Thanks Michal. The real credit goes to Mike West for engineering such a great kit. The PE puts it over the top.

Mark

How goes the build Mark ?

Terri,

It's progressing. The kit seat fits great but as I tried to fit the PE included in the kit, it showed the backrest isn't high enough. I'm planning to scratchbuild it, that way I can add rivet detail. I'll have some pics soon.

Mark

In the real aircraft the pilot's seat was also the fuel tank. Here's the kit seat, the backrest is not tall enough to accept the photo-etch made for the arm rests.



I sandwiched some sheet styrene to get the correct thickness and glued it together and cut it to shape. Then I used my Trumpeter Rivet Maker to put in some rivets.



Then I made the sides and test fitted the seat to see if I was on the right track. Notice that I've also painted the interior of the armored tub a dark grey.



And here is the PE and arm rests attached.




I hope to have the seat and the instrument panel finished tomorrow.

Mark

And here is the finished scratchbuilt seat with test fit...............................................







Mark

Nice job on the seat Mark , he would have to been one very brave soul to have his whole seat as the gas tank . You wouldn't find me sitting in there not even if it was empty .

Terri,

I agree. Thank goodness for the armor. I'm amazed by the bravery of these early pilots.

Here's the pilot seat / brass fuel tank............................






Mark

Execellent job done on the seat Mark . The rivet detail is awsome . What maker of paint did you use ? I've tried the stuff from testors but found it to be very mess , get's all over my hands and everry where else expect for the part where the paint is to go .

Uh you might want to. . . Terri, the paint. . . lets see how can I say this. . . gee Terri its you, not the paint.

Ha, Ha,Ha,Ha , your very funny Stephen !!!!

Terri,

I used Testors Brass Non-Buffing Metalizer. I really like the effect, looks like brass to me. It does seem to get everywhere if you're not careful. I always make sure I clear off the workbench and keep other things I'm working on away from where I'm spraying and cleaning the airbrush.

Mark.

Thats the stuff I'm talking about Mark , sure Stephen might be making fun of me for the messiness of the stuff ( he does have a kind heart ) . I do recall a product called SNJ which are in a powder from but I haven't seen that around for years now .

Terri,

I still have some of the SnJ stuff. Now those powders will REALLY make a mess if you're not careful but I got great results from them.

Mark

I still have some of the gold left and I use that for doing ammo belts and such , funny though I don't seem to make a mess when using these . Any new up dates for us Mark ?

Terri,

I should have an update soon. As I was looking over the pictures of the Canadian J.I, I noticed that there were wood panels attached to the interior of the armored tub on the pilot and observer areas. The linkage for the control stick is very complex. Wait til you see it.

I'm making a trip to NASM in D.C. next week to do some research in the archives and hope to find some info on the Benz IV engine and some other projects I'm working on. I'll be scratchbuilding the engine, too.

Mark

Hey Mark , looking forward to your progress ! It would be nice if Eduard did this one in 48 scale same with Roden .

Terri,

That would be great. The J.I has minimal rigging and would be a great jumping off point for a beginner or someone new to WW1 aviation. Maybe someone out there is thinking of producing it. You never know.

Mark

Just a little post today. I've added some washes to the fuselage to dirty it up some. First a few washes in brown..............



then some washes in black.......................................





I still have to add the wood panels to the pilot and observer interior positions.

Here's a picture of the cockpit from the kit instructions.



Most of the linkage is available in PE with the kit. Very tiny and very hard to bend.



Heres the kit control stick. A little on the heavy side. I'll scratchbuild it later.



I'll post more when I get back from the Smithsonian.

Mark

Nice weathering on the cockpit tube ! And from the pics of the cockpit of the aircraft and the kit parts for the controls , wow very complex . Thoughts are very small parts for PE .

Any new up-dates Mark !

Terri,

I've just been waiting for a few things to come in the mail. Here's some "HO" and "O" scale corrugated sheets and some brass tube and styrene rod with a metal rod inside, very bendy for the fuselage.





Now Wingnut Wings has a 1/32 scale J.I. Remember my post from March 26?


"That would be great. The J.I has minimal rigging and would be a great jumping off point for a beginner or someone new to WW1 aviation. Maybe someone out there is thinking of producing it. You never know."


Mark

Talk to me Mark! Tell me please that this beauty will be finished! Your thread gave me inspiration.

Definitely, Stephen. I was having trouble finding references, but now that Wingnuts have released their J.I there is much more info out there that I couldn't find on my own. I'll be finishing this and the Grig this fall in preparation for my scratchbuilds I have in mind for next year.

Thanks for checking in with me, I appreciate it.

Mark