Encore/Roden 1/32 scale S.E.5a

 

Roden/Squadron Encore, 1/32 scale.

My latest project is James McCuddan's S.E.5a in 1/32 scale. The kit is the Encore reboxing of the Roden 1/32 scale "Hisso" S.E.5a. 

As the S.E. is one of the standards of WWI aviation lore, I needed one for my collection. The best kit out there would be the Wingnut Wings S.E. of course, but those are rare and expensive. The Encore kit is a little more common, although now out of production. Also, Roden still offers the Hisso and Viper powered versions that can be easily found.

The Encore kit is really a bargain, because you get the Roden plastic plus three frets of Eduard photo etch, some resin parts which include include a 4-blade prop, (very much appreciated!), and a nice set of decals. I was able to get a couple of these kits for really reasonable prices, so I have an extra for a future project. I also have a Roden Viper powered version in the stash, so my supply of 1/32 scale S.E's is pretty safe!

References for the S.E. are also pretty easy to come by, I've got several plus numerous links on the internet! James McCudden was Great Britains 4th highest scoring ace of WWI. His was an interesting career, starting as an aircraft mechanic, then becoming an observer and then a pilot. His fighter piloting career started in DH-2's. An interesting side note was that his aircraft was apparently Von Richtofen's 15th kill! He actually made it back home after being shot up a bit! He flew a Sopwith Pup for a short time and then made it to the famous 56 Squadron, where he flew the subject of my model, #B4863.

Among the resin parts included in this kit are the control surface pulleys, which are viewed through clear panels on the wings and tail surfaces. You have to cut out triangular holes to fit them into the kit's parts.

All the resin bits installed and filled.

Reading various reviews of the Roden kit, I found that there was a problem in the fit of the nose panels over the Hispano Suiza motor. Sure enough, it took some work to get the panels to sit down properly.

Pre-fitting the motor.

The rest of the build was proceeding nicely. The interior is well detailed with additional PE bits added. 

Now I had to install the upper fuselage covering the cockpit...Encore supplies a resin replacement for McCudden's S.E. but it didn't look quite right to me, the expanded cockpit side seemed a little too tall. Also, the thickness of the walls of the part were very thin and did not look like they would form a good bond to the kit's plastic. So, I decided to use the kits part and graph the expanded sidewalls from the resin part onto it, carving them to a more appropriate height.

The kit's part.

The resin part.

Here's the kit's part with the resin sides grafted on.

With that accomplished, I assembled the fuselage and added the cabane struts.

Then I began the painting process. After priming, I masked of "rib lines" and painted the wings and tail surfaces with a dark brown. Then I removed the masking and sprayed a thin coat of Tamiya Dark Yellow, (XF-60). This gives a nice effect.

Then came the upper coat. I found Tamiya Khaki Drab, (XF-51), looks like a pretty convincing representation of PC 10.

The pulleys looked pretty nice until I tried to glaze over them.

The wing pulley before I tried to fill with super glue for a glass effect. That failed when the super glue dried in a weird dappled finish. Oh, well, there wasn't anything to do but press on.

Time for decals! The Encore kit's decals are just great. They went on easily and responded well to a little Micro Sol.

Now the challenge of fitting the upper wing! I started out trying to use the biplane jig but found some problems with the cabane strut alignment which required a little more force. I ended up going back to my old standby; Lego's! I was able to force the wings into a good alignment and adjust the cabanes this way.

Lego's to the rescue!

Now the real work began...the rigging! The S.E. and most other English aircraft of this period, have a huge amount of rigging. There were some really tricky areas here, especially the rear cabane strut braces and the doubled flying wires. I used Bob's Buckles tiny eyelets with Modelkasten 0.2mm elastic thread. I did not bother to color the thread this time, leaving it black.

After rigging the main wings, I attached the landing gear and added the rigging there. I added a couple of stretched sprue "spokes" to the inside of the wheels which are visible through the hole in the wheel cover.

Finally, with the rigging done, I was able to begin final assembly. This included the final rigging of the tail and installation of the prop and the Lewis MG. The Lewis, by the way, was a hybrid of a Gaspatch Lewis and the kit's gun. 

Finally completed! This build took a very long time, I was away from the bench for nine weeks for an extended road trip during the summer and other stuff so it seems like I've been working on this for a year! Well, it came out okay, I still have lots of room for improving my technique for sure.

Here are the glamor pictures!

Hobbycraft Morane Saulnier 406 in 1/48 scale.

 

Hobbycraft Morane 406 in Finnish markings, 1/48th scale.

MS-304. Note the lowered radiator.

My latest build is a Hobbycraft Morane Saulnier 406 fighter. The French made aircraft was an important addition to Finland's Air Force strength during the latter part of the Winter War and for the first couple of years in the Continuation War. In fact, I was surprised to learn that it was the third most numerous fighter in the Finn's inventory, (After the Fokker D.21 and the Messerschmidt 109!). 

