bughunter
To recover my mojo I scratched instrument panels and related parts for a future project in scale 1:48.
The only used plastic parts are stretched clear sprue, the rest is real wood and metal!
I have not mentioned the type of aircraft, perhaps some of you will recognise this design.
And I hope, this time it is spectacular enough for Greg 😉 , because I was not able to do it more real and precise. That is damn small! I can take it with me to Ried next month and show it as WIP.

Spanjaard
The switches are just amazing!!!!

bughunter
Thank you Spanjaard! In the macro shots it looks a bit coarse, but with naked eye I like the outcome.
No one an idea regarding the type?

Uwe Kaeding
Maybe an early SPAD - S.A.2 or 4? Whatever it is, the work is just brilliant!

bughunter
Thank you very much!
Good catch Uwe! Not SPAD, but you are right with french.
So now also some struts in french blue. With some more parts the cockpit framework is mounted together. Need to add more details: engine control, seat, stick and rudder pedals ...
Such scratch work is a lot of fun for me 😉

Skyhiker
You rule.

David Taylor
Nieuport 11.

Bernhard Schrock
As usual: „a great movie" 🙂. Watching with interest.

bughunter
Thank you mates!
David, the Nieuports do not have this wooden layer on top, as visible on my Nieuport 11
Nieuport Ni-11 | Project by bughunter (1:48)
It will evolve into a Morane-Saulnier 😉

Hanno Kleinecke
Simply out of this world !

Bruce Huxtable
Watching with interest, and admiration 🙂👍

bughunter
Thank you very much for your comments and likes mates!

Now I was wondering if I can spray Alclad metallic paint on decals without protective coat? Why the hell you want to do that?
The answer are the pictures 21 and 22. Note: the difference is only the direction of light during photography!
The upper side will later be painted in camouflage colours together with the fuselage. And yes, that is the first kit part involved here 😉

David R. Meizoso
Astonishing so far!
Morane Saulnier AI maybe?

bughunter
Yes David, full hit! I linked already the existing project to this album.
It has been on my wish list to build this kit for a long time, but the Gnome N 160hp is a rotary engine which is not on the Small Stuff product list. However, Eduard released this type as a 3D print in the context of the new Camel kit 👍 So I bought some of these engines for other projects than Camels 😉

Robert Podkoński
A little late, but taking a seat and watching with interest. Fantastic work so far!

bughunter
You are welcome Robert! You are not late, yesterday I put the the first pictures online 😉

Carlo
Q. When you attach the aerilons are they movable? or do you glue them in place ?

bughunter
The ailerons (and the control surfaces at the tail) are removed only for a more realistic look. Modern kits provides them often as individual parts. So I add hinges, but keep them separate for easier painting and handling. Finally I will glue them into a non-straight position matching the stick position in the cockpit.

bughunter
Just uploaded a picture of my cockpit on a reference picture (yesterday it failed, so I took a new shot today).
There was no survivor of this aircraft type, but a framework of the fuselage. So this was enhanced with new parts according to drawings to an new aircraft in airworthiness condition. First flight 1993.
storage.mfa.free.fr/MoraneAIuk.html

bughunter
Added today pictures of the airscrew made again from real wood. The metal hub plates are not yet added.
Creating a new propeller is definitely necessary here, because the two airscrews from the kit turn the wrong way round 🙁

Skyhiker
Absolutely beautiful.

Spanjaard
engine and propeller looks simple fantastic

Neil
Awe inspiring (looks real) work - as usual! 😉

bughunter
Thank you very much mates!
After I know the final position of the engine I will add a little piece of tubing in the middle of the airscrew.

gorby
WOW! Next step is a fully scratch built aircraft. 🙂
I know you can do it - for Bughunter it'll be easy.

bughunter
You'll laugh, I really have an idea. In my bookcase there is a book with great coloured 3D views and plans about a rare WWI aircraft that has no chance of being realised as a kit. Even with a rotary engine! 😉 That would be a good candidate for a scratch build.
But I really have to think about how to realise it, because it's not that easy. A few experiments have already failed.
But until then, I still have a lot of kits to build from stash!

gorby
If it was easy, it wouldn't be worth doing. Go for it Frank, you've got the skills. 🙂

bughunter
The new batch of pictures shows my new aluminium cowling. My previous created cowlings are polished in natur metal, but here I need to paint it. I experimented with Hammerite "Spezial Haftgrund" and Gunze Mr. Metal Primer. Since the Gunze product will dry to a thin film I think I will go with that one.

