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Which kit for a good starter biplane in 1/48?


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I'd like to try a biplane kit in 1/48, haven't built one since I was a kid.

What would be a good well designed kit with few assembly issues?

In the stash I have an Accurate Miniatures F3F, Revell's Fokker Dr.1 Triplane, as well as Eduard's Nieuport 17, Spad XIII, and Sopwith F.1 Camel.

Has anyone here built any of these kits?

Edited by dmk0210
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Revell's Dr.1 - it's a re-box of the fine Eduard kit. Minimal rigging required as well. The Nieuport 17 is nice as well, as is the Camel, although I think the rigging on the SPAD might be a bit of a challenge if you've not done one for a while.

Vince

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You might try the Eduard E.V or Fokker D.VII. The E.V (a.k.a, D.VIII) is a parasol while the D.VII is a biplane. With both, you'll only have to deal with the struts and the control surface wires.

I'm building the E.V now. You can also ask questions in the Classic Aviation Forum next door... :)

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Thanks guys.

I'm leaning towards the F3F or the Nieuport.

I have Yellow Wings' decal sheet "Aircraft from the movie Dive Bomber" for the former and the latter kit came with decals for aircraft from the movie "Flyboys". Should be a fun build either way.

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I had heard that the Eduard Camel kits were a good way to dip the toes into the bi-plane pool. However, my experience is that it was not easy to assemble. The cockpit was incredibly fiddly, but that isn't related to the aircraft's multi-wing structure. I found it difficult to assemble the top wing and as a result it sits on there out of alignment. Overall, I would recommend against choosing it as your first bipe.

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Eduard Avia B.534: I thoroughly enjoyed this, and it was the first biplane I'd made for many many years - I thiink I was traumatised in my youth by the Airfix RE.8! :woot.gif:

It's also interesting historically, as it was one of these that scored the last ever air-to-air kill by a biplane - in 1944.

http://surfcity.kund.dalnet.se/slovakia_cyprich.htm

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I'd like to try a biplane kit in 1/48, haven't built one since I was a kid.

What would be a good well designed kit with few assembly issues?

In the stash I have an Accurate Miniatures F3F, Revell's Fokker Dr.1 Triplane, as well as Eduard's Nieuport 17, Spad XIII, and Sopwith F.1 Camel.

Has anyone here built any of these kits?

I've built both the F3F-1 and Eduard's Dr.I (from what others have said the kit re-boxed by Revell). IMHO they're both terrific kits, although I have to say I wasn't enamored of the photo-etch rigging in the F3F kit -- found it actually more fiddly to work with than stretched monofilament. Either kit will be a good, although differing, challenge in terms of painting. If you decide to go with the Dr.I and want to do something besides all red, I highly recommend Microsculpt streaked camouflage decals, which you can find on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Micro-Sculpt-Decals-1-48-GERMAN-FOKKER-Dr-I-FACTORY-CAMOUFLAGE-FINISH-/400306927403?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d3426f72b

Also, Pheon has a very comprehensive sheet of decals for JG II (48003), which can be ordered at the Pheon forum page at britmodeller.com (currently down for repairs, but supposedly back up late today or tomorrow).

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I'm going to start with the Trumpeter Antonov An-2. Of course, it's the only biplane I have, at the moment.

Cool! I plan to do a 1:48 An-2 in Polish markings someday. Is Trumpeter a reboxing of the Valom kit?

In any event, I'm looking forward to seeing your build!

BTW, I have two 1/72nd versions if anybody wants to buy them. One from Italeri & the other from Trumpeter; they're different moldings.

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although I have to say I wasn't enamored of the photo-etch rigging in the F3F kit -- found it actually more fiddly to work with than stretched monofilament.

That's a good point. I may want to try more traditional rigging methods before I try the PE.

PE rigging is probably something of an aberration in the world of biplane kits.

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Cool! I plan to do a 1:48 An-2 in Polish markings someday. Is Trumpeter a reboxing of the Valom kit?

In any event, I'm looking forward to seeing your build!

Thanks. I don't know whether it's a Valom rebox or not. Trumpeter is a mainland Chinese outfit, but I don't know where they get their kits, or they got their molds. The kit is the 'Nanchang Y-5', a licensed production of the An-2 in China.

Edited by Dakota Roo
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That's a good point. I may want to try more traditional rigging methods before I try the PE.

PE rigging is probably something of an aberration in the world of biplane kits.

PE isn't as odd as it might seem. Some biplanes used aerodynamic wires which are flat, and PE seems to work well for that style.

I have some PE sets for rigging but haven't tried them yet.

I build 1/72 so can't recommend a specific 1/48 kit, but I can recommend Eduard in general for good kits. The Fokker Dr.I would be a good plane to start with because it has very little rigging to deal with so you can focus on other aspects (like all the extra wings).

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That's a good point. I may want to try more traditional rigging methods before I try the PE.

PE rigging is probably something of an aberration in the world of biplane kits.

The F3F is a piece of cake. You just glue the tabs on the ends into the slots already molded into the wing. Couldn't be simpler.

Ken

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The F3F is a piece of cake. You just glue the tabs on the ends into the slots already molded into the wing. Couldn't be simpler.

Ken

I'm the one who said they were fiddly, but don't let that put you off building the F3F kit -- it's really nice. My comment about the photo-etch was probably somewhat overstated.

FWIW, another recommendation would be the Eduard Fokker D.VII, a very well engineered kit that features basically no rigging at all.

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Re the Accurate Miniatures F3F, there are lots of online build articles which will help you if you do a search; however, here, courtesy of The Wayback Machine web archive search engine, is the king-hell granddaddy of them all:

http://web.archive.org/web/20071027042426/http://www.accurate-miniatures.com/builds/f3f-1/f3fbuild.shtml

If it doesn't come up within a minute or so, just click on "Impatient?". Once the build article appears, note that there are several pages; the successive links for these are at the top and bottom of this Introduction page.

John

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John,

Thanks for the pointer to the build! There are a couple at the LHS, so I will definitely pick one up. I'll have to do some penance as an ex Grumman employee who doesn't yet have this kit :whistle:

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I got the AM F3F-1 kit from the LHS--only one left! :P

Looks good! The instructions are beyond comprehensive. Decals are provided to enable you to build any of the F3F-1's; I'll do a VF-31, then VF-6, "Felix" version.

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