Salmson 2 A.2 by ccoyle - FINISHED - WAK - 1/33 - CARD - in markings of aircraft flown by Capt. Arthur J. Coyle, 1st Squadron, US Air Service, Autumn 1918

[ccoyle]

Greetings!

 

Whenever I order stuff from Poland, I like to max out the order that can be sent at a certain shipping price point. That means that for my last order from WAK, received just this week, I was able to slip WAK's latest release into my cart. It's a Salmson 2 A.2, a French two-seat observation plane used in the last year of the Great War. First Squadron of the US Air Service also operated the type.

 

 

The kit is designed by Maciej Lewan and features very nice artwork done by Marcin Dworzecki.

 

 

 

A little skimpy on the diagrams, but hopefully enough to get the job done.

 

 

 

Of course I also ordered the requisite laser-cut frames . . .

 

 

. . . as well as a pair of resin Lewis guns for the observer's twin mounting.

 

 

Okay, so you might be wondering why I decided to start this build when I just finished the Hurricane and had started back on Phoenix. Well, I'll tell you why. I blame this wholly on WAK. I checked the inside front cover to see if there was any information about the aircraft depicted in the kit, and there I saw the following (in English, no less):

 

 

Yup, the plane was "piloted by A.J. Coyle."

 

That did it. Hot new release . . . chance to be one of the first to build it . . . pilot with the same surname as myself (and it's not a common one) . . . the kit fairly screamed "build me NOW!"

 

So I caved. BTW, I have not yet been able to determine if Capt. Coyle and I are distant relatives, but I have an extensive family tree, and he's not in it, so I suspect we are not. Oh, well.

 

Capt. Arthur J. Coyle (standing), with Lt. A.E. Easterbrook. Anonymous unknown author, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

 

I may try to build this concurrently with Phoenix, or I might not. I'll just have to see how it plays out. Plus, I have another project on my radar. 😬  So many projects, so little time!!

 

Cheers!

[Keith Black]

14 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

the kit fairly screamed "build me NOW!"

 Oh, yeah, you gotta start building this thing immediately.

 

 *Keith has a chair and a bowl of popcorn and ready for the show to start.   

[DocRob]

Would have been cool, to find out about a family member through the kit. It seems to be a nice kit and will look terrific with you doing your magic.
 

Cheers Rob

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, DocRob said:

Would have been cool, to find out about a family member through the kit.

 

I've since learned that Capt. Coyle was born in Vermont, making him one of the 'Northern Coyles', who were mostly Catholic. His forebears arrived in Quebec in the early 19th Century before eventually making their way south into Vermont. Our family were Ulster Scots who arrived in the Carolinas sometime in the 18th Century.

[ccoyle]

First Cuts

 

Construction begins with the forward fuselage. One unusual feature of the Salmson was its powerplant -- a liquid-cooled, 9-cylinder Salmson 9Z radial producing 231 hp. The radiator layout featured shutters that looked rather like fan blades. You can easily see them in this photo:

from Wikimedia Commons

 

And here are the shutters as seen in the construction diagram:

 

The shutters are provided as a flat, printed part depicting the shutters closed, but the instructions say that experienced models may attempt to display them in the open position.

 

Challenge accepted:

 

That job took awhile, so that's all I got done this evening.

 

[Canute]

I'm in, Chris. The shutters are looking good.

[chadwijm6]

These paper models are fascinating. Looking forward to following along. 👍🏻

[ccoyle]

First two cowl rings and radiator shutters completed.

 

Now I'm busy trying to make sense of the assembly instructions and diagrams, which leave a substantial portion of the build process to the imagination.

[Dave_E]

I’m in! 🍿🥤👍😊

[ccoyle]

When this kit first arrived, I noticed that it is designed to use butt joints. I really dislike butt joints. Because it uses butt joints, no joiner strips are provided -- not even the sort that are typically used to close rings. Hmph.

