. Drill here all of your strut locator and rigging holes. Now mount your tail surfaces using brass-rod for spars/pins to the fuselage and struts for the dual surfaces. I did not use the central fin provided in my kit.

Step 6
I used six sheets of Americal/Gryphon sheet No.3 - Nachtbombengeschwader Camouflage 1917-1918 (II) to entirely cover the Staaken and mixed my own touch up paints to match. For the aircraft I was working on and the splinter camouflage profile I chose, this is the best way to go. Its alright if a polygon colour is a little out of tune with the rest. Remember that these patterns were painted on, not dye printed in the fabric on rollers at textile mills.

Step 7
The rigging can be accomplished with either one of several mediums. I used the smallest gauge piano wire available to me. Roughly 0.013 - 0.018 thou. Originally I drilled halfway through the wooden wing spars and measured with drafting dividers, cut to length and snapped the wires in place one at a time. The wooden spars are functional and well able to kept everything lined up. Today, I would use 0.008 - 0.015 thou. brass dipped in Hobby Black or heavy duty fishing line. I would also drill my pilot holes completely through the wing.

Step 8
For the propellers I used extra items from the Glencoe 1/48 scale Albatros D.III kits (there were two in each kit). Another option would be the propellers in the Eduard 1/48 scale Albatros D.V or D.Va kits. The originals were skinned in plywood sheeting so no laminations were seen. I used fine mesh screen for the scratch built radiator and oil cooling units.

The Diorama

This is a hypothetical account of a proposed air show/display that would have been put on in the first weeks of April 1918 outside Berlin at the Staaken Works. Vendors of dried food stores, beer, baked goods and spirits, were to be invited out. Several Circus companies were to be recruited and with a railroad spur nearby the Staaken factory for everything to be made ready. Old captured aircraft were going to be on display and whole families would have been permitted to have their photos taken on them. Center stage attraction was slated to be the Zeppelin Staaken R.VI. For unknown reasons the idea of the air show was cancelled. My display represents only a segment of the total proposed festivities. The project includes 1x Airfix, 722 x Preiser figures, 27 x different types of Preiser’s products (some in multiples), 1x IHC Carousel #5111 (modified to a 1900 configuration) and 3 x Jordan Highway Miniatures vehicles.

The Diorama today

The diorama was placed on long term loan to the Lafayette Foundation Museum in Denver Colorado USA in 1999. During a second photo shoot in 1993 I replaced the Albatros D.Va with a Factory modified 1/72 S.S.W. D.III from the second issue ‘Pegasus’ kit. The Dr.I in ‘Jasta colours’ was replaced with several factory test aircraft of the same type: V.4 w/n 1661, V.6 w/n 1698, V.7 w/n 1788, and 108/17 with a U.I 100hp. The Pegasus 1/72 S.S.W D.III was built alongside the same type Eduard 1/48 scale kit. I scratchbuilt the cockpit of the 1/72nd to match the 1/48th.

The Contrail Kit Today

The story of the Staaken won’t seem to die just yet. As recent as December 1998 reports were surfacing amongst the World War Modelers on the webpage forum that a company in the United Kingdom had acquired some or all of the Contrail molds. For a time it looked as though there might be a limited run release of the dreaded vacuform sheets for the R.VI. Dreamers wanted a re-release with white metal parts, strut stock and new decals. It was not to be.


References:
Army uniforms of World War One by Mollo & Turner, Blandford Press. 1977.
Color Profiles of World War One Combat Planes by Apostal & Bignozzi, Cresent Pub. 1974.
Cross & Cockade USA Vol. 13, #3, p. 260, 1972.
Cross & Cockade USA Vol. 19, #3, Pp.203, 207-228 , 1978.
Cross & Cockade USA Vol. 20, #3, p. 284, 1979.
Cross & Cockade USA Vol. 24, #3, p. 216, 1983.
German Giants by Haddow & Grosz, Putnam Pub. 1962 & 1988.
German Aircraft of the First World War by Grey & Thetford, 1962.
Project Riesenflugzeug by Rimell, Scale Models, Feb. 1982, Pp.80-84, (Part 1).
Project Riesenflugzeug by Rimell, Scale Models, April 1982, Pp.184-188, (Part 2).
Scale Model Aircraft in Plastic Card by Harry Woodman, M&A Pub. Argus Ltd, 1975.
The German Army 1914-1918 by Fosten, Marrion & Embleton, Osprey Pub. 1981.
The Nachrichtenblatt der Luftstreitkrafte, Office of the General of the Kogenluft, bi-weekly news reports for the months of April-May 1918.
World War One in Plastic by Brad Hansen, Great Auk Pub. 1979.