Endeavors in Plastic

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Avro 504K

The Avro 504K was one of the true workhorses of early aviation. The aircraft initially flew on September 18, 1913, and the last one was completed in 1932. In all 8,970 examples of this iconic aircraft were built, and 13 were delivered even before the war broke out. The Avro 504 had the dubious distinction of being the first RFC aircraft to be shot down during World War One, but the aircraft gained fame on November 21, when Avro 504s of the RNAS bombed the Zeppelin sheds in Friedrichshafen. The Avro 504 became the mainstay trainer of the RFC after Major Robert Smith-Barry, an outspoken critic of the way the RFC trained its "Fokker Fodder" during the first years of the war, became the CO of No. 1 Reserve Squadron at Gosport very late in 1916 or in early 1917. Smith-Barry got rid of the old Maurice Farman S-7 Longhorns, also known as "Rumpties", that had been used to train budding pilots. The Avro provided a flying experience that was more akin to the aircraft used in combat. Among other measures, Smith-Barry also sought out competent and encouraging instructors to train new pilots, and furthermore he made sure that the pilots were taught how to deal with stalls and spins instead of simply avoiding potentially hazardous maneuvers. The so-called Gosport System eventually became the norm within the RFC and then the RAF, and the Gosport System contributed greatly the British successes in the air later in the war. As an item of curiosity, the skid between the wheels of the Avro 504 was referred to as the "toothpick" by members of the RFC and RAF.

This incarnation of the 1960-or-so Airfix kit comes from the late 1980s and 1990s. The kit is moulded in grey plastic, and the decals are for a trainer in Egypt in the early 1920s and a preserved Avro. The Airfix kit apparently has a fuselage that lacks depth. This can be remedied by gluing plastic card to the underside, but I did not realize this error until the model neared completion. Some parts were added, such as the tube attached to the petrol tank, a nervous pilot up front and his instructor in the rear cockpit ready for takeoff, the windshields, the semicircular braces under the wings, and, of course, the rigging. I wanted an Avro from the time of the Great War, and i chose to paint the aircraft in markings from No. 8 Training Squadron Royal Australian Flying Corps, which was based in Leighterton in 1918 and 1919.

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Phönix D.II of Alexander Kasza

Feldwebel Alexander (Sándor) Kasza was born in 1896 in the Hungarian town of Tacskosuthfalva, today’s Stara Moravica in Vojvodina, which is part of northern Serbia. He was called up to join the 86^th Infantry Regiment in 1915, but in September of that year he transferred to the air force, and he completed his pilot training in Germany, and more specifically Brandenburg and Hamburg. Kasza was considered a very good pilot, and he served for quite some time as an instructor at Wiener Neustadt. However, in August 1917 he was posted to the Italian Front at Haidenschaftban with Fliegerkompanie (Flik) 55J. He scored his first victory on November 15, when he shot down an Italian Savoia-Pomilio. Another two followed before 1917 came to an end, and in 1918 Kasza became the wing-man of Austro-Hungarian ace Joseph Kiss until Kiss was shot down by Lieutenant Gerald Birks of No. 66 Squadron on May 24, 1918. Kasza subsequently adorned his Phönix with three hearts to honor his fallen comrade. It should however be noted that Kasza flew an Albatros D.III scout for most of his career, and the Albatros was exchanged for a Phönix, probably in late May of 1918. He was eventually posted to Flik 11F before the Armistice. Kasza survived the war with six victories, but he was killed with his family during the Soviet bombardment of Budapest in 1945.

Victories

	Date	Time	Unit	Aircraft	Opponent	Location
1	15 Nov 1917		Flik 55J	Albatros D.III (153.19)	Savoia-Pomilio	N of Bassano
2	17 Nov 1917		Flik 55J	Albatros D.III (153.19)	Nieuport Scout	N of Valstagna
3	23 Nov 1917		Flik 55J	Albatros D.III (153.40)	Nieuport Scout	Bassano-Rubbio
4	12 Jan 1918		Flik 55J	Albatros D.III	R.E.8	Casa Rigoni
5	22 May 1918		Flik 55J	Albatros D.III	Sopwith Camel	S Cima Maora
6	09 Jun 1918		Flik 55J	Phönix D.II (422.14)	Bristol F.2b	E of Acqua Viva

Feldwebel Alexander Kasza

Kasza's Phönix D.II in 1918.

The kit is the Mac 1/72 Phönix D.II that can be seen below. Mac has issued several Phönix scouts, and it is scalewise a quite accurate model of the Phönix. The kit comes with a small photoetch fret that contains an underscale seatbelt harness, a nice instrument panel as well as gun sights, radiator piping and support struts for the tailplane. The engine is a tad less detailed than, say, the Roden engines, but it is adequate. The model has a low parts count, and it is fairly easy to build. The painting was moderately challenging, and is it were, the best way to create the brown mottling was by using a q-tip. There were some issues regarding the mottling, and various representations indicate that the mottling might have been dark green, a brown-green mix or just brown, but I selected brown for Kasza's Phönix. The decals were extremely thin, so great care had to be taken while applying the decals, and yet I caused some minor damage that had to be painted over.

The Phönix D.II was a slightly improved version of the D.I. It had a slightly increased wing span, and it had a completely redesigned tailplane, Phönix D.IIs began reaching front line units in May of 1918, but Flik 55J was probably the only one to be wholly equipped with the D.II. The Phönix was arguably the best scout of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and pilots who flew the Phönix ckaimed that it could match any Allied warplane on the Italian Front. It was fast, and it could out-climb the Sopwith Camel. However, some pilots found the Phönix perhaps a little too stable. About 327 Phönix scouts were built during the war, while Sweden built an additional ten as the J1.