Scratchbuilt 1/72 Bruyere C-1 By Gabriel Stern

The 1917 Bruyere C-1 is one of those French planes that you can’t resist. Not for its fighting qualities, precisely, but for its futuristic lines and configuration.

The fuselage was covered in metal and the optimistically denominated “flying surfaces” were traditional canvas-covered structures.

The engine was located aft of the pilot and via a shaft moved a pusher propeller. A truly modern front wheel three-point landing gear was installed and the canopy could have well been in one of the Burt Rutan designs.

The position of the engine dictated that a series of holes were made on the fuselage for ventilation which, added to the front lower windows, made for a mid-way model construction name change. Instead of “Bruyere”, I realized that “Gruyere” would be more appropriate.

As a futuristic sculpture or even as a highly polished, over-sized espresso machine the Gruyere would probably have been more fortunate than as a plane, since it crashed as soon as it left the safe protection of the earth and gave itself to the merciless laws of physics.

The model at a glance:

Sculpey-made, hollowed fuselage, traditional styrene sheet parts, wood propeller, transparent plastic food tray little piece as canopy, Aeroclub wheels.

Struts are from Strutz, the fuselage received the Alclad II treatment –a tad too shiny, perhaps- and all the other elements were painted with acrylic. The panel lines –too enthusiastic- were engraved on the Sculpey fuselage with an Olfa “P” cutter.

A bunch of fellow modelers at the wings of peace forum provided a good deal of information and advice on this modern, sculpture-like apparatus.

When art and aviation merge, the results can’t be wrong, can they?