F_IV
Hi Bughunter, it's looking beautiful. The cowling especially... really nice! Looking forward to seeing more.
Cheers! F_IV aka Feathered_IV 🙂

bughunter
Thank you very much for such nice words, from the master of the smallest biplanes 👍

Erik
I've said it before - at some point you won't need kits any more. 😄 Great work! 👍

bughunter
Thank you mates!
Erik, some small parts are somehow easy, but wings and fuselage from a kit are always great help.

bughunter
I'm not 100% sure about the next created parts of pic 41-43.
There were at least three main variants: the MoS.27C1 fighter with one Vickers, the MoS.29C1 with two Vickers MGs (both with typically the 150hp Gnome N engine) and an unarmed MoS.30C1 trainer (with 110hp Le Rhone engine).
The rebuilt flying aircraft (using original parts) is using a Clerget rotary. I will do the MoS.29C1.
So the different engines and variants causes different panel layouts and intakes, where the assignment to the variants is not clear. But since I've mostly had round intake tubes in the showcase so far, I'm taking the artistic freedom and using the beautiful variant with the oval intakes here.

Kyle DeHart
I love it. Just phenomenal.

Alec K
What?! A build album with no plastic in sight until pic 14… must be a Bughunter extravaganza! Following, of course 🙂 👍

bughunter
Thank you Kyle! I'm glad that you love it!
Sometime I ask myself, if this is going to far ... but what me invited to this build was the walk around on Primeportal linked here in SM, especially the struts. There is a lot of work in front of me!!!
[img1]

bughunter
Oh, I missed your post Alec! Welcome to the show!
To be fair: the level indicators on picture 4 are plastic and not glass 😉

bughunter
If I haven't forgotten anything, the cockpit is complete. I have just uploaded more photos.

F_IV
Incredible job and very inspiring! The cockpit looks very complete.
Small omissions are easy to do though. I spent 8 months doing a DH.2 from scratch and at the end realised I forgot to make a control stick.. 😅

gorby
That isn't surprising for one of your builds F_IV. In 1/144 you have to have pretty good eyesight to see the aircraft let alone the details. 😄

Erik Leijdens
As usual a work of art in the making. I admire your skills and talent bughunter. Always a pleasure to see your ww1 models.

Predrag Ivanovic
Great work as we all expected from you, since i started same kit and stuck with parasol wing , can't wait for that part to come,all that kit's struts and suports are a bit hard to handle, they are to small to drill and a very fragile. I supose, as i follow your work for a time, that you are planing a scratch build there,am I correct?

bughunter
Oh yes, I will definitely not use the kit struts! The struts will be done with a brass core, as developed during the DH-2 build this year. I'm not sure yet if I'm doing the struts and glue the structure together, or soldering a brass framework and plate that with wood, at least for the main struts.
In this respect, this type of aircraft is really a challenge, but has the potential to look absolutely impressive if the build succeeds. Of course I will not paint the struts so it should look like the actual flying one (see walk around above). If you want to have it easier: 100 years ago on some planes the struts were painted in the lower surface color.

BTW: There is a really wounderful painted WWI comic in 3 books by Roman Hugault "Der Pilot mit dem Edelweiß". In the 3rd book "Walburga" this plane plays an important role and is wonderfully drawn on 4 pages! And yes, also with wooden struts 👍
[img1]
[img2]
[img3]

bughunter
Today some (damn small!) scratch work in plastic. The struts has some special mount points on the wing. The kit has nothing like that.
[img1]
I was just flowing so nicely and wanted to mount the four outer ones as well. Just in time I noticed that the cockades were still missing and stopped early enough 😉

Ricardo Reis
Wow, another one from the WWI master! Following! 👍

Björn Svedberg
Another great start on a build I just can't miss! 👍

bughunter
Thank you Ricardo and Björn! A warm welcome to the show!

gorby
That's damn impressive work on those mounting points Frank.
Do those single blade nippers leave a completely flat surface/cut?

bughunter
Thank you very much gorby! With every working step I lost one/some of those little buggers, but luckily I started with enough parts.
To gut the heads I used my sprue cutting tool (please note: there is a version 3.0 out now)
Single Blade Nipper 2.0 (DSPIAE ST-A 2.0, No)
Yes, it leaves a flat surface since it cuts only from one side, please see the linked reviews.

