Albatros D-V

 

I've put together a 1:144 Albatros D-V, mostly using components from my D-III.

It just needed a new tail fin and rudder, and I had to rebuild the fuselage in its more rounded form, and add the undercarriage aerofoil. None of the other detail changes between the D-III and D-V are visible in this scale, so I haven't bothered with them.

Although the D-V was the replacement for the D-III, which was struggling against the new generation of Allied fighters, it was not as well liked as the earlier model had been, being heavier and less nimble while failing to add anything much in speed or climb.

The STL is available at https://www.wargaming3d.com/brands/mojobob-hoochyman

Sopwith 1½ Strutter

 

Next out of the Blender design factory is another Sopwith, this time the 1½ Strutter. I've made it in both twin-seat and single-seater configurations.

The Strutter was the first British aeroplane of WW1 to have a synchronised forward-firing Vickers gun, and it went into front-line service in February 1916. It did well at first, but it was too stable to make a good dogfighter in the long run, and it was one of the types that suffered very badly in Bloody April.

Its long range and stability made it an ideal candidate for a Home Defence fighter, in which role it was usually configured as a two-seater, though single-seaters were not uncommon. 

Sopwiths Galore

 

Here I have a bunch of Sopwiths entering the painting queue.

Snipes to the left, Dolphins to the right, and a Camel down in front.

They should be able to give those Fokker D-VII a run for their money. 

 And here are a brace of Pups, fresh off the painting desk.

Dolphin

 

This 1:144 scale Sopwith Dolphin isn't all my own work. It's a remix of Decapod's model to make it more likely to print on my Ender 3.

Though in all honesty, I'm going to print it on my new Mars 5, because it's twice as fast, as well as giving me a more detailed and smooth print. 

Wings of War

 

I've dragged out my copy of Wings of War, that I've played maybe twice since I bought it who knows how many years ago, with the aim of making it usable with my little 3d printed aeroplanes.

It's a very simple dogfight game, though its rulebook could do with a bit of editing for clarity. There are a bunch of additional rules in various supplements too, which could do with all being gathered together in one set of instructions.

 The main thing about using models instead of cards representing the various aircraft is that I'll need some flight stands the same size as the manoeuvre cards for movement.

The card-based movement has the big advantage that a big hex-grid isn't required for play, just a flat surface. 

 Here's my prototype 3d printed WoW flight base with one of the manoeuvre cards in place. It seems to work well enough.

The lines running from the centre outwards define the aircraft's firing arc. This Albatros D-II would just use the front one, while most two-seaters would also use the rear arc for the observer.

For weirdos like the BE2c, with the observer up front, I'd use the two side arcs — not precisely accurate, but then what is? Personally I think the 60 ° front arc is a bit overly generous, but then it's just a game after all. 

I'm still a bit in the dark about how the game is supposed to handle altitude. Those rules appear only to be available by buying yet another expensive box set, which I am reluctant to do, even if it's still in print. 

BE2c

BE12 

 I've made a couple of aircraft cards for the BE2c with a side-pintle mounted Lewis gun, and the BE12 with a forward-firing Lewis or Vickers gun.

For the BE2c, I think I'd rule that you'd have to spend a turn flying straight to be able to shift the gun from one side to the other. 

Snipe

 

I've had this on the back-burner for a while now, and I finally got it finished. It's the Sopwith Snipe of 1918, the replacement for the Camel.

Once again, I've designed it in 1:144 scale, with tolerances to allow it to be printed in FDM with a standard 0.4mm nozzle.

I've done it in early and late configuration. The initial production (the back two in the render) had an odd tail fin arrangement that proved to be unsatisfactory, and it was replaced in the later models (the front one) with a more conservative tail design.

The Snipe remained the standard RAF fighter until well into the 1920s. 

Siemens-Schuckert D-III (1:144)

 

This 1:144 model represents one of the modified variants with the cutaway engine cowling to increase engine cooling, a necessary change as the initial production suffered seriously from engine overheating, a problem caused by the synthetic oil that replaced the scarce castor oil by 1918.

