Hi everyone,

I'll be constructing my first complete scratchbuild on this thread. It is the Hansa-Brandenburg W.13 seaplane used by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in WW1. I've been collecting information and books on it for a year or two and have even researched the archives at the NASM. I'm also entering this in Terri Werner's "Two Seater Campaign". I only have until June so the clock is running.

For those of you who aren't familiar with this aircraft, here is a picture from my Windsock Datafile.



Here are a few pictures of the hull construction and test pieces for the tail.



I'm going to build the early "blunt nose" version.










After I finish the hull I'll cast it in resin.

more soon,

Mark

It will be fun to see how this comes together. It looks like you have a good start and that you know what you are doing.

Good luck and hope it turns out the way you want.

I knew you would not disappoint us with a project Mark Will be following this with keen interest .

Another exciting build bt Mark! I'm in! Talk to us about replicating wing rib details on sheet plastic.

As usual: That Magnificent Mark with His Flying Machine back in action...

Thanks Mark and Michal! I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Terri, I wanted to do something a little different for your campaign, so I decided on a two-seater seaplane. I think the W.13 was one really awesome aircraft.

Stephen, here is my extremely conservative plan for the build:

Jan. - Making the fuselage
Feb. - Making the engine and other small parts
Mar. - Making the wings and tail
April to June - putting it all together

I hope to get it done much faster than by June so we'll see.

Here is a little more on the fuselage. I have the basic cockpit and gunner's position installed.




I checked for scale with two 1/48 seated Luftwaffe figures.





More soon,

Mark

Great start, Mark!
I love seaplanes, especially the ones of the Austro-Hungarian navy.

Cheers,

Claudio

Hi Mark,

This is going to be great! Well, it is already...

Jean-Luc

Thanks Claudio and Jean-Luc! I appreciate any comments or input you might have for me.

I've worked a little more on the top decking in the following pictures. This area is where the wings will attach to the fuselage and where the gas tanks were held in the fuselage.




.

Here is the back of the cockpit of aircraft K.424. Like most Lohner aircraft (and many other WW1 aircraft it seems), cockpits could vary, sometimes quite a bit, between aircraft manufactures who licence built the same aircraft.



more very soon,

Mark

Instrument gauges behind the crew positions. Egads!

Okay , I have never seen that before , instruments mounted on the rear cockpit panel - very different .

Fuselage is coming a long very well .

K.424 was designed by Weichmann as a shorter prototype for the W.13. I'll go into the history a little in the next post. I have the book "Die k.u.k. Seeflieger: Chronik und Dokumentation der österreichisch-ungarischen Marineluftwaffe 1911-1918" by Peter Schupita. It's in German, which I can read but very slowly.

Here is a little more work on the hull. I've covered the sides with styrene sheet to smooth it out......



and made the detail under the hull bow with a strip of styrene and putty.......








more soon,

Mark

Beautiful Mark. Old school plastic modeling. Harry Woodman would be proud of your wood like replications. Now when you say "completely scratchbuilt" it gets me thinking about the engine. . .

Stephen,

I have a few surprises in store with the engine. It will be completely scratch built, too. I'll be making the Austro-Daimler 12 cylinder 300hp engine for it. I want to make this my most advanced build yet.

Mark

Here's some work on the pilot seat. I made the bottom and back from sheet styrene then covered it with Apoxie-Sculpt. I put three buttons on the back of the seat.










more soon,

Mark

Very nicely done so far Mark ! Top notch The seat looks fantastic with the putty thingy .
As Stephen , I'm looking forward to seeing how you will be doing the engine in this beauty

Wow,wow wow another masterpiece from Maestro, Mark i am fan of your work and i think you know it but how can not be? I will look this thred very carefully and i will try to learn as much as posible from your work.
Keep on rockin my friend.

Hi Mark,

Excellent as always! Maybe you should start your own model kit company...

Jean-Luc

Thanks for the kind words everyone. It helps as I work on this major project.

I've been working on filling and sanding the hull and working on the top decking. I'll have some pictures soon.

Here is a picture of the cockpit of K 405 that was built by UFAG and put into service on June 12, 1918 and was given to the US Navy after the war as reparations and evaluated in the US. You can see, comparing this to the last cockpit picture I posted, that there was some variety in the construction. I'm assuming the guages in the back of the cockpit were fuel guages for the 2 fuel tanks that were located in the fuselage directly behind the cockpit. I'll be using this photo to design the back of the cockpit.



If anyone out there has any other information or photos to share, please feel free to post it here on the thread.

Mark

Here's some work on the cockpit decking. I carved it out of balsa and sprayed it with primer to fill the grain and check for smoothness. You can see in the picture of K 405 that the W.13 had an asymetrical cockpit opening and windscreen.






more soon,

Mark

Hi everyone,

Well, here is the surprise I had for the build. I designed a PE fret for it. Peter Kormos made it for me.



Here is some pics of the radiator that is positioned in front of the engine. I made the middle of the radiator from thick, sandwiched styrene sheet.






Mark

Nice job on desiging the PE parts Mark . You should do one for the Pfalz D.IIIa hint , hint I would be your best costumer !

Still though , looking forward to seeing you do the engine -it's been on the back of my mind . ( yes blondes do have one - just forget to turn it at times )

Will you make your own decals as well ?

Wow Mark! Renaissance Man! A man for all seasons and modeling subjects. You and Peter make a great team.

Thanks Terri and Stephen,

I also designed parts for the Schwarzlose M7/12 with a slotted water jacket and ammo drum. These were used on Austro-Hungarian and other aircraft thorough out the war.




And here are my PE versions.................





more very soon,

Mark

MORE!!!! QUICKLY!!!!

Very very beautiful.