1/72 Toko Hansa Brandenburg W-29

by Ole A. Hoel

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Here are some photos of the old TOKO Hansa Brandenburg W-29 in Norwegian markings. Two aircraft of this type were bought  from Germany just after the Great War (more or less illegally due to the Allies' ban on German arms deals) and shipped to Norway for use with an airline that went out of business almost immediately.  The Naval Air Service saw an opportunity and took them over.  They were so pleased with them that they bought a substantial number of the slightly larger version W-33, which were in use until the early 30's. In Norwegian service they were known as "Måke" (seagull).

The kit is a pleasure to build OOB, the only modifications were to add some small bits in the cockpits, adding a pitot tube (the small zig-zag thingie on the port wing), removing an engine panel to show off the nice kit engine, and opening a small window in the bottom of the fuselage.  Being an all-metal aircraft, there are only a few control wires to add.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

The kit included the norwegian decals (a very rare occurrence, indeed) together with WW-I German navy and a post-war Danish machine.  Unfortunately the flag stripes were a tad short, as visible in the pictures, and the blue colour is much too light, but I didn't bother to paint them myself (too many kits in the attic....).

Later, this same kit was released by Eastern Express.  In the inscrutable logic that is typical of that company, their decal sheet has markings solely for the German Navy, but the instruction sheet is only for the Norwegian example.

Ole

Photos and text © by Ole A. Hoel