“We have our best man working on the problem. . .”

This build represents 3025/18 after the end of the war in American hands for testing and familiarization in Dec. 1918 – Jan. 1919. It was built from Eduard's 1/48 early mold #8001 (1993). The 5 colour lozenge for the wings and the wood grain for the fuselage are decal sets from HGW. The propeller is a painted Koster kit item. The German “POW” is a modified Jaguar item. The American guard is a heavily modified pilot item from the old Copper State Models in Arizona (OOP). His clothes and weapon are scratch built. The small fuel cart represents one that was wheeled on to the field for rotary engine aircraft. The cylinders needed to be primed before starting.

The story line: German machines that were turned over to the Allied forces post war, usually arrived with some spare parts and an unofficial technical adviser. In this case it is a German ground crewman. He is measuring the dosage to squeeze into each cylinder head before the motor can be started. The American code word for these unofficial crewmen working on ex-German aircraft was “best man”.

This diorama took a respectable 1st place in Aircraft Dioramas at the recent IPMS Region X Convention.