# Progress Build of Lt. Frank Luke's SPAD XIII



## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Fellow Modelers,

I am starting this thread to share the building progress of my current model project, Hobbycraft’s 1/32 scale SPAD XIII French WWI fighter. I have always wanted to build a large scale SPAD XIII with the color scheme and markings of Lt. Frank Luke’s plane. He was the second leading American (AEF) ace in WWI, scoring 18 victories (4 aircraft and 14 observation balloons) between 9/12/18 and 9/29/18 before being shot down and killed. The Hobbycraft kit has been around for a while. The moldings are on the soft side and the details are sparse, but the overall part shapes and outlines are very accurate (based on the Internet experts). The main reason I decided to build it is because I discovered a company called Aviattic that offered an aftermarket set for this kit that included a very detailed decal set, an outstanding 2-piece resin figure of Luke and a color booklet with a history of his aerial exploits/lines drawings of all the aircraft he flew. The set was pricey ($56.00 on e-bay) but I got caught up in the moment (usually a bad thing) and quickly hit the “BUY IT NOW” button. The kit is molded in light gray/clear with about 55 parts. The kit decals and instructions are average quality. 


1st Image: The box art is shown.



2nd through 3rd Image: Here is the cover of the Aviattic color booklet (very impressive) and the decal sheet.


4th Image: The first obstacle to overcome was a very warped upper wing. It is supposed to be flat but you can see it is not. Strangely enough, the kit instructions acknowledge the upper wing is warped and say they have provided extra-long outside struts to accommodate the incorrect shape!


5th Image: To correct the unwanted warpage I put the part in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, laid it on a flat surface and put heavy books on top of it. This completely cured the problem. I also tried this on the lower wing, which also had some minor distortion. Unfortunately, because the lower wing was much thinner, the heat caused it to bend badly out of shape. I was not able to straighten out the damage I caused, and had to purchase a second kit to continue the project (Ouch!$!).


6th Image: This photo shows the upper wing after the small nicks and flaws were sanded away. 


7th Image: The upper wing aileron recessed lines were very light so I used a scribing tool to make them deeper. 


8th Image: I purchased a 1/32 French WWI photo-etch set from Tom’s Model Works, but ended up only using the seat belt parts. 


9th Image: Here is the finished cockpit assembly. As you can see it is VERY basic. One of my goals was to stay as close to a “box stock” build as possible. 

Until next time...

Phillip1


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## StarCruiser (Sep 28, 1999)

I always had a soft spot for those old "kites"!


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## djmadden99 (Dec 23, 2008)

I have the Luke aftermarket decals for the old Revell 1/28 kit. I'm really interested in this build.


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

StarCruiser-Yes, some of the German WWI aircraft designs are truly beautiful with some exquisite paint schemes. 

djmadden99-Glad to have you aboard. I really like the size of the Revell 1/28 scale SPAD XIII, but I remember it having a lot of problems with fit up and warped parts. Be sure and post photos if you build it.

Phillip1


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Fellow Modelers-Below is the progress I have made.


10th Image: The cockpit fit into the fuselage without any problems and the fuselage halves went together very well.



11th and 12th Image: These photos show the top deck of the cockpit where the few instrument dials were located, and where it was located in the fuselage. 



13th through 14th Image: The lower wing, fuselage top and cowling have all been added and the fit of these parts was very good.


15th Image: Rigging holes were drilled into all the main struts before installation to the model.


16th Image: I knew most of the upper wing support would rest on the four main center struts ahead of the cockpit, so they were added now (before painting). A large amount of glue was used to secure them in place. Multiple test fittings of the upper wing were required to make sure the strut alignment and angles were correct and this was a tedious process.


17th Image: This photo shows how much length (approximately 1/8”) had to be removed from the outside struts after the upper wing warpage was corrected.


18th Image: This photo shows the basic assembly ready to be masked and painted. One constant rule to building WWI aircraft is that the main subassemblies and larger parts must be finish painted and decaled before the entire model is put together. 


19th Image: One more test fitting of the upper wing was done before the painting begins.


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

20th Image: Many of the French SPADs carried a standard camouflage scheme consisting of the lower surfaces painted beige (sometimes medium gray) and the upper surfaces painted light green, dark green, brown, tan, and black. There are no Federal Standard matches for the colors, so there is some wiggle room on what colors to use. I based my paint choices on another modeler’s built up SPAD I saw on a modeling website. The specific paints I ended up using were:
>Model Master Radom Tan (1709) beige
>Model Master Flat Sand (1706) tan
>Model Master II French Chestnut (2107) brown
>Model Master RAF Interior Green (2062) light green
>Model Master Dark Green B-52 (2027) dark green
>Testors Flat Black (1105)
The color drawing is from the Aviattic book that came with decals. Luke flew several SPADs during his short time in combat but #26 is the aircraft he flew the most, although he flew a different aircraft on his final, fatal mission. The actual serial number for #26 is unknown, so Aviattics provide eight different “probable” sets of numbers. The camouflage patterns also varied a little, depending on the aircraft manufacturer, so I used a little personal preference here as well.


