Greetings all I thought we might do with a bit of spotlight on some modelers that I have come to know as "talented." We can always learn from the works of other modelers. (So you don't get too bored with my opinions.) Here are some of the 1/72 & 1/48 works of Robert Karr.

". . .This is the 1/48 Eduard Albatros D.III backdated to a D.I using the Passchendaele D.II conversion set. The nose was fattened out a little and a few almost invisible ripples put in the plywood with thick paint. . ."

". . .This is the Eduard 1/48 kit.. . ., this turned into harrowing job. But I finished it nonetheless. The cockpit was buolt form scratch after cutting back the fuselage side to just behind the pit and reskinning when the interior work was done. Engine, cowl, wheels and other parts were scrounged from an excess DML Fokker Dr.I. The lozenge was hand drawn and colored, computer tickled and ALPS printed. I'm not a complete convert to ALPS decals because the finished product still has a bit too much "computerness" in it, but it's at least , ok. . ."

". . .I scratchbuilt this 1/32 BE-2 years ago and time had not been its best friend. A couple of wires had snapped plus it had grown a good coat of dust and general grunge. I recently spent a couple of days putting the old gal back in shape.

The wings and tail surfaces were made from 1/16" clear styrene with fishing line ribs, filled in between with 82 gazzillion layers of Floquil "Crystal Cote" used as a clear putty. The internal structure was painted on with fabric color....and a few words about that: some folks have tried to do CDL wings from clear plastic and have not been satisfied with the results. Usually this is from painting the internals a dark wood color, making the structure to dark and stark. The thing to do is paint these internal details fabric color because what's needed is opacity, so shadows are cast- NOT the wood color. It's the shadows we need!

The fuselage was bult up from HO railroad lumber covered in acrylic soaked tissue. All struts are bamboo, rigging is various sizes of fishing line. The engine was made using old standby method of wire wrapped dowels for the cylinders with a crankcase laminated up from sheet styrene. The prop is carved basswood and the wheels are synthetic rubber "O" rings on styrene wheels. . ."

". . . This is the ancient Revell Spad XIII in vaguely 1/28 scale. I built this some time in the late 80's and it's still around. The colors were home made mixes from ????? with lots of consultation with the Project Butterfly issues of Cross and Cockade; the turtle was rebuilt with the former/stringer/tissue method after the kit area was cut away; the rather cliched markings are modified kit decals augmented by bits of hand painting (and fit the best interpretations of the time for one of Luke's airplanes); in a burst of insanity, I added all the tacks in the ribs with a fine brush and white glue dabs, which only show up in some lighting conditions; prop is enlarged; radiator pretty much scratchbuilt except for cowl ring; struts are one of my first attempts with bamboo...the whole model was just about completely rebuilt with no un-modified parts. . ."

I am familiar with Roberts expertise in art. I wasn't aware of his modeling talent! I don't know how I missed the kits that you posted ! Thanks for sharing,
RAGIII

Robert Karr is one of the very best!

Mikko