 

Work proceeded on the first fuselage section. Regardless of what the kit designer intended, I simply made myself a joiner strip to close up the ring, which, as you can see in this first photo, is not entirely ring-shaped. It's a ring where it joins the cowl, but then flares to a flat bottom along the rest of the fuselage. The forward-most bulkhead is a simple circle, but the aft bulkhead has a cutout where cockpit elements will be located. I stiffened the entire flimsy-looking bulkhead with thin CA. I also painted the interior a sort-of canvas-colored tan, because I don't know how much of it will be visible once the fuselage and cockpit are assembled. (BTW, that's just an old, dried glue blob in the lower left corner.)

 

Both bulkheads required some sanding to get them to slip easily into the ring. Here's the completed fuselage section, now mated to the cowl assembly. The cowl has numerous blisters, which I will add later to avoid smooshing them while working on the fuselage.

 

 

That first butt joint turned out well. I'll be very happy if the rest turn out as nice. Moving to the next fuselage section, construction of the forward cockpit begins, so there will be a lot more elements.

 

Cheers!

[ccoyle]

All the cockpit bulkheads have been prepped.

 

[ccoyle]

I call this next one the "last time you'll ever have a clear view of this cockpit" shot.

 

 

And here's the cockpit section all closed up and mated to the forward fuselage. The butt joint did not turn out as nicely this time.

 

 

A simple fuselage slice is next, followed by construction of the observer's position.

 

Cheers!

[Papa]

On 5/9/2024 at 9:35 PM, ccoyle said:

Now I'm busy trying to make sense of the assembly instructions and diagrams, which leave a substantial portion of the build process to the imagination.

This is what I am finding on the Nautilus.  I found that the JCS card model had much better instructions.  

[ccoyle]

Gradually the fuselage lengthens.

 

[ccoyle]

The observer's position is complete. These are the last views anyone will see before it gets zipped up.

 

 

 

 

 

After this, anyone wanting to get a good closeup look will need to use an endoscope. 😑

[ccoyle]

Zipped up . . .

 

 

. . . and skinned.

 

[ccoyle]

Two more sections added to the fuselage.

 

[ccoyle]

The main fuselage sections are done now. Next I'll need to go back and mount all the little lumpy-bumpy parts.

 

[ccoyle]

For those of you who are interested, I thought you might like to see what an insanely talented card modeler (not me, obviously) can do by kit-bashing a rather rudimentary model. Scroll down to the pics at the bottom to see the scratch-built super-detailing. It's on a whole 'nother level.

 

MiG-3 at Kartonowki gallery

[Canute]

Super work on that early MiG. The Russians seem to like vivid cockpit colors, like the turquoise in some MiGs and Suchois

[rlwhitt]

I've often wondered about the use of turquoise, as the Japanese (thinking of the Zero) used it as well in the wheel wells as this Russian one has,.

[ccoyle]

2 hours ago, Canute said:

The Russians seem to like vivid cockpit colors, like the turquoise in some MiGs and Suchois

 

It's not really turquoise so much as sky blue. The Russians didn't seem to waste much time on experimenting with color schemes -- sky-blue undersides and two-tone gray topsides were commonplace. I can't say for certain, but I suspect they used the same blue for interiors and undersides simply because it expedited construction. The Soviets figured out early that simplifying their manufacturing processes got materiel into the field faster and in larger quantities.

[ccoyle]

Eighteen cowl blisters done. 😵

 

[Canute]

Fiddly bits for sure. Nicely done.

[Jsk]

Your work is always so clean and precise. A rare talent!

[ccoyle]

More cowl bits added. I mighta got more done today except I spent the entire day stripping the old finish off my fence. 😬

 

[Tim Moore]

Very crisp and clean Chris, you are a master at this in my book. Must need such a careful touch. 

[Jsk]

5 hours ago, ccoyle said:

I spent the entire day stripping the old finish off my fence

Pffftt! Get your priorities straight, dude.

[ccoyle]

11 hours ago, Jsk said:

Pffftt! Get your priorities straight, dude.

 

My priorities are in perfect order -- they just don't match my wife's priorities!

[ccoyle]

Added the pilot's headrest and windscreens. The kit provide neither interior frames nor glazing templates for the latter; I made photocopies and used those as templates.