Scale Three-Views From The Past

WWII-era fighter plane with checkered tail in flight.

RC Scale

As seen in the July 2025 issue of Model Aviation.

I’VE LEARNED to first assemble my documentation for the model when I start any Scale project. This is imperative if you want to score well in Scale competition—not so much for the Eindecker, but I still do this out of habit.

Because Model Aviation magazine is celebrating its 50th anniversary, I went back a little farther into American Aircraft Modeler magazine and read one of the late Claude McCullough’s columns. His words still hold true today about three-view drawings:

World War II fighter plane flying with checkered tail and red nose. — Paul Green’s Horizon Hobby P-47 takes off during a Music City Warbirds and Classics fly-in. The Coffee Airfoilers Model RC Club field is grass and paved.

"The Factory Drawing Myth: it used to be that the ultimate source for a Scale model was considered a 3-view from the company that made the aircraft. After all, who else would have better information? In recent years, as scale modelers have become more interested in getting every dimension and shape exactly right, it has become painfully obvious that the factory drawing, in many cases, is a long way from being accurate. It is evident why the term ‘general arrangement’ is sometimes used, for the arrangement is often very general. Some examples make one wonder how they ever get the full -scale airplane built."

There are many, many drawings for Scale models available; there are at least four detailed drawings for the Fairchild PT-19. But are these different drawings accurate? The general answer is no. Some don’t even match the plans, but this would be secondary documentation if you have great photos of the subject aircraft.

Sopwith Triplane information board with images and descriptive text. — Note that the modeler has highlighted the differences between the drawing and the full-scale aircraft.

Black and white plastic rifle model parts on brown surface. — These Spandau machine guns have been 3D-printed from different material. The milky white resin was too fragile.

The rule of thumb is to always look first at the photos then look at the three-views or scale drawings. Most aircraft (for example, the Republic P-47) went through several changes throughout the production life of the airframe. This is true for many World War II aircraft. There were several different field modifications that you should check on as well.

RCScalebuilder.com has tabs with different areas that show builds of Scale models, including those from designers such as Jerry Bates, Dave Platt, and others. You do have to pay a yearly subscription fee for access to this source. There are also areas for kit manufacturers and vendors, such as Balsa USA. There are several Eindecker threads on RCScaleBuilder.com that show the builds and different modifications that the builders have added or changed on their airframes.

Tom Tomas has added several different threads on the site about his builds. I’ve used some of his photos to make modifications to the rudder and tail surfaces of my model. I also used these same photos for the machine gun installation.

Red model airplane on grass field. — A simple Monocoupe is shown at the 2024 AMA Scale Nats. This aircraft makes a great entry in any class—and the short nose and tailwheel like the grass!

Yellow model airplane on a table with two people examining it outdoors. — (L-R): Jim Martin, Dave Hauk, and the author (not shown) static-judged Tim Dickey’s 1/4-scale Waco Standard Cabin model in FAI Scale during the 2024 Scale Nats.

Wooden model with mounted metal machine gun on a dark fabric background. — The nose section of the Balsa USA Eindecker EIII shows the removable, mounted Spandau machine gun.

I do not recommend 3D-printing a dummy machine gun in milky white resin. That resin is very fragile, and if it doesn’t break in the shop, it will shatter while your model is flying. The fragile resin isn’t strong enough for a powered model in flight. A good friend was nice enough to send me a 1/5-scale machine gun printed in black resin for my model, which is now mounted and is removable.

Eindecker EIII Update

So far, the hardest part of building the Eindecker EIII has been mounting and sanding the front of the wing with the forward fuselage. The center section is built up and has to mesh with the forward part of the fuselage. There are no instructions for a kingpost for the rigging on the model. Many modelers have modified this area for the machine gun as well.

New Kit From Balsa USA

Balsa USA recently came out with a new Golden Age model, the 1/4-scale Aeronca C-3 Collegian. At a 106.5-inch wingspan, this model would be great for either electric or an O.S. twin four-stroke engine.

The company also has three sizes of the ever-popular Fokker D.VII in its stable of kits: 1/3-scale with a 118-inch wingspan, 1/4-scale with an 88-inch wingspan, and the new 1/6-scale D.VII with a 62-5/8-inch wingspan.

Now if we can get Balsa USA to kit a 1/4-scale Fairchild PT-19!

Scale Fly-Ins

Scale fly-ins are in full swing now. Just south of Nashville is a great one to attend, the Music City Warbirds and Classics, at the Coffee Airfoilers Model RC Club field, located on Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma, Tennessee. There is dry camping available on-site and motels are nearby. This event takes place October 2-4, 2025, so check it out!

You should also check out fly-ins that are being held in your area by visiting the "Sanctioned Event Calendar" in your copy of Model Aviation magazine or the AMA Event Calendar on AMA’s website.

NASA 50th Anniversary at the Nats

July will also celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Association of Scale Aeromodelers (NASA) during this year’s AMA Scale Nats on July 10-15. This includes the 2026 Fédération Aéronautique Internationale F4 World Championships for Scale Model Aircraft Team Selection for the USA team that will go to the U.K. to compete.

Fair skies and tailwinds.