Hi all,

Just snapped up this kit off ebay and I am trying to find any build reviews or build logs that might be out there. The only kit review I could find on the internet stated that it was not a kit for the faint of heart.

As soon as I saw it I had to have it but I am now wondering if I am capable of building it.

Any advice or build reviews of this kit will be very gratefully received.

You basically got a rather complex Farman type biplane. The kit gives you quite a bit of PE to play with, resin engine and solidly cast styrene.

The complexity of the kit depends on your experience / comfort with rigging and aligning the tail booms to stay straight when you do... The rigging is usually made extra difficult by limitations of printed instructions, so it helps to have lots of reference / photos of built models on hand to get the right rigging anchor points. Figure out the order / correct pressure for lines as tightening them too much will buckle or twist those tail booms and not enough will give you a sail boat. Tightening some lines will sag previously strung lines...

Then you've got the 1/72 scale...

Is this your first Early Aviation subject?

Hmmm ... I think this one is going to be a real challenge for me.
I have recently built around a dozen 48 scale Eduard WW1 kits (Rigged with invisible mending thread, through 0.2mm drilled holes) but I haven't built anything quite so challenging as this and nothing at 1/72 scale. The last time I built a 1/72 bi-plane I was a wee lad and that was many years ago.

I was staying in the 1/48 scale but came across this kit brand new and sealed on ebay for 8 smackers and just couldn't resist it. It is such a fascinating looking aircraft

I hadn't come across this kit till seeing this thread and had to google it. It would give me the willies with all that etch to build up the tailbooms. On the plus side, it does come with it's own jig to assemble the wings. Not something you see very often.
The small scale would enhance the delicate looking nature of the real aircraft, but it's going to need a steady hand or three.
I think it would make a great subject at a larger scale, we really don't have many early French types like this available. Wingnut Wings if your reading, any chance of considering one?

It is surprising considering that this is the first aircraft to score an aerial win in the First World War that no-one has produced a larger scale model of it, plus the fact that it is a wacky looking old bus(Bit like a large pram with wings trailing scaffolding behind it). I do gather that it is now a pretty rare kit selling for upwards of £20 when it appears on ebay and some old listings sold for more than £50 .

does anyone know if I am correct in thinking that the basic kit is originally by Eduard?

When I saw it I couldn't resist being up for a challenge and a lover of the weird and wonderful in aviation.