Nieuport 11 "Bebe" (1:144)

 

Here are a couple of 1:144 scale Nieuport 11 "Bebe" from 1916, ready to go up against the Fokker Eindekkers swarming all round the place.

They really were tiny little aeroplanes. 

Eindekker and DH2

 

Someone asked me if I was going to make my DH2 and Fokker E-III models available.

To my surprise, I found that had not uploaded them already — probably because it was in the period when it was looking like I might have to shift my collection away from wargaming3d, when their payments system via PayPal went tits-up.

Anyway, I have uploaded both of them now, and they can be had at https://www.wargaming3d.com/brands/mojobob-hoochyman 

Bebe

 

Courtesy of insomnia, I've put together this 1:144 scale model of a Nieuport 11 Bebe. Another scout for the Entente to put up against those blasted Fokkers.

This little sesquiplane went into service on the French front in January, 1916. It outclassed its main opponent, the Fokker E-III monoplane, in every respect: speed, climb, agility and strength. The French did not, at that time, have an interruptor system for the gun, so it carried a single Lewis gun high on it's top wing, to fire over the propeller. By March 1916, it was being replaced by the Nieuport 16 with a more powerful engine, and the much improved Nieuport 17. It, and all of its successors, went into service with all of the Entente powers of WW1.

This model is designed at 1:144 scale, with tolerances suitable for FDM printing, though of course it can also be printed in resin. It includes a 2.6mm diameter socket in its belly for a flight stand.

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

 

Sopwith Salamander

 

I have a lot to do today, so instead, I put together this Sopwith Salamander. It was based on the Snipe, and I foolishly thought, as ever, that since 'd already done a Snipe it would be no trouble at all. And as usual, there turned out to be a lot more work in it than I'd expected.

The Salamander was a British WW1 armoured ground-attack specialist, intended to support the great assaults planned for 1919. However, though a large order was placed for them, only two ever made it to the front before the Armistice.

I've always fancied a model of the Salamander, because it was used as a test-bed for a new (to Britain) multi-colour disruptive paint scheme, which is a bit fancier than their usual all-over PC10 brown. Then, with the Great War over, they went and forgot all about it.

 

2026-10-29

I've added an option for the earlier split-tail version of the Salamander as well. 

The STLs are available at https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/mojobob_hoochyman_sopwith_salamander 

Aviatik C1

 

This is a 1:144 scale Aviatik C1, a German reconnaissance aeroplane of the early part of WW1.

Like its British contemporary, the BE2c, the observer sat in the front cockpit, giving him a severely restricted field of fire with his machine-gun. Unlike the British, however, the observer in German aircraft was usually the senior officer and the commander of the plane.

The overall grey-green paint is speculative, but reasonable I think for the 1915 period. It was a standard military colour for German equipment of all sorts. 

RE8 and Nieuport 17

 

Here's the next two aeroplanes in my 1:144 WW1 flotilla, the British RAF RE8 (left) and the French Nieuport 17 (right), here in RFC livery.

I think I may be coming to the end of my burst of enthusiasm for little WW1 aeroplanes. Still, you never know. 

Lozengy Bottoms

 

I don't usually worry too much about the lower surfaces of my little 1:144 scale aeroplanes, because they're never really seen on the tabletop.

However, I haven't had much practice with the  5-colour lozenge pattern for the under-surfaces, and thought I'd give it a go on these two Fokker D-VI models.

I'm not too dissatisfied, though I do think that the yellow is too dominant. 

...and Lozengy Tops

 This is how the Fokker D-VI would have been supplied from the factory, entirely covered with printed lozenge fabric. Then the paint scheme would be personalised by the individual pilots, or according to a Jasta scheme.

Fokker D-VI

 

I thought that since I'd already done a Fokker Dr1 triplane, converting it into a Fokker D-VI wouldn't be all that much trouble.

And for once I was right.

The D-VI was a transitional type between the Dr1 and the D-VII, and essentially consisted of a Dr1 fuselage married to a smaller D-VII-type wing structure.

It went into limited service in April–September 1918, but its Oberursel rotary engine was no longer up to the task of competing with newer Entente aircraft, and lack of castor oil and the unreliability of the synthetic replacement, Voltol, meant that despite promising features it could not be competitive.  Only 59 were ever completed.

SPAD S-XI

 

This is a French two-seater light bomber and reconnaissance aeroplane, the SPAD S-XI (S-11). It came from the same designer as that of the SPAD VII and SPAD XIII scouts, and the design relationship between them is very clear.

This is a 1:144 scale model, printed on my Mars 5 resin printer. 

Yet another Albatros

 

This one is an Albatros D-III, FDM printed on my Ender 3.

I'd like to say that this will be the last Albatros, and it may be for a while, but I've got some Austrian OEFAG Albatroses waiting in the painting queue, and it wouldn't be fair to leave them out entirely. 

