In the belly of the whale
I'd intended to build this Airfix 1/72 LFG Roland C-II Walfisch (whale) with minimal upgrading, but with only giant pegs and a blobby aircrew in the cockpit (not surprising for a 1965 tooling) the interior needed a bit of help. Referring to the Windsock Datafile and the instruction sheet from the Eduard 1/48 kit downloaded from their site, I began scratch building some cockpit detail, and it just grew from there. And then it seemed a shame to close it all up, hence the decision to cut one fuselage side open...
As a further challenge to myself I decided to use no after-market stuff – not that there's much available for this kit anyway. Everything's made from scraps of styrene sheet, stretched sprue, bits of wire etc. The mounting ring for the Parabellum gun was a slice from a pen barrel. Normally I'd have used photo-etch for the Spandau gun but instead the cooling jacket was made from a piece of rolled mesh; not perfect, but an improvement on the kit gun.
The C-II had a wooden fuselage, unlike most of its fabric-covered contemporaries. Figuring out the cross-sections for the various bulkheads was a challenge, but eventually I got it all crammed in, including the engine.
Despite its two-man crew the Roland was a fairly small aircraft. The Airfix kit is reasonably accurate but one or two shape errors became obvious when comparing it with the Windsock plans. Some were corrected, such as the shape of the rudder and tailplanes, others were left well alone. The heavy fabric texture on the wings was completely sanded off.
Paint scheme was overall pale blue, with the undersides carrying a black checker pattern (though some sources suggest this was actually dark blue). All of the markings including the checkers were printed onto clear decal paper using a laser-printer, since it was all in black.
Rigging was done using .005" nylon wire, coloured with a black marker before being installed. It has to be one of the easiest biplanes to rig – two hefty interplane struts and no cabane struts since the upper wing is attached directly to the fuselage.
It's not a highly accurate replica and this old kit can't compete with the latest and greatest releases, but I really enjoyed building it.
Well, Mike, you certainly set yourself some challenges. This is a superb result, and great to see the application of traditional skills to basic parts to achieve this sort of quality. The subject, too, is unusual - this has to be one of the ugliest aircraft of the First World War - but every ugly duckling deserves its chance.
Thanks Rob 🙂 Sometimes I think ugly aircraft make the most interesting models, although I actually find the Roland's streamlined fuselage quite attractive.
This is the old Airfix kit ? I for one am utterly gobsmacked at the result you have produced ,well done does not seem nearly enough.
I believe I've seen your stuff before but can't remember where ,was it one of the dedicated Airfix sites ? , I think you posted the Airfix Bloodhound missile set which inspired me to build one ,sadly not nearly as good as you'rs ,it's on my gallery here at iModeller.Welcome aboard.
N.
I have to disagree with my collegue Rob ,I always thought this aircraft with it's streamlined lines one of the prettier aircraft of the era,but there.s no accounting for taste 🙂
N.
Give me a Halberstadt any day over these Johnny-come-lately ship's stanchion strut types
PS I'm thinking more the fact that the pilot's head sticks out above the upper wing plane. Clearly the Whale was designed by people who never had flown an aircraft, let alone one in combat!
Cheers Neil! I've posted it on UAMF and ATF, and a build article was published in SAMI a few years ago, so it's likely you've seen it before. Had a look at your Bloodhound, it's very nice. You persevered and built the launcher – I was so fed up with the whole project by the time I got to that and never built it 🙂
Another Mike Grant masterpiece.
Looking back over Mike's previous posts, he seems something of an afficianado with these nano-scale jewels.
Thanks for the kind comment Tom.
Very nice work and photography.
Cheers Mike!
Fantastic!
Thanks Milan 🙂
Mike, your talent/skill really shine thru in this build. Great job.
Much appreciated Bails.
Man I cannot believe it is 1/72! Could almost be a WnW kit! Great job
I actually thought it WAS a WNW at first glance, Rob.
Thanks for that very nice compliment, Rob. I've yet to build a WNW kit, but they look amazing.
Nice build and photography, sir...well done.
Thank you, sir!
I'm with Rob here, when I first saw the header picture I, too, assumed it was a WNW model, on discovering it's based on a 40 year old 1/72 Airfix kit I was flabbergasted to say the least. Fantastic work, Mike.
Cheers Rob!
Not bad "Ol man, not bad.
Well, you got the Ol'man bit right 🙂 Thanks for the comment, Phil.
Don't get me wrong--I like it ! Although I would have attempted to re-position the control surfaces a bit. Gives them a more live and "scale appearance.
What a nice model and subject. Even cooler when the tamiya paint jar is placed next to it and the actual size of the model becomes apparent.
Yeah...that really shows the level of workmanship involved. Not something I'd even ATTEMPT.
Thank you Wayne 🙂
That really is remarkable. A labor of love.
Much appreciated, Bryan.
Lovely work Mike.
An old old Airfix classic.
Thanks Simon! It is a classic just by virtue of its being a 50-year old kit, but it would be nice to see Airfix re-tooling it. I read yesterday that they do have a couple of new-tool WW1 subjects planned in 1/72; very exciting 🙂
I see also that they are starting a new idea.
Asking for people which kit(s) they should re-issue.
Beautiful work! Particularly in the one true scale, no less!
Thanks Bernard!
1/72 scale, you have got eyes like an eagle, great build.
Thanks you Marc, though like many of us I suspect, I need magnifying eyewear when modelling 🙂
Mike,
Really good work! I like what you did with the Spandau gun. really cool!
-Ken
Thank you Ken!
goodness gracious man...you are sooo talented
Thanks for the kind comment Bob!
Like
Thanks P.k 🙂
Beautiful build, lovely photography, and as I've noticed before on your projects, excellent modeling skills on display. (plus I just have a great affinity for other 1/72 modelers!)
Cheers Greg. Had a look at your 1/72 models, they're really nice. Must admit I do like aircraft 'in flight'.