Brandenburg C.1's report for duty!
Back in 2018 I purchased a number of Brandenburg C.1 models from Darryl's Reduced Aircraft Factory store on shapeways.com. Lovely models of a ubiquitous plane common to the Austro-Hungarian air service. After a lot of dithering and rummaging for decals, I can report that the planes are ready for the game table. This wave of lockdown inspired productivity included a number of other models, but for now, I present - the Brandenburg C.1.
The models were produced in versatile plastic. I used my standard surface preperation method of multiple coats of Krylon clear gloss enamel (acrylic will work too). Once I had the desired sealed and smoothed surface, a light coat of gray spray paint was applied to help the paints adhere to the surface.
Paints are a dogs breakfast of commercial craft paints, Vallejo acrylics, Tamiya (red brown) and the AK Interactive set of German WWI aircraft paints. I found the AK Interactives to be generally disappointing. The mauve was really off from what I was expecting.
Decals were a surprising obstacle. My go to choice for a couple of years for 1/144 Decal Direct. Fabulous product across the board. I'lll really miss his products. But the good news is that I've identified three new sources for decals. This very site can direct you to two of those sources - The Aerodrome Stores decals are excellent and come in a variety of sizes. Then there is Miscmini's line of decals. These are outstanding - a great selection in variety of sizes. The third option I found is a brand called 'Mark 1" decals. I picked up several pack of Maltese Crosses from an online shop in France (1001hobbies). I like the quality of the decals, but the quantity versus price puts these in third place behind the other two suppliers).
I've adopted a decaling process of applying clear gloss to the finished plane. The apply the decals. I'm a big fan of micro sol / micro set. Once the decals are all dried, a light gloss coat on top seals them in. After that dries - a light matt clear coat knocks back the shine of the gloss coat.
Add a magnet so it will sit on a flying stand and you are ready for the table. My current stockpile of magnets came from K&J magnets. One word of caution - you want magnets strong enough to secure the model, but not so strong that the magnetic bond is stronger than the adhesive that attaches the magnets to the base and the plane. (I've learned this from bitter experience - more force is not always better!)
Enjoy the pictures - and go buy some planes from Reduced Aircraft Factory - they are excellent models!
Just to mix it up, I choose a very different scheme for one of the models
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