The Red Baron

 

Here's another FDM print of my 1:144 scale Fokker Dr1 triplane.

This one has been painted all red, as the Red Baron, Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen.

I believe there's some doubt these days about whether or not his triplane was ever actually painted overall red, but that doesn't really matter to me: this is the mythical Baron, not the real one. 

Bristol Fighter

 

This 1:144 scale Bristol Fighter was printed in FDM on my old Ender 3, and it's a bit nubbly as I didn't take enough care in removing all the zits before I started painting.

The Bristol F2b had an inauspicious start, as on its first mission over the lines it suffered very badly from a massed attack by German scouts. The pilots tried to use standard two-seater tactics in such a case, and formed a defensive circle, and they lost a great many planes and crew as a result. Only when they learned that the big aeroplane could be thrown around and flown like a fighter did it come into its own, and from that point on it became a very dangerous opponent indeed. 

Roland C-II

 

It's taken a while, but I've finally got around to painting my 1:144 print of the Roland C-II Walfsch (whale).

This has been one of my favourite German WW1 two-seaters ever since I built the Airfix 1:72 scale kit of it way back in the before-times, the 1970s I think.

There's an interesting optical illusion here: the Maltese crosses on wings and fuselage are exactly the same size, but the fuselage crosses look much larger. 

Camel Flight

 

I've done a flight of three Sopwith Camels in 1:144 scale.

The prints are not the best; there's some distortion in the trailing edges of the lower wings, but it's not severe enough to make them unusable as gaming pieces. These were among the last things I printed on my old Mars Pro before it went bung.

Another issue is that the wing decals on two of them are ever so slightly too large, so they wrap around the wing edges a little bit. If I was truly dedicated I'd scrape them off and redo them with the smaller 8mm roundels, but I am not that dedicated. They'll just have to do. 

Fokker E-IV (1:144)

 

I've taken my Fokker E-III model and converted it into a two-gun E-IV, with a new cockpit shroud and coaming. The fuselage and wingspan were both lengthened too, though visually the difference isn't very significant.

As an experiment in up-gunning the fairly mediocre E-III, the E-IV was a failure. The extra weight of the second gun and its ammo, along with the lengthening of the fuselage to cater to the altered centre of balance, made an already fairly sluggish aeroplane even worse. It was slower, and its rate of climb considerably worse than the E-III.

The value of the second gun when it could actually be brought to bear was unquestionable though, and it was reintroduced just as soon as an engine powerful enough to carry it eventuated. The monoplane format went into abeyance though until the appearance of the E-V, the Fokker D-VIII and the all-metal Junkers aircraft in late 1917-18. 

 

I'm really not much good at texturing objects in Blender for rendering; I've concentrated almost entirely on modelling. 

However, I'll give it a go from time to time. 

DeHavilland DH2 (1:144)

 

The AirCo DeHavilland DH2 was a "pusher" scout, introduced into RFC service in February of 1916 in response to the depredations of the Fokker Eindekkers with their interrupted forward-firing machine guns. Though in fact it had been in development for some time, before the so-called Fokker Scourge eventuated.

Not having access to a reliable interruptor or synchronizer for their guns, the British simply put the engine and propeller behind the gun instead of in front of it. 

It thoroughly outclassed the Fokker monoplanes, but was in turn outclassed by newer German tractor biplane types, and was eventually withdrawn from service in 1917.

This 1:144 scale model was built in Blender and printed on my Mars Pro resin printer, just before it went irretrievably bung. It's taken me a while to get around to painting it, but here it is at last.

Sopwith Triplane

 

Here we have a Sopwith Triplane, an aeroplane that sparked a craze for triplane and quadruplane designs amongst all the powers involved in WW1. As it turned out, the multi-plane format provided no real advantage over biplane designs, and the fad eventually faded away, but the Sopwith's performance originally excited many designers, most notably Antony Fokker.

This model is a design by Capn_Ahab, on Thingiverse, and I've done very little to it except smooth out the faceting. It's a simple model with almost nothing in the way of surface detail, so things like wing ribs, ailerons, elevators etc. have just been painted in.

It was FDM printed on my old and increasingly cranky Ender 3. 

Sopwith Dolphin

 

This is the first of two Sopwith Dolphins, a British fighter from late in WW1 that had excellent performance but had to battle against prejudice in the RFC against its backward-staggered wings.

 This one is not all my own work, but a remix of Decapod's excellent model. 

Another Albatros

 Here's another 1:144 scale Albatros DV.

I rather like this colour scheme, with the bare varnished plywood showing on the fuselage.

More Triplanes

 

Here are two more Fokker Dr1 triplanes in 1:144 scale, this time printed in resin on my Mars 5.