Lloyd C.V 46.30, Flik 53/D
Scratchbuilt in 1/48 Scale

by Michael Robinson

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The Lloyd CV was an Austro-Hungarian design that flew in the later part of the War. This particular model represents a machine delivered in September 1917, with the Autumn Leaf mottle camouflage applied to the upper surfaces by sequentially splotching the surface with paint saturated sponges or rags. Starting over the base mahogany plywood, Mustard Yellow, then Terra Cotta and then finally Medium Green were applied in that order to achieve the desired effect.

In a departure from most Austro-Hungarian aircraft of the war, the wing crosses have a white outline applied to them to help them stand out against the dark, highly varnished and polished mahogany plywood that the airplane was constructed from, rather than just a simple black cross, as was the norm. The entire airframe was constructed of mahogany plywood, the only fabric surfaces being the control surfaces, the fin and horizontal stabilizer.

Lloyd CV’s were one of the faster aircraft of the war, with a top speed of about 125 miles per hour. Unfortunately they also had a very high landing and stall speed, which more often than not resulted in noseovers and landing accidents. They were armed with a single Type II VK Gun Canister on the top wing and a single Schwarzlose 8 mm machine gun mounted on a ring for the Observer.

Fuselage

The fuselage is vacuum-formed .040 styrene done over a carved wooden master. Interior details were added from bits and pieces of sprue, wire, and scavenging from the parts bin. The instrument panel is a combination of bezels from Foto-Cut, instruments from photo reduced negatives, and bits of PE left over from other projects. The Control wheel is brass wire formed around an armature, with brass rod soldered in place for the spokes. There are no interior pictures of a CV, but there are a few from a C-IlI floating around, so I used a little modeler’s license and copied the interior details of the C-III. Is it 100% accurate? Who knows? If it’s not… oh well, I’m happy with it.

Wings

The wings are formed .040 styrene for the top half, with the aft portion sanded and thinned to an acceptable thickness for the trail edge. The bottoms are .005 styrene. Both upper and lower skins are scribed to represent the panel lines between the sheets of plywood veneer.

Brass tube spars, and brass wire soldered together form the upper wing cabane struts. The Wing Struts are Basswood strips sanded to shape with brass pins inserted into the ends for strength and alignment to the wings.

Control Surfaces

These are formed from .005 styrene with the ribs embossed from the backside, then CA’ed over a .020 plastic rod lead edge, with end gaps filled with CA glue and sanded to shape, then painted to match clear doped linen.

Landing Gear

Scratchbuilt struts from .030 styrene, a brass wire Axle, and Spoke Wheels from Foto-Cut. Brown thread represents the bungee shock cords.

Miscellaneous

The propeller is carved from walnut and ash veneer laminations. The exhaust pipes are aluminum tube bent to shape and drilled out on the ends. The radiator was formed from Evergreen Plastic channel for the bottom and sides, with a piece of .060 plastic for the Header Tank. Brass screen was used for the radaiator itself, and copper wire for the coolant lines. The gun ring is copper wire, soldered together with brass spacers. The gun canister on the top wing is a solid piece of .080 plastic, with an aluminum tube and etched nickel ends for the barrel. The tailskid is a strip of ash with a brass shoe. Final rigging is .004 black nylon thread from Coats And Parks.

The real aircraft was built of mahogany plywood, varnished and highly polished. The shade of red used was mixed special for this model. The engine turned effect on the cowl and gun panels was achieved by making a special abrasive bit, and chucking it into my bench top drill press and doing each turn, one at a time. 3 hours were spent making enough engine turned aluminum for what the model required.

The final gloss finish is Future. As the camouflage was applied after the fact, it was correctly applied around all insignia, and has a flat finish, unlike the rest of the airplane.

A total of nearly 300 hours were spent building and finishing this model.

• AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN ARMY AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR ONE– Peter Grosz, George Haddow

• JANE’S FIGHTING AIRCRAFT OF WORLD WAR ONE – Jane’s Publishing

Many thanks to the late Dr. Martin O’Conner, for his encouragement and guidance in getting a geeky teenager interested in World War One modeling, way back in the early 70’s. Marty was a first class gentleman, modeler par-excellence, and all around great guy. He is sorely missed.

About the builder:

My name is Mike Robinson, and I have been in the hobby for about 40 some years, starting when I was 5 years old and my first model ever was a Hawk Corsair in 1/48th scale that my Dad helped me build. My main interests are World War 1, Pre War US Navy, and Navy aviation in general. I live in upstate New York near Rochester, and am a member of the Rochester Historical Scale Model Association, a chapter of IPMS. I am 45 years old, single, and work for Xerox as a Field Engineer. My other interests are motorcycles, and I put about 10 thousand miles a year on my Honda Goldwing.

 

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2003 by Michael Robinson
Page Created 08 February, 2003
Last Updated 17 March, 2004

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