The Siemens-Schuckert D-III was very fast, very manoeuvrable,  and climbed like a rocket. It went into service in April-May 1918, but the aforementioned engine issues kept it from being the game-changer it might otherwise have been. By the time those issues were fixed, and its replacement by the D-IV, the Great War was pretty much over.

Fokker E-III (1:144)

 

It's taken a while to get around to it, but I've finally painted this 1:144 scale Fokker Eindekker.

Now it's ready to go out and shoot down that BE12. Or maybe get shot down by it. It could happen. 

It's FDM printed on my Ender 3, and the undercarriage needed substantial post-printing repairs.

 Next day...

 Eindekker #02. This one was printed on my new Mars 5, and judging by the banding on the fuselage, I may have to experiment a bit with antialiasing to smooth things out.

On this one I painted in all the small crosses by hand, and reserved the decals for the big wing crosses. They're not as perfect as the decals would have been, but with these teensy-tiny ones it was less trouble overall. 

Aeroplane Display Board

 

I'm in the process of making a display board for my 3d printed 1:144 WW1 aircraft.

I've 3d printed some little pedestals, and glued a 6x2.5mm magnet into a socket at the top of each one. The models all have steel pegs in their bellies for attachment to magnetized flight stands, so they cling quite happily to the board. I'll paint it tomorrow.

The board can go on a plate-stand thing for display, or I suppose I could hang it like a picture. 

The benefit of it is that it makes very conveniently accessible display and/or storage. 

 Next day...

All done, and I whipped up a plywood plate-stand sort of thing to hold it upright.There are only four spaces left on this board, but if I get completely over-enthusiastic I can make another board very easily — it's just a bit of 5mm MDF with 3d printed magnet pillars glued to it. 

FE2b

 

One of my favourite air-war fiction writers is Derek Robinson, who wrote a book called "War Story" about a WW1 RFC squadron flying FE2b and FE2d aircraft. He's perhaps better known for "A Piece of Cake", which was made into a TV show some years ago.

Anyway, his book prompted me to make this 1:144 scale FE2b. I think the only major difference between the FE2b and FE2d, visually at least, is that the FE2d had a much bigger engine, and a different radiator placement. I may (or may not) make a FE2d as well one of these days, if I can track down some reliable drawings.

Falling Behind

 

I am falling behind a bit in my painting queue.

I am printing far more aeroplanes than I can keep up with, and there are another couple of dozen in a drawer.

I can stop any time I want to. Really. 

SPAD XI

 

Somebody mentioned wanting a French reconnaissance aeroplane, and lo! One appears!

This is the SPAD XI two-seater, designed by the same guy who did the SPAD VII and SPAD XIII. And the visual similarities between all three are pretty obvious.

 The STL is available now at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/mojobob_hoochyman_spad_xi_1_144_ 

Aviatik C1

 

The Aviatik C1 was introduced in 1915, one of the first German C-type armed reconnaissance aircraft.

The observer/gunner sat in the forward cockpit with the pilot behind. This arrangement gave the observer's machine-gun a very limited range of fire, and in the last 50 aircraft produced the seating positions were reversed.

To be honest, I'm not sure why I went to the effort of modelling this — probably because I wanted my Germans to have something as useless as the BE2c. 

 Next day...

I've put both the Aviatik and the BE2c up at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/mojobob_hoochyman_early_ww1_recon_pack_1_144_  as a two-for-one pack. I very much doubt that many people would be interested in buying them individually, so perhaps this will make them a bit more attractive.

BE2c

 

Doing the RE8 reminded me of this, the BE2c.

It was an excellent aeroplane for its day, stable, reliable, and easy to fly.  Unfortunately its innate stability, along with the crew positions, made it an absolutely terrible fighting machine, and they suffered very badly against the Fokker monoplanes with their forward-firing machine gun. It stayed in service far longer than it should have, and killed a great many young men of the RFC.

