EDUARD'S PROFIPAK ROLAND CII MID PRODUCTION VERSION

I have wanted to build a Roland CII for some time and even started an Airfix kit a while back, but put it to one side as I contemplated a scratch built cockpit, for which limited information existed. Then while at Southern Expo in March I saw the Eduard 1/48^th kit, which is my favourite scale for WW1 types. I have already built their Neiuport 17 and some of their smaller kits, so was aware of the quality of the WW1 subjects. I think these are the best WW1 kits available today. A far cry from my early modelling days and the various Aurora kits in approximately 1/48^th!

I snapped the Profipak version of the kit up and at home dug out my Roland folder, which contains all of the available material on the type:

Albatross productions guide, the old Profile and some build articles on this kit and the earlier Blue Max kit and some older articles on the Airfix kit, including an excellent one by the master modeller Ray Rimell (also the owner of Albatros Publications) from Scale Models in 1974. The most useful article was, however a build of the Eduard kit in SAM.

The first thing I do after collecting my references is to chose my subject. I tried to find photo’s of the options Eduard provide, but only found good ones of the well photographed unarmed version. I had decided that I wanted to make a camouflaged version and this was confirmed when on analysis, the kit is of the later production type with control rods for the ailerons mounted outside of the fuselage between the wings. It also should mean that the model has a longer wing than appropriate for the early versions. Now given that even Albatross can not confirm the exact differences in the wing between the versions and their plans do not show the difference (was it a couple of inches or a foot. No one seems to know!). I decided not to model the earlier blue grey version and save that for the Airfix kit, where any such difference would not be so apparent. That decided the version, but I could not find a photo of the armed option Eduard provides. SO taking a chance I emailed Eduard to ask about their information source for the option and also taking another chance, if I could buy the decal sheet from the basic kit, which has a sharks mouth example, which had been photographed with copies in both the Albatross book and in the old Profile. To my delight Eduard replied almost instantly and offered to send me the decal sheet from the other kit free of charge – it arrived two days later! This is above and beyond the call of duty and Eduard are to be congratulated for this approach. Please don’t use this as an excuse for everyone to take advantage of their generosity! Perhaps they could consider selling decal sheets from their kits, so that modellers are not limited to the options provided in whatever issue of the kit they have brought. Given that after market WW1 decals are thin on the ground, they could open up a new market sector for themselves.

Thus equipped I proceeded to build the model. I diverged from the instructions and took some good hints from the SAM article. The main change being to dispense with the provided solid bulkheads and replace them with open framework ones as per the original aircraft. The SAM article would have you make the frame work from one piece of plastic card, but I found an easier way to do it: Take some plastic strip (square section) and gently curve it around the inside of the fuselage in the place where the kit bulkheads are to go. Build up the kit floor sections and do as much as you can before putting the fuselage halves together. This will give you the basic framework, to which you can add the cross pieces from pre-painted strip, following the kit parts as a pattern and the frame photos in the Albatross guide. Once these are in place you can add in the rear seat and other components that hang off the frames.

With care the pilot floor and seat (over the fuel tank) can sit quite happily without the rear support the kit part would have provided.

As per the SAM article you will need to add some detail behind the observers position, as it’s now quite open at the back. My simpler (than the article used) method was to put some strips of Tamiya masking tape diagonally along both halves before assembly and paint them the same interior wood colour as the plastic parts up front. The gaps between the tape give the impression of structure and it’s simpler than the plastic strip version used in the SAM article and almost as good.

Other than that assembly follows the kit instructions and the Profipak really comes into its own for the guns, which do not look right as solid parts. If you don’t have the Profipak version alternatives are available from Toms Modelworks (via Aeroclub in the UK) or Copper State. The Eduard parts are easy to make up and really set the model off, even with my limited skills!

