Spad S.A-2
The SPAD A-2 is in my opinion one of the more bizarre aircraft to come out of WW1. In an attempt to maximize the observation range of the observer, the A-2 had the observer in a nacelle in front of the propeller. One can immediately envision the dilemma of the poor soul that had to sit out there. The pilot sat behind all of this with his vision obscured and would try to land the aircraft without nosing over. As one can imagine, this lead to very serious and usually, fatal, consequences to the observer. Bert Hall in his book, "One Man's War" talked about two A-2's that arrived and he said the first one nosed over on take off and "mashed the observer as flat as a flapjack."
The prototype, SPAD A, made its maiden flight in the spring of 1915. It was powered by a LeRhone 9C 80hp engine. About 100 A-2 were made with over half going to the Russians, who used the plane during the entire war and into the civil war that followed.
The SPAD A-4 differed little in that there were ailerons only on the upper wing. One A-3 was made that had dual controls and gun mounting on each cockpit. J. M. Bruce makes this observation: "This arrangement meant, theoretically, that either occupant could fly the aircraft, or, alternatively or additionally, act as gunner. The geometry of the S.A-3's front-cockpit flying controls must have been convoluted, and the likelihood of two individualistic Frenchmen being able to agree on who was in control in the heat of combat probably remote, even assuming that there was some kind of effective communication between the two."
Amodel's offering is a very nice little kit with everything needed to build it. The main problem one will encounter is the numerous and thick attachment points on the sprue. I build a good number of short run injection molded kits and that does not present a problem. However, the number of attachment points boggled my mind. On the undercarriage spreader bar, there are seven attachment points on one of the most delicate little parts you have ever seen. Some how it survived the removal process but it doesn't really look good. Some parts I didn't even try to remove, I just made new ones. I figure it took twice as long to build this kit because of the clean up on the parts.
This is a very easy build but I highly recommend the WINDSOCK Mini Datafile # 4. The drawings and photos are invaluable in building the kit.
There is nothing to warn you about the pre-assembly of the nacelle and fuselage. Both go together well but putty is necessary to get a smooth seam. Part # 4 is a great piece of plastic. In one piece you have the cabane struts, the metal engine vent and the undercarriage. Thin the vent to give it a nice look and attach it to the fuselage. In one move the cabanes and undercarriage are aligned. Add the spreader bar at this time or you will have to bend it get it in position. I made new inner wing struts as mine were broken on the sprue. The decals went on perfectly with very little time spent in the water.
The trickest part of the kit is getting the observer's nacelle on. I glued it on with tube glue and let it dry overnight and then was able to move it into position. I made the upper wing attachment brace out of two pieces as my alignment was a little off. The decals had already been applied, the model was rigged using DURAS, any touch up was accomplished and the model was finished. I estimate it took 20 hours to build the kit but half of that was cleanup. This is a highly recommended kit. The kit is built out of the box and the only modification was the thinning of the engine vent.
Last Revised 9/6/2007