Kondor D.2, WIP

1
July 20, 2021
The SPIN model kit allows the first prototype. This is the box.
2
July 20, 2021
There are nearly no bubbles on the wings.
3
July 20, 2021
The fuselage is very short - a little bird.
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July 20, 2021
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July 20, 2021
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July 20, 2021
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July 20, 2021
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July 20, 2021
Some small parts.
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July 20, 2021
A little decal sheet.
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July 20, 2021
The manual.
11
July 20, 2021
The wings of the kit are nice but I like individual ailerons so I cut and reattached them.
12
July 20, 2021
This allows also a cutout for the aileron control wire. Please note the mounting plates, but I decided to remove them.
13
July 20, 2021
I primed the wings and added some shading, may be not strong enough.
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July 20, 2021
15
July 20, 2021
The kit drawing (see above) shows a blue lower surface, but there is also a 1/72 kit. That manual tells 5 color lozenge on upper and lower surfaces, also some drawings in a Jack Herris book. After checking the available photos I decided to go that way.
So I applied Aviattic 5 color lozenge. After drying overnight I fixed the edges with Micro Set.
(I forgot pictures, here I started already with the rib tapes on lower surface.)
16
July 20, 2021
And the upper side.
17
July 20, 2021
I added thin stripes of another Aviattic sheet, 5 color lozenge on white decal paper, as rib tapes.
Not easy to cut identical tapes, but the look is impressive.
18
July 20, 2021
The upper side is more nice.
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July 20, 2021
Again as macro shot.
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July 20, 2021
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July 20, 2021
As shape of the crosses of the decals looks different to the Windsock drawing, photos and even the kit box! I decided to draw and cut masks with my cutting machine.
Masks on decals is dangerous, it stopped my Albatros triplane project (I still haven't fixed the damage!), but I got the advice to spray a flat coat. Thank you, that worked! I lifted only two rib tapes a bit, which could be fixed easily.
22
July 20, 2021
This way also the gap between wing and ailerons is handled automatically and I like the look, with the embossed rip tapes.
23
July 20, 2021
As I removed the mounting plates for the decals I need now new ones.
I soldered 12 small brass plates (+ some spares) to a block and filed it to shape and drilled for mounting.
24
July 20, 2021
So I have some self made PE, threaded to avoid loss.
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July 20, 2021
I glued them on and bolted to the wings with 0.2mm wire.
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July 20, 2021
Again as macro.
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July 20, 2021
The lever of the ailerons are also painted black and glued in place.
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July 20, 2021
Now together with the wing. I painted also the mounts slightly. Some metal looking through was intended.
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July 21, 2021
Luckily I had the matching Small Stuff engine in my stash and have done it. Here during the build process.
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July 21, 2021
The finished engine. The ignition wires are added too. I really like the copper intake pipes (Alclad).
31
July 21, 2021
I turned again a new alu cowling. After that I milled a cooling slot for the undersurface.
32
July 21, 2021
The resin part is more thick.
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July 21, 2021
Also the Axial airscrew is done in a raw shape.
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July 21, 2021
All new parts for the front together with their kit counterparts.
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July 21, 2021
The new parts working together.
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July 21, 2021
The airscrew still need a bit of work, but there is a chance to reach the look of the original.
Note: here you see also the second prototype with a more powerful engine, different cowling and installed weaponry.
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July 22, 2021
With some kit parts, metal, wood and a bit of paint I created the cockpit.
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July 22, 2021
Since the opening is wide I missed something behind the dark frame so I created a fuel tank from wood and brass foil.
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July 22, 2021
Ready for mounting.
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July 22, 2021
Glued in place.
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July 22, 2021
The seat belts are Eduard Steel PE, some dials are also Eduard PE.
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July 22, 2021
Last view before closing the fuselage.
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July 22, 2021
I cut also all control surfaces and made new hinges.
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July 22, 2021
After glueing the fuselage halves I added also the prepared tail parts.
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July 22, 2021
Looks nice with plugged on control surfaces.
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July 22, 2021
On the front I added some plastic with the inside diameter of the cowling.
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July 22, 2021
The cowling has a tight fit.
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July 23, 2021
The upper struts made from wood with metals pins ...
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July 23, 2021
... can hold the wing without glue. The outer struts can be added later.
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July 23, 2021
On the right side you can see the outer struts, the length is not yet final.
The undercarriage struts are plugged to the fuselage but are somehow on the long side. 😉
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July 23, 2021
After shortening I tried to connect the legs with wires but this fails so I moved to metal inserts glued with CA.
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July 23, 2021
The undercarriage can be plugged to the fuselage. Please note the position of the connection board with straight front ...
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July 23, 2021
... which is in the height of the axle.
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July 23, 2021
I will use some wheels from the spare box.
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July 23, 2021
Here are some tail skids. The socket of the kit part below was very thin, so I made a new one from a beautiful dark wood.