But in my case I was not able to cut them in same thickness, so I sanded them a bit further (moved on sanding paper with finger head).
I experimented a bit to create this mounts, until I was happy with the result.

gorby
Thanks Frank. Those cutters are a bit too far out of my budget. I might be able to afford them if it wasn't for all that packaging. 😄

bughunter
I had bought mine in 2019, since then the price has almost doubled on ebay! + tax and customs on top.
Very bad with the logistic problems and inflation. Some importer in NL mentioned on his page, that the company in China was affected by lock downs and this year no cutters were produced. May be the prices are going down a bit if we come into normal business again.
BTW about packaging: DSPIAE had problems with cheap illegal copies, so there were special markings on the box to detect a real product.

gorby
👍

bughunter
Now the cockades are done! That was a lot of masking work. Special care was needed due to the decals below.

bughunter
I am a bit pissed off!
There was a colour research by a French modeler, but I had a totally different result. What the hell happened? Gunze changed a colour! There are two different H58 !!! The new one is much brighter, which has of course ruined the mixing guide.

Bruce Huxtable
Deep breath, Bughunter..... I'm sure your experienced 'eye' will guide you.

bughunter
Thank you Bruce! After the color looks the strange I looked into the famous internet and found this picture on britmodeller. I'm not the first to get screwed over. [img1]

Bruce Huxtable
That is not a subtle difference for sure ☹️

gorby
That's a very odd thing for Gunze to do.

Robert Podkoński
So annoying indeed...

Marcel Klemmer
You are a real wood magician👍

bughunter
Thank you mates!

John
Amazing work, sir!

Love it all but the cowling work is beautiful, and the soldering at that size, wow, that's some skill.

bughunter
Thank you John! Oh yes, soldering is pure fun for me 😉
In my projects you can find also some of the nice Eduard Stripdown planes in 1:72, which are soldered too.

bughunter
The tail skid: Well, was it probably made of wood? Or tubular steel? I already have many in the display case. You can't usually make out anything under the dark tail in reference pictures, but several of today's pictures show a perforated hollow profile. That's something different, even if only today's machines might have it.
And yes, 50% of the camouflage painting is done 😉

Bruce Huxtable
Step by step, she comes to life ... Pure perfection in your creation's every component. As always, so much to enjoy 🙂👍

bughunter
Thank you Bruce!
Pure perfection: at least not for the paint job! Such camouflage painting is another thing I have never done.
Today I ran into trouble: I masked off the light green with "Mr Maskol" and applied the next colour. Afterwards I removed it again, but the masking fluid attacked the 24-hour-old paint underneath within half an hour! Luckily there will be a decal later.

I had a small hope to get this plane ready for the exhibition in Ried next week, but it will be very tight! Already because of the drying times of the colours, decals etc.

Juergen Klinglhuber
I agree with B. Huxtable - a joy to watch and see how it all comes together perfect 👍 Thx for the show!

bughunter
Thanks Juergen! See you next week in Ried 👍 This bird will also be there, but may be not yet complete.
I think I should take care of the undercarriage so that the thing can get on its own feet. I experimented with it before my summer holiday, but I didn't like the result yet.

bughunter
My new possibly masterpiece now has an appealing and robust undercarriage that matches the original. That was some heavy special work (after some failed ideas) based on a contemporary sketch in the Datafile: [img1]

See also the walkaround pics in comparison:
[img1]
[img2]

gorby
That looks very accomplished soldering work. Excellent result.

bughunter
Thank you gorby! I wasn't sure if my new pictures were visible until your response.
That was the most complicated undercarriage I have ever done. Three tries to solve this problem failed, but I learned with every try to do the final one 😉

Christian Bruer
Impressive as always 👍

bughunter
Thx Christian! I guess you are not in Ried this Weekend? Then you have to wait until March for the EME in Lingen to see this bird in real 😉

Villiers de Vos
Neat scratch building. The painting is also coming along nicely.

bughunter
Thank you Villiers! The painting could be done better, I need to improve here. All the many colour borders allow for a large number of faults. I have never made such camouflage painting.
May be I have another update later today.

bughunter
Wing and fuselage are married now. That's the look I was hoping for! 👍

Juergen Klinglhuber
Loooking all great - can't wait to see the bird in real, See you tomorrow at the show.

