The original title of this thread was "They shoot horses, don't they?"

Some of you may remember this effort of mine on the 1/32 Battle Axe Fokker D.VII kit.

Well a couple of weeks ago I was out at the foundation where I volunteer. And I was presented with this.

It seems a well meaning volunteer was dusting some of the cases of my models off and she was unaware that this one's cover was NOT attached like the others. (This done specifically so our guides could remove the case for tour groups Scouts and school events and etc.) Well, she picked it up to move it. The vacum in the case held until it was about 12" from the table it was on and, well you see.

Though it was a bit unsettling when they sprung it on me I couldn't be upset at the dear woman. So I told her it was an easy fix and that there was no worries! Now rather than let it gather dust under my desk I am commited to fixing it.

(If it were only a Roden kit) But yes dear ones I will go back into the breach and set my sights on beginning a repair Hopefully after the snow sets in. So I will begin. All encouragements welcome.

Well Stephen , you are always encouraging me to improve and I know you will have looking like nothing ever happened to it !

I know the feeling , I have drop my from when I dust them off . The cat has aided in seeing if they can fly !

Will new struts have to be made ?

Well,..

something similair heppened to me the other week. An almost finished kit (Fairey Battle) at my work was moved by a housekeeper. Undercarriage was totally destroyed. Reminds one how vulnerable out kits are. We are of course used to this, and know how to treat them, but this does not count for many many others. Even though they mean no harm.

Extra bugger it's a Battle Axe kit, I saw how hard they are to be build!

Cheers, Nico

I recently dropped an Accurate Armour resin Land Rover, which I had just finished. It was a commission, which I was dropping of (no pun intended..) that selfsame afternoon.... The initial shock quickly gave way, as a frantic repair session took place. I was lucky, in that no major parts had broken, but just a large number of parts had broken off. Cyano and a few spots of paint (thank goodness I paint with Acrylics..) saw the Landy repaired with no ill effects, and delivered on schedule. (note to self, do not move models on the painting turn table again...)
It appears from the pictures, that your plane seems in a better state than the real thing would have done after a messy landing in a muddy Flanders "aerodrome"... I'm sure you'll fix here up right as rain, ready to take to the skies once more.

Hi Stephen!

Ouch, this hurts!

I have the kit in my stash if I'm not wrong. I can send it to you if you need it. I will probably not build it in this life anyway...

Jean-Luc

good luck with the repair jack. Hope to see it finished

So goest the repair.

Painful as it is to look at I can count my blessings I used brass "STRUTZ" Clean breaks and it will go back together ok. Minimal decal damage.

Yep I remember this one, what a gem. Nice to see that you are repairing it.



Larsa Q

So do I , all in all the damage isn't to bad . and I'm looking forward on seeing the pic's once it's in flying order again !

Thanks everyone. The struts are in place and curing up.

The joy of using brass is logevity and if the build is damaged usually the struts can be reused as well. The key is removing the old glue and in most cases (for dried superglue) a dull edged drill bit chucked into your motor tool will clean the tips and the strut socket out.

Case in point after I stripped the interplane and cabane struts and drilled out the sockets again it took about 47 minutes to re-attach them and was able to keep the wing true. More later.

Here it is at this point. Interplane and cabane struts in place.

Fantastic job on the N - struts and a clean repair . I think this type of repair would sit for a while with me , would have this fear of doing more damage done to the lozenge . I also try and stay away from power tools !

Cheers

Great repairing work Stephen!
I'm going to hire you to repair a couple of my models that suffered a bad landing while I was trying to clean them......

This is the Battle Axe 1/32 scale kit. The entire kit has been upgraded using Copper State Models Spandau etched metal fret and Tom's Modelworks German interior and Spandau Machine Gun brass etched metal. Further a Tom's Modelworks resin 160hp Mercedes D.III / 170hp D.IIIa has been upgraded to the specifications of the Mercedes 180hp D.IIIaü that was the standard inline power plant in German single seat fighters for 1918. The Propeller is a laminated wood item from the Czech shop of Mr. M. Digmayer available through Copper State Models.


This build will represent Fokker D.VII 402/18 (w/n 2489) accepted in May 1918 and assigned to "Vizefeldwebel" (acting Sargent) Max Holtzem of Jasta 16b. Vzfw. Holtzem had been assigned to this unit on 22 Sept. 1917 and stayed there until the end of the war. A modest man he refused to take credit for any of the combat victories that he took part in. Around the turn of the century children were told that the comet was a departed soul en route to heaven. Holtzem's mother had died when he was nine years old and he had the comet painted on all his Jasta 16b aircraft to denote her spirit as his "Guardian Angel."Holtzem's own description says that this machine was his at the war's end. He says that he "acquired" some benzine and flew the machine home where he hid it. His narrative goes on to say that he removed the guns and later added a second seat behind the cockpit. Max Holtzem later befriended Dr. J. J. Parks President of the Lafayette Foundation and shared his wartime experiences. Two years before his death in 1980 Max posed with the foundation's replica Fokker D.VII in one of our German officer uniforms as evidenced by the photos presented here.

Stephen. Thanks for an interesting insight to the A/C and the pilot. He seemed a remarkable man.

Keith

Thank you for the kind words Keith. Well folks here it is repaired and ready. Though for some reason I have an itch to put a Model Cellar 1/32 German standing pilot beside it.

If they only made this in 1/32.

For anyone interested here is the 4f sheet of BA kit parts that did not make my cut in the original build.

I have been following this on the "drome". Great effort on the repair of the 'victim'. I have had several go the same way. Some I fix, others I toss, not worth the effort. Obviously, yours was well worth the effort. Thanks for sharing those pictures too of the pilot. A freind of mine in grade schools grandfather was a German WWI infantry man. I met him once. He had a dent in his head from a wound, spoke no English, and my 9th grade German wasn't the greatest, but he was a nice man, and appreciated the effort to communicate with him. I remember well the few WWI veterans I met and saw in my lifetime, my grandfather and his brothers included.

Great job on the repair.

My grandfather was also a WWI veteran. He served in Harry Truman's battery. Unfortunately, I did not find this out until after his death. The history this generation witnessed is almost beyond belief. They saw the birth of aviation and the moon landing.