Wingnut Wings 1/32 Jeannin Stahltaube

www.bowemodels.com

One of the high points of late 2018 for me was bagging this commission, I absolutely adore Wingnut Wings kits and get to build them far less often than I'd like. The sheer quality of the package and the passionate attention to detail in the documentation is second to none and, of course, the subject matter is never less than fascinating.

This one, in particular, is superb. From the days when aircraft really did look like birds - this has to be one of the most beautiful aircraft designs ever. They certainly don't make them like this anymore.

Anyway, on to the build. These kits are NOT for the fainthearted if you want to do it properly, if only because of the enormous amount of rigging that goes in to them. And in this case, on the inside as well as the outside.

The quality of the parts in this kit makes the modeller go crazy for perfection, even in those parts that won't be seen. Masking up and painting internal ribbing is not something that I would generally bother about but in this case it's definitely worth it. And then installing all the control cables and bracing wires is intensely fiddly but very satisfying when complete.

As ever with WW kits, the engine is a work of art in itself, although my one criticism is that lack of plugs and HT cabling. It seems a glaring omission given the attention to detail applied elsewhere. But a bit of scratch work on my part soon dealt with that.

The engine cowling demands the "fish scale" effect which took a bit of practice and more than one attempt to get right, but is worth persevering with because it looks really special in my humble opinion.

A bit of careful shading on the wing parts transforms solid lumps of plastic into delicate wood and fabric structures, but one bit of this build that does need care is the attaching of the wings to the body. It's a positive fit, but needs 24 hours of glue setting to be secure - so be patient.

Another tricky area is creating the spoked wheels from photo etch. The kit contains alternative plastic moulded wheels for the lazy modeller but I not going to allow myself to give in to that. It was tough, but I got there in the end. And one other warning, the wheel struts are not terribly stable when attached to the fuselage and supporting the model. SAC do produce a metal version which should help, but to be honest I did not like the look of them. So I cheated a little and used thin brass rod as the cross brace rather than the elastic rigging used elsewhere. This has made them much more stable.

Some significant weathering was applied as my customer's request, in particular muddying up the wheels and underside but also a touch of rusty oil around the cowling and some exposed patches of fuselage fabric, along with an overall oil wash to grubby things up a little.

I am, if I say so myself, delighted with the results and am very proud to present this model for your viewing pleasure. Full progress photos can be found here.