Having chosen the scheme it was now time to sort out what colours to use. WW1 colours are fraught with danger for the dogmatic. The best references available today are in the Albatros books, so referring to the colour profile and details in the book, I chose to use the books interpretation of the Methuen shades for the main colours. I don’t have the Methuen book and it’s quite elitist of Albatross to only ever refer to it, rather than the easier to come by FS595b or would it kill them to give some common model paints? Fortunately I do have a copy of "Scale Model Colour" (an old publication produced by the then publishers of Scale Models and Military Modelling in the late 1970’s; MAP). Albatros’s Ray Rimell edited the publication and this has comprehensive lists of colours referenced to Methuen and to Humbrol. So cross-referencing this guide against the Methuen figures in the Albatross book I chose a blue, a green and a brown. In this case the blue was; Humbrol 65, the green; Humbrol 91 and the brown; Humbrol 29 plus some orange 18 (I guess 82 would do as well). Eduard suggest the violet/purple shade instead of the brown, but if the photo the profile is based upon is from 1916 as Albatros and Eduard state, then brown is more likely, as the violet shade appears not to have become common until 1917. This means that only later options, including the separate large tail fin CII kit would have used violet. This is a pity as it’s so cool to use this shade on a model and it always arouses comment from friends, not into the hobby, who kind of don’t believe anyone used violet/purple as camouflage – the pink PR Spitfires are another story!

So I used these colours, them gloss coated the model with Poly S Gloss and applied the decals. As I only had the decals and not the masks for the shark mouth I made my own by cutting out a triangle from a bit of masking tape, matched to the decal. This was applied and Humbrol red 73 applied as this seemed to at least match the red shown in the Albatross profile. For the spinner, as no one knows what colour it was I went out on a limb and painted it yellow (Humbrol 69) as this was often used by the Germans in WW1 for identity markings. It adds a nice touch to the model.

The windows were, where I have a problem with the kit, they are very thick, with thick obvious surrounds and don’t fit too well. The etched backing frames are way too wide and don’t have rounded corners. So I discarded them and filled in the internal rebates for the transparencies with plastic strip and sanded it smooth with some Squadron white filler. Fortunately this option has the curtain effects and Eduard provide decals for this, which is as ever another example of this firms thoughtful planning.

The real things were thin transparent material – Celon has been mentioned, but what ever it is, it does not appear thicker than modern plastic sheet as used for green houses. Celon was a primitive plastic made from plant cellulose. So I decided to use a bit of the plastic bag the kit parts come in. I simply used Johnson’s Klear to make the kit decals adhere to the plastic, then cut round them once the were dry, used Superscale Klear to stick them onto the outside of the kit fuselage, then ran a brush round the edges to seal them in and represent the very thin frames. If I made the kit again I would thin the fuselage parts down from the inside and make a better job of it, but it looks better than the kit’s thick transparencies and is quite easy to do, given that I had already assembled the delicate interior before I discovered that the kit transparencies just did not work. I would also have stuck the decals to the inside of the plastic sheet, as opposed to the outside.

Rigging was completed with Aeroclub transparent thread held in place with superglue in small holes drilled in the appropriate places. Like an idiot I left this until the model was assembled, but next time I would drill out the holes before assembly. This method works wonderfully and I first used it on Eduard's Neiuport 17 kit (see separate article). I tested on this model some thin steel wire from Spain’s Minimecca, which is now available in the UK via ED Models. It’s OK and sticks well with superglue, but its hard to cut to length, unlike the thread which the little steel spring bow scissors my uncle got me from Canada, that I use for trimming the wires once I have tensioned them on the model. A small No 15 blade scalpel is OK, but still needs too much pressure to cut on a delicate model.

As WW1 subjects go this is simple, but still took three frustrating evenings to complete after some wires just came out as I applied too much stress to the model, while hurrying to finish it! Watch out for super glue accelerator, as when it snapped dry on one "wire" it over-tensioned it and it snapped.

The final etched MG’s and other bits were applied, the paint touched up as required and added to a simple base made from an old CD, covered with domestic filler, painted and static grass added. I might add an Eduard pilot from their new set, when I can get one.

I know its not competition material, but it looks OK and adds another interesting type to my collection. The next model is the Roden Fokker DVII, review and photos to follow. The references I used are noted in the following table:

C MH May 2004.