Lloyd 40.15 Build

In the summer of 1917 one of the most obscure triplanes produced during World War One came into existance. The Lloyd 40.15 was a single-seat fighter with a full cantilever center and lower wings with the top wing supported by Vee-struts. This Magyar Lloyd Repulogep es Motogyar design flew around December, 1917. The plane had a 185hp Daimler engine with an unusual rotating aileron arrangement installed on the center wing. The fuselage longerons were shaped to conform to the wing section to provide a smooth interface where the wings joined the fuselage. The plane had twin machines guns within reach of the pilot.

There are no details of the flight testing which indicates extensive testing did not take place, thus there is no information on flight or handling characterics. It's wing span was just under 25 feet and it's loaded weight is listed as 1,984 pounds.

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The Lloyd 40.15 Triplane was produced by Meikraft Models in 1/72nd scale and was available only to his Collector's Club members or direct from Meikraft. The number of kits produced is unknown to this builder.

The kit consists of 15 plastic parts, three metal parts, a photo etched sheet and decals. The detail is good and there is little to no flash on the parts. The scalloped trailing edges of the wings are very well done. The fuselage sides are very thick but this is typical of short run models of this time period.The plastic has a very interesting pattern to it.

The instruction sheet is a single sheet, front and back, with a history, 3 view drawing and a multi exploded view section on the back. It also shows the parts on the PE tree.

The metal parts consists of the exhaust and machine guns.

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All parts should be cut from the sprue with a razor saw due to the very heavy attachment points. The plastic has a brittle look to it but is slightly on the soft side. This could be from age or just the type of plastic used. The wings and tail surfaces require very little clean up. After sanding the leading edge, only a little work was required on the scalloped trailing edging to give them a nice crisp look.

The fuselage edges were sanded and the match is good. The rudder fits into a slot and one side had to be enlarged so the rudder would fit. This required only a few minutes of work. Then with the dremel, about 1 1/2 inches around the fuselage opening was thinned as much as possible. The plastic is very thick so you have to remove a lot material. But the results were good and now there is plenty of room for interior detail.

The most delicate area and the section that took over an hour to complete is the undercarriage legs. These are very complex as the lower wing fits into them. The mold joint is very ragged and they are thick. They also looked very brittle. I was going to replace them first thing but decided to give cleaning them up a chance. It took over an hour to get them to look ok. They are not brittle but they are not easy to work with due to the complexity of the part. I had two breaks but epoxy repaired that with only a little more clean up work. The results are adequate and a dry fit with the wings reveals that the engineering of this part was well done.

With a little work on the front piece that will accept the PE radiator and the wheels, the kit is ready for assembly.

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After the fuselage has been thinned, the interior was painted the same CDL as the exterior. Flat strips were added to represent the fuselage frame and was painted with Testor's Wood. A floor was added and a TOKO kit gave up its seat and control bar. The PE control stick from the kit was used,adding a little super glue to the handles for a little

more realism. The PE instrument panel did not fit due to the shape of the interior. It was replaced with plastic sheet with some instrument faces added from another kit. The compass was attached and the fuselage was ready to close up.

The middle wing is added at this time so all of the putty work on the fuselage can be done at one time. The middle wing has a notch that fits in a slot on the bottom of the fuselage. This did not fit well and the notch on the wing is much too big. The bottom of the fuselage was filed away and the notch was shortened until the wing fit flush with the bottom of the plane. One feature of this plane was the middle wing contoured to the bottom of the plane. At this point all seams are puttied and sanded until they are smooth. Prior to painting the radiator area is notched so the PE radiator will fit flush.

Painting is the next step. I used Floquil Depot Buff lightened with white. The metal areas can be either natural metal or grey. I chose a light grey for this area and the struts. The tail surfaces are attached since they are going to be CDL also. After the paint has dried, a gloss coat is applied to all surfaces and then the decals are applied. After another coat of gloss, the radiator is inserted in the nose and the exhaust dropped into its slot and painted. The machine guns are attached at this time because when the top wing is attached, this area will be difficult to reach. I used Aeroclub Schwarlose guns as I was not pleased with the quality of the kit guns. With this, the fuselage is complete.

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The wings are the easiest part of the model to prepare. The leading edge was rounded and the trailing edge was scalloped between the ribs. A little sanding and filing gave the wing a nice look. The wings are very thick so they are somewhat out of scale. I made no attempt

to thin the wings and lose the detail. After filing and sanding, the wings are painted, gloss coated and decals applied.

The prop is metal and took very little to clean up and paint. The wheels are plastic and required a little more work to make them look good. They are probably too wide but I did not change them. The undercarriage struts are the hardest part of the kit. It took over a hour per strut to clean them up to where I was satisfied and concerned that any more work would break them.

The lower wing has two holes on top and one hole on the bottom for attachment to the undercarriage struts. However, the struts do not have the corresponding two pegs for the top. The wing slides in and locks to the lower hole and peg. But, the wing is too thick and does not match the middle and top wing as to being parallel. The lower section of the strut had to be thinned until I could get the wing to match the top two wings. The rigging was then completed in this section and the wheels were attached.

While the kit is still upside down, the PE tail skid was folded, thickened

with super glue and the four attachment legs were spread to match the fuselage. Four drops of super glue holds this piece in place.

The next step was to insert the exhaust into it's locating hole, drill out the exhaust holes and putty just a little in the front of the exhaust.

After the machine guns were attached the top wing was glued directly to the fuselage, checking for alignment and to make sure it's centered. Struts hold this wing in place. I used airfoiled shaped plastic as the PE kit parts did not fit and the flat metal did not look right. The metal radiator front was glued into place and painted. The top of the radiator was made from scrap plastic and the kit is finished.

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The kit is typical of the early years of short run injection mold kits. The parts are thick and the attachments are heavy. Less than half of the PE parts were used by this builder but that is not a criticism of the PE.

Meikraft produced an interesting kit and his work had improved greatly from his earlier kits. For those in the strange and obscure kits, the Lloyd 40.15 Triplane, will satisfy that desire. I enjoyed building the kit and I estimate about 20 hours of construction.

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