The instructions are a bit difficult to follow at some points in the process, so reference to the Datafile photos were invaluable to insure the correct placement of the parts. The SSW cockpit was a combination of wood and metal, and the fuselage interior and respective parts were painted as such. I used Model Master Acrylic RLM 02 for most of the metal parts. The wood was painted using Polly Scale Deck Tan that, when dry, was given a thinned wash of Testor’s Brown for wood grain. The completed effect is quite convincing, especially in this scale. I supplemented the kit compass and gauges with the Copper State Models German gauge kit. The seat assembly and seat belts were painted and set aside for insertion in the cockpit later.

Once the cockpit assembly was complete, I glued the two fuselage halves together to create a receptacle for the cockpit. The fuselage comes in two halves; however, the bottom of the fuselage is contained in the lower wing assembly, so the two fuselage halves glued together only represent about two-thirds of the total fuselage area, with the front and bottom to be added later. I inserted the cockpit assembly into the fuselage and secured it with Zap-a-Gap. I then glued the fuselage bottom with the attached lower wings to the fuselage assembly. Here, quite a bit of grinding, sanding and puttying was required to obtain a decent fit. To finish off the fuselage assembly, the upper forward fuselage panel was added, as was the engine firewall, which I painted Gunze Burnt Iron. The kit comes with a white metal Siemens-Haske engine and some photo-etch pushrods. These were assembled and painted a combination of Steel, Burnt Iron, and highlighted with a thinned wash of Leather to convey the effect of burnt oil. I then mounted the engine to the firewall, and added the cowling. Again, I ran into fit problems. The engine is a bit large for the cowling so I had to thin down the inside of the cowling considerably, as well as “lengthen” the cowling by gluing some strip styrene along the back edge. Once glued, considerable filling was done with Zap-a-Gap and stretched sprue. I was now ready to paint the fuselage assembly, which will be discussed in the Painting section of this review. 

The Spandau guns are made of plastic, to which are added steel tube barrels and bits of photo-etch, including the cooling jackets. Heating the jackets in a flame prior to rolling them helps them to bend easily and maintain their shape. I roll the cooling jackets with the jacket rolling tool provided in the DML Fokker DVII kit. It’s almost a perfect fit. The assembled guns were painted Model Master Gun Metal, drybrushed slightly with Burnt Iron and set aside. I really like the MM Gun Metal because it captures that “blue steel” look, unlike other gunmetal paints which tend toward gray instead of blue.
The wheels and struts were cleaned up and set aside for painting and final assembly.

To add realism, I typically remove the various flaps and reposition them. In this case, I also wanted to represent the hinge attachments, so after removing the ailerons, stabilizer and rudder flaps, I cut notches in each hinge location and glued pieces of strip styrene to represent the hinges. I then applied the lozenge camouflage to the flaps as described in the Painting and Decaling section below before reattaching them.

Final assembly of the kit was relatively easy. I glued the interplane and cabane struts in place, and allowed them to dry overnight. I also “pre-rigged” the aircraft by attaching one end of the rigging at various points on the fuselage and wings. I use invisible monofilament thread and attach it with Zap-a-Gap. If left to dry overnight, it can be pulled taut without fear of it pulling loose from its attachment point.

The top wing attached to the cabane and interplane struts with little trouble. I also added the stabilizer and rudder that were separated previously. Once dry, I then proceeded to complete the rigging by attaching the other end of the various lines to their respective attachment points. The key to a neat rigging job is not to use too much glue. I like gap-filling glue because it dries slowly enough to work with, but quickly enough so that you can keep going with the process. The SSW has a relatively simple rigging scheme so it was accomplished fairly quickly and without much difficulty. 

Once the rigging was finished, I attached the wheels and the propeller. The 4-blade prop I used is a wooden one made by Martin Digmayer of the Czech Republic and supplied by Copper State Models. Finally, the seat and seat belts were inserted into the cockpit, and the seat belts positioned as thrown over the fuselage upon the pilot’s exit from the cockpit. 

Since an accurate model of the SSW requires the application of lozenge camouflage, painting and decaling consumed a large portion of the time and effort on this kit. I chose Copper State 5-color lozenge for this kit because (1) I liked the colors, and (2) they were printed at the 45-degree angle of application generally used on these aircraft. The upper wings of SSW were typically covered at a 45-degree angle while the narrower lower wings were usually covered spanwise. The 45-degree angle added strength to the larger upper wing, while the lower wings were amply protected with the one-piece spanwise application. Prior to applying the lozenge, I painted the wings, ailerons, and stabilizer flap with Polly Scale RLM 25 Green on the undersides and Polly Scale RLM 24 Dark Blue on the upper surfaces. I then applied a light coat of Future to both surfaces to prepare for the lozenge decals. The lozenge was then applied to the wings in the previously mentioned fashion, while all flaps were covered spanwise (horizontally). The lozenge decals generally went on pretty well with the aid of Micro-Sol and Solvaset. Once dry, I trimmed off the excess, “Futured” again, and then added the rib tapes.