Awesome. Stephen, she´s just that lovely.

Excellent build there Stephen. I for one really appreciate your well documented build with all the "how to's" incorporated. Those made my build go better. What's the "Rule" for dropping the machine?

Regards
Steve

Absolutely beautifully Stephen . Congrats on getting her done .

Hi folks,...the Kevlar Stephen speaks of can be bought at most tackle shops or Wally-World under various trade names,.....the most popularly stocked version is called "SpiderWire"

Thank you Larsa,Terri & Steve for the kind words.. . .rule for dropping the machine? Thats the 24 hour rule. You work 24 hrs to fix it.

Excellent work, Stephen. Now to finish mine up.

Mark

Now that I am out of the GB I can add the clear triangle plates to the wing / stabilizer pulley inspection ports.

Also for anyone building this kit. or the Hisso motor version. The SE 5a has a steerable tail skid and the lowest access holes in the rear fuselage are for those cables.

Aha! I had a feeling that we were going to end up with a US scheme here.
Very nice Stephen. How did your Roden decals sit?

Cheers,

Hugh

Greetings Hugh,

My apologies for a tardy reply. The decals went on with some coaxing. First I gloss coated them and cut them out individually. Lots of sol & set applied. then a clean up of the dried residue. Next several coats of a clear matt lacquer. The trick is applying the matt clear coat when the previous matt coat is nearly dry. It seems to soften the gloss and the decal itself.

Very nice Stephen, another beauty - nice scheme too!

Beautiful model, Stephen ! I really like the version you chose

excellent work. to me the different sizes of rigging gives it a really good look, if mine turns out half as good I'll be a happy bunnie!

Thank you all for your kind words. I have been doing some additional research from my files on the AEF Se 5a airframes assigned to the 25th Aero and have found some items that I thought might go good here.

The 25th Aero, U.S.A.S was equipped with the British S.E.5a with the Wright-Martin built 180 hp Hissos. The S.E.5a airframes were built by Austin. The 25th Aero was based at Toul Aerdrome. The 25th Pursuit went operational on 10 November 1918 and flew one combat mission. before the Armistice on 11 November 1918. The Squadron was made up of American pilots who flew with RAF S.E.5a Fighter Squadrons, hence the preference for the S.E.5a, aside from the fact, it was a great aircraft. The U.S.Army had a large order with Austin Motor Car Co. The 141st Pursuit was equipped with S.E.5a after the war. The 25th Aero was apart of the 4th pursuit group. Here is the list of its bases in France (the dates are for their arrival on station).
St. Maxient 20 Aug. 1918.
Romorantin 29 Aug .1918.
Colombey-les-Belles 18 Sept. 1918.
Toul 24 Oct. 1918.

Here are some sources.

OTF Volume 5, # 1 of an interview with Landis inwhich he explains how the unit got it's start.

Vol.7, No. 1 & 2 , American Aviation Historical Society Journal,1962.

some images

The Wright-Hisso powered SE5a did not have the circular air intake between the twin radiators. Many photos of the 25th's SE 5a aircraft did not show this all too common feature. Drat! I missed that.

Mr. David Errol had written;

". . .Wright-Martin Hissos appear to be the same size as the W4a Viper. All models (A, E, I and W4a) have the same bore (120mm) and stroke (130mm). The model A weight was 445lbs and the E and I weighed 470 lbs.

Compression ratio for the A and I was 4.42:1
Compression ratio for the E was 5.33:1, achieved by relocating the pin in the pistons.

Difference between the Wright Hisso A and I (both 150 hp) were in the magneto drive, con rods and pistons. Various Zenith and Stromberg carbs could be fitted to all engines.

For the W4a Viper I have the weight as 508lbs but this might not be measured the same way (ie. dry vs. with fluids).

The W-M engines were in production mid-late 1918 and stayed in production for some time after the Armistice. 1918 aircraft include the Vought VE-7, the Curtiss JH-4H and JN-6H. Post war, W-M Hissos were used in many civil and military aircraft up through the late 1920s. The U.S. Army ordered the Curtiss AT-4, a trainer version of the P-1 Hawk, with the 180 Hisso as late as 1927. . ."

My initial info came from the S.E.5 file by Ray Sturtivant and Gordon Page. It implies that those Austin built S.E.5a aircraft (F8001 to F8200) that the USAS 1st Pursuit Group had in 1919 were engined with Wolseley Vipers. See footnote page 159. That is only 199 airframes.

After the war the contract was cancelled and all the Austin SE 5a parts were bought up by a company called Eberhart and assembled stateside to be sold privately. Curtiss Aeroplane Co. was awarded an order for 1000 S.E.5a to be powered with the Wright-Martin Model E 180 Hp Hisso. The RAF shipped 54 S.E.5a airframes to the U.S.A. as production samples. At war's end Curtiss had assembled one British built S.E.5a. Custiss had not built one machine against the production order of 1000 planes. Then that order was cancelled.

Nice build Stephen ,i really like those markings .

Stephan,

I have been watching your beautiful build of one of my favorite aircraft of all time. You have as always done a masterful job!

I thought you might enjoy the view on this web-site!

Click here.

Make sure and scroll down toward the bottom of the page!!!

Dave