Robert Podkoński
Awesome!

bughunter
I am glad that you like it too!
All models are safely packed now. Juergen, see you tomorrow at a great show 👍

Bruce Huxtable
She is a thing of great beauty, in this fine livery 🙂 I'm sure she will draw lots of attention at the show. Have a great day out, both of you 🙂

Spanjaard
I fully agree with Bruce, enjoy the show

Alec K
Glad you made it, and best of luck at the exhibition. She is a beauty 👍

Neuling
This beauty´s gonna win any contest ............. 🙂

bughunter
Thank you mates!
@Neuling Not in this unfinished state as Work In Progress, may be next year. At least the jury would notice the missing tailplane 😉

Chris Derksen
2 things: 1. This is gorgeous. 2. You are insane.

Elias Korompilis
Top class work as always! 😉

bughunter
Thank you very much Chris and Elias!
Chris, maybe I am insane, but I suffer from AMS (Advanced Modeling Syndrome). And it gets worse with every model!
As I'm working on the struts my wife is saying I'm a "Streber" (in German language). That means someone is working on struts but also swotter 😉

John
Amazing. Love the wing panels. They really look like doped fabric!

Curatorm
Awesome!

bughunter
Thank you very much mates!

Jv
Amazing work

bughunter
Thank you Jv, highly appreciated!

Kyle DeHart
Fantastic work on this. I'm speechless.

bughunter
Thank you Kyle!
What is typically part of an aircraft of this era that puts many modellers off? Correct, the rigging!
I'm happy, that this is done now.

Bruce Huxtable
She keeps getting better and better... phenominal work, Sir!

gorby
The struts and rigging look remarkable!

Predrag Ivanovic
Everything is as should be, when Mr. Bughunter make models. Thank you for a god reference, now i should try to get closest to your work as i can . Your work is a great inspiration for WWI modelers, keep it going!!

bughunter
It's always a pleasure to read you nice comments mates 👍 Thanks!
gorby, the great look of this aircraft with the wooden struts in the walkaround appealed to me and made me start this project.
Predrag, that is a high praise, thx! But even that could be improved, I need to improve my masking and painting skills when it comes to those camouflage livres. The wing is ok as I could used masks (cutting plotter), but the fuselage is not perfect. I have now masking putty, may be this works better.
But the main modeling rule is still valid: there is no perfect model, and the next one will be better. 😉

bughunter
When I prepared the wing for the rib bands some time ago, I had removed moulded details - the details of the strut holders on the upper side. Actually my model should also show these details, if even already shown in the kit.

I had then also shaped 12 metal sheets as shown in a photo of an original wing, but they had become too large (already the hole too large) and I did not attach them. I didn't feel like making them again and continued the construction.

Now the AMS has won and I have started another attempt ...
And yes, this would have been easier before the wing was mounted than on the finished model, but what one doesn't do for beautiful details 😉

gorby
That really is remarkable attention to detail.

Alec K
Yep. It's detailing Bughunter-style. Remarkable!

bughunter
Thank you gorby and Alec!
Now some attention to the tail and I'm done with details. Then only a bit of paint for weathering etc and this project come to the end.

bughunter
It is done! 😎 It was a very special and extremely work intensive project, but it was worth it, because I am happy with the result.
The final pictures for the gallery album will hopefully follow in the next few days, if there is good weather and I have time.

Thank you very much for following and your comments!

Villiers de Vos
A beautiful result.

David Taylor
Another stunner.

Sebastiaan Duinkerken
Absolutely beautiful!

Spanjaard
awesome

Juergen Klinglhuber
Einfach unglaublich was du da fabrizierst. Top.

Jv
Butiful result congrats

Kyle DeHart
Truly incredible. So nicely done.

Erik
❤️️ ❤️️ ❤️️

Marcel Klemmer
Unbelievable what you have conjured up again in terms of details 👍

bughunter
Wow mates, thank you very much for your nice comments!
Don't miss the chance to see the new reference pictures, äh, no , my model outdoor pictures, which I uploaded to a new album: Morane-Saulnier Type AI | Album by bughunter (1:48)

morstein
grandiose Details, atemberaubend!

bughunter
Dankeschön! Das ist schon ein besonderes Stück in meiner Sammlung 😉

Slavo Hazucha
A masterpiece by the man who utilizes real trees as "3D printers" for his modeling parts... 😉 👍 👍 👍

Probably worth a book, so many techniques in this one - fascinating work, and again this unique handwriting where the super-detail and the whole are in this rare perfect balance...

True top masterclass + the reason why Chuck Norris avoids building WWI scale models... 😉

Pietro De Angelis
Awesome job and stunning details!

bughunter
Thank you very much!
Slavo, your wonderful comment put a smile on my face! 👍