1/72 Lt. Frank Luke SPAD S.XIII

I don't even remember why I got this little SPAD - the only WW I biplane I've ever built was the venerable Snoopy Sopwith Camel. But after studying it online I decided I wanted to build it as Lt. Frank Luke's aircraft when he was destroying German zeppelins at a blistering pace in the fall of 1918.

The build is out of the box, including grossly oversized wing struts, and after airbrushing the most prominent colors for the 5-color French camouflage (ivory underside and light gray wing tops) I handpainted everything else. I used the Print Scale 72-046 decals, but disregarded their camo scheme, opting to use the instructions in the Eduard 1/48 scale kit. As you might expect for a 1918 subject, information is sparse on how Luke's plane was painted, and to complicate things he crashed a few, so the information and photos we do have may not be the one he flew on his last mission. For example, the undersides varied from light blue to tan to grey, and even the blue in the markings and cowling is disputed - it may have been light blue, and it may have been royal.

But it was a fun little two-day build, and if the decals and the paint colors are a little speculative, it was worth it to learn about the career of this extraordinary aviator.

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.