Scale aviation modeller international

AN ENGINE

Not one, in fact, but two! Among

the five (or is it seven?) options that

WNW offer are aircraft powered

by either the 100 hp Mercedes D

or the 120 hp Argus As.II. I had

already settled at this stage on

building Option ”C”, which was

an Argus powered example.

For this engine, WNW has

supplied two sets of cylinders,

one with and one without the plug

leads moulded in place (the plug

leads are also supplied as separate

components). The cylinder pieces

without leads also lack pushrods

for the valves, which suggests that

one can make these from wire or

similar for a better scale effect. This

is all perfectly fine, but unlike for

the Argus As.III in their excellent

Hannover CL.II, there is absolutely

no mention of it in the instructions.

Something to be addressed

on their website, perhaps?

The engine goes together with

a simplicity that belies the detail

in the design. WNW seem to be

experimenting in this kit with

moulding some components in

one piece that would previously

have been moulded as two or

three separate pieces. This is also

apparent elsewhere and mostly,

it works. I created the pushrods

from .45 mm nickel steel rod

from Albion Alloys, which really

improved the appearance. As with

all WNW engines, once complete,

it is a little model in itself.

The alternative 100 hp Mercedes

D1 also builds into a fine replica, as

I know from previous experience,

although unlike the Argus, it

lacks spark plugs and leads.

THE FUSELAGE

The fuselage comprises two halves,

with an additional piece covering

the lower front cowl. These are,

as you would expect, beautifully

moulded and the port side includes

tailskid, kingposts and rudders

with their attendant control horns.

This results in a very fragile tail

end, particularly considering the

handling involved in masking,

painting, and above all, rigging the

interior. My solution was to loosely

wrap some bubble wrap around the

area while I was working on the

fuselage, only removing it when the

time came to join the two halves.

I’m sure if I hadn’t, there would

have been small but important

bits of Taube everywhere, and

a tricky repair job as well.

The lower front cowling (Part

A35) has some fine cooling louvres

moulded in it which benefit from

a little cleaning up. It also has

four ejector pin marks which

require similar treatment, since

they will show if you leave the

side cowling removable (as WNW

recommend). These are the only

moulding imperfections that I

encountered in the entire kit.

When building an aircraft

with ”wooden” components in

the cockpit, I generally start with

these since they will involve oil

paints, which have a longer drying

time than my usual acrylics. My

technique starts with a coat of

Tamiya XF-57 Buff, followed by

a thin coat of gloss seal. I then

mix an oil wash of brown and

apply it in a streaky coat over the

buff. By using a shaggy brush and

moving it appropriately, you can

create some very convincing-

looking wood grain effects. Once

this is dry (normally in about

three days), I seal it all in with

Tamiya X-26 Clear Orange.

Painting instructions in this

case, are quite deliberately vague.

WNW always stress in their models

that colours for Great War aircraft

are often unsure and open to

speculation. This seems particularly

to be the case for the Taube, since

some examples date from even

before the war. Suggestions are

there, but in many areas, it’s up

to the modeller to make the final

8 • MARCH 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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