The Fokker itself was not a very good aeroplane, but its plenitude of easy prey inflated its reputation far beyond its actual capabilities. 

A coupla days later...

 I've modified my BE2c model to make a BE12, the laughable attempt to turn the BE2 into a fighter. It was a resounding failure, and you have to pity the poor sods who were sent up in them to compete with the Fokker Eindekker.

The STL is available at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/mojobob_hoochyman_be12_1_144_

 I've printed and painted my BE12 model, and I think I'm going to have to tone down the wing ribs a bit — trying to get decals down in amongst them was quite a trial.

HarryTate

 

A large part of the duties of the British scout squadrons in WW1 were escorts, attempting to keep the arguably more important reconnaissance and bombing machines from getting shot down.

That means that they need something to escort, so I've made this 1:144 scale RE8, nicknamed Harry Tate by the RFC. 

It was intended as the replacement for the BE2, that had suffered so badly in the days of the Fokker Scourge, and it was certainly an improvement over that type as a fighting machine. However, the bar for improvement was pretty low, and an unaccompanied RE8 stood little chance of survival against even the most mediocre of enemy scouts.

Groups of RE8s, when attacked, would go into a mutually supporting circle, in which several of them could fire on any approaching enemy. It was better than nothing, but it was an innately defensive tactic, and of course it disrupted the work for which the type was intended — so it could be argued that that was a success for the German pilots. 

New printer

 

I replaced my old and bung Mars Pro yesterday with this, an Elegoo Mars 5. It cost me about $400 from Jaycars. I actually went in for a Mars 5 Ultra, but that's another $250 or so, and I didn't feel the pressing need for any of the fancy-schmancy extras.

So far I haven't been able to get it to actually print anything, and what the exact problem is I do not know. Nothing sticks to the platen, though it does stick to the FEP.

I vaguely remember having issues with the Mars Pro when I first got that, so I'm not giving up all hope just yet. However, it is borne in on me just how much 3d printing is not yet a mature consumer technology — they're so finicky, and you have to be a tinkerer to get the things running and keep them running. 

It's a magical technology, but it's pretty bloody hermetic magic. 

Bristol Fighter

 

I just finished this 1:144 scale Bristol Fighter to add to my menagerie.

I haven't tried printing it yet, but no doubt I'll get to it soon enough. 

 2026-09-16

FDM test print turned out mostly okay, eventually. The print failed in a tail-down orientation by breaking the back of the fuselage, and in a nose-down print posture the nose failed to print, so I had to cut off that bit and replace it with a nose section I printed separately.

Alas, my elderly resin printer — an Elegoo Mars Pro — is bung, and it's too old to find replacement parts for now, so a resin test print will have to wait until I get a new printer. Which may be, if I'm lucky, this afternoon.  

Albatros D-III — success at last

 

After fiddling with the thickness of struts and things, and tinkering endlessly with the placement and height and angle to the print bed, plus adding some custom supports in problem spots, I've finally got a model that will reliably print a 1:144 Albatros D-III in one piece. Now I can get my forces together for Bloody April.

 

Nieuport 17

 

Somebody asked me if I was going to make a Nieuport 17, and I thought that was a good idea, so I did. I want to do a Nieport 11 Bebe as well, if I can just find my drawings for it. I know they're around somewhere.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself though; I have many more models waiting to be printed and painted than I have finished. 

Pfalz D-III

 

I've built another German aeroplane for 1917, the Pfalz D-III. It was generally considered to be inferior to the contemporary Albatros D-III, but it was much stronger and could survive the G-forces in pulling out of a dive when the Albatros would fall to bits.

 I'm not really satisfied with the fairing of the lower wing with the fuselage, though I'm not really sure how I can fix that.

 The test print is FDM (eSun PLA+) off my old Ender 3 with a bog-standard 0.4mm nozzle.