"The Golden Age of WWI aviation kits"

In the years after World War II there were Airfix, Aurora, FROG, Renwal & Revell model kit manufacturers. The first WWI aviation kit subject was FROG’s 1/72 Avro 504K in butyl plastic. In 1960 Cross & Cockade USA was born. In 1968 Cross & Cockade Great Britain rose into publication. Then, our very own Leo Opdyke brought us WWI Aero. The early sixties saw a resurgence in WWI aviation interest and with it Hollywood gave us "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines" and "The Blue Max." In a little out of the way swamp near Pougkeepsie, New York a man named Cole Palen carved out an airfield where even today the cough and roar of rotary engines can be heard throughout the summer months.

I remember the dark days after 1966. Airfix, Aurora, MPC, FROG, Revell, with some minor exceptions, all seemed to aim their kit productions away from WWI aviation subjects of any scale . Fortunately the old Profile Publication issues were still in print. They covered many types of aviation subjects. Then it was the fledgling cottage industries that gave us vacuform kits, slush molding and resin castings that kept alive the interest in modeling subjects of First World War aviation. These were Veeday, Merlin (both run by Vagn Espensen), Pegasus/ Blue Max (Chris Gannon), Classic Plane (D. Schörsch), Formaplane of London, By-Planes (Pamela Veal), Rareplanes of Canada, AirFrame (John Tarvin), CramerCraft and countless others all gave us a steady stream of ‘historic plastic.’ One of the premier companies at this time was of course Contrail, part of Gordon Sutcliffe Productions, Somerset, England. They were using female molds to draw the heated plastic into their recesses. This allowed for more detail to be represented on outside surfaces than was seen on vacuforms made with male molds. Now as we have entered the new century, vacuforms tend to be passe to most modelers. While they seem to have been replaced by the use of resin/ rubber vulcanizing or low pressure, short-run injection molding there are still several superb companies that manufacture high quality vacuform kits. Long live multimedia !!!

Then in late 1976 ‘the cottage industries’ started moving steadily away from their beginnings with vacuforms to small short run injection molded kits. For various personal or financial reasons many companies closed their doors while others flourished. Fortunately we have a fairly comprehensive record of these events as chronicled by two historians that followed this same path of success. Brad K Hansen gave us WWI in plastic and the indefatigable Ray Rimell. Brad has not been heard from in many years. Ray has been the greatest force in the publication of informational data on modeling WWI aviation subjects. Avlon Hill gave us the "Richthofen’s War" board game. Since the early 1980's anyone who has ever sought this type of info has had the great fortune to be able to turn to Albatros Pub. Ltd. and purchase Windsock magazines, Datafile monographs and other Special related issues. Ray had moved away from writing for Scale Models (Nexus Pub.) And opened his own shop. But in late 1986, Cross & Cockade USA fell silent. But in late 1988, Over the Front was the phoenix that rose from the ashes of the old C&C USA. When Soviet Russia fell in 1991 suddenly there was hope for all. A small Ukrainian company began pumping out some fine 1/72 scale kits. ToKo, led the way.

In the area of aftermarket productions we can not forget the decal companies that have provided so many great scheme markings. For many years Blue Rider and Krasel industries (Microscale and Superscale) gave us great profiles. Today it is Aeromaster and Eagle Strike that we rely on.

Finally in 1992 company from China, Dragon Models Limited gave us kit #5601, their Fokker Dr.I also in 1/48 scale. In the following years they gave us a Spad XIII, Fokker D. VII and a Fok. D.VIII all in 1/48 scale. Then they fell silent. Now simply called Dragon, they have closed their WWI aviation line and sell large scale multi-pose WWII figures and small scale WWII aviation and armour subjects. In the same year another small company (named after a an ancient knight from the region of what is now the modern Czech Republic) that opened up the way for hope to grow. With their main thrust being the production and sales of aftermarket photoetch metal parts, Eduard gave us kit #8001. It was their Siemens Schuckert D.III in 1/48 scale. To show you what I mean I am providing a partial list of 1/48 scale WWI aviation kits that Eduard has given from 1992 to 2004. That is at least 52 kits in 12 years.

We are in the "Golden Age of WWI aviation modeling." In all my years of building their kits I have never found an Eduard kit in the bargain bin of any hobby shop. They keep their worth. But Eduard is growing and as such it is changing its direction. What it will leave behind is the contact with our era modelers. While we will continue to buy and build, modelers are looking to some new up and coming companies to fill the gaps that Eduard has left behind in it move away from WWI subjects. It is about survival. For a company to grow it has to touch other markets. The comparative new kid on the block is a company called Roden, based in the Ukraine. They began producing1/72 scale kits and only in the past two years have started cranking out high detail, modestly priced 1/48 scale subjects. While Eduard has promised that 2005 - 6 will be their year of the "Fokker" their recent subjects of the Sopwith aviation type are as detailed as a modeler could expect and it can be said that they lead in the multi media market. Roden is a strong contender in this area and what they have in store for 2005 will be astounding. A giant leap in modeling is promised. With the world economy striving for a free - trade community and the internet bringing all of us closer together I wonder, where we will go from here?

WWI aviation history is preserved in national record offices and private museums. One such repository is the Lafayette Foundation in Platteville CO. http://www.lafayettefoundation.org/

Research fiends, enthusiasts and devotees regularly visit its hangars to study their model displays, documents, uniforms and to watch full and 80% scale replica WWI fighters take to the sky. A warm greeting and a hot cup o’ coffee is always on the stove every Friday and Saturday or by appointment.

 The "internet super-highway" allows us to transport to various websites on a daily basis. Modeling sites have popped up like little towns that line the highways from here to there.  A site  I can highly recomend is http://www.aeroscale.co.uk/ their "Air Wing" section has some great people.  One of the reliable WWI aviation sites for actual history or modeling is http://www.theareodrome.com  Just do yourself a favor and stay away from the "Off Topic" section there.   Also the moderators there tend to turn a blind eye to their friends.  Its like going to a local contest and finding that the lion's share of the trophies goes to the sponsoring club's members.  There are some others out there but I will only list the ones I can recommend for modelers of all ages.    

Others provide links to the image based or informational sites. Even the top membership society journals of real history like Cross & Cockade Intl and Over the Front magazines have their own websites. One can find that large scale control line, free flight or radio control subjects have several companies with plans or complete kits for purchase all on the internet. For the individual looking for that old kit, uniform or photo there is e-bay. There are even personal computer flight simulation games with our favorite aviation subjects.

Today, general subject modeling magazines are beginning to turn their backs on publishing 1914-1918 aviation kit build ups. Will our arena of scale kit modeling eventually phase out due to lack of interest? Will kit prices continue to climb to where they can not be afforded? Will all of our modeling eventually be 3-D and done on a computer screen? Or will the future see a group of adults that come back to kit modeling as a way to revisit their youth? It may be that in that future time we come full circle and see cottage industries again purchasing old injection molding machines and pressing out long forgotten subjects. As for today, we the WWI aviation kit builders are having our day in the sun.