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July 23, 2021
The socket alone:
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July 23, 2021
In full beauty with metal and suspension (without glue).
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July 23, 2021
The beast on its own legs, all just for dry fitting.
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July 24, 2021
After sanding I primed again.
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July 24, 2021
Then I painted acrylic "wood base" in an irregular pattern to have different brightness in the base.
61
July 24, 2021
And I painted wood with oils. It is not that red, as on the picture, my cam has some strong red and was not able to manipulate the picture to show correct colors. That is also valid for the next pictures.
62
July 24, 2021
The fuselage is not yet touchable, so I continued with other details.
The struts are painted now. I tried a different shade this time, less orange, to have a difference to the other birds in the cabinet.
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July 24, 2021
Same with the undercarriage, then I mounted the axle with the suspension.
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July 24, 2021
Here a view from below showing the bungee cords of the suspension better.
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July 24, 2021
Then I detected another detail on a picture, which I had to realize. Really pity I killed one of my smallest drill bits 🙁The pin is 0.2mm in a brass bushing, which slides onto the axle.
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July 24, 2021
Now the wheel track matches the drawing.
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July 24, 2021
Now to the title as I was able to finalize the airscrew with final sanding, wood primer, polishing, some clear paints to make it darker, gloss coat for decals and final coat. The final step was bolting PE onto it.
Here the final result from back.
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July 24, 2021
The side view is more nice, after the picture I filed the bolts down a bit.
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July 24, 2021
And the beautiful front view. I know, that the AXIAL logo was normally not in gold shade, but the white ones I have was much to small.
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July 24, 2021
A teaser for the final look.
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July 30, 2021
After the oils are hard I added some clear paint layers, followed by a satin clear coat for protection.
Later I masked the tail, painted the fin white and added the cross with plotter cut masks.
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July 30, 2021
A light wood structure is still visible.
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July 30, 2021
I masked again and added future to the tailplane and the control surfaces. A day later I started here to add lozenge.
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July 30, 2021
The original plan was to add alu sheet metal to the fuselage, but this fails. The shape of the fuselage makes this not easy. So I decided to paint with Alclad. With removing the masks I noted some trouble, where the Alclad bites/solves the wood paint 🙁 Should have tried kitchen foil!
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July 30, 2021
The lower wing is glued into its slot. The intake pipes are also added from metal.
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July 30, 2021
Tail skid is finally mounted.
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July 30, 2021
The undercarriage too. That is a little bird!
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July 30, 2021
The lozenge on the tail needs to dry and some care then on hinges etc.
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July 30, 2021
The upper wing is only plugged on for test fit. I need to prepare the rigging before.
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July 30, 2021
Luckily the painted alu is not very prominent in the shadow of the upper wing.
81
July 31, 2021
The problem was also to much paint. I have 3 Alclad alu shades in my stash. I thought that that dark alu is to dark so I sprayed "Aluminium" at first, but this was darker compared to the cowling. So I sprayed a layer "White aluminium" on top, which matches the cowling better.
Another problem seems to be, that the red-brown clear coat was going also in the metal area, so the solvent was able to go below. Something learned: more masking the next time.
Here the damage as macro shot!
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July 31, 2021
This discussion about the hand gave me the right idea!
I found a hand on a Aviattic decal (in real it looks better, here we have a Moiré pattern).
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July 31, 2021
Some mechanic got his oily dirty paw on the fuselage!
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August 1, 2021
For mounting the tail parts I need to add the control horns. I created some from 0.2mm brass add made it more thick and round with solder. So the drilling is also easier.
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August 1, 2021
That is the look with the mounted control surfaces.
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August 1, 2021
I masked the wheels with plotter cut masks and painted a light grey. After drying I added different greys with a piece of sponge.
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August 1, 2021
Here also the lozenge is added.
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August 1, 2021
As next I added 16 plates as fittings.
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August 1, 2021
To finalize the undercarriage I added the rigging and glued the wheels in place.
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August 1, 2021
The control wires on the tail are also done.
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August 1, 2021
Here a better view.
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August 1, 2021
The cabane struts are alse glued in place including the rigging. You may notice also some more connection points for the rigging.
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August 4, 2021
On the outer struts I tried something new. The side pictures showed the rigging lines attached to the struts.
After shortening to the right length and adding the upper pin I prepared the rigging with Gaspatch Anchor points and One end.
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August 4, 2021
After mounting the upper wing (Did I mention that there are moments when I hate superglue? What do I say moments, I mean days!) I added the rigging.
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August 4, 2021
Here is the cross rigging of the outer struts and as last step I added the V-style control lines to the ailerons.
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August 4, 2021
A final picture of the other side.