21st Image: Lt. Luke is shown leaning against #26 in probably the most famous photo of him.


22nd Image: The lower surfaces were painted first.



23rd through 24th Image: To break up the solid color and make the model look less toy-like, medium gray pastel dust was lightly applied to the raised ribs with a sable brush. A second, larger brush carefully removed most of the pastel dust until only small amount remained, making the effect much more subtle. 


25th Image: This photo shows a “before” and “after” comparison, with the right side having only the initial application and left side being completely finished. 


26th Image: Here are the lower surfaces after all the weathering was applied.

Until next time...

Phillip1


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Fellow Modelers-More painting progress.


27th Image: The lower surfaces were masked off. In all of the SPAD historical photos and model builds I looked at, the demarcation line between all of the colors was very sharp, with no soft feathering.



28th through 29th Image: The upper surfaces were painted next, starting with the lightest color (tan). 


30th Image: This photo shows the tan section on the upper wing masked off before applying the light and dark green paint. 


31st Image: The light green and dark green have been applied to the upper wing.


32th Image: The small section of black was applied to the upper wing last, then all of the masking tape removed. 


33rd Image: The tan has been masked off and the light green just applied to the basic assembly.


34th Image: The light green is masked off so the dark green can be applied to the basic assembly.


35th Image: The dark green is masked off so the brown can be applied to the basic assembly.


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

36th through 37th Image: The final color (black) is added and all of the upper masking tape is removed. 



38th and 39th Image: Some detail painting has been added, including the cowling painted dark blue (which was the representing color of Luke’s 27th Aero Squadron), the center struts painted dark brown, the cockpit edging painted leather and the left front fuselage panel painted light gray. Concerning the panel, in the photo posted earlier of Luke standing beside his (#26) aircraft, it is clear this aluminum panel is not part of the camouflage, although whether it is bare aluminum or a painted light color is unknown. 


40th Image: All of the lower surface masking tape has been removed revealing a sharp demarcation line.



41st through 42nd Image: The next step was weathering the top of the upper wing. First, dark gray pastel dust was applied to the raised ribs and then wiped away, as described earlier on the lower surfaces. All of the ribs and edges were then dry-brushed with MM Light Ghost Gray to add highlights and make the details stand out. 


43rd Image: The same weathering steps were also applied to the upper surfaces of the basic assembly.


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

44th through 46th Image: These photos show the basic assembly with upper wing temporarily attached. The camouflage pattern was a headache to mask off, but a very eye-catching scheme to look at. 

Until next time...

Phillip1


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Fellow Modelers-The latest progress:



47th and 48th Image: Rudder decals were given on the Aviattics sheet, but I knew it would look much better if the stripes were painted on. The first step was painting the entire rudder white (shown here). 


49th Image: The red and light blue rudder stripes were masked off and painted next.



50th through 51st Image: Decaling came next. I would love to say I had no problems here, but that is not the case. The Aviattic decals were beautifully printed, but I had a great deal of trouble getting them to lay down or wrap around ANY contour. I only use Solvaset setting solution as a last resort, but a large amount of it was used here. The decals shown in these photos turned out to be the easiest ones to work with.


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

52nd through 57th Image: Before any WWI aircraft expert calls me out here, I will go ahead and admit the color pattern on the wing roundels I used is wrong. For American squadron SPADS the roundel color pattern was red-outside/blue-middle/white-center pattern. For French squadron SPADS the roundel pattern was red-outside/white-middle/blue-center. I went to great efforts to get the Aviattic roundels to work but they would not. I even ended up damaging part of the paint finish on the upper wing, which had to be redone. The roundels shown in the photo are from the original kit decal sheet. I ended up using these because I already spent a lot more money on this project than I planned, and did not want to spend any more on a new aftermarket decal sheet. They worked okay but are not the correct style for Luke’s plane. I was able to get the number decals (#26) to adhere to the model surfaces, but it took A LOT of work to get there. The final decal injury was the upper wing checkered stripe which eventually split into multiple pieces as I tried to get it to conform. Once the decaling was finished, the upper wing and basic assembly were airbrushed with multiple thin coats of Model Master Metalizer Sealer (1409). This gave the model an overall uniform silky appearance that was between gloss and flat. 


58th Image: Some dry-brushing with Light Ghost Gray was added to the upper fuselage behind the cowling to make the raised edges stand out.


59th Image: This photo shows some of the small detail parts being painted before installation to the basic assembly.


