Spad SA4 (1/72 A Model)

[B4en]

The infamous French 'pulpit fighter' from 1915: a tractor biplane with the observer/gunner given a clear forward field of view by putting the poor chap in a streamlined nacelle just in front of the propellor! Needless to say this was not a popular design choice and must have been one of the more terrifying flying experiences of the time. The nacelle sometimes fell off in flight (most likely fatal for both crew) and take off/landing accidents proved, as the British dryly observed, 'costly in observers'. The French quickly abandoned the type after a number of accidents and 'generously' sold the slightly modified aircraft to the Russians - who did actually claim a (very) small number of victories in the type.

The sprues in my kit were a flash covered mess - I guess the moulds are way past their sell-by date. Luckily the plastic is the reasonably strong variety so cleanup is at least possible for most of the parts. Some delicate bits were unrecoverable though so were replaced with scratched versions - this included the main axle and upper nacelle mounting (stretched sprue) and the gun mounting (fuse wire bent around a craft knife handle). One of the cross pieces on the undercarriage assembly was replaced with a cut down sewing needle to give it more structural strength. I also scratched up some elements of the engine housing and the wire grille behind the observer's seat. The engine parts were a complete disaster zone so it's just as well it is barely visible on the finished model. If the kit was pristine the whole engine could be mounted to spin as it should, but after a couple of failed attempts to recarve things to make that happen I superglued it solid and drilled through to at least allow the prop to spin. Cheating I know!





There are 3 options for the observer's gun, so I chose the one that looked unfamiliar thinking it must be a Russian mg of some sort. After some reading on the SA2-4 aircraft I realized it is meant to be a Chauchat. Not only that but it would have been the early version with the magazine on top. So an unreliable gun with a mighty fire rate slightly over 200 rpm, and flimsy magazines with 20 round capacity - more joy for the unlucky observer! I've no idea if the French sold these guns to the Russians with the SA4 but it wouldn't surprise me - they flogged them to the Americans after all. I made mine a magazine and attached the kit-provided bag for empty cases - don't want brass falling back into the propellor after all: safety first. (LOL)







Oddly enough the large parts have decent surface detail, the wing ribs are subtly moulded, and the cockpit has a reasonable interior. The main parts fit was not bad at all once they had been tidied up. For the first time I tried rigging with fine wire which proved a total waste of effort - eventually I cut the lot off and redid it with nylon thread. The grilles on the nacelle sides were meant to increase air flow to the engine but after assembly and painting they looked solid so I cut some wire mesh to size and 'framed'it with stretched sprue. Not strictly accurate or as neat as I'd like, but better than nothing. The kit decals proved to be excellent, amazingly enough.











After all that work I couldn't bear to scuff the thing up too much, just added some stains from the engine leaking castor oil. So here is a fairly new SA4 in Imperial Russian livery, circa 1916.

[VickersVandal]

Weird as it is, it's actually a nice looking aircraft. Probably the streamlined nose that does it.

Excellent job on the build! The details are well fleshed out and the weathering/shading is subtle and effective.

[B4en]

Weird as it is, it's actually a nice looking aircraft. Probably the streamlined nose that does it.

Thanks VV, I thought that as well. Something so disastrous shouldn't look so elegant.

[stevehed]

Very nicely done. My experiences were similar. The SA2 nearly beat me. Almost all the struts and smaller pieces were fragile and couldn't be separated from the sprues without breaking. Most were replaced. Recently built the SA4 and found the plastic more amenable. Worth the effort but you've got to want one.

[JamesPerrin]

A really interesting model

[JohnRatzenberger]

Well done and described !!

[B4en]

Thanks for looking and commenting all. I'm not sure when this kit originally came out but it would be interesting to find an old boxing to see how much the moulds have deteriorated.

Very nicely done. My experiences were similar. The SA2 nearly beat me. Almost all the struts and smaller pieces were fragile and couldn't be separated from the sprues without breaking. Most were replaced. Recently built the SA4 and found the plastic more amenable. Worth the effort but you've got to want one.

Cheers Steve! I would have grabbed the SA2 rather than the SA4 for preference, but it was out of stock at Hannants when I placed this order. It seems I got lucky with the plastic quality - I certainly wouldn't have relished replacing all the struts on top of all the rest that needed doing. As you say, you really have to want one in your collection.

[BWP]

I'm not sure when this kit originally came out but it would be interesting to find an old boxing to see how much the moulds have deteriorated.

Um, according to Scalemates, the kit you have is the original tooling, ca. early 2000s. The joys of short-run kit production. AModel, I think, make shorter runs than most, which suggests that their moulds are one-and-done (or close to it -- they do tend to release a few different boxes from a single tool).

You've done a cracking job with it, for sure.

[TeeELL]

My word you have done a great job on that ‘interesting’ model.

[wokka]

All things considered you've got an incedibly good model.

[ShaunW]

The SA4 almost defines "death trap" This is a great build of this rather unusual type, Ben, very nicely done.

[B4en]

Thanks everyone for the comments, they are much appreciated!

according to Scalemates, the kit you have is the original tooling, ca. early 2000s. The joys of short-run kit production. AModel, I think, make shorter runs than most, which suggests that their moulds are one-and-done (or close to it -- they do tend to release a few different boxes from a single tool).

Cheers for the info Bruce. For a short run kit this seems to have been around the block a few times with different boxes.

The SA4 almost defines "death trap"

Quite so, and yet knowing that the French were happy to sell it on to their allies at the time. Luckily for British air crews our lot turned down the offer.

[Clashcityrocker]

Note to gunner, 'Don't point behind!'

Nigel

[X12A]

Very interesting, again not seen one of these before. Well done in taming that - looks great.

[Lone Modeller]

I built one of these about ten years ago - did not have the flash problems but the thinner parts were very weak and broke easily, so I replaced them as you have done. The engine in mine was entirely useable, so I suspect that you had a late run kit. You have made a first class job of this - hat off to you.

An interesting type which was trying to get around the problem of shooting off the propellor - we Brits went down the pusher route which also presented some interesting problems for observer/gunners. The French ace Lepps survived a crash in one of these - he was the observer - he was very short and that seemed to have saved his life. Later he became a pilot. The later Spad designd (VII, XII and XIII) were developments of this airframe so it (eventually) had some success.