bughunter
There are enough of started projects in my man cave, but there is a special reason to add the next one.

Today, on the July 20, but in the year 1912 the aircraft company "Kondor Flugzeugwerke GmbH" was founded in Essen (t least according to my Windsock article, Wikipedia says June 15th; another date I found was December 15th). Esssen is one of the bigger cities in the german "Ruhrgebiet" (Ruhr Metropolis, Ruhr is a river).
My wife was born there, and my mother in law lives there.
So you guess what? I have to build a Kondor aircraft!

After the experience with my last project Quadruplane I know that I'm able to handle a resin kit by Spin.
And Spin offers also some Kondor aircrafts, I decided to try a nice little biplane: Kondor D.2

There was a D.1 biplane, with Nieuport style struts and a single spar lower wing.
This was not very successful so the D.2 project was started. The upper wing was the same as D.1, but now 2 spars in the new lower wing and conventional struts. Two prototypes was build, the first with a 80hp (some sorces says Oberursel U.0) in a round cowling and a second one with a 110hp Oberursel UR.II in in horseshoe type cowling. Both take part on the fighter competition, but not ordered into production.
[img1]

The designer was Walter Rethel, who was later involved in Arado aircrafts and the Bf 109. For the German readers: His granddaughter is an actress and was married to Johannes Heesters.

There are no Datafile for those rare birds but Windsock International Vol 13 No.2 has an nice article, photos and drawings about the Kondor aircrafts. A picture here shows clearly, that the engine was a Le Rhone 80hp. The U.0 looks different.

So far the background of my new project.

20 July 2021, 12:11

bughunter
After showing the kit content now the first real update with work on the wings. Not yet finished.

20 July 2021, 14:57

Urban Gardini
Taking a seat mate!

20 July 2021, 15:45

Urban Gardini
I imagine that it didn't behave that well in the air with such a short fuselage.

20 July 2021, 15:49

Dietmar Bogatzki
A good start at a exotic model, taking a seat..

20 July 2021, 16:43

Robert Podkoński
Taking a seat - nice plane, fantastic work so far!