The Morane was fairly successful against the early Soviet opposition but it's shortcomings gradually became more obvious as better Russian aircraft and pilots came to the fray. Eventually the Finn's re-engined the 406 with Russian motors taken from captured LAGGs and thus the "Morko-Morane" was born, although too late for a meaningful contribution to the Continuation war.

The Finnish Moranes are a bit more complicated to model than you would expect as there were several subtle variations. Kari Stenman and Kalevi Keskinen have compiled a useful reference in their 4th volume of the "Suomen Ilmavoimien Historia" series which helps to wade through the differences.

The first Moranes were a gift from France during the Winter War, these were the standard 406 with the troublesome retracting radiator. These were serialed MS-301 to MS-330. The next batch was purchased from Germany (as war booty) in late 1940. Three more batches of "war booty" Moranes were purchased from Germany through 1942. The aircraft from Germany were numbered in the MS-600 range. These also included a few MS.410 aircraft which differed from the 406 by having two guns in each wing and no gun blister.

In modeling a Finnish Morane, you have to watch which model the aircraft actually is. You have at least four variations to consider: The standard MS.406, these were in the 301-330 range. The Moranes from Germany could be identical, or they could have the fixed radiator, or they could be a 410. Later in the war, there was the possibility that you may encounter an overhauled 406 with a 410 wing! Finally, there is the Morko Morane, but that falls outside the scope of my build.

All this is to say this; be sure you have a decent reference to the exact aircraft you're trying to model!

The kit, accessories, and references on hand!

The kit itself is an older Hobbycraft product and is, well, a little lacking. Detail is a bit sparse and there are some discrepancies in shape and outline. There is a new model of the 406, from Dora Wings, which is much, much better. Well, I already had this kit and I don't like wasting things, so I went ahead and used this kit.

First of all, you will notice that the elevators are misshaped. As they are, they would be impossible to operate so you have to rescribe them. 

First thing to do is to correct the elevators!

Next the nose looks a little plain. I drilled out the exhaust stubs and carved out the air intakes,

Here I have drilled out the exhaust pipes and the air intakes.

I actually found an aftermarket resin interior for this very kit so I installed it in place of the kit's.

The resin interior adds a little character!

Assembly then continued in the usual fashion. The fit was generally okay and I find the quality of the plastic used by Hobbycraft to be easy to work with. The worst fit was the grille in the lower nose of the aircraft. This required considerable sanding to blend in with the contour of the nose.

An unusual wing to fuselage assembly.

After basic assembly I primed the model and then began painting the yellow theater bands. I usually do this on my Finnish models since yellow is tough to apply over anything but a nice white base.

Painting has begun. As usual, I have applied the yellow bands first.

I originally intended to finish this aircraft in the original French color scheme of grey/green/brown over a lighter grey, but, try as I may, I could not get a decent looking pattern down!

Notice the gun barrels and pitot tube. These were made from brass tube and rod.

My first attempt at painting the French camo. I just couldn't make it look good.

See what I mean? I just couldn't make it look right, so I...

I finally gave up on that scheme and went with the standard green/black camo found on Finnish repaint jobs!

...punted and went with the standard FAF camouflage!

Most of the masking removed, I'm feeling better about the paint job now.

Then it was a matter of selecting which aircraft I wanted to model, which proved to be a little tricky due to the number of variations in the aircraft configurations. I finally decided of MS-304, a standard 406 which had a fairly successful carreer as evidenced by the six kill markings on its tail!

A coat of Future and then the decals are started.

I used a variety of decals for this model, in fact I can't even identify which national insignias I used for the wings, but they proved to be difficult to settle down over the pronounced ribs on the Morane's wing! The serial numbers came from the Techmod national insignia set which provides two sheets of serial numbers in various sizes and has proved to be very useful.

The final assembly went on without any mishaps; The unusual landing gear configuration was easy to achieve. I could not find any photographic evidence of an antenna wire leading from the tip of the tail to the upper mast, so I didn't add one. I had replaced the upper mast with stretched sprue since the kit's was too thick. The 406 is unusual in that it also had a lower mast which was extended in flying configuration. I used the kit's "knuckle" for this lower mast but replaced the actual mast with stretched sprue.

The final step in my build was to finish the navigation lights on the wingtips. For these I masked off a "square" on each wingtip and applied some silver paint by brush. After that had dried, I applied Tamiya clear red and clear green to the appropriate light. This looks pretty nice to me.

The grey panel represents a walkway which appears on at least some 406's.

Thus ends my latest build. In the end the model looks pretty good but there is a much better alternative to the Hobbycraft kit now and I would recommend anyone wanting to build a nice replica of the MS 406 to look at the Dora Wings offering. 

That said, if you have the Hobbycraft MS 406 or 410 in the stash, (they are actually identical molds), then go ahead and give it a shot!