Skytrex S.E.5a's

Today I've started on making up a pile of Skytrex and Reviresco WWI aeroplanes for the photos in the forthcoming AirWar: 1918 2nd edition. After considerable "umming" and "ahhing" I went with the flow and opted to pick 1/144th as scale of choice despite having WWI land forces in both 1/72 and 1/300th! There were a number of reasons for this including model availability, but I admit some of it was pure cowardliness looking at the German lozenge camo scheme and seeing the pre-painted German Wings of War models.

Having a number of 1/144th German pre-paints already and little opposition, I decided to start with the RFC planes and the Skytrex S.E.5a in particular - not the wisest move! :-) The model does not have a good reputation, but hey just how hard can it be to stick a couple of bits of white metal together for someone who has been doing this for thirty odd years? Well after shouting at wife (not recommended), son, dog, cats and providing the S.E.5a with some choice new nicknames (none of which are printable here) I did manage to get the buggers stuck together and looking vaguely right.

The main problem is the fact that the main lower wings are cast at a noticeable angle to the body (see photo below) and short of cutting them off there is nothing you can do about this. It is apparently a problem with Skytrex's mould and my recommendation is to buy the Reviresco one even though it costs more or wait for the forthcoming Wings of War one.

I also decided (after reading numerous web articles) to replace the white metal struts with ones from brass wire. Initially this resulted in lots of cursing, gluing fingers together etc, until I found a big lump of Blu-Tac which is currently my best friend and supporting two R.E.8's and a B.E.2 (both Skytrex and reasonably good models) whilst they dry...

Once I've finished these and a couple of Brisfits, Camels and Dolphins, it'll be time to slap some paint and decals on so watch this space!