Greetings all;

We like fun projects right? Here is a challenge. A fellow modeler decided to have some fun about a year ago and here is what he came up with.


Now what can you invision? Basic limitations here. Use aviation for pertinent era technology. No lasers on Fokker Dr.I types or miniguns on Sopwith Camels. But maybe a SE 5a triplane, a gull winged Camel, Fokker D.VII quadriplane.

Try taking a 1/28 scale Fokker Dr.I and slapping some 1/72 or 1/48 engines on it with appropriate scale figures to match the engines and make a ficticious bomber.

Here is another view.

Hi Stephen

Awesome model! This sounds a great idea for a Group Build.

All the best

Rowan

Howdy Stephen, and a bright "Good Mornin!" to ya

What a stunningly inventive idea!...and I must confess, even though I am a veteran of a past T2K Campaign build where part of the premise was to build 'what-if's', it had never occured to me {my failing} to pursue a WWI-era based what-if.
Also, being a big fan of anything 'variant' in nature, I have done my fair share of investigative research on as many odd birds as I can find from that era, both in the air and on the ground...so, I will have to devote some mental time to some possibilities and see if anything floats to the surface

Tread.

The SE 5a Triplane.

Hi Stephen

That's outrageous! I don't suppose there's a pic of an "SE5-R" - my daydream designation for a rotary-engined prototype!? That would be my "What-If" entry...

All the best

Rowan

How about an all wood Junkers D.I? An all wood Fokker D.VII on floats? (Of course the engine would have to be a 240-260 hp Mercedes D.IVa...)

Sort of half Nieuport 17 / SE 5a eh?

Hi again

Looking at that pic more closely, I think therein lies the answer to a old mystery; namely, how did Albert Ballcock meet his untimely end?

The answer is tragic in its simplicity - poor Albert forgot to pack the stilts he needed to change the ammunition drum on the Lewis gun. So it probably means that the rumours of someone shouting "Someone give me a leg up!" throughout that fateful last dog-fight are actually true!

Sad... so very sad...

Rowan

Here is a bit of fun...from a fellow modeler.

From Kdroz; "...I've just been going through the spares box like you do, occasionally. I can't believe the amount of parts I seem to have accumulated over the past couple of years. I would estimate that I probably have enough spare parts to build at least 3 obscure 'fantasy' aircraft!

Without giving you a long list of all the parts I have, just to give you an idea: Albatros & Sopwith Pup wings, an assortment of propellors, wheels, struts of varying sizes & styles, not to mention fuselage-halves from Fokker DVII, Albatros D.Va, Fokker Dr.I and Sopwith Pups. I thought I'd take on a fun project like this, just to get the creative juices flowing again. Your thoughts on this..."

Here is a bit of fun from the legendary Greg VanWyngarden...WWI historian extrodinaire!

"...After 'Aerodrome Modeller' went belly up, Jon Guttman took it into his head to do a "Spoof" issue, all on his own, which he passed around at some IPMS local con out east. This thing has entered the realm of legend, but I can't claim any credit (or blame) for it - it was entirely the product of Jon's warped sense of humor... First, there was the final installment of "Circus Colors" by one Gurg von Wingarden , which was the history of Royal Hessian Jagdstaffel 85 - that was the unit made up of interior decorators, who decorated their Pfalz and Albatros fighters in terribly garish taste, earning them the nickname "Die Schlockstaffel".

Then there was a separate article by one "Dart Loader" about the little known Albatros D.Vk, a last-ditch experiment by Robert Thelen to extend the utility of his D.V design. Its BMW engine was upgraded by methanol-injection to 224 h.p., cooling was provided by a small car-type radiator under the cowling, and 2 Teeves und Braun flush radiators under the lower wings. The cockpit was covered by a glass canopy, and the tail surfaces were modified, etc...in all it looked remarkably prescient of the Me 109k...later.
Greg"

Recent research into that specific subject suggests your are absolutely correct.

To the subject of making aircraft out of spare parts, of course, a few airmen did that with the real thing (1:1 scale) in WWI, too. Flt. Lt. W. J. Alcock (yes, the transatlantic Vimy pilot) was serving in the Aegean in 1917. There he designed and built the "Sopwith Mouse", which included pieces of a triplane, Camel and Pup. The tailplane and elevators came from a Camel, an upper wing from a Pup,while the forward fuselage and lower wings were modified from Triplane components. The rest of the Mouse was of entirely original design. The top wing was exactly on a level with the pilot's eyes where it obscured the least, and all the weight was concentrated in a small area. It was described in this way: "The machine he designed was 20 mph faster at 10,000 feet than anything we had. We sent the drawings home. Alcock had no knowledge of aerodynamics, etc, but had a natural genius for knowing where stresses came and how to meet them."

The Mouse was found to be fast and maneuverable, but was written off in a crash.

Then there was "Mimi", designed Major R. "Dicky" Williams, DSO, in Palestine . When No. 67 Squadron was stationed near the Dead Sea in 1917, they tried to find a way to stop Turkish grain shipments by motor boat across the Dead Sea. "Dicky" took a Martinsyde and stripped it of its wings and tail unit, substituted floats for wheels and gave its pilot "an open commission on the Dead Sea".Their quarry, the grain boats, were easily overhauled, then the pilot would stand up in the cockpit and open fire with his Lewis gun over Mimi's tail (or stern). You can see a photo of Mimi in L.W. Sutherland's "Aces and Kings".

Anybody else have other examples ??

Greg