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

60th Image: The machine guns, gun site and pilot headrest have been added. I was impressed by how good the kit guns looked after being painted and installed. 


61st Image: The engine exhaust pipes and pilot windscreen were added next. I used small diameter sailing ship thread for the rigging that I first colored with black magic marker. My first connection points were in the fuselage right above the lower wing.

Until next time...

Phillip1


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Very nice attention to detail. :cheers2:


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## pob63 (Jan 2, 2008)

An absolutely fantastic build with an amazing paint job. Great pictures, too. Your build diary is so well shot ... it looks it like came straight out of an issue of "Fine Scale Modeler". NICE WORK!!


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

pob63/Milton Fox Racing-Thanks very much for the compliments. When I do a progress build I try to get high quality photos so what is mentioned in the text can be seen to help anyone else who builds this (or a similar) model.

Phillip1


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## pob63 (Jan 2, 2008)

Phillip1 said:


> pob63/Milton Fox Racing-Thanks very much for the compliments. When I do a progress build I try to get high quality photos so what is mentioned in the text can be seen to help anyone else who builds this (or a similar) model.
> 
> Phillip1


You're photography is extremely helpful. Even though I'll never build this particular kit, your well documented techniques can help elevate just about anybody's modeling skills. Plus, you do justice to your great work through your excellent pictures. It's a shame when poor photography detracts from an amazing build.


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

pob63-I agree with you. Many times someone will post pictures of what appears to be a spectacular model, but the way it was photographed (i.e. poor lighting/out of focus/background) will take away from the work being displayed.

Fellow Modelers-More progress on the SPAD



62nd through 63rd Image: Next the upper wing was permanently glued to the basic assembly. 


64th Image: Rigging holes were drilled in the remaining struts before they were painted a two tone brown/tan. The parts were then given a high gloss finish with Future Polish to represent the gloss varnish applied to the actual plane’s wooden parts. 


65th Image: The rigging is shown being very carefully threaded through the strut holes before finally being locked in place. I will admit I took a big (easy) shortcut on the rigging by going through the struts. On the real plane the rigging went into the wings near the struts but not through them, which is much harder and time consuming to reproduce on a small model.


66th Image: The right side rigging is shown after it has been pulled taut (but not too tight!) and locked in place with a drop of superglue. Note that getting the rigging to look acceptable (even with the shortcuts I chose) took a lot of time and energy. Make no mistake I struggled a good bit on this part of the project. 


67th Image: Very small diameter rod (.005”) was used to represent the control rods connecting the rudder and elevators. 


68th Image: The last parts added were the three piece landing gear assembly. I will say this area was one of the low points of the kit. There are no connector pins or tabs to help properly locate the parts. I basically had to eye-ball the placement, using only a small amount of glue. I then carefully added more glue for strength after the alignment was established. This was very poor design engineering by the manufacturer. 

This is the last progress build post for this project. The model is nearly finished so the next post should be of finished photos.

Until next time...

Phillip1


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

I am also appreciative of the build photography. 

@philip1 when you are done with the build - would you consider a photo set up/taking thread? We have a few over in the diecast section, but none really deal with this size of models and the additional lighting techniques needed.

:cheers2:


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Milton Fox Racing-Thanks for the compliment. I am not sure what you are looking in the photography thread request, so please feel free to PM me.

Thanks

Phillip1


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Fellow Modelers-Here are some photos of the finished model. I ended up taking about 106 hours to build this kit, a low number for me probably because it did not have a lot of parts. I am a little unhappy with the finished product because it is a relatively small model. Even in 1/32 scale, WWI fighters are not that large. I am also bummed about the decal compromises. At least I no longer have a desire to build a model of Frank Luke’s SPAD! Thanks to everyone who followed along. 











Until next time…

Phillip1


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## aussiemuscle308 (Dec 2, 2014)

wow. fabulous job.


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Beautiful build. Even knowing exactly where you had issues they are not apparent in any way. 

Love the vibrant colors! :cheers2:


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

aussiemuscle308/Milton Fox Racing-Thanks for the compliments. They are appreciated.

Phillip1


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## Captain Han Solo (Apr 5, 2002)

Beautiful, beautiful work sir!!!


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

Captain Han Solo-Praise from Caesar is praise, indeed.

Thanks

Phillip1


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## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

Really turned out nice. I wouldn't fret much about the decals - nobody around today was there to see the actual insignias anyway!


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

scooke123-Thanks for the compliment. The greatest scrutiny never comes from participants but from fellow modelers.

Fellow Modelers-Final finished photos











Thanks

Phillip1


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Beautiful build! I had no idea they had the camouflage patterns down so well back then. Really great paint job. Put the plane on a realistic dio with a good background and take a BW photograph and it would look like the real thing. :thumbsup:


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

PerfesserCoffee-Thank you very much for the kind words.

Phillip1


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