20 July 2021, 16:54

Mona
It looks amazing , looking forward to seeing more

20 July 2021, 16:59

bughunter
Welcome to the show mates!
Urban, it was a small bird overall (also the Fokker Dr.I and the E.V were small). Pilots praised the aircraft's flying qualities, but criticised the poor performance.

20 July 2021, 17:03

Urban Gardini
So with a better motor it would've performed well enough to be produced.

20 July 2021, 17:42

bughunter
Even the more powerful rotary of the second prototype was not enough. We will newer know....
I added more pictures, the wings are finished. I very happy, that masking on top of the decals worked this time 🙂

20 July 2021, 19:16

René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy
Hey, you sneaked up on me! Just when I stop looking for your next project, you publish the first pictures... 😉
Very promising start. As always.

20 July 2021, 21:27

John
The decals look like cloth in some of the pictures - very nice.

20 July 2021, 22:03

bughunter
Yes John, that was the intention 😉
Added some pictures of engine and cowling.

21 July 2021, 11:27

René "Lord Bilbo" Bartholemy
Hi Bughunter, concerning pic 29, how do you manage to cut the rods off?
I did it as delicately as the sausages I replaced my fingers with allowed me to do, but some of them still flew off into the carpet monster's realm, never to be seen again... (luckily, Small Stuff ships more than the needed number)

21 July 2021, 15:44

Hanno Kleinecke
Wow, pic 19 makes me believe that you covered the wings with real fabric - superb decal quality ?
I went to school in Essen and lived there for 10 years, but I never knew that there has ever been an aircraft manifacturer located there…
Live and learn

21 July 2021, 15:58

Marcel Klemmer
Very interesting project again on your table Bughunter

21 July 2021, 17:31

bughunter
Thank you mates!
@René, exactly as shown in the last picture of the manual. I used a piece of wood below and a very sharp razor blade (I opened a new multi-blade razor and have now 3 sharp blades. Be careful!). A light cut is enough on this thin resin.
@Hanno, I like the color shades of the upper side more (pic20), the blue looks like a jeans. The company was in Essen, the workshop and the airfield in Essen-Gelsenkirchen-Rotthausen. Two links, the postcards are nice:
gelsenkirchener-gesc..enkirchen-Rotthausen
gelsenkirchener-gesc..viewtopic.php?t=5557
@Marcel Thx! Nice to see you here too 😉

21 July 2021, 18:32

bughunter
To keep the project under steam I added the cockpit pictures - the fuselage is closed.

22 July 2021, 14:37

Christoph Kunz
Jawbreaking work again. Picture 34 says it all.

22 July 2021, 17:08

bughunter
Christoph I hope you are not hurt! Thx 😉

22 July 2021, 20:35

Dietmar Bogatzki
Great Job with the new Cowling and the wood painting 👍

23 July 2021, 06:41

David Taylor
Missed this one.

23 July 2021, 16:54

bughunter
Thank you Dietmar and David, and for the lines!
I must admit, I already have a bit of a head start 🙂 I wanted to avoid to posting the next shelf queen and so check for early blocking points.
Now I have to wait a bit, because I painted oils on the fuselage yesterday. The oils are hardening now, but before I worked on the struts and undercarriage, so here are the pictures for that.

23 July 2021, 17:18

bughunter
As I mentioned already the oils are hardening, but I have not shown a picture. In meantime I prepared other details.
It was a lot of work, but I now have a result that no one can buy, you have to do it yourself 🙂

24 July 2021, 16:26

Urban Gardini
Photo #70 is just pure joy to behold!

24 July 2021, 23:16

Speglord
Breathtaking work! An inspiration to anyone. 🙂

25 July 2021, 01:18

Hanno Kleinecke
Thank you for these links - completely unknown history to me ! 👍
Prop and cowling look fantastic

25 July 2021, 08:35

bughunter
Thank you Urban, Justin and Hanno!
I forgot to add the nice front photo, which was my template for the airscrew. As this is stored in Wikipedia I can show it here.
[img1]

25 July 2021, 11:06

Robert Podkoński
What a colourful little bird it is! One easily forgets that it was a military plane. Looking fantastic!

30 July 2021, 19:44

Christoph Kunz
Pic 77, seeing how tiny this bird is makes my respect for your work even bigger.

30 July 2021, 20:59

David Taylor
One smart little bird.

30 July 2021, 21:22

bughunter
Thank you mates! And no, my hand is not a construction worker's paw 😉
@Robert That's why I build these colourful aircrafts! Years ago I saw a collection of many WWI biplane models in a museum - that was my key moment!

31 July 2021, 10:45

JEAN-LUC LELODEY
I love the rendering of the motor pan, it looks like brushed metal. well done

31 July 2021, 11:02

bughunter
Thank you! But the cowling looks like metal, because it is metal 😉 See pic31+

31 July 2021, 11:08

Robert Podkoński
I perfectly understand you, Bughunter 😉 The (Polish) book on WWI fighter aircraft was one of my favourite when I was young - there were many silhouettes in full colour presented.

31 July 2021, 11:20

bughunter
The hand is not in the original photo, but I take artistic licence! Thanks for the suggestion!

31 July 2021, 11:43

bughunter
Some steps towards the finish 🙂

1 August 2021, 16:14

Marcel Klemmer
Wow really nice step forward.

2 August 2021, 06:43

bughunter
Thank you Marcel!
Now it is a biplane, the outer struts are in correct length and glued in too 😉

2 August 2021, 18:30

Urban Gardini
I love the artistic license with the oily hand print in order to cover up the paint damage!

2 August 2021, 18:59

bughunter
Thank you Urban for your opinion! I heard also the opposite and I must admit, that the contrasts are a bit high now. Let's see how it looks like after Weathering, but that will be done after the Brathering 😉

2 August 2021, 19:15

Urban Gardini
Well it's a bit distinct put you could smear it out a little with some oil paint.

2 August 2021, 21:37

Urban Gardini
Here mate, have you seen this one? hannants.co.uk/product/KPM72255

3 August 2021, 11:00

bughunter
Yes Urban, I will add some oil paint wash anyway.
That is a type of Triplane which I need to add to my collection! But that is the wrong scale 😉 Instead I have this SPIN kit (and the matching Eduard kit) in my stash: Nieuport Triplane (Ni 17 fuselage) (SPIN model K4804, 1:48) May be later this year.
There is also another Nieuport triplane type, I own also a SPIN conversion for the Special Hobby kit of the Nieuport 10.

3 August 2021, 13:28

Eric Martin
Splendide travail félicitations

3 August 2021, 19:48

bughunter
Thank you Eric! I'm working on the rigging now. It is already a biplane.

4 August 2021, 14:41

bughunter
Some fixing of collateral damage is needed, some detail painting, washing, ... But the light of the end of the tunnel is visible, or is it an oncoming train?

4 August 2021, 18:33

Alec K
How the heck did I miss this! And a project with special significance to boot. Outstanding 👍

5 August 2021, 11:58

bughunter
And I missed you, as a strong supporter of my projects, too! Thank you Alec!

5 August 2021, 15:23

Dietmar Bogatzki
A fantastic job Bughunter 👍

5 August 2021, 16:46

bughunter
Thank you Dietmar! This Kondor is finished now. The rigging lines are metalized now, some weathering applied and added as last step the cowling and the airscrew.
The final shots still have to be taken.

5 August 2021, 17:44

Robert Podkoński
We are all waiting impatiently for final photos of your masterpiece!

5 August 2021, 19:07

bughunter
Ok Robert, and all the waiters: don't miss the final album:
Kondor D.2 | Album by bughunter (1:48)

5 August 2021, 22:05

Robert Podkoński
Thanks, Bughunter 😉

6 August 2021, 04:15