Tim Kidwell

All right! Here's the Fokker D.VII I intend to build:

That's very nice...in a speedy, easy-to-fly, stable-gun-platform sort of way. (If you like that type of thing.)

I'm thinking this:

Anybody else?

I have lots of 72 scale stuff I should build while I can still see.  Put me in for the ICM Fokker E.IV.  Just cuz it's on top of the pile.  Maybe I can actually finish a GB kit!

OK, Freem, you're down for the Fokker. Welcome to the group build!

gregbale

That's very nice...in a speedy, easy-to-fly, stable-gun-platform sort of way. (If you like that type of thing.)

I'm thinking this:

Anybody else?

Nice checkerboard up front.

Yes, I admit I do go for the more refined flying experience. <attempts to put out engine fire> I prefer making the enemy shoot me out of the sky, not falling out of the blue because the plane's wings have folded. <dumps ammo over side and turns back to base> And I prefer wheels to floats. <bails out at 5,000 feet as flames consume the fuselage>

Anyone else want to share possible paint schemes? Aaron?

Tim Kidwell

Anyone else want to share possible paint schemes? Aaron?

I'm sure my kit comes with the Red Baron scheme, that'll do fine. This thing is going to be tiny.

I have my eyes on the WnW HB W.29, but a) the chief financial planner will say no, and b) it's not my scale. There is that Felixstowe from Roden in the stash, the gunship with eleven Lewis guns...

Here is the DH9A's livery:

This sounds like fun. I've never participated in a group build before and planes (of any era) are not my forte though I do have a number of kits tucked away in my stash. Sign me up to build  a Heller Roland C.11 Walfisch (whale.) It is in 1/72 scale. Also one quick question about group builds: Will I need to post pics of the build in progress? Thanks and I'm looking forward to this....

TZombie

Sign me up to build  a Heller Roland C.11 Walfisch (whale.) It is in 1/72 scale. Also one quick question about group builds: Will I need to post pics of the build in progress? Thanks and I'm looking forward to this....

TZombie, you're down for the Heller Roland. Definitely. The pics of the build are part of the fun.

jeaton01

Here is the DH9A's livery:

Now that's a plane that looks like it means business. Did the kit come with bombs?

Nice choices guys!!! 

...my most brilliant Stork"- Capitaine Brocard, Commander of Esc N3

Georges Marie Ludovic Jules Guynemer

Guynemer was France's most beloved ace. He entered the French Air Service in November 1914 and served as a mechanic before receiving a Pilot's Brevet in April 1915. Despite his frail physical appearance, he took part in more than 600 aerial combats and was shot down seven times and survived. An excellent marksman and highly skilled pilot, he was hailed as the French Ace of Aces. Guynemer received letters from women proposing marriage, requests from school children for his autograph and was often followed through the streets. One of the first pilots to receive a SPAD VII, he called his plane Vieux Charles (Old Charles). On 25 May 1917, he engaged and shot down four enemy aircraft withOld Charles in one day. Looking for ways to improve the performance of his aircraft, Guynemer armed a SPAD VII with a single-shot 37 mm canon that fired through a hollowed out propeller shaft. He called this impractical aircraft his Magic Machine. Despite the fumes that filled the cockpit and the recoil of the canon, during the summer of 1917 he shot down at least two enemy aircraft with his Magic Machine. On 11 September 1917, Guynemer was last seen attacking a two-seater Aviatik near Poelcapelle, northwest of Ypres. Almost a week later, it was publicly announced in a London paper that he was missing in action. Shortly thereafter, a German newspaper reported Guynemer had been shot down by Kurt Wissemann of Jasta 3. For many months, the French population refused to believe he was dead. Guynemer's body was never found.

 "Captain Guynemer flew so high he could not come down again."-French journalist explaining to schoolchildren the aces death.

Longer bio on this website 

Wow! That's a powerful story, Gamera, and a great choice for a model.

Thanks Tim, I picked up the kit because of the interesting paint scheme and chose it for this GB because it looked like the easiest to paint since I'm cutting my teeth on one of my first biplanes. I had no idea what an interesting guy Guynemer was and what an awesome life story he lived until I started doing some research on him last night. Thanks for the GB Tim and Aaron, I've learned something fascinating already and we haven't even started yet!

If I may in the longer bio Ernst Udet, highest scoring German ace to survive the war, got into a dogfight with Guynemer when both of his guns jammed. Seeing Udet beating on his unresponsive guns with his fists instead of taking out his defenceless foe Guynemer waved and broke off from the fight and withdrew. 

In Udet's words: "Guynemer had watched me doing and knew for now I was his defenseless victim : he made another pass just over my head in almost inverted flight and to my amazement made a sign with his hand and left westward.Startled I got to the field. Afterwards some people suggested that Guynemer's machine gun had the same problem while others thought he was afraid of me hitting him in my distress. But I don't buy that. For me, Guynemer displayed some perennial element of old chivalry that oulasted modern fighting methods.Therefore, I feel committed to contribute this personal testimony as a homage to the unknow tomb where he rests..."

Tim Kidwell

jeaton01

Here is the DH9A's livery:

Now that's a plane that looks like it means business. Did the kit come with bombs?

Yep, 20 pounders and 112 pound HERL's, whatever that means

Is this what you're looking at? Heh, I like the idea of naming a bomb HURL.

Wow, those are all real nice looking entries for this GB! Can't wait for this one this one to get started!

Cliff, great write-up on Guynemer's Nieuport! Love the bit about Udet also, and, as it turns out, the E.III I'm doing for this GB happens to be Udet's mount! Sweet!

Cool, great to have Udet too Mike!

Cliff

Gentlemen,

Here's our offering for the badge. We went with a simple treatment. Special thanks to Tom Ford, FSM art director, for putting this together for us.

We really liked Jack's idea of the airplane's silhouette and incorporated that into it. Because Jack went like gangbusters to design a badge, we're going to offer both this badge and his as options for the GB, so long as you guys don't mind. 

Suits me.  Maybe I'll alternate, I like both!

Two badges are fine by me. Is that a specific aircraft in that badge.

Bish

Two badges are fine by me. Is that a specific aircraft in that badge.

No, it's supposed to be evocative rather than a specific aircraft. 

I like both of them!

Tim,I like what the staff has come up with for the badge.  It yet again shows that less is more.

After I had uploaded my design, I just remembered the British actor Terry Thomas.  Anyone recall the old 1965 movie "Those Magnificent men and their Flying Machines"?

regards,

Jack

Yeah, I love that movie!

And kudos to both badge designs.

Bish

Is that a specific aircraft in that badge.

Looks like a Bristol F.2 to me.

sorry but couldn't resist, just for some chuckles... a Terry Thomas group badge lol!

regards,

Jack

jgeratic

sorry but couldn't resist, just for some chuckles... a Terry Thomas group badge lol!

regards,

Jack

Now that just sings!

Tim-is it too late to join this GB?

I have an Eduard Albatros D. III, 1/48 that has the interior & prop painted from an earlier build attempt (The Great War GB, parts I & II).

If not, I have an Eduard Fokker E. V, 1/48 fresh in the box.

Thanks

Bob, we'd love to have you! How about I put you down for the E.V? That way we're all on even footing.

I'm not sure how Greg and Gamera will like having another Central Powers aeroplane in the mix, but that's all right. Still plenty of beer and your choice of this-wurst or that-wurst.

A little update on my part--starting to clear the workbenches of superfluous modeling stuffs. Cleaning up the airbrush station. Straightening the shipyard and putting away a bunch of figures slated for painting but just haven't gotten there yet. By tomorrow night, the workshop should be back in working order. Hope to post a pic of Kidwell Aeroplane